Raw Meat For Cats
When I first heard of people using Raw Meat for Cats as a recipe, I thought it sounded insane. I always though raw meat was like poison and that just handling it, alone, would cause both me and the cats to get a horrible case of salmonella poisoning. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I spent some time reading Dr. Pearson's website and learned a great deal about the benefits and safety of raw meat for cats using turkey, chicken, rabbit and hen: Raw vs Cooked Food For Cats. Dr. Pearson is a veterinarian like no other. Unlike most vets, Dr. Pearson actually understands nutrition.
Why Raw Meat For Cats?
After educating myself on Raw Meat Cat food diets, I began to see the wisdom in it. By summarizing what Dr. Pearson says in her immense, infinitely useful and wonderful website, catinfo.org, I am only scratching the surface of the wisdom of a natural cat food diet. When you have the time, it is well worth visiting her site and discovering the many benefits of this particular cat food diet. For the sake of introducing the basics of a healthy, raw cat food diet, I'll do my best to summarize and cover the basics. Let me tell you, though, how my own experience with raw cat food began and how it has progressed over the course of the last several months. At first, I was not comfortable making my own raw cat food recipe, so I began using a commercial product called RadCat. At first, Carson (who suffered from Irritable Bowel Disease: IBD) seemed to love RadCat, but my other cat Noche didn't care for it too much. Carson was gobbling up the expensive RadCat like crazy, but we continued to do one thing wrong: We kept out the commercial dry food for Noche. Carson continued with his bad, unhealthy habit of eating commercial cat food besides the RadCat and he wasn't getting any better. He wasn't gaining weight and continued to have bad bouts of diarrhea. Then, a miracle happened: One day after we got back from a trip over the Thanksgiving holiday, Carson decided to kick the habit - that is, the commercial cat food habit. He simply would not touch it. I had to go to the pet store and stock up on RadCat. Carson was gobbling it up and Noche was slowly beginning to adapt to it. One other thing; we noticed Carson was beginning to gain weight and the diarrhea had vanished! One other thing I noticed: I was going broke paying for 4 or 5 $13.00-per-24-ounce containers of RadCat every week. I figured the RadCat was costing us about $200.00 a month! That's when I discovered Dr. Pearson's Raw Cat Food Recipe and bought a meat grinder which you can read about here: Tasin TS-108 Meat Grinder At the bottom of the article is the same video we used to teach us how to make a similar version of the following raw cat food recipe below. The purpose of the grinder is that bones are a vital nutrient in a cats natural diet. RadCat uses bone meal instead of bones, which according to Dr. Pearson is not as beneficial as the actual raw bones. It might also surprise you no fat is taken off the meat. Cats need plenty of fat and bones. Because, it is hard to get all of the actual nutrients that are found in organ meats, etc., vitamin supplements can be used instead of heart, livers, gizzards, etc.. Or a little bit of both. Below is the basic recipe idea based on 3LBs of poultry. Why Poultry and why not other meat? Dr. Pearson advises against Beef and Fish for a couple of reasons: One, they are not part of what a small cat normally eats in their natural diet and these meats are not nearly as hypoallergenic as Poultry and Rabbit.
Raw Cat Food Recipe
3lbs Chicken, Hen or Turkey: (Important: Use hormone and steroid-free meat. Go as natural as possible)
Raw meat for cats is safe because it can be rinsed and cleaned before grinding. According to Dr. Pearson, raw meat from a reputable source is healthier than commercial dry food which can contain dangerous toxins. Also, Your Cat's digestive system is very small compared to a humans so bacteria has much less time to multiply and make a cat ill.
Additional Supplements for Raw Meat Recipe
- 2 Egg Yolks: (optional, some cats like Carson do not do well with eggs, but they are an excellent source of protein)
- 300 MG of B-Daily (B12 Complex) Vitamin
- 400 MG of Vitamin E
- 3000 MG of Salmon Oil
- 3500 MG of Taurine (If you throw in a few hearts, liver and gizzards you can use less Taurine)
- 1.5 Cups of Water (You can add more water later...cats really don't need to drink much water. On a natural, raw cat food diet, they get all of the moisture they need in their food)
These supplements can be kind of a pain to add. They either come in powder or gel capsules that have to be broken up and inserted into the liquid. The other messy part is that you'll want to remove about 25% of the bones before running all of your meat through the grinder. Use leg and thigh meat and avoid breast which doesn't have as much fat and nutritional value. Making a homemade cat food recipe is a bit of job, but keep in mind that if you make 6-10lbs at a time, you'll only be doing this once a month. Once the meat and bones are finely ground you can mix all of your supplements in with the water and stir them into the raw, ground meat. Use freezable storage, containers or bags and store the food in your freezer. I usually transfer the raw meat from the freezer to refrigerator one day before serving it. Don't keep more than 2 days worth of the cat food recipe in your refrigerator at a time. So, what have the benefits been of going with raw meat cat food recipe for Carson and Noche?
Benefits of Raw Meat for Cats Recipe
Since, going to an all natural raw-meat-for-cats diet, neither of my cats visit their water bowl much anymore. Noche's black fur has never looked shinier and healthier. Carson is practically back to his normal weight. The cat box never smells too bad anymore and doesn't need to be cleaned as often. Once you get the recipe and skills in making it down, the raw cat food recipe is a money saver. I will now state with complete confidence that a raw meat diet is the only thing I feed my cats - and it has practically brought Carson back to his full health again and cured him of his Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD)
One Secret:
Every now and then, we make a batch of cat food that the cat seems to either not like or just gets bored with. Perhaps, we didn't get the vitamins just right and they are too strong, or perhaps, they don't like the particular kind of meat we used. The Foriflora For Cats solved the problem. Keep some on hand to sprinkle in their food. They love it and its good for their digestion.
