Raw food for pets

[dragon wench]

I know I'm not the only person here who has animals, so I wanted to ask peoples' experiences on giving dogs and cats a raw food diet.

One of our cats has been ill with bladder stones and fatty liver disease; she requires surgery. While we already feed our cats good dried food, apparently a raw food diet can correct a lot of the health problems to which cats are prone. Makes sense, in my opinion, cats are pure carnivores after all.

btw, I'm asking for the opinions of people who have animals, and have experience with this area. Please don't post if you just want to voice your views on how to feed animals.

[BlueSky]

Having a house full of various pets....2 Lizards, I Basenji.(dog) and 4 cats...
we have to watch what each eats...for example 2 of our cats are..for lack of a better term.(lactose intolerant) ...we do feed our cats raw food, but I've never noticed a difference in their health problems,maybe I just have not been paying attention, but it does make sense, and we haven't had any digestive problems other than the occasional hairball. We tend to feed mostly dry cat food, with a pinch of whatever we are eating at the time...

[galraen]

I'm in no doubt at all that giving cats dried food is a very bad idea, the stuff's almost lethal in the long term. I had two cats that had kidney problems before I got the message. The first was about ten when it died because of kidney failure, fortunately for the 2nd cat when it was still fairly young the vet put me wise to the inadvisability of feeding it dried food. So it recovered from the first kidney problem which had cause me to take it to said vet, and it lived to a ripe old age, darn, still miss that cat, the smartest feline I've ever met.

[Chimaera182]

Just a question, but does raw food have any preservatives which might be bad for a pet? I know my mom's been through a few dogs, but she's been feeding them all dry and canned food throughout. From what I gathered, it *should* be good for them, but then people say that about a lot of things. But canines and felines both are natural predators, so one would assume that their systems would be geared more towards such things, but considering modern preservatives, I thought I'd ask.

[dragon wench]

By a raw food diet, I do mean precisely that (raw organ meats, raw flesh and muscle, bone etc.), check my link, the page is pretty good.

So, it really depends on the butcher you are getting it from. Ours sells only preservative free, free range meat, so no worries on that score

[galraen]

Dogs, real dogs I mean, not milady's lap dog, seem to have a more robust constitution than cats. The same vet I mentioned in the previous post told me that whilst it was fine to mix dried food in with 'natural' food avoid giving it to cats if possible, and only for short periods of time. It might be something to do with the fact that dogs tend to drink a lot more than cats.

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by galraen

Dogs, real dogs I mean, not milady's lap dog, seem to have a more robust constitution than cats. The same vet I mentioned in the previous post told me that whilst it was fine to mix dried food in with 'natural' food avoid giving it to cats if possible, and only for short periods of time. It might be something to do with the fact that dogs tend to drink a lot more than cats.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I've also read that dogs are actually omnivores, while cats are pure carnivores.
The food we have been feeding them is quite good, but I'm really wondering if a change might be in order....

[Aqua-chan]

Originally Posted by galraen

Dogs, real dogs I mean, not milady's lap dog, seem to have a more robust constitution than cats.

Yes, indeed. One of my mastiffs snared and ate two pounds of chocolate as a puppy. I thought she was dead for sure. She belched once and that was that.

All my animals are on primarily "bagged" diets - ProPlan Dog, ProPlan cat, Nutriphase for the parakeets, hamsters and rabbit - but never is that kind of stuff complete. Animals always need at least some sort of home prepared food, though I have never gone strictly meat with any of my carnivores. All I can say from experience is that at the very least occassionally it is good - given that it is free of bones and other undigestable parts that can splinter and kill the animal.

[Chimaera182]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

That makes a lot of sense to me. I've also read that dogs are actually omnivores, while cats are pure carnivores.
The food we have been feeding them is quite good, but I'm really wondering if a change might be in order....

