Frozen Raw Food Diet vs. Vet Recommendations?

[simshii]

I took my 7 month old kitty to the vet for the first time a few days ago. Of course I was interrogated about his diet and such. After informing my vet I feed him Arusha Raw, she had said nothing but negatives about raw feeding and proceeded to force me to change his diet to canned and dry food. I have done tremendous amount of research of what I should and should not be feeding my kitty. Of course after hearing that I should feed him Science Diet and/or Royal Canin, my mind just tell me no.

I will be returning to the clinic in two weeks to get my kitty neutered, and so the big question is should I down-grade to canned and dry food and listen to the advice of educated vets? Or stick with what I know and comfortable with? (My vet will most likely ask me if I had made the switch or not. Of course I am not great with such questions; I would probably evade the questions or lie and then switch vets.)

Also, if any of you would like to recommend Canadian frozen raw food brands, please feel free to yell it out here and your overall experience with it! I would like to give my kitty several selections since he is a picky eater.

Thanks in advance! 

 

[molldee]

Of course go with your gut and feed whatever you're comfortable with and know is the most nutritious for your kitty! Before you go to that vet again, print up literature from reputable websites that promote the raw food diet. Particularly ones from vets like catinfo.org. Ask the vet there to read over what you brought and then say, "...and that's why I choose to feed raw!"

 

[vball91]

Good suggestion from molldee. The truth is that most vets do not receive much education on nutrition, a semester usually. And most of that education is either provided by or funded by the big companies like Hill's or RC. I would not argue with the vet but I would simply state that I do not feel that grains are appropriate for obligate carnivores like cats, and I will choose to feed my cat the best diet possible.

 

[peaches08]

Curious, what were her negatives about raw feeding? Maybe we can help with some of that.

While I agree with others about not fighting with the vet, I'm afraid that I'd have to stand my ground about dry kibble. Unless you have a die hard kibble head on your hands, I can't think of a health reason that a cat MUST eat dry kibble.

 

[simshii]

Curious, what were her negatives about raw feeding? Maybe we can help with some of that.

1. The salmonella issue
2. It is an unbalanced diet
3. Cats do not get all the proper nutrition they need from raw

She had also printed out a two page article for me that says 'There is no science to back up Raw Food Diets.'

 

[lilin]

 
I took my 7 month old kitty to the vet for the first time a few days ago. Of course I was interrogated about his diet and such. After informing my vet I feed him Arusha Raw, she had said nothing but negatives about raw feeding and proceeded to force me to change his diet to canned and dry food. I have done tremendous amount of research of what I should and should not be feeding my kitty. Of course after hearing that I should feed him Science Diet and/or Royal Canin, my mind just tell me no.

I will be returning to the clinic in two weeks to get my kitty neutered, and so the big question is should I down-grade to canned and dry food and listen to the advice of educated vets? Or stick with what I know and comfortable with? (My vet will most likely ask me if I had made the switch or not. Of course I am not great with such questions; I would probably evade the questions or lie and then switch vets.)

Also, if any of you would like to recommend Canadian frozen raw food brands, please feel free to yell it out here and your overall experience with it! I would like to give my kitty several selections since he is a picky eater.

Thanks in advance! 

I would ignore the vet. The fact is, when it comes to nutrition, most vets are NOT educated. When they were in vet school, what little nutritional information they got was bought and paid for by pet food companies.

There is simply no way a diet void of moisture and full of carbs is better for your cat.

I would bring in some information from vets who understand cat nutrition, and if she asks me if I switched my cat, I would tell her no, and hand her the information. I would also tell her that my decision is final and to leave me alone about it.

 

[lilin]

1. The salmonella issue
2. It is an unbalanced diet
3. Cats do not get all the proper nutrition they need from raw

She had also printed out a two page article for me that says 'There is no science to back up Raw Food Diets.'

1. With proper food handling, this risk is low. And there are some raw foods that us HPP to kill bacteria, and/or test every batch, making this risk almost non-existent. Personally, I use these.

2. Absolutely false. Many raw diets are balanced, and even approved by nutritional boards as such. Sure, there are unbalanced diets, but plenty of raw diets are complete.

3. Absolutely false. It is not difficult to make a complete raw diet, seeing as how cats are designed to get everything they need from raw prey.

I would bring in information showing that there IS science to pack up the harms of a moisture-deprived diet, and I will not feed that to my cat.

 

[simshii]

 
1. With proper food handling, this risk is low. And there are some raw foods that us HPP to kill bacteria, and/or test every batch, making this risk almost non-existent. Personally, I use these.

2. Absolutely false. Many raw diets are balanced, and even approved by nutritional boards as such. Sure, there are unbalanced diets, but plenty of raw diets are complete.

3. Absolutely false. It is not difficult to make a complete raw diet, seeing as how cats are designed to get everything they need from raw prey.

I would bring in information showing that there IS science to pack up the harms of a moisture-deprived diet, and I will not feed that to my cat.

Thank you! I will prepare a page or two to bring on my next vet visit. Last time my vet just asked "why do you feed her raw?" and all I could say is "he gets a lot of moisture from it and he loves it." I was not prepared to answer to her question at all even though I had a million reasons on the back of my head. 

 

[ldg]

What raw do you feed? Is it a commercially prepared diet that is labeled complete and balanced? That would address that question.

While I find the tone of this Open Letter to Vets rather confrontational, it's something to consider: http://www.catnutrition.org/open-letter-to-vets.html

I believe printing out the information from http://www.catinfo.org would be more effective, as it is a site written by a vet.

