The Raw Deal

Tomorrow is raw cat food day, meaning it's one of the two days a month we make raw cat food for our three cats.

Growing up, our cat ate the cheap dry cat food because that's what we could afford. He was an indoor/outdoor cat, and I was very sad when he passed away. At the time of his passing, my mother was making special food for him out of cooked eggs, ground cooked meat and ground eggshells because he suffered a severe UTI that almost killed him due to crystals formed by eating dry cat food.

When my husband and I made the decision to get cats, I assumed we would be going the same route of feeding our cats whatever was cheap. In my line of thinking, a cat was "just a cat", not akin to a human being and certainly not high on the list of things to care about. It was a pet to provide companionship and it was there to serve me, not the other way around.

Then I began reading about the concept of a raw diet for cats. At the time (2006), the idea of a raw diet was still relatively new. It was just beginning to gain popularity and was mostly still confined to the fringes, the "crazy cat ladies" of the world. But it interested me. I began to learn more about how a cat's digestive system worked, and I began to wonder why I had never thought it odd that the number one ingredient in cheap pet foods is corn, yet all wild and feral cats eat nothing but meat.

After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that if we were going to get cats, we were going to feed them right. But the time commitment of raw food, not to mention the mess, was too much for me. I opted instead to get grain-free dry food and see how that worked.

We adopted two rambunctious kittens, Sam and Io, in the summer of 2006, and began feeding them a grainless dry food. After about a month they developed issues with diarrhea. Our vet advised a "holistic" pet food that included grains, vegetables and meat, but was still a dry food. Instead, we decided to give raw food a wholehearted try. Almost immediately, their diarrhea stopped and they were happy and healthy little kittens again. Not long after that, we were adopted by a pregnant mother cat who we named Hope. We have never gone back to dry food since.

Today, we feed our cats the same raw diet they have eaten for almost four years, one developed by veterinarian Lisa Pierson, found on her website catinfo.org. The recipe is made using only human grade ingredients, something many pet foods lack, and is completely devoid of ash fillers, grains, or difficult to digest vegetables. We use a Tasin meat grinder that we have used since we started without any issues, and buy our supplements at iherb.com.

Since we started this raw diet, our cats have had absolutely no health problems. They are full of energy with soft, healthy coats. Some of the benefits for us, beyond low vet bills, are the advantages of very little waste, and very low smell from the waste they produce. If we didn't clean them, we'd forget their litter boxes were there.

Since we started feeding our cats an all-raw diet, the popularity of raw diets has skyrocketed. You can buy premade raw food from any number of companies, and many pet food stores are beginning to carry raw food as well. Price wise, making your own is infinitely cheaper. Chicken thighs, our meat of choice, are very cheap, especially since you buy thighs with the skin and bones still on them. In terms of a time commitment, set up, grinding and clean up take a grand total of 3 hours with one person doing them all, 2 hours or less with two people, and we make enough cat food to freeze and last for 2 weeks or more.

I cannot say enough about the benefits of raw food. I am so happy that we made the decision, together, to commit to making this food for our cats. Cats are carnivores. Have you ever seen a lion mowing grass like a cow? Do feral cats hunt down carrots? Cats were meant to eat meat. One of the biggest problems we see in cats in obesity. One of the biggest causes of obesity is feeding cats food that is full of fillers and low in nutrients. Think of it this way: you might be able to survive on a diet of nothing but McDonald's fries and burgers, but you would gain a lot of weight eating enough to get the nutrients you need. The solution to an obese cat isn't to feed it less food and therefore even fewer nutrients, it's to feed it a different kind of food that's higher in nutrient content.

If you aren't able or willing to make the time commitment to making raw food (it isn't for everyone, I know), consider buying premade raw food. If that isn't an option, as it can get expensive, then feed your cat a good canned food like Wellness. Dry food is not a good choice for a cat. A cat's teeth are not meant to crunch dry kibble and dry food has a different nutrient profile because of the necessity of a lower protein content to make it into kibble in the first place.

If we all strive to feed our pets the best, the closest to what they would eat in nature, we will see lower vet bills and healthier, happier pets.

Tip of the day: If you make your own raw food, a five gallon bucket is a great way to mix it. You can pick one up from any hardware store, and it allows you to mix the liver, meat and bone and supplements with the water without sloshing anything on yourself or your floor. From there you simply scoop it into whatever you want to put it in, freeze it and you're set to go!