Homemade diet / nutritionalist question

[havel1hv]

I have a cat that has a history of liver problems and her latest blood test is showing some possible slight kidney problems. She has recently started to lose serious weight and her fur is no longer as soft. She has unfortunitly been eating Science Diet Liver Diet, but I am moving her to raw.

So I have a couple of questions. How messy are cats when eating a raw diet?

Anything I should know about other than diet stuff - like poop warnings etc.?

How do I find a good small animal / cat nutritionalist? I live in the Middle of the Michigan Lower Penninsula. I am currently trying to get our finicky eater to east Feline Futures Kidney diet recipe.

Thank you all in advance!

Heather V. Havel

 

[hissy]

You might find this interesting to read before you undertake this. good luck. Please know it is not the actual raw meat that is bad for the domestic cats but it IS the additives and growth hormones the industry pumps into the livestock that could harm your cat further.

Homemade Diet

 

[havel1hv]

I am looking at either ordering free range meet from http://www.peacefulpastures.com/ or finding a place closer to home. Would love to find a rabbit place - anyone have suggestions for finding good meat?

Heather V. Havel

 

[gayef]

Only you & your vet can know for certain what the best options might be for your cat, but I am not sure I would be so quick to put a cat with possible kidney issues on a high-protein raw diet. It is my understanding that protein is hard for the kidneys to process, and with the possibility of some compromise in your cat, I would wait and see what your vet suggests for her nutritional requirements. From the limited amount of research I have conducted, I think I might try a higher fiber content food first. Fiber has a tendency to help clean the system so the kidney's don't have to work as hard processing any excesses.

Please accept my sincere wishes for continued progress. Please let us know how it goes.

Yours,

Gaye

 

[eeva]

The additives and hormones found in raw meat can still be found in commercial foods, which have even more preservatives and stuff added to them, so I personally think raw meat is much safer in this regard. It's important to find out a lot about nutrition and raw diets before "just doing it" so you'll do it right, especially with a kitty with health problems, but I would not ask your vet or at least take just his/her word for it but research it a bit. Most vets do not have a whole lot of knowledge about nutrition, it is briefly covered in vet school and even then sponsored by commercial pet food companies so the information is limited. As per the protein amount, latest studies indicate that it's not actually the amount of protein that's important, but the bioavailability of it, how well it is digested. Raw meat is good in this regard.

I would suggest reading on the web about raw foods and nutrition as much as you can, possibly even join an email list (search yahoogroups for RawCats, for example), they are excellent sources of information, and you may be able to find someone who's switched their cat to raw with the same problem. Raw food diets are excellent, but you do need a whole lot of information to do them right, especially if your cat has health problems.

As per the messiness, yes, feeding cats a raw diet can be messy. If the meat is served in chunks, as is good, the cat may drag it far away from the bowl, on the floor, table or whatever, may play with it for a while etc. Some cats don't do any of this, my raw fed cat is not really messy at all, but I know some are. After you switch, it is possible your cat will develop a bit of diarrhea, just like with any diet switch, but if you switch slowly it shouldn't be too bad, and it won't last long. My cat didn't get this, but others may.

I am by no means an expert, but I do feed raw diets to my two dogs and one cat (the other one refuses raw no matter how hard I try) and since they are all healthy, I have no experience with switching over pets that have problems. However, feel free to email/pm me if you want to talk more.

 

[badhabit]

There is much to debate on this subject and no one can ever seem to come to an agreement on which is better, raw or cooked? Just so you know there is 3 types of raw diets, commercially complete raw diets that are sold frozen, homemade raw diets and combination diets which is commercially available grains and supplements mixed with raw meat.

Raw meat advocates say that feeding your pet commercially prepared food contains numerous toxins that are potentially harmful to the animal.

But the claims that a raw meat diet is best for your pet has never been proved in clinical trials. Also feeding your pet a diet that you prepared yourself can be dangerous unless you know what you are doing. Bacteria in raw meat is dangerous to pets and can cause diarrhea dispite the claims that a cat's digestive system can process food faster so the bacteria does not have a chance to cause any harm.

Before switching your cat onto ANY diet please consult with your veterinarian or better yet try and find a veterinarian nutritionist who can better guide you on the subject.