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BARF Diet for Cats
Yes, don't let your moggie go without, either! If you're feeding a raw food diet to your dog, you may or may not be doing the same to your cat. If you are, I'll just give you a few pointers as cats are not just small dogs (all the cat owners reading this, are raising their eyes to heaven and thinking "that's like saying a woman is just a small man!") If you're not, then we'll go through how.
I won't bore you with the necessity of feeding an evolutionarily appropriate diet as most of you will realise that animals have evolved to eat raw materials in the wild and domestication hasn't really changed that. The fact that we feed processed food to our animals now is, to my mind, why we see half the pathology we do in our domestic animals (and ourselves come to that!).
Cats are obligate carnivores meaning they must eat a lot of meat to survive. Dogs are carnivorous omnivores, like us - they eat meat and non-meat to make up their nutrients. Cats must eat very fresh meat, as they do not have the capacity to deal with contaminants and rotting meat, unlike their canine buddies.
So, when we're making up a cat's diet to replicate the wild diet, we must use fresh meat only, not risk it with something that's been in the fridge for 3-4 days. Meat should make up 90-95% of the diet (dogs 30-40%) with pureed veg, fruit, nuts and seeds (sound familiar dog BARFers?). As with dogs, I advocate a massive variety with any meats, fruit etc. given. You'll find that some things go down well, some things not. Obviously organic fruit and veg is the best, but not always within everyone's price bracket (remember how expensive cat food is before you make the decision NOT to feed organic).
You will find, though, that the average cat is fussier than the average dog. To get over this, you may have to start with 100% mince the cat likes and just eek the non-meat goodies in gradually 1% at a time, perhaps even 1% a week for 5-10 weeks! If you're in doubt at all about the quality or the variety you're feeding, then products like Missing Link or Pet Plus (PP available from me on 08700 111 340) can ensure broad micronutrient intake. Organ meat should be fed once a week. Heart is wonderful as it is high intaurine, but kidney and liver should be used, too. This is important to ensure moggie is getting all the nutrients that it would get from eating a WHOLE mouse/rat/bird in the wild.
If your cat does not like eating mince of any type, then go back to the food they do like and add the raw in 1-5% a week gradually. If this doesn't work, then you can warm the meat a little (careful as this will increase rate of spoilage) or you can even seal in the juices by a really light fry in good quality (organic!) olive oil.
The veg and fruit etc can be made up, pureed and put in ice cube holders in the freezer weekly. This is the easiest way of taking a small amount of pre-prepared veg mush out each day. You see - its easy!
It is massively important in both species to ensure calcium intake. This is done with most AMP meats as they have a fine bone content. Check on the side of the pack you're feeding and make sure that kitty is getting a bone content 3-4 times a week at least. Chicken wings are another way on boosting calcium intake (do not feed your cat milk - it was weaned at 6w or so and does not need milk, especially the stuff designed for calves!). Raw chicken wings can be acquired AMP or your butchers . They can be fed daily or as infrequently as once a week if you're using the bone-content type meat the rest of the time.
There - that has salved my conscience that I never write enough about cats - who need a raw food diet as much as dogs, but get is far less often. So go ahead and feed your small dogs as well as you can - they deserve the best too!
