Do you feed raw food?

[maverick_kitten]

Originally Posted by tru

Yeah, right!
I gathered them around and said "look what mom has for you!"

They looked and sniffed and then gave me a look like "What are you, nuts?"

.

the exact same thing happened to me! i was thinking of switching to raw food but after she turned her nose up at raw organic chicken i've decided to stick to commercial pet food

 

[pat]

Originally Posted by AmberThe Bobcat

Was the breed founder there, Carol Brewer? She lives in WA as well

I don't recall...but I would guess maybe...as at one show, there was at least an entire row of them, all with pine boughs and other natural decorations around the cages. I'd have to actually find the show catalog to check

 

[sol]

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

the exact same thing happened to me! i was thinking of switching to raw food but after she turned her nose up at raw organic chicken i've decided to stick to commercial pet food

It'smore a rule than an exception that cats react this way when raw food is first introduced. It took me 1-2 months until I had all my cats switched to a raw diet and I had to do try many different kind of tricks before I succeded.

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by tru

I just have to comment on this raw diet thread.

I definitely am not knowledgable enough to try a raw diet for my crew, but decided I would give them a special treat with some raw chicken wings once.
I bought a package of chicken wings at the store and hurried home thinking the cats would be so happy to have such a treat.

Yeah, right!
I gathered them around and said "look what mom has for you!"

They looked and sniffed and then gave me a look like "What are you, nuts?"

One of the outside guys gnawed a little and left it lay. The dog loved them.

I also tried some packaged frozen raw meat by Prairie that has all the balanced num-nums and only one of the outside cats ate a little bit of that.

My guys are definitely very domestic and seem to feel I was treating them shoddy by offering them such a fare.

They too like their quality dry food to go along with their junky canned and their vet sees no problems with their health and usually comments on their thick shiney coats.

They also catch their rodents and bugs to torture and some consider them snacks,

but this mom of many furbabies has given up on bringing home any raw treats.

That's what happened the few times I tried to supplement Jamie's diet with raw food. I even bought some extremely expensive beef fillet, and he turned his nose up at at. Bugs and garter snakes he'll eat raw, but he also won't eat the mice he catches. I guess I'm supposed to cook them for him.

 

[amberthe bobcat]

The reason most cats reject raw food when given to them for the first time, is the fact that most commercial cat foods have flavor and scent enhancers added to them, to make them smell better and to be more appealing to them. That is why if given the choice, they will go to the commercial pet food because it "smells" better to them. Most animals will smell their food prior to eating. Once the commercial food has been taken away, they will come to love the raw meat diet. If you add supplements to this raw diet, you may have a problem with your cat refusing to eat at first, because they can smell the vitamins. Amber can be quite picky about her food and did not like her supplements at first. Word of caution here, you can not just give your cat all muscle meat for the raw meat diet, if no supplements are added. It has to be ballanced, including bone for calcium and organ meats as well, to provide the taurine they require. I add high quality supplements designed for an all raw meat diet, for our bobcat's food. Extra fat is also required, because most human food has been trimmed of most of the fat. Cats do require this fat for energy. Since an all raw meat diet is void of the carbs found in commercial foods, this fat will provide them with the calories they need for energy.

 

[julya]

Hello,
I have a cat named Bella who desperately depends on a raw food diet. She has severe IBD and cannot tolerate anything else. After 8 years of suffering from malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, stomatitis, etc. I gave the raw diet a chance. She did well for quite some time. I had some unrelated issues come up lately and had to stop the raw diet for a while. She recently relapsed and spent a week in the hospital. In fact, I just got home with her minutes ago. I am going to start her on the raw diet again tomorrow. If you are going to feed a raw diet, here are some musts: ALWAYS make sure the meat is fresh! Immediately freeze any of the food you will not use within a day (or two at most). After 7-10 days throw out all unused frozen food (I do this just to be extra safe). I only buy meat from Whole Foods, although I've heard that Wild Oats is good too. I like their meat because they do not give their animals antibiotics or feed them food that has been sprayed with pesticides. Salmonella (sp?...having a dyslexic day! LOL) is a risk, but can be avoided if you make absolute sure you meat is fresh, fresh, fresh.

I could go on and on about what I have found out and my experiences with raw food...but I strongly recommend that you try this link:
Feline Diet Info.

Spend some time really looking throught this site and reading all about raw diets and feline nutrition. It really helped me when I had tons of questions and doubts about switching to raw food. Hope this helps

Good luck.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Julya

Hello,
I have a cat named Bella who desperately depends on a raw food diet. She has severe IBD and cannot tolerate anything else. After 8 years of suffering from malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, stomatitis, etc. I gave the raw diet a chance. She did well for quite some time. I had some unrelated issues come up lately and had to stop the raw diet for a while. She recently relapsed and spent a week in the hospital. In fact, I just got home with her minutes ago. I am going to start her on the raw diet again tomorrow. If you are going to feed a raw diet, here are some musts: ALWAYS make sure the meat is fresh! Immediately freeze any of the food you will not use within a day (or two at most). After 7-10 days throw out all unused frozen food (I do this just to be extra safe). I only buy meat from Whole Foods, although I've heard that Wild Oats is good too. I like their meat because they do not give their animals antibiotics or feed them food that has been sprayed with pesticides. Salmonella (sp?...having a dyslexic day! LOL) is a risk, but can be avoided if you make absolute sure you meat is fresh, fresh, fresh.

I could go on and on about what I have found out and my experiences with raw food...but I strongly recommend that you try this link:
Feline Diet Info.

Spend some time really looking throught this site and reading all about raw diets and feline nutrition. It really helped me when I had tons of questions and doubts about switching to raw food. Hope this helps

Good luck.

Facinating info..

 

[cyberkitten]

My kitty eats Wellness food and has dry food (I call that her junk food) - not keen on processed food - but I do feed her an occasional raw chicken heart. It's very trendy at the moment to feed raw food but I have not bought the whole pkg. I just thought a chicken heart now and then would be OK. She has all her vaccinations of course and has been dewormed. She really loves them!! I would never feed beef though - scared to death (literally) of CJD! (not sure what it's called in cats - BSE in cows). I used to know. Anyway, that's my take on the raw food debate.

 

[julya]

Just thought I would add that I feed my kittens, Bert and Ernie, regular food (ProPlan Kitten right now). I see no need for them to be on the raw diet because they can tolerate normal commercial cat food just fine. I know that raw diet are strongly recommended in most cats with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). The link I posted earlier is by a veterinarian who is also on Yahoo! Groups Feline IBD. I know that she is an advocate of raw food diets in IBD cats especially.

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

My kitty eats Wellness food and has dry food (I call that her junk food) - not keen on processed food - but I do feed her an occasional raw chicken heart. It's very trendy at the moment to feed raw food but I have not bought the whole pkg. I just thought a chicken heart now and then would be OK. She has all her vaccinations of course and has been dewormed. She really loves them!! I would never feed beef though - scared to death (literally) of CJD! (not sure what it's called in cats - BSE in cows). I used to know. Anyway, that's my take on the raw food debate.

It's actually called FSE - feline spongiform encephalopathy, and there have been cases of it in Europe, which is why we stick to organic beef.