We have had a lot of cats through our house. At the moment we have two long term residents – Sterling (Nommer of Evil) and Georgia (Guardian of the Holy Light). Each of these four legged monsters has their own issues…Sterling has no teeth (through no fault of his own) and Georgia is basically bulimic (with the binging and minus the throwing up – she is just TINY!). We also have some…erm…litter box issues (enough said). Sterling is a big fan of anything even remotely resembling food (he is a HUGE fan of brussel sprouts – go figure) as is Georgia. The problem with Georgia however, is that if anything other than canned Trader Joes cat food passes her lips…her litter box issues become world problems. At one point i think our neighbors may have complained.
Kidding. Mostly.
So…there is a favourite cat of mine whom I babysit every now and then when his parents head out of town. His name is Simon (the pieman) and he is my other love. I have known Simon for about 9ish years and he has been through a lot of ups and downs with weight and health problems but lately his mom has been telling me about this new raw diet that she has him on and how well he has been doing. It prompted me to do some more research into the idea and to really look at what our pointies are eating.
I think my biggest question (other than the health benefits) was, was it possible for me to feed them a good quality raw diet for the same (or slightly more) as what I was already spending. In all honesty, after doing my research, the health benefits (to me) of a raw diet far outweigh the increase in cost. But…after I made my first batch this weekend…I realized that I was out the same amount of money for a weeks worth of food compared to how I normally bought it. Brilliant. So it takes a little longer and its certainly a little grosser than buying pre-made cat food. But as I said before, the health benefits outweigh everything else…and now i finally know EXACTLY what is going in to their food bowl.
So where did I go to get started?
- Feline Nutrition This site presents everything in a clear way. It seems like a ton of information at first (and it is) but every page on this site is worth a read. I know that actually making your own raw food isn’t an option that is applicable to everyone…this site also has a TON of links on where to find pre-made raw diets. Simons Mom orders pre-made raw cat food through Hare Today – originally I was going to pursue this option, but the freight costs were throwing me for a bit of a loop. We only have a small freezer, so even buying in bulk to save on shipping was not an option for us.
- Cat Nutrition An AMAZING treasure trove of information on feeding raw and why its a great idea. This site comes more from a personal standpoint than the Feline Nutrition site which I love, because it tells me that someone like me thought that this was a good idea too. It also makes me feel that someone like me (ie. a dunce in the kitchen) can do this without causing a nuclear meltdown.
- Cat Info This is Dr Lisa Pierson’s site and is chock full of amazing information. I can’t stress enough that this is one site you should read from top to bottom.
So with all that being said…how did my experiment with raw cat food go?
These two monsters would give the thumbs up, but a) eating and b) no thumbs.
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