Me, too. I didn't get to see the outdoor eating habits of my mother's first two dogs, but her last two were definitely fans of eating plants. Daisy (deceased) used to eat grass at leisure, despite our discouragment. Maggie (current dog under my mother's care) still eats weeds, and we try to discouarge it.... well, I don't. I swear I recall someone somewhere telling me once that a dog eats grass to alleviate stomach problems. Anyway, Maggie doesn't tend to eat much green while she's outside with me. But I know she does eat it, so it wouldn't surprise me at all that canines were omnivores. And that begs the question, is raw meat a good idea for dogs?

Edit: sorry, forgot to mention, but back before Florida got racked with hurricanes, we had some fruit trees. Daisy was also very fond of eating carambolas (star fruit, if you might be familiar with that term), but she would only eat them once they had fallen on the ground and begun to decompose. Vile, honestly, but my mother used to joke that Daisy loved the decomposing carambolas because they had fermented... :P

[Gilliatt]

We see felines as pure carnivores, but we might get surprised. Zoos used to feed their felines with meat only and their animals were always sick. Then they realized that the first thing felines eat when they kill their prey is their digestive track full of grass, grains and plants. So there is a reason why you see carbs in dry food for cats.

[Lady Dragonfly]

We used to have a cat, for 8-9 years. You may not believe it, but every day I cooked a hearty fish soup with herbs (in his personal little saucepan) for the creature. He loved it. I also fed him with milk, sour cream, raw meat and other stuff. We never used any dry ot canned food and the cat did not have any health issues.

[VonDondu]

I try to feed my cats a healthy diet. I've tried raw meat, recipes from a cookbook for cats, cooked meat (beef, chicken, fish), fresh greens, cooked greens, whole kernel corn, rice, and of course canned cat food and many varieties of dry cat food. My own observation is that cats are like people: they can thrive on a wide variety of food, and they only eat what they want to eat. So the most important thing to me is to feed them the food they like.

[Gilliatt]

Originally Posted by VonDondu

I try to feed my cats a healthy diet. I've tried raw meat, recipes from a cookbook for cats, cooked meat (beef, chicken, fish), fresh greens, cooked greens, whole kernel corn, rice, and of course canned cat food and many varieties of dry cat food. My own observation is that cats are like people: they can thrive on a wide variety of food, and they only eat what they want to eat. So the most important thing to me is to feed them the food they like.

I'm glad you started your post by saying you try to give them a healthy diet. You feed them what they like, but as long as it is healthy.

I know someone who gave is cat lots and lots of ice cream (he said his cat loved it soooo much). The cat died at 3 years old.

[Sean The Owner]

i have a kitten, and when we took her to the vets the vet said he has had cats live up to 21 years, he only fed them wet food(cans of stuff, im not sure if its raw, or precooked or w/e) and dry food only once a day, because they dont drink much water, so the wet food puts more fluids in their bodies, hope this helps

[Philos]

We have three cats, ages 7, 8, & 9. One of ours is also "lactose intolerant", I mean even one tongue full and he yaks it up. He loves it just can't handle it, poor guy. Also he seems to have a hard time with wet cat food, yaks that up as well, the other two are fine with it but for the young one's sake we have to use dry cat food. We use Science Diet Hairball and add some Meow Mix that has greens included. Whenever we have tuna or salmon I drain the juice from the tins and they each get a bowl. We also include a bit of lean raw beef when we fix it. We don't give them raw poultry (I know may be overcautious but am just a bit worried that salmonella might effect them) they do get cooked chicken and turkey. But dry probably makes up most of their diet. They all appear quite healthy but will certainly check out the raw diet.

I too am not so sure that I would say cats are "complete" carnivores. Of course all three of ours eat grasses (or carnation stems) when given the chance. But one of them "loves" many produce items: cooked green beans, spinach, fresh avocado, to name just a few; and he goes absolutely NUTS over canned pumpkin. He even knows the can.

One food item I have read/heard about many times as being toxic to dogs and cats is chocolate. IIRC their digestive systems cannot handle it and works as a poison. I know a lot of pet owners give "treats" to pets and frequently it is the sweets they are enjoying themselves.