I have to chime in on the raw food. I started cooking for Dixie after
the cat/dog food scare a few years ago and no longer feed my kept cats
any thing with grain. The ferals get Purina dry and canned (I don't
know of any recalls involving their products). I discovered Primal
Raw and served it to Dixie a lot and to Copper and Thomas several
times a week. They get cooked chicken frequently, especially for
snacks. Dixie did wonderfully on it and so are the the boys. It
comes in one oz cubes that can be thawed and served with or without
veggies added (Dixie liked spinach and/or broccoli chopped and
added). I'm vegetarian and find this easier than grinding. There are
other frozen brands available too. The Primal Raw is species
specific. It is more expensive and, with two large male cats, I am
rethinking the home-made issue. Dixie was Felv+. The boys aren't.
On Nov 19, 2009, at 3:45 PM, Tracey Shrout wrote:
Lorrie,
Yes, I think raw is the best also. If you go to those websites,
they give
you step-by-step instructions on how to make it. You have to be
careful to
follow the recommended proportions. It does take a little time to
convince
the cats that this is what they should be eating. One of mine, a 12
year
old dry food 'addict' took almost 2 months to completely change to
this
diet. The others were much easier to convince. I just mixed it
with a good
canned food, progressively adding more raw. They will eventually
eat it by
itself and love it, you just have to be determined. Occasionally, I
do give
some canned food for variety, or when I run out of the raw. On those
websites, they also explain how to grind it -- you will have to buy a
grinder, and yes, you should use real bones. Its daunting at first,
but gets easier everytime you make it.
Tracey
On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 5:07 PM, Lorrie <felineres...@kvinet.com>
wrote:
I think a raw food diet is best for cats, as it's certainly more
natural, with none of the by-products and other awful stuff they add
to cat food. However only one of my cats will eat it. The others just
sniff it and walk away. I'd be interested in hearing what your diet
consists of. Are there any particular proportions you use of the
chicken, bones, organ meat, egg, vitamins etc, and can bone meal be
used instead of bones? I don't know how I'd grind bones.
Lorrie
On 11-15, Tracey Shrout wrote: Anna, I will give you my personal
opinion dealing with severe diahrrea in 2 of my kitties, one of
which is +. After many trips to the vet and having many tests for
parasites and doses of parasitic medicines, antibiotics, trying
fortiflora (which does help some), nothing completely resolved
their issues until I started feeding my cats what I feel is the
best food possible -- a raw homemade diet of chicken and bones (and
organ meat, egg, and vitamins, etc). Lots of people are totally
against feeding raw, but I have 5 very healthy kitties who've been
eating it for almost 2 years now with remarkable changes in all of
them. No more diahrrea for my kitties, and most of the time is
doesn't even have an odor (no kidding!) I will never go back to
dry, and I use only a good quality grain-free can food if
necessary. Cats with diahrrea are naturally going to be
dehydrated, so you really need to be giving them water WITH their
food -- a canned food.
If the homemade diet is not an option for you though, just try a
grain free diet. Wellness has a good canned one, and there are a
few grain-free dry foods as well. Most cats merely 'tolerate'
grains, and other cats cannot. It is not natural for them to eat
grains. Oh, and LOTS of cats throw up. No, it is not good, but it
is very common. My cats don't throw up anymore (other than
hairballs) EVER! I spent tons of time researching making my own
food because of so many health issiues w/my kitties -- now I don't
have any issues at all. If you want to learn more, check out
catnutrition.com and catinfo.com. If you follow the recipes to a
"T'', you will be amazed! Good luck, and I hope they get better!
Tracey
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