My cat was recently diagnosed with some digestive issues and has problems with commercial foods. I need to feed her a raw food diet. The vet gave me one recipe which is basically grinding up chicken, turkey etc... then storing it in fridge. To feed to her I add just a bit of hot water to take off the chill from it being in the fridge.
Does anyone else feed their pet a raw food diet and if so do you have some other recipes you could share? My cat likes variety and I don't want her getting bored. I'm also wondering if there is something I could do with fish and other seafoods. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I haven't heard of vets doing this with human food since we went overtly processed. When I was growing up, my brother had a cat and I remember that we fed him baloney to and he did fine. This was in the 1960's when meat and cold cuts weren't as processed as they are today.
Because the meats are more processed, I would stick to grass fed and organic. Otherwise you could be giving her something that is shot up with Anti-biotics that can cause more problems. Going as clean in this as possible may work. Then there is canned tunafish made for cats, the way they can eat it. Trader Joe's carries it. You also be able to get it at PetSmart.
When my cat who passed, was living and he had digestive and weight gain problems, the Vet put him on Science diet. That worked for him. Each case is different too.
Thanks pftsusan for your reply. I myself do not eat processed foods (a can of tuna is as processed as I get) and as for meats I buy organic quality and free range to avoid such things as antibiotics and other additives. I will have to check out that tuna that is made specifically for cats and greatly appreciate the suggestion.
I am basically concerned that she will get bored quickly as she always has seemed to get bored of a certain food after eating it for a while. She can be quite picky and finicky and this doesn't make the situation that easy. I can't even give her treats anymore for cats as they will all upset her stomach and then I have a sick cat and a clean up.
I am hoping to find some raw meat recipes combining different meats. I will probably try trial and error in small quantities and watch how she likes it or not.
I think that most of the actual pet food is also processed with meats that have been given hormone supplements to make the animal grow faster and put on weight, just like the meat products that are in the store for human consumption. the only way that you will not get meat that has additives is to buy it from a farmer, or buy organic meat that specifies that it is grassfed, and free from hormones or antibiotics that are usually used in livestock.
Even when meat comes from a farmer, if they use commercial livestock feed, it often has additives. If your vet said just to use regular meats, but feed the cat only raw food, then it seems like you are doing the best thing right now, unless the cat can catch wild mice or birds to eat.
totaly disagree with raw food diets for domesticated pets, my dog rosie, when we got her, her owners had her on a raw meat diet, high protien (god knows why) she was obese, had problems breathing, bloodshot eyes and i genuinely belive this made her agressive towards other dogs. it took me months to get her on a proper diet. but when she was finally eatin a "dog diet" she lost her exess weight, her eyes became white again and her coat was beautifull, not to mention her agression towards other dogs stopped.
Since wild dogs and cats eat raw meat, I think it is a natural food source for them, but I do not feed my dogs an all-raw diet. I will give them a bite of raw meat or liver, or very lightly cooked meat, but I also feed dry dog food and table scraps. I think that this balances their diet out better than just having all of one thing, whether it is raw meat, or dry dog food.
By giving them a variety, they get some of the benefits of all the different foods. My dogs will usually try eating most anything that we are eating, at least a little bit of it. This way, they also get vegetables, and much fresher food than just having dry dog food.
The dry dog food is good to have in the bowl at all times, that way if they are hungry, they have something there to eat.
So, for me, it all works together.