The AH-HAH! moment...

[furmonster mom]

Most of us were commercial food junkies at one point or another.  It's the most common, convenient form of feeding. 

Most of us at one point decided to invest in "higher quality" foods, moving up in the world with higher end kibble or canned.

But what was the moment you decided to scrap all that and "go raw"?  What was your "ah-hah" moment?

Mine was while I was standing over the stove, cooking chicken and rice for our sweet 3¹/₂ year old Pippen who was suffering from severe liver damage.  I sat there cooking it, despairing because he wasn't eating much and I knew he was not getting the nutrients his body needed to get healthy again.  Then I thought to myself, "Wait a minute... we know that cooking leaches nutrients from our food... am I cooking out the nutrients from his meat?".  Then I thought.... "I know that some (crazy) people feed raw meats to their dogs... what about cats?"

And that was the moment that launched a full 2 month research frenzy into feeding raw to cats.  Mind you, back then there was not a lot of cat specific info out there; plenty for dogs, but my gut told me cats were different.  It took a lot of weeding and cross-checking, but I finally came across CatInfo.org, thank goodness.  Eventually, more vets and nutritionists started putting the information out there, and I continue to learn from them and from the people here.

 

[LTS3]

 
But what was the moment you decided to scrap all that and "go raw"?  What was your "ah-hah" moment?

When my previous cat became diabetic and I came across FelineDiabetes.com. While going through all the info at FelineDiabetes.com and reading posts on the message board I saw Catinfo.org mentioned over and over again and how dry food is one reason why many cats end up diabetic. The link beween diet and health made a lot of sense to me. My diabetic cat wouldn't eat raw (plus my parents wouldn't let me feed it) so I put him on an canned food diet and swore to never feed any future cat dry food ever again. When I got my Aby, he was already eating raw food so I continued it. Then I adopted a rescue cat who was finicky about food at first. Fortunately she would eat canned food so after some time on that, I got her to eat raw food. Feeding one diet to two cats makes my life a lot easier

 

[cicoccabim]

I started thinking about trying raw when I saw that my cat was itching and losing a lot of fur- suspected allergy of some sort. I tried one brand (raw grind) and I realized that she loved it! Only to find that it was not a "complete food", I had to add a lot of things to get it right. Which I did at first, but I got fed up with adding so many things-  so it was easier to make her food from scratch. So, 2 months after the "itching-incident" I switched her to half canned, half home-made-raw. 1 months later I had the reciepie checked by a consultant in cat food, I had to add a few things, but otherwise it was good- and then I started feeding all raw. To her delight! 

The ones that met her before starting all raw was ohhh-ing over her soft fur before the food change- they could not believe the change after 2 months of all raw. So soft and shiny fur! And bright eyes. And a lot more nosy energy (sigh....).  And- it is cheaper than the high-brand-wet I fed her before! 

 

[abby2932]

My 8 year old was starting to have loose stool issues. I brought him to the vet and put him on antibiotics, then probiotics but his stool would not firm up for me. I'm pretty sure my vet was very close to diagnosing him with IBD or something.

I had already found the Catinfo.org website 3 years prior to this incident and had read it in its entirety many times. That website was the reason I had switched him over to a canned diet (in lieu of kibble) when he was 5.

I knew that a raw diet was best but it just seemed like a lot of work. Well, now that he was having stool issues that neither my vet nor I could figure out, I picked up some Rad Cat and the rest is history. Healthy cats, normal stool and healthier teeth and gums because I feed bones with a Frankenprey diet.

 

[furmonster mom]

 
 While going through all the info at FelineDiabetes.com and reading posts on the message board I saw Catinfo.org mentioned over and over again and how dry food is one reason why many cats end up diabetic. The link beween diet and health made a lot of sense to me.

It's difficult for people to admit there could be such an easy solution.  I often wonder if it's because, even with humans, we are conditioned to accept medical solutions so easily.

 
... So, 2 months after the "itching-incident" I switched her to half canned, half home-made-raw. 1 months later I had the reciepie checked by a consultant in cat food, I had to add a few things, but otherwise it was good

- and then I started feeding all raw. To her delight! 

The ones that met her before starting all raw was ohhh-ing over her soft fur before the food change- they could not believe the change after 2 months of all raw. So soft and shiny fur! And bright eyes. And a lot more nosy energy (sigh....).  And- it is cheaper than the high-brand-wet I fed her before! 

I don't mean this to knock the home cooks out there.  I think it's the first step to thriving healthy pets.

But isn't it interesting that, for many cats, a raw diet trumps even a "nutritionally complete" cooked diet?... It tells me that nutrients are not the only requirement for a cat's optimal health.  I have my theories, but that would make for a very long post, lol. 

I knew that a raw diet was best but it just seemed like a lot of work.... 

LOL  I think we've all thought it was too much work at some point.  My packing days take several hours (for a full month's food for 5 animals).

But when you see your furbaby's improvements, it's so worth it.

 

[ritz]

Ritz was becoming increasingly addicted and picky eater, only fancy feast classic seafood, and she had a UTI. She was eating three cans and was still hungry. A friend who had dogs mentioned raw feeding. I started doing lots of research and bought a sample package of primal. Ritz loved all flavors. Because of convenience, I switched to prey model raw. Much cheaper than high quality wet food.

 

[pinkdagger]

I'm not sure if I had a big AH-HAH moment. I still feed a mix of commercial wet and dry, as well as commercial and homemade raw,  so mine was more of an easy transition, trying things here and there and seeing what flies with the cats. Shortly after we got Kismet and I was holding the reigns of cat care, I figured "I make food for the birds all the time, and I've been doing it for something like ten years and it offers more than commercial food, so what's to say it isn't the same for the cats?" I guess that in itself is a baby "ah-hah".

