In the wild, cats eat raw foods, but is raw cat food what you should be feeding your domestic feline?
You are probably giving them canned or packed foods, perhaps if you are concerned about their health, you may switch over to organic or natural foods for your pet.
Raw food for cats is a different feeding system altogether.
Cats have sensitive digestive systems and some food items do not suit them.
However, they are carnivores and they need their daily quota of
meat, but don’t need carbohydrates from rice, grain and corn. In fact
high-carbohydrate food is not good for a cat.
A raw food diet for cats can include:
Vegetables, if added, should be in very small quantities since cats do not have the enzymes to digest vegetables. You should also add some vitamins and nutrients, which are essential and not available from food for your cat.
All these foods need to be ground together and then used. If you are making your own raw food, you will want to invest in a heavy duty grinder to make the meals.
Even when you make your own cat food, you can
still can the food or freeze it so that it is convenient to use and you
have a ready supply on hand.
When you make the raw food at home, you also need to adopt safe practices to maintain hygiene and minimize the risk of bacteria.
Many cat food recipes are found on the web at various sites.
Raw meats in various forms are an important component of a raw diet for your cat. Ground meat and eggs are particularly susceptible to salmonella, E.Coli and other bacterial contaminations.
If you buy raw meat from supermarkets, you should be aware that often the raw meat is not stored at the correct temperatures, and the chances of bacterial contamination are high.
If you were to buy frozen meats, you would thoroughly cook them before eating.
However, the cat’s digestive system has a very acidic environment and a lot of bacteria are killed by the acidity.
It is still safer to buy fresh meat from your butcher, as the fresher the meat, the better chance that it will be free of bacteria.
Another precaution you must take is not to leave the food lying around at room temperature for any length of time as bacteria and fungus can grow very easily on fresh raw foods, which are moist.
Don’t add garlic, onion, chives, milk and other dairy products, grapes, raisins to your cat’s diet as your cat will not be able to digest these.
If you want to give your cat raw foods, but don’t have the time or
patience to make it at home, you can buy raw foods from various sources.
You have three options for ready, or almost ready, raw foods:
Now that you have a broad picture on a raw cat food diet, you can opt for trying out raw foods for your cat.
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