Raw food diets for kittens–final project report
The researchers in this study investigated the effects of raw diets on health and well-being of kittens. While both benefits and costs have been claimed for raw diets, little work has been done on specific effects of the raw diet on cats. In this study, kittens were fed either a commercial processed diet, commercial raw diet, or home-prepared raw diet.
Growth performance was similar on all three diets. Nutritionally, there was neither an advantage nor disadvantage among any of the diets, as all three were nutritionally adequate. The raw food diets were associated with higher digestibility and decreased fecal matter, although a direct health benefit of this difference was not observed.