I went from cheap commercial dry that my boyfriend was feeding, and went step by step to better dry, then to wet, then to better wet, then to raw, then to homemade raw as I was learning what was better, and then what was better than that, and so forth.

 

[cicoccabim]

 
I don't mean this to knock the home cooks out there.  I think it's the first step to thriving healthy pets.

But isn't it interesting that, for many cats, a raw diet trumps even a "nutritionally complete" cooked diet?... It tells me that nutrients are not the only requirement for a cat's optimal health.  I have my theories, but that would make for a very long post, lol. 

Well, as someone who has studied biochemistry (a long time ago....) I agree with you- I think is has to do with the bioavailability in the food. I have the feeling that my cat need lees food than before, since she can use it in a better, easier way than before when feeding wet. I thought my cat had soft fur before, but now it it amazing! Addictivly (?) soft.  I know that for me there´s no way back to all wet or dry food. I know how my cat feels and smells (!) when on the best diet for her. Other cats may thrive on other food, but for my miss-silly-pants (playful and goofy at the same time) raw is the best food. 

I am convinced, to the point that my big freezer nowadays only has one shelf that is for my food. The rest of the space is for cat food ingredients...... 

 

[mzalisakay]

When all the commercial raw food started showing up at my local pet store and I started doing research, I had my "AH-HAH! I can afford this!" moment. Lol. 

In 2005, made the switch from regular store kibble to high quality kibble because I did research after the MAJOR pet recall. I found out about what ingredients were SUPPOSED to be included in pet foods and what weren't. We couldn't afford raw back then even though I knew it was best.

When we switched, one cat started losing his fur on EVO. Switched to Felidae, didn't get worse, but didn't get better. Switched again - NVI LID - to try to limit the ingredients and see what was causing him to be so itchy. Well, all that switching, the OTHER cat ended up with a UTI.

So, then we switched to all wet after more research. Did some calculations to see if I could or couldn't do raw... decided we could. Switched to commercial raw. I will say it's easier to switch now because there are more options as far as commercial raw goes - all the different brands and where you can purchase them. There are more resources online in how to approach raw feeding and different suppliers and etc. 

 

[ldg]

When I realized what I was feeding them by using commercial food. Had some logistics to work out, but my "ah hah" moment was in December, and I was transitioning by January, had a freezer for them in February. This is the thread where I had my "ah hah" moment: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239691/nutritionally-complete-assurances-for-our-pet-food

 

[furmonster mom]

Originally Posted by pinkdagger  

... mine was more of an easy transition, trying things here and there and seeing what flies with the cats. ... I went from cheap commercial dry that my boyfriend was feeding, and went step by step to better dry, then to wet, then to better wet, then to raw, then to homemade raw as I was learning what was better, and then what was better than that, and so forth.

I agree that there have been many smaller little "ah-hah" moments as I continued to research, and I still have them every so often.  

 

 
I don't mean this to knock the home cooks out there.  I think it's the first step to thriving healthy pets.

But isn't it interesting that, for many cats, a raw diet trumps even a "nutritionally complete" cooked diet?... It tells me that nutrients are not the only requirement for a cat's optimal health.  I have my theories, but that would make for a very long post, lol. 

Well, as someone who has studied biochemistry (a long time ago....) I agree with you- I think is has to do with the bioavailability in the food. I have the feeling that my cat need lees food than before, since she can use it in a better, easier way than before when feeding wet.

I am convinced, to the point that my big freezer nowadays only has one shelf that is for my food. The rest of the space is for cat food ingredients...... 

It's so interesting that you mention biochemistry... I took a class as part of my University coursework back in the day.... sort of accidentally.  We had to pick a "science" course, so I signed up for Chemistry 101, thinking it would be a breeze because I did well in High School chem.  What I didn't realize was because my university had a very focused Nursing program, Chem 101 was actually Biochemistry 101.  lol 

It was not my strongest class, but I did well enough to understand most of the basics.  I never thought I would use the information, but when I started researching the raw diet there were things that just ... clicked.  Having the basic understanding of how enzymes work on a molecular level really helped me understand the bioavailability factor that you mention.

And LOL about the freezer... ours is the same.  

 
When all the commercial raw food started showing up at my local pet store and I started doing research, I had my "AH-HAH! I can afford this!" moment. Lol. 

I think a lot of folks are surprised how affordable raw food can be, especially when considering the health benefits as a financial factor.   

 

 

[gammeldame]

I am still in research mode, but I really want to try it for my new addition. I started feeding dry food to him when he was a stray cat that was hanging around my acreage. He was a fairly healthy weight when I brought him to the vet after feeding him for two weeks, but his fur was falling out. Two months later he was overweight, a loud breather and was still pulling his fur out.

The ah-ha moment was just realizing that he had been living on a raw diet for however long he had been abandoned and was actually quite healthy. I have no way of knowing how long he had been on his own, but he was an unneutered male with large jowls which puts his age at at least 3 years. He must have lived with a family for awhile because he has taken to being inside with no trouble, very affectionate, uses the litter box and loves my couch, and food...any food.

I am worried about ensuring that he is going to have the proper nutrients feeding him with the raw diet though, because it doesn't sound like asking a vet for advice would work since most don't agree with the raw diet.

Hopefully I can get over the fear of starting soon, since I want to see if the diet will clear up his itchy skin enough so his fur will grow back before I need to bring him in for shots in July.