What Your Cat Was Meant to Eat
- Cats are the most specialized hunters of all the mammals, they are
strict carnivores. Cats evolved to eat raw whole rodents and small
prey, they cannot digest carbohydrates the way other mammals can. Dry
cat food is much higher in carbohydrates than a cat's natural prey,
and even the grain-free kibbles contain potato which is a very starchy
vegetable. When fed long term, high-carb dry cat food leads to obesity,
diabetes and often irritable bowel disease in cats.
- Cats are descended from desert creatures, naturally they get most
of their water from their food. Feeding dry cat food causes chronic
dehydration which leads to serious urinary tract problems such as crystals
and infections. It can also lead to kidney damage over time. High quality
meat based canned foods or a raw meat diet are much more suitable for
cats.
- Contrary to some theories, dry cat food does nothing to clean teeth.
The only way to effectively clean your cats' teeth is by veterinary
cleaning under anesthesia and prevention by brushing - if you can condition
your cat to accept it. In fact a high carb diet contributes to dental
problems due to the sugars that form when carbohydrates are broken
down.
- Commercial cat food was invented relatively recently. Before commercial
food, cats mostly lived outdoors and hunted for their food and were
supplemented with scraps of meat and milk. When cats started to become
indoor pets and move into cities, commercial cat food was invented,
and since then there have been a multitude of problems with these
commercial foods - from lack of taurine resulting in blindness and
heart disease to contamination with a variety of toxic substances.
Commercial cat food production is not regulated or subject to testing
on a routine basis. For a well researched and referenced article on
commercial pet food please
Click
Here.
- We all know that a diet based on whole foods is healthier than processed
foods. The same is true for cats! There is a difference between meeting
the basic needs for short term sustenance and sustaining long term
health.
The Ideal Diet for Your Cat
- The ideal diet is the one your cat and his ancestors has been eating
for thousands of years - primarily whole fresh raw rodents, rabbit
and a few game birds and insects.
- The closest many of us can come to feeding our cats this diet is
to feed a home made raw meat diet, consisting of whole ground prey
with added supplements to make up for what is lost by freezing, thawing
and storing the meat - and when possible including whole prey such
as mice and rats available from reptile feeder suppliers.
- If a home made raw meat diet is simply out of the question for some
reason, a high quality grain-free canned food is the next best thing.
A food with very high meat content and limited total number of ingredients
is best. However if your cat has IBD or food allergies, you should
try a home made diet so you can control and eliminate ingredients.
Important Considerations
- Always change your cat's diet gradually. Mix in some of the new food
with the old food, or feed small amounts separately and gradually feed
more of the new food and less of the old food. You do not need to transition
your cat to canned food before raw, but it is easy to mix in raw food
with canned. If you currently feed kibble just start out with a tablespoon
of raw meat 2x a day and transition over a period of 2-4 weeks. It
is not a bad idea to start out with only the raw meat/bones/organ mix
and added taurine - no other supplements. This way you can add the
other vitamins or supplements one at a time and you'll know if one
of them causes a problem.
- Cats are evolved to eat the whole prey - muscle meat, bones, organs
and all. Cats cannot synthesize their own taurine, so taurine is an
important ingredient. We add additional taurine because
studies have shown that freezing, thawing and storing meat can deplete
the natural taurine. In addition, domestically-raised meat may be lower
in taurine than wild prey. Cats cannot synthesize Vitamin A, they get
it from liver, so liver is also essential. I do not recommend long
term feeding of a diet with vitamin A and D added to replace liver,
but for short term rotational batches of food it is acceptable - please
refer to catnutrition.org for
recipes with vit A and D substitute instructions.
- The ideal Calcium to Phosphorus ratio for cats is 1.2:1 - that means
1.2 units of calcium for every unit of phosphorus. The acceptable range
for cats is from 1.17:1 to 1.4:1 which is the range found in small
prey animals such as mice, rats and rabbits (rat carcass analysis: JAVMA
221:11 Nov 2002). A diet too high or too low in this ratio will,
if fed long term, lead to hyperparathyroidism or hypocalcemia.
Fortunately, an entire carcass of a small prey animal such as rabbit,
mouse, quail, chicken contains a ratio in this ideal range.
- If you are not using whole small prey, make sure
you are feeding the correct ratio of meat, bones and organs. Other
places to find safe, tested recipes are catnutrition.org, catinfo.org and holisticat.com.
Do not feed commercial "grinds" or pre-made raw diets unless
you know the calcium:phosphorus ratio or you know for certain that
the entire carcass is used -many are not correctly balanced because
they sell the meaty parts for human consumption and grind up the rest.
Look for the nutritional analysis and divide the amount of Ca per serving
by the amount of P per serving - any units as long as the units are
the same for both minerals - to determine the ratio. For example if
a food contains 1.15% Ca and 0.98 % P, that comes out to a Ca:P ratio
of 1.17 to 1.
- Do not feed your cat boneless meat without adding the correct proportion
of calcium. Doing so will create a calcium deficiency which affects
not only the bones but also the brain, heart and nerves.
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