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HOW TO FEED YOUR CAT |
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You have invested a lot of money for this baby and you want it to be healthy and live a long time. Remember in the “old days” when cats went outside and hunted bugs and prey. They lived to be 20 or so without the health issues we face today. Why are cats dying younger with kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, tooth decay, urinary crystals, etc? We are what we eat and so is this kitten. Consider this: CATS are CARNIVORES….meat eaters.
As consumers we have been sold a bill of goods by the big cat food companies. Our vets have been taken in also. Cats need only raw meat with very low carbohydrates and dogs can be feed raw meat, vegetables and fruits. You can‘t run an engine on poor fuel and you can‘t keep a cat healthy on poor food. Read the ingredient labels on bags and cans of cat food. What do you see? Most have by products, corn, rice, wheat, oats, soy flour, cellulose, fruit and vegetables. Cats don’t eat that stuff but we are forcing them to and they are rewarding us by dying young and giving us big vet bills along the way. CATS EAT MEAT AND THEY NEVER COOKED THEIR MICE. As cat owners, we need to WAKE UP and start feeding cats as carnivores. Stop trying to make the cat eat like you do from all the different food groups.
Here is a book about providing your cat with the proper diet and care for a longer, stronger life. It is a must read book by Elizabeth M. Hodgkings, DVM, Esq. YOUR CAT.
A raw moist diet is BEST for your cat. Yes, RAW. Cats have a shorter intestinal track than us and the enzymes to digest raw meat, so they are equipped to eat this diet. You may want to start with the raw food recipe given below which closely parallels the nutrition of an adult mouse or you can jump right in and start grinding meat and bones, add the supplements and reward your cat with the BEST balanced diet. YOU CAN DO THIS! IT IS EASY….and you will be feeding your kitten the food that most resembles the wild prey. You will need to purchase some supplements to add to the raw chicken, turkey, lamb, rabbit, etc. This information is given below. You can also purchase ground meat/bone from Hare Today Gone Tomorrow and add the supplements. If you do not want to mess with making the food, you can purchase it ready to use from Feline Pride or Nature’s Variety frozen raw. All the details to make your cat food along with helpful hints are on Anne’s web site.
An alternative to the raw diet is a high quality canned food. Again, you want low carbs, no meat by products, grains, and no wheat gluten with the dangers it can cause. I feed canned EVO Cat and Kitten as a taste treat along with the raw. What to look for to find QUALITY COMMERCIAL CANNED FOOD. This site also includes a list of quality canned foods.
There are dry foods with high meat protein and no grains: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, and Nature’s Variety Instinct Chicken. They are lowest in carbohydrates. Dry food can cause a cat to become dehydrated so a bowl of fresh water is very important. Please use dry as a supplement and not the main course. It is BEST to not use any dry food.
More references: cat nutrition, canned food comparison, dry cat food comparison Carbohydrates in the diet of a heavy or lean cats can lead to diabetes/Amylidosis. How to manage diabetes and diet. What are the nutritional requirements of a cat ? It is important that you know…. |
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RAW MEAT DIET WITHOUT BONES – Anne’s Raw Diet 3.88 – 4 pounds raw Muscle Meat: debone and skin chicken thighs and drumsticks and turkey or use fresh or frozen ground chicken or turkey (best to have some chunks of meat for the cat to chew) Put in food processor and grind 7-8 oz. raw Liver - preferably from the same source as raw meat. MIX in large mixing bowl: 2 cups of water...see note below 4000 mg of Taurine…..4 caps of 1000 mg each or 1 tsp. NOW taurine powder 4 Tablespoons Bone Meal (the kind meant for human consumption….not for gardening) 4 raw Egg yolks 4000 mg of Salmon oil….4 caps of 1000 mg each 200 mg Vitamin B complex….4 caps of 50 mg each 800 IU Vitamin E....2 caps of 400 mg each 1/4 teaspoon of Kelp and 1/4 teaspoon Dulse (1/2 teaspoon total) Do not use more! 2 Tablespoons unflavored Gelatin…..add after above ingredients have been mixed. ADD to supplement slurry: Meat/Liver, stir, package in plastic containers and freeze. I use Rubbermaid “Take Along” containers. The packaged raw meat diet will keep in the refrigerator for two days. OPTIONAL: Not all cats require additional fiber (psyllium) in their diet. Can add 4 tsp. Psyllium husk powder or 8 tsp. whole Psyllium husk to mix. Some cats get constipated without additional fiber and some with the fiber. (approximately 22 – 4 oz servings) It is BEST to use meat with ground bone. |
