Raw feeding

[kai bengals]

I think most of the long time TCS members know that I feed most of my cats and kittens a raw diet. I know exactly what I'm doing and have taken the time to find out how to do it properly. I have never had any illness or death due to raw diet.

There is a skill set involved, but it is not extremely difficult. The problem in my opinion, is that many people are lazy. Lazy and feeding raw do not mix.
You can't just plop down a few chunks of raw beef and expect your cat to thrive. Nor can you disregard safe raw meat handling practices.

All of our kittens go out to our clients, having experienced eating raw, but they are solidly on a commercial diet, because we don't actively encourage new owners to feed raw. We mention it and explain the benefits, but don't push it. If the client shows interest, then we encourage them to research and
ask a lot of questions and seek out a holistic Vet.

Many people just don't want to (or can't) take the time to learn how to do this properly.

 

[mschauer]

I have been in PM communications with one long time TCS member who is active in rescue and who had one cat die of salmonella poisoning after eating raw food. In this case the TCS member did not feed the raw food. The cat was, unknown to the member, sneaking raw food from a neighbor cats food dish. So it is unknown what the source of the raw food was and how it was handled. Despite this experience, she currently feeds raw mice obtained from a reliable source (www.miceonice).

This is the kind of information I find useful. That is, exactly what happened is related so that others can make an informed decision about whether they want to attempt raw feeding.

As has been stated repeatedly by myself and others, anyone considering raw feeding should do their research and make sure they understand the proper way to do it.

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

I think most of the long time TCS members know that I feed most of my cats and kittens a raw diet. I know exactly what I'm doing and have taken the time to find out how to do it properly. I have never had any illness or death due to raw diet.

There is a skill set involved, but it is not extremely difficult. The problem in my opinion, is that many people are lazy. Lazy and feeding raw do not mix.
You can't just plop down a few chunks of raw beef and expect your cat to thrive. Nor can you disregard safe raw meat handling practices.

All of our kittens go out to our clients, having experienced eating raw, but they are solidly on a commercial diet, because we don't actively encourage new owners to feed raw. We mention it and explain the benefits, but don't push it. If the client shows interest, then we encourage them to research and
ask a lot of questions and seek out a holistic Vet.

Many people just don't want to (or can't) take the time to learn how to do this properly.

Niall - you have pretty much summed up my feelings exactly. I tend to panic a bit when I see some members pushing raw feeding. I personally think raw feeding is probably wonderful but as you say, it is not for the very busy or lazy. I read some posts where cats have acne because their bowls are cleaned once per week - that's a scary thought for someone feeding raw, and folks who scoop the litter once a week - raw feeding is definitely not for those folks.

As in everything, the poster needs to get professional advice and be diligent with safety issues such as handling and time left out, etc. I tend to advise on the belief that most new members asking some of these questions are as ill informed as I most certainly was when I became a member here. I would hate for them to take advice they received here and do harm or even kill their pet.

 

[lucara]

I dont think I'm going to do the raw feedings. It seems that there are a few too many errors that can be made that can seriously hurt your cat. The food I'm feeding her now is organic and doesn't contain any bi-products, or other harmful contents as far as I've read.

http://www.bynaturepetfoods.com/prod...nedcat.php#ccl

 

[sharky]

that food is IMHO a good one

I cannot tell if those are "complete" they do appear so but on the label is

there an AFFCO statement like on the dry ???