Here are several other options, all written by vets:

http://feline-nutrition.org/health/a-vets-view-andrea-tasi-vmd

This has a video, but also has the text: http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nd-healthiest-diet-for-pet-cats-and-dogs.aspx


If you are putting some fact sheets together, here is some information you may consider worth including:

1) No human cases of salmonella have been traced to feeding raw pet food ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16447116 ). Yet there have been at least 128 cases of salmonella infection in humans directly related to contamination of dry pet foods ( https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Dry-Pet-Foods-and-Salmonella-FAQs.aspx ).

2) our dogs and cats are already carriers of Salmonella, E. coli, and other pathogens. “The intestinal carriage of Salmonella by dogs and cats is more common than the prevalence of clinical disease, with numerous serovars being isolated from each animal species. Prevalence of isolation of Salmonella spp from feces of healthy dogs is reported to be between 1 and 36%, and from healthy cats between 1 and 18%. (Sanchez S, Hofacre CL, Lee MD, Jaurer JJ and Doyle MP. (2002). “Animal Sources of Salmonellosis in Humans,” JAVMA 221:492-497).

3) Any of the information posted here (it sure does illustrate why commercial diets aren't healthy for our pets!) : http://www.thecatsite.com/t/260311/...hat-raw-feeding-is-good-for-cats#post_3367995

Please note that the information that 90% of cats are now overweight or obese is incorrect. The number was the increase over a period of time. The actual number of cats that are overweight or obese is 58.3% in 2012: http://www.petobesityprevention.com/2012-national-pet-obesity-survey-results/

 

[peaches08]

1. The salmonella issue
2. It is an unbalanced diet
3. Cats do not get all the proper nutrition they need from raw

She had also printed out a two page article for me that says 'There is no science to back up Raw Food Diets.'

I'm in nursing school, so I understand why vets ask what you're feeding the patient. It's part of the overall health. That said, her information about nutrition isn't exactly accurate. I see it with human healthcare too.

1. If Salmonella is an issue, culture dry cat food after a couple of weeks. You'll be surprised.

2. If the food is not complete, it will say so on the package usually. If homemade, as long as you are putting the recipe/menu together correctly then yes it is balanced. I understand the concern with this one because we had a poster here at TCS that fed a kitten an unbalanced raw diet (no calcium source) and the kitten paid the ultimate price.

3. Cats are obligate carnivores equipped with everything they need to digest raw meat/bone. Cats with certain health/digestion problems, sometimes need a cooked diet with a different calcium source, or just a different calcium source, or probiotics/enzymes. That last bit has to be supplemented regardless of the diet for some cats.

LDG organized quite a bit of material for this subforum in the resources stickies. If this is a vet that you want to keep, I'd wait until after the neutering and then show your information.

 

[simshii]

What raw do you feed? Is it a commercially prepared diet that is labeled complete and balanced? That would address that question.

While I find the tone of this Open Letter to Vets rather confrontational, it's something to consider: http://www.catnutrition.org/open-letter-to-vets.html

I believe printing out the information from http://www.catinfo.org would be more effective, as it is a site written by a vet.

Here are several other options, all written by vets:

http://feline-nutrition.org/health/a-vets-view-andrea-tasi-vmd

This has a video, but also has the text: http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...nd-healthiest-diet-for-pet-cats-and-dogs.aspx


If you are putting some fact sheets together, here is some information you may consider worth including:

1) No human cases of salmonella have been traced to feeding raw pet food ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16447116 ). Yet there have been at least 128 cases of salmonella infection in humans directly related to contamination of dry pet foods ( https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Dry-Pet-Foods-and-Salmonella-FAQs.aspx ).

2) our dogs and cats are already carriers of Salmonella, E. coli, and other pathogens. “The intestinal carriage of Salmonella by dogs and cats is more common than the prevalence of clinical disease, with numerous serovars being isolated from each animal species. Prevalence of isolation of Salmonella spp from feces of healthy dogs is reported to be between 1 and 36%, and from healthy cats between 1 and 18%. (Sanchez S, Hofacre CL, Lee MD, Jaurer JJ and Doyle MP. (2002). “Animal Sources of Salmonellosis in Humans,” JAVMA 221:492-497).

3) Any of the information posted here (it sure does illustrate why commercial diets aren't healthy for our pets!) : http://www.thecatsite.com/t/260311/...hat-raw-feeding-is-good-for-cats#post_3367995

Please note that the information that 90% of cats are now overweight or obese is incorrect. The number was the increase over a period of time. The actual number of cats that are overweight or obese is 58.3% in 2012: http://www.petobesityprevention.com/2012-national-pet-obesity-survey-results/

Thank you for the links! I have watched Dr.Becker's video. She was actually the reason why I have decided to feed my kitten raw food.

I currently feed him Arusha Premium Raw and occasionally Nature's Variety Instinct Raw. For some reason he does not like sticking to one brand for too long. He's very excited to try new stuff, but he loses interest in about a week. So I do switch back and forth from Arusha and Nature's Variety.

 

[ldg]

I don't know Arusha's, but Nature's Variety addresses ALL of your vet's concerns. It is nutritionally balanced and complete, AND it is treated with Hihg Pressure Processing, so it is guaranteed pathogen-free. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/10/22/sterile-raw-pet-food.aspx

OK, looked up Arusha. It is also nutritionally balanced. http://www.arushapetfoods.com/

As a result of our research, we started to prepare our own raw cat food that provides a nutritionally balanced ready to serve meal using naturally raised hormone and antibiotic free animal proteins. Soon after, we had many requests to make dog food using the same high quality ingredients. Now we produce a full line of cat and dog food.

Just providing your vet that information may resolve the concerns.

One of my vets didn't even know that existed. As soon as I explained it, he had absolutely no problem with my feeding raw. The next time I saw him, I'd transitioned to homemade. I printed out my menu and the analysis. He was good with it, especially after seeing the cats and their blood work. :lol3: