Catfood, the pressure-canned version

[big brown horse]

If you go raw you might want to expect transitional "accidents". As I slowly switched my dogs to the raw diet last spring. During the switch over they had a few accidents.

I don't know about cats though, we need freemotion to the rescue!

Also if it is anything like dogs, the poop smell vanishes. (My kitty is 1/2 dog so he goes outside to take care of his needs. I have not had a cat litter box since I was pregos in 1996.)

 

[freemotion]

RAW!!!! Do it! I would thoroughly wash CAFO chicken, though, any chicken, really. If my cat's would eat raw, I'd totally do it. Still make some food for when it is not convenient or when you have to have a catsitter. I have to feed my dog his raw food in a crate, they like to bury the leftovers in the sofa cushions....

Yes, enough taurine in the meat.

As for the recommended supplements, they will do two things: The feline multi will make up for deficiencies in our food supply, as things are grown on depleted soil, and these foods are also fed to the meat animals, so they are depleted, too. I use the canine multi with my dog, as well as the OPC's.

The OPC's with glucosamine (even kittens can have this, even cats who don't have arthritis. Actually, a vet recently told me that his older cat showed no symptoms of arthritis, jumping fine and all, and when there was another reason for an xray, it showed very bad arthritis. So by the time cats show symptoms, they've been in pain for a while. ) do a LOT of different things. OPC's have been proven to be amazingly heart and circulatory system protective. They help with inflammation, which is a factor in things like allergies, asthma, skin issues, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, and many, many more things. They help with some neurological symptoms, too, and are used by some docs in treatment of MS, ADD and ADHD, and others. I've seen some amazing things, working with all these docs and hearing the fantastic stories. Oh, exzema and psoriasis, too. Walmart and Costco and GNC -type versions, in hard pills or capsules, won't do it, though. Need a stronger, more bioavailable version for treatment of health concerns.

The OPC's are derived from grapes, but don't worry, years ago I called the company and asked about the safety issue with grapes and dogs, and got a very detailed article e-mailed to me. The extracts are not an issue. You can give more than the recommended dose if you want to "load" your pet, it is very safe. In people, there can be a mild detox effect for a few days, though. Haven't seen this in the critters, they are not as exposed to toxins as we are sometimes, we eat more crapp (well, not the same crapp that dogs eat! ) and have more years for it to build up in our bodies. The symptoms of detox are like a mild flu that never develops into a full-blown flu, as your body works to eliminate junk.

 

[freemotion]

If you go raw you might want to expect transitional "accidents". As I slowly switched my dogs to the raw diet last spring. During the switch over they had a few accidents.

I don't know about cats though, we need freemotion to the rescue!

Also if it is anything like dogs, the poop smell vanishes. (My kitty is 1/2 dog so he goes outside to take care of his needs. I have not had a cat litter box since I was pregos in 1996.)

I did not experience any accidents with my dog....but he was a puppy, just home from open-heart surgery, when I made the switch. He had diarrhea pretty much non-stop before feeding raw, and it disappeared immediately with the raw diet. I feed only whole chicken wings, though, so I can wash them. I have purchased a couple of different high-end prepared raw foods, the ones you buy frozen, and he HATED them! I hoped to have something to make it less yucky for the puppysitters. I have tried different brands over the years, he does not like any of them. I find that interesting. They must not be as fresh as his wings, as there is some handling time in the manufacturing process. Or they don't use as good quality as I do....I buy wings for human consumption.

As for cats, well, it is always good to change gradually. Remember, they need less volume of food generally when eating real food. They don't digest the grain, it is a filler.

Oh, I forgot the grain question earlier. Cats generally will not eat the entrails, dogs will. Dogs are more likely to eat poop, too, which is quite digested. So if you must feed grains, lactofermented would be best, or even slightly sprouted if you have whole grains. Then you must grind them completely (the herbivore eats them and digests them before the carnivore gets to them, it needs more than a water soak.) Grains have antinutrients that will prevent absorbtion of key vitamins and minerals, and can make you and your pet depleted. Lactofermenting neutralizes these antinutrients. Except in soy. Soy can only be somewhat neutralized with a 3-6 month live fermentation, but still has endocrine disrupters that cannot be neutralized. So avoid soy for your pets, and only use tiny amounts of properly fermented soy, such as miso (one and three year, from www.southrivermiso.com) for yourself, as a condiment in small amounts for flavoring only.
Duck, here comes a rant

Soy is added to boost protein content on the label, but it is not bioavailable and causes many health problems. It is one of the biggest frauds perpetuated on the public in the past few decades. It is about money, not health. It is to be avoided at all costs.

 

[big brown horse]

Thanks freemotion!!

 

[freemotion]

Anyway, so the supplement your vet recommended is meant for homemade food? If so, do I have to take my cat totally off commercial food? I read that you can end up overdosing on vitamins. Or are they making me paranoid?

I read something about brewer's yeast. (You must hate me by now, sorry for being so annoying!)

First, ask any questions you'd like, as many as you need! I am very passionate about this and am glad to get the word out. Let's give the food giants a run for their money, and save some of ours.

I took all my animals off commercially prepared foods. All. Cats, dog, chickens, turkeys, goats. Horse when she was alive. They are all thriving (horse was old.)

Yes, they are making you paranoid. You can only overdose if you take in a whole bottle, and many overdose symptoms are things like mild, temporary tingling of the hands (B vitamins.....and this is called a "toxic" dose. Doesn't mean fatal, btw. Note also the word temporary!) Fat soluble vitamins can be toxic in large doses, but you can't even get some of them, like Vitamin A. Vit A and D are available in animal fats, especially the ones who get sunshine and grass. Add some pastured eggs to your catfood, too, preferably just the yolks. Very rich in vitamins.

Hope this settles your mind a bit. BBH, you will learn some of this when you get your Nourishing Traditions book!

 

[big brown horse]

Horse too? Please tell!

 

[hennypenny9]

Thanks everyone! There's just so much info out there (much of it conflicting) that it's a bit daunting to start out.

It might be nice to grind some (most?) of the meat with some bones, to cut down on processing time. Then add the rest in chunks to he can gnaw. (I have to buy his toys in the puppy section because he likes to chew on his toys a LOT.) Basically you just grind/chop the meat, add water and egg (?) and freeze, then add the supplements after it's thawed, right? Of course I'll find a recipe, but that's the gist of it, or am I forgetting something?

Edit: I just realized while talking to my mom, that I don't even care if this costs more or less. It's about health, and less vet bills!

 

[freemotion]

hp9, if you feed raw you will want to debone legs, you can grind the bones of the wings if your grinder is very good and will do a very fine grind. Sometimes running it through twice is enough, but search it with your fingers to make sure your grinder doesn't leave big pieces of bone. The legs are weight bearing bones and are thicker and harder, the wings of a young chicken, such as are sold in the US in general, have smaller, softer bones. Same with feeding dogs raw.

I would skip the water, it won't be necessary with raw meat, and just use yolks with the eggs. Too many raw eggwhites can create B vitamin imbalances.

BBH, I fed my horse locally grown hay (unless we had a bad year) and when she got older and went from easy keeper to hard keeper, I lactofermented whole oats for her, and served them with a little soaked beet pulp. She gained weight quite nicely and made it through the winter in decent shape when I finally figured out that it might benefit her.

For the oats, I would put the next day's meals in a small bucket with room temp water and a bit of whey and set it in a corner of the kitchen. The next day, I would rinse it in a colander in the sink. So there were always two containers by the door, today's food and tomorrow's food. I do this for my dairy goat, only I use barley and oats (only because I can now get barley!). In the winter, I use a larger pail and soak for the chickens, too. In the summer, they get at least half of their diet on their own in the pasture, so I don't bother soaking for them.

When she was in work and at a boarding stable, if they did not have pasture available, I would be sure to hand graze her and also I had a pair of sharp scissors and a five gallon pail and I would fill that pail every day that I could with grass, sometimes travelling quite a distance from the barn to find my patches! At a barn with 30-40 horses and owners, I was the only one to do this, sadly. A stuffed bucket would last my mare about an hour. Figured that was equivilent to two hours of grazing on moderate to poor pasture. In the winter, I kept her in carrots and any apples and pears from the reduced section. I did not know about lactofermenting then, so I don't know how it would work in that situation. Maybe on the days I went to see her, I could've brought her meal for that night with me. I did see her almost every day, so she could've had one meal fermented.

 

[big brown horse]

Thanks freemotion,

I cant wait to get those books. I am going to try to find them this weekend.

I have my horses on beet pulp, alphalfa, orchard hay or timmothy hay mainly but I give them rolled oats too.

Thank you for such wonderful info!

(One of my horses is almost 29 years old and still going strong! She has the face of a filly and my 12 year old rides her daily...lightly. She was the horse I out bid the killers for at auction. But thats another story.)

 

[hennypenny9]

Brat-face cat threw up a little this morning. :/ Only a little, though. I bet it was the bit of gizzard I have him. He didn't want to have the little chunks of chicken this morning until I cut them up SUPER small. But he ate them after that. Hopefully tomorrow he won't throw up. I only fed him maybe 1/2 ounce today.

**he has never thrown up before today.