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Here you can discuss ways to improve the quality of your cat's life and longevity through proper nutrition and it's a place for all of your questions and answers about feeding your kitty! Don't furget to check out Catster's Cat Care Guide Book for information about feeding your cat! Purr Appawtite!
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Bishop
 Mr. ``B`` | 
| Purred: Sun Nov 1, '09 6:58am PST | |  |  |  |  | I agree - no one should just jump into raw feeding. Or think that throwing down a piece of chicken meat is balanced enough for our cats. I think that people should do their research first on raw feeding properly and learn how to balance the diet properly and nutritionally before feeding raw. Whether you choose to add in supplements, vitamins, etc. (the pet food idustry does this as well) to balance out the diet is your choice. It's what each person feels safe and confident with. I went through a bit of trial and error and now feel very confident with what I feed my cat. I had to adjust it a bit to make it work for him. It was a learning process and the best decision I made for my cat. He is the healthiest he has been his whole life. Commercial pet food gave him diarrhea, dry, scruffy fur for many many years. Now his fur is shiny and soft and his diarrhea is a thing of the past....
Educate! Educate! Educate! |  |  |  |  |
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Alaska
 I ordered snow,- where is it?!?!? | 
| Purred: Sun Nov 1, '09 8:37am PST | |  |  |  |  | "if dry food isnt so bad.my girls, all age 4, and one is 13 are all in good shape. No horrible teeth, none are overweight, shiny coats, no health issues."
However what is going on INSIDE of them. Most likely tons of fat - even a healthy looking cat that is fed dry food has tons of fat inside of them. Check out this picture: http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm its a tiny bit down the page.
Cats can SURVIVE just fine on dry food. Mine are for sure THRIVING on raw. I thought they were doing great when they were eating dry. Not fat, fairly active (Chasing a laser toy 8ish minutes without tiring), shiny coats. Then I learned how horrible feeding dry food really is so I switched to wet. Then they lost their "dry food wieght", would chase a laser toy for 15 minutes without getting tired, and their fur was a ton softer. They also pooped much less.
With raw feeding: Fur is like silk on most of them, a tiny bit of light and it just reflects of their fur, they no longer need lysine in their food to control their herpes, very little poop (and it isn't smelly at all), NO fleas/earmites and I don't treat them for that, white teeth, and they've played 30 minutes with a laser w/o tiring. I haven't gone more than that but I know they would if I could stay with them that long. |  |  |  |  |
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Shadow
 Just say NO to- KIBBLE KRACK! | 
| Purred: Sun Nov 1, '09 9:50am PST | |  |  |  |  | Miss Tiny Burr you got it you cant just throw down a chicken and that would be good that is why we are here to help educate people on this subject. Education is the key!!
Though I would like to know your sources about your statement ??? "and yes, there genes, digestive tracts have changed alot since the wild" Did you watch the video I posted? |  |  |  |  |
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Nadia
 Nadia, sweet- little acrobat. | 
| Purred: Sun Nov 1, '09 11:15am PST | |  |  |  |  | Miss Tiny BB,
"... not even Vets seem to know enough."
No they don't, most just like to go along with the program, what has been done for years -- just have bags of SD, etc for sale and just say any dry food is fine. Most don't bother much with nutrition, so you're right, MOST vets won't be involved with assisting you in a good raw approach. But, of course, there are exceptions, those vets who DO promote raw feeding done right -- which will only be increasing. We just need to be proactive and educate ourselves. I first just want the vets to stop pushing the dry.
"you cant just throw a cat a peice of chicken. its more complex then that."
True, like the other catsters have said, it takes a little effort to get it right, but it's so do-able. Again, we just have to educate ourselves. And if it's too much, feed a quality canned or combo with some raw.
"and yes, there genes, digestive tracts have changed alot since the wild."
I'm curious & wondering the same thing as Shadow. Just really curious what you mean by that and where is the evidence?
" i just dont see how giving them raw meat is better."
Have you heard of the Pottenger cats? The first 'study' that looked at the benefits of a raw diet was done in the 1930 -1940's. This ten year study/experiment called The Pottenger Cat study showed cats are were healthier when given raw food; read about it here: Pottenger click here And now there are lots of people with stories and evidence of their kitties doing better.
"whats to say the factorys that make humane grade food, premade raw, or even the butcher shop has "safe" food? when someone else prepares your food, theres no way to know. as i remember there is allways recalls on human food too."
That's true you never know, but usually meat is safe. We can only do the best we can with this, too.
Miss Tiny Burr Burr, you are such a pretty little Tortie, we hope you are your meowma are having a great weekend, we just wanted to share some thoughts here  |  |  |  |  |
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Alaska
 I ordered snow,- where is it?!?!? | 
| Purred: Sun Nov 1, '09 12:02pm PST | |  |  |  |  | I've actually fed meat from animals I have raised. Dairy cow doesn't taste as good as beef cow but they love it anyway.
You can't throw down a piece of meat. It just doesn't work. You have to balance it out with 80-85% meat, 5-10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ.
Else go the easy route: whole prey! |  |  |  |  |
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Miss Tiny- Burr Burr
 gotts the 'tude- of the torti | 
| Purred: Tue Nov 3, '09 8:10am PST | |  |  |  |  | i dont mind talking about raw and dry diets. obviously people have differnt veiws...thats fine. some people had good points, while i dont agree, still good points.
but i dont really apprechate implying my cats are unhealthy and "surviving" on what i feed. this is what i know for sure
1. We are not vets. (at least i dont think anyone is here) we know on what we read, what other people tell us, and what our cats look like.
2. No study is really complete enough. Who did this study on raw, and who does the study on dry? We have just begun to scratch the surface on cat health.
3. most people arnt educated enough to be able to feed there cats correctly on there own. Having said that, i dont totally agree with the way dry food is made.
Cat food companys feed chicken and beef for two reasons: its cheep and avalable, and its what people eat. People are more comfortable feeding there pets stuff they are familar with, not 'weird' meats. While other meat sources are probibly fine, people would rather feed chicken and beef, which they feel is "safe" because they eat it.
I dont feed raw or homemade. but that dosnt mean i think dry is perfect. 80% of it is crap. esp the grocery store brands. I think we still have a long way to go for cat health and it lies somewhere between homecooked and permade.
I accully plan on studying this in school. I dont like any current feeding method for cats.
and as far as the other questions... thats a whole nother topic. the whole human intervetion and breeding programs, wild vs domestic...yikes. thats a new topic completely.
ps: I fully beleve my cats are the picture of health. Shiny teeth, pelts, eyes. bounding around the house, no issues. Health check every year says they are great, even had some vets say they are some of the healthest cats they have seen. Pumpkin even over came being grossly overweight and a tumor. I think im at least doing something right. |  |  |  |  |
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