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Anne’s RAW MEAT DIET WITH BONES AND ORGANS 5 pounds frozen chicken, turkey, rabbit: ground with bones and organs from Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow or fresh chicken legs and thighs that you will grind after you remove the skin. 7 oz. Chicken liver (if not using meat with ground organs included) 4000 mg of Taurine – 1 tsp. NOW powder 2 cups of water...see note below 4 raw Egg yolks 4000 mg of Salmon oil….4 caps of 1000 mg each 200 mg Vitamin B complex….4 caps of 50 mg each 800 IU Vitamin E ...2 caps of 400 mg each 1/4 teaspoon of Kelp and 1/4 teaspoon Dulse (1/2 teaspoon total) Do not use more! Add water mixture with supplements and eggs to meat, package in plastic containers and freeze. I use Rubbermaid “Take Along” containers. The packaged meat will keep in refrigerator for two days. NOTE: I open the B complex capsule and put powder into 1 cup of water along with salmon oil and E – cut the capsules, drain the capsule and then snip into small pieces before putting into the water. OPTIONAL: Not all cats require additional fiber (psyllium) in their diet. Can add 4 tsp. Psyllium husk powder or 8 tsp. whole Psyllium husk to mix. Some cats get constipated without additional fiber and some with the fiber. |
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SUPPLEMENTS – example from www.iherb.com Before ordering, you may want to check other suppliers. If you are using ground meat with bones and organs, you do not need the bone meal and gelatin.
A cat can not live on meat alone it needs to eat bones to provide the necessary calcium and phosphorus level. It is important to not add more bone meal to the recipe because it will not have the optimal calcium to phosphorus ration and can lead to a diet too high in calcium which causes constipation or other medical problems. Cats also are unable to make their own Vitamin A, Niacin, Arginine, Arachidonic Acid because they do not have the necessary enzymes. They need to get these important elements supplied in their meat source. These supplements are IMPORTANT.
TRANSITIONING YOUR CAT to the RAW MEAT DIET The raw meat diet is beneficial for any cat except those with kidney failure since this disease is irreversible.
Begin by offering a small amount of the ground chicken raw diet. Some cats welcome the food immediately. You can then slowly increase the amount you give each feeding. Go slowly, so you do not upset the digestive system. If a cat gets soft stools, you can add some Psyllium to the mix.
For those who resist, you will need to do it slowly and be patient. You can mix a teaspoon of the new raw ground chicken diet into the canned food your cat has been eating. If your cat accepts the addition, you can slowly increase the amount of raw diet while decreasing the original canned food. Transition time depends on the cats acceptance of the new food……
The MOIST food is BEST for the cat because it has about 75% liquid compared to the dry cat food with perhaps a moisture content of 10%. If the cat does not drink adequate water, the dry will dehydrates the cat leading to kidney and bladder problems.
There is a correlation between the consumption of a high carbohydrate diets and the formation of struvite crystals, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Diabetes, and Obesity, so check the labels of your current cat food for grains.
It is time to transition your other cats to a healthier diet without grains, vegetables and fruits which they can not utilize.
SUMMARY
It is our hope that you will provide the very best diet for your pet. We are well aware of the time and cost factors to get the equipment but the overall cost factor is less than purchasing commercial raw or quality canned food. The cost of the Tasin TS 108 grinder will quickly pay for itself.
TIME is a consideration. The quickest is to use a prepared frozen raw meat diet but that is very expensive especially if you have several pets. Preparing the food from scratch using frozen meat or fresh ground meat with the supplements is an alternatives to grinding the meat and bones. We grind skinned chicken leg quarters or whole chickens and add the supplements. It takes about 45 minutes including clean up to process 10 pounds of raw chicken legs and thighs using Anne’s recipe. It makes over 12 pounds (48 4-oz servings) of beautiful food which cats LOVE. How much do I feed?
Remember cats are carnivores and a high carbohydrate diet is not healthy for them. With a raw diet, you are providing all the trace nutrients that are lost in the processing of canned food. RAW is BEST but if you choose to use canned | dry, select quality ones with no grain, wheat gluten, by-products, minimum fruit and vegetables.
With the proper diet your cats will reward you with better health for years to come. If you have questions, contact me. |
