Best Diet For Your Cat – Raw food diets for cats and dogs have grown tremendously in recent years. As obligate carnivores, cats especially thrive on a complete, balanced and safely prepared raw diet. However, feeding your cat a raw diet is a significant responsibility—and one that many experts advise against. Read on for details.
Raw can be a broad term, including freeze-dried or dehydrated options. In general, a raw diet is one that includes animal protein (usually lean meat), organs, bones, and fiber sources. To be considered truly “raw,” the food is not processed using heat.
Best Diet For Your Cat
Currently there are many commercially available raw diets. Preparation can be done at home with time and study.
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The dangers of well-known bacteria like salmonella and E.coli are very real in raw foods. Although cats are less susceptible to these hazards due to smaller GI systems and therefore less exposure to harm, the risk of cross-contamination is a concern – not to mention that these harmful bacteria can negatively affect cats.
Food safety and thorough hygiene procedures must be followed. High pressure processing (HPP), a food preservation step using pressure rather than heat, is often used commercially to ensure safe nutrition. Cat parents should follow the feeding guidelines and storage recommendations provided by the supplier.
As evolved desert dwellers, cats lack an intense thirst drive. A high-moisture raw diet tends to offer hydration, helping to alleviate some urinary problems and improve overall health.
Perhaps the most common health concern that can be helped by a raw food diet is kidney disease. The kidneys, when healthy, work to metabolize protein and process waste. Heat processing damages the amino acid profile of the food, causing lower protein efficiency (usability by the cat) and waste to be processed by the kidneys. In turn, a diet free of heat damage can improve kidney health.
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The risks of raw food are real — especially if pet owners aren’t able to prepare whole, balanced and safe home meals, or buy and store raw food properly.
Because of the risks to animals and any humans who live with them, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends feeding pets a raw diet.
Pet parents familiar with nutrition product labels have probably seen the words “complete and balanced” before. This term indicates that the product meets the nutritional requirements for an animal’s life stage – as determined by AAFCO, the voluntary association that works with animal nutritionists to create guidelines for marketed animals. Regulates food safety.
Often a vitamin pack or nutritional supplement should be used to ensure that a complete and balanced nutritional profile is achieved.
What Is The Best Diet For Your Cat?
While raw feeding may bring up thoughts of throwing a piece of raw meat or fish into your cat’s bowl, creating a complete and balanced homemade raw diet is not that simple.
A serious risk of raw food consumption is the risk to the human inhabitants of a home. Food safety storage and hygiene practices must be followed. It is always best to consult an animal nutrition professional to develop a complete diet of protein from meat or fish, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and proper water intake for your cat.
Our feline companions are notoriously picky when it comes to their diet, but providing them with minimally processed nutrition is the best thing for them.
A gradual transition to less processed foods over time is usually the best bet. This can be accomplished by phasing in raw foods leading to a completely raw diet. The Feline Nutrition Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to educating cat parents about the benefits of a raw diet, and offers an informative transition guide.
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The above benefits of feeding your cat a raw diet are often not realized with a processed diet.
However, barriers to feeding a safe, complete and balanced raw diet can prevent cat parents from switching to a raw diet. As with our own food, a balance must be struck between convenience and healthy nutrition when it comes to providing your cat with a healthy diet.
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While there is no perfect substitute for feeding a truly raw diet, the goal of providing optimal nutrition can be achieved in a variety of ways.
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Sometimes thought of as synonymous with raw diets are freeze-dried and dehydrated diets. The purpose of feeding this way is to avoid heat-processed ingredients, or to achieve as little heat-damaged nutrition as possible. With RAWZ, we’ve worked with a team of animal nutritionists to develop raw-inspired, minimally processed nutritional options for cats.
Speaking to PetMD, Jodie Gruenstern, DVM, believes that eating raw food may be more important for cats than for dogs “because they are stricter carnivores than dogs.”
In the same article, Erica Hale, DVM, discusses how a raw food diet can help with weight management. “Obesity is still possible with raw food, but much less likely than with processed, high carbohydrate foods.” With diabetes and obesity so prevalent in cats today, this is especially important.
A third-generation RAWZ family member, Jim spreads the word of optimal pet nutrition through in-store product demos and regular articles for the RAWZ blog. After suffering a traumatic brain injury in 2006, Jim began participating in the writing program at the Kramples Center in Portsmouth, NH. Writing was a way to process and heal from his injury — but Jim realized he could also use this skill to spread awareness about the RAWZ brand and mission. Jim covers a range of pet health issues for the company blog, as well as other personal stories that tie into the causes RAWZ supports. Her favorite thing to write about? People have strong bonds with their pets.
What Do I Need To Know To Make My Own Cat Food?
Pet dental care for cats: How to prevent and treat dental disease Read more 12 ways to tell about pet health If your cat loves you Read more Whether you’re a master chef or a cook With newbies, you can successfully prepare homemade food that your cat will love.All it takes is an understanding of the process and the right ingredients to make a complete and balanced meal.
You can choose to prepare raw cat food, cooked cat food or a balance of both. Each option will require the following materials:
To be considered truly raw, the meat is not processed using any heat. Cooking with heat can cause the meat to lose nutrients, which is why eating raw is considered very beneficial. However, if you’re concerned about feeding your cat raw meat because of the potential for bacteria, Lisa A. Pierson, DVM and owner of CatInfo.org advises that you can also partially cook the meat.
The type and source of meat can also influence your decision. Pearson chooses to feed rabbit 100% raw, but partially cook whole chicken and turkey thighs. “I never feed poultry
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Source in raw form because it is more apt to be contaminated with harmful bacteria,” she writes. If you buy pre-ground poultry, it should always be fully cooked.
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means they thrive on diets rich in animal protein, making homemade raw diets especially beneficial. Raw food:
When it comes to homemade cat food, preparing complete and balanced recipes is a must. In the wild, cats can get all the nutrients they need by feeding on their whole prey, but modern cats need supplemental vitamins and minerals.
Below is a list of essential supplements for domestic cat food. You can find them at specialty grocery stores, health food stores or online retailers. The supplements are the same as those designed for humans, only the amounts will be different.
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Cats have evolved to obtain hydration from the prey they eat, which is why they don’t have a natural thirst like dogs. Raw meat, which is used in many home recipes, provides an excellent source of hydration, but you should have fresh water available at all times.
You’ll also want to make sure you get the freshest, highest quality meat for your homemade cat food recipes. Do not remove the fat from the meat; It is important for nutrient utilization, cell integrity and metabolic regulation.
Pierson explains at CatInfo.org that cats can’t live on meat alone—they also need calcium. Homemade cat food needs to include a calcium-to-phosphorus ratio. If cats were to eat prey in the wild, they would be eating a good balance of calcium (from bones) and phosphorus (from meat).
Bones should be ground with meat, or you should add another source of calcium and supplements if you are using only meat. Incorporating the right amount of bone is important because too much can cause constipation or urethral obstruction. “I suggest using only poultry thighs which will reduce the bone content of the meal because the thigh is the meatiest part of the bird’s body that contains bone,” says Pearson.
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