# Raw food diet for cats?



## diddy (7 November 2019)

HI everyone,

We have moved our dogs onto a raw food diet, which has got me questioning why I donâ€™t do the same for our cat. In particular, the vet recently commented that her teeth look quite bad for a cat of her age. This could be because she is older than we were told by the rescue we got her from, but nonetheless I would quite like to make sure sheâ€™s on the best diet just in case.

However, whereas the info on dogs seems relatively easy to understand, Iâ€™m a bit confused by the info available about raw food for cats. I understand that just switching them to raw meat isnâ€™t enough and they need supplements or something?

Just wondering if anyone can share what they have done and how easy it is to source everything? Like I say, this is more about doing the best to help Diddycat stay healthy, rather than tempting her to eat. She had a very tough start in life and will eat just about anything as a result â€“ her favourite trick is to climb into the sink and suck stray strands of spaghetti out of the plughole [boak]!

Any thoughts welcome 

D. x


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## Blanche (7 November 2019)

I fed my cats raw meat many, many moons ago. I had a lot more cats at the time and used the blocks. I also fed them free access biscuits which I have since heard you are not supposed to do but I never had any problems in all the years I did it. Mine particularly loved tripe. They were always a good weight being fed raw, though not fat. I have recently been thinking about trying raw again. This is one I have been looking at. https://www.naturalinstinct.com/raw-cat-food
I have never heard about supplementing when feeding raw so can't help you with that.


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## Leo Walker (7 November 2019)

Its taurine that can be an issue and some people choose to supplement it. I don't.

It was a hell of a fight to get mine to accept it, but he did in the end and he loves it now. We make sure he gets a lot of heart and organ meat etc, etc to keep taurine levels up, and hell would freeze over before he chewed on a meaty bone! But apart from that hes fed the same way as the dogs. The change in his condition was significant as well. Hes 9 and has amazing white teeth still.


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## Mrs B (7 November 2019)

Blanche said:



			I This is one I have been looking at. https://www.naturalinstinct.com/raw-cat-food
I have never heard about supplementing when feeding raw so can't help you with that.
		
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Have used this one in the past for mine and had good results - also haven't heard anything about supplementing, but mine also have a small scoopful or 3 per day of the Hill's Science Plan Oral Health biscuits. It's a bit of a pain to keep remembering to unthaw it (especially when you don't have a microwave!) but they did like it and looked very well on it. Mind you, Snr Bengal is *very* good as getting her own raw food ... especially bunnies ...


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## diddy (7 November 2019)

Ooh, very helpful thank you  Yes, the cat already likes to help herself to the dogs' food so I'm hoping she'll take to it. And like your's Mrs. B, she is very good at catching her own dinner. Although she's very small so tends to go for mice rather than rabbits - I will tell her she needs to step it up!


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## pepperpots (9 November 2019)

I use Luna and Me. Seems the best of the ready made raw. Also give some chunks of raw meat and chicken hearts.


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## Leo Walker (9 November 2019)

Mrs B said:



			Have used this one in the past for mine and had good results - also haven't heard anything about supplementing
		
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You dont need to supplement with the ready made stuff like natural instinct, but I feed bulmers which is tubes of just beef/lamb etc so you have to be a bot more careful about balancing it all especially for cats.


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## SusieT (9 November 2019)

Look up raw fed cat and tb- it's not worth the risk. Stick with good well balanced commerical dry food.


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## SusieT (9 November 2019)

https://www.petfoodindustry.com/art...tuberculosis-outbreak-tied-to-uk-raw-pet-food


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## MotherOfChickens (9 November 2019)

SusieT said:



			Look up raw fed cat and tb- it's not worth the risk. Stick with good well balanced commerical dry food.
		
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I agree re the risks of RAW but will not feed my cats dry food-all my cats do well on wet food and catching their own!


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## Leo Walker (9 November 2019)

SusieT said:



			Look up raw fed cat and tb- it's not worth the risk. Stick with good well balanced commerical dry food.
		
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Thats one manufacturer who looks to have contaminated a batch which affected 6 cats. It happens in dry and wet food as well.


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## MotherOfChickens (9 November 2019)

Leo Walker said:



			Thats one manufacturer who looks to have contaminated a batch which affected 6 cats. It happens in dry and wet food as well.
		
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last time I looked at the literature the TB outbreak was larger than 6 cats. Wet food (if canned) is sterile, dry food is processed to about 80C which gets rid of most pathogens. I am not totally anti RAW but RAW enthusiasts do the public a disservice when underplaying the risks. That there is game that is almost certainly obviously infected entering the pet food chain is a concern.


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## Leo Walker (9 November 2019)

I looked before I posted. its 1 incident with 6 cats, well 6 sick and 5 more in contact, and can be linked to 1 manufacturer. While I've not heard of TB before there have been several recalls for dry dog food infected with salmonella and listeria which affected far more animals and people.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31082328 

I'm not trying to downplay the risks, I know them and accept them, but telling people 




			Look up raw fed cat and tb- it's not worth the risk. Stick with good well balanced commerical dry food.
		
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 really isnt right, when the good, well balanced dry food comes with its own risks of infection and illness. 

The more serious risk is taurine deficiency and it has to be mitigated against. And that really isnt an issue with commercial dry or wet food.


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## SusieT (9 November 2019)

If you want to be a fad diet person, do at least home cooked rather than raw (why do you think we cook meat anyway?) - and dont just listen to dr google on how to balance food. I never understand why people will listen to a randomer on an internet forum on what they should feed their pet, who has 'researched' (i.e. read google) and will pontificate enthusiastically on the benefits when they have only a tiny number of animals to base their 'knowledge' on rather than seeking actual qualified advice.  (well- I do. Actual advice is rarely free and doesn't come with the certainty of the internet 'researcher' who doesn't think about consequences).

https://news.vin.com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=53532
'Raw pet food is more apt to be contaminated with pathogens than dry pet food, judging from the results of a study published in 2014 by U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers and collaborators. In the study, of 480 dry and semi-moist pet food samples, two tested positive for Listeria, Salmonella and toxigenic forms of Escherichia coli. By contrast, of 576 samples of raw dog and cat foods, exotic animal feed and jerky-type treats, 66 tested positive for the same pathogens (with all of them isolated to raw foods and jerky-type treats).


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## MotherOfChickens (10 November 2019)

The six cats are the case study that has been published, my understanding is there were a lot more, well just have to see if they get written up. 

Other raw manufacturers have also had to pull products for salmonella etc but at least they are testing routinely-i am more concerned about those suppliers that sell large freezer packs of game etc, ime there is very little QC involved. 

I've been involved in cat food testing-both dry and wet albeit a fair time ago now so am aware of the pitfalls of dry food manufacture but that isn't why I dont feed dry food.


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