How a Raw Diet can Positively Change your Cat's Life
As we all know, great pet health starts with great pet nutrition.
While making us dinner the other night, Mom said that when she started to transition me to an all-raw diet, she never really knew how true those words were until she looked at my “before and after” photos.
As you might know from reading about my journey from eating regular pet food to a 100% organic, raw diet, I was suffering from a yeast infection all over my body and in my ears (which generally means a food allergy), over-grooming and had bald spots with no fur. I was itchy all the time...it just wouldn't stop!
Primal Frozen Raw Cat Food
After doing her research and believing in the words "we are what we eat", Mom started introducing Primal Frozen Raw Rabbit into my meals and within 3 - 4 days, I was only eating organic raw rabbit meat combined with organic veggies, fruits and all the vitamins and nutrients a cat needs - and it was all prepared by a specialized organic pet food company. Rabbit is one of the least allergic of all proteins, but once I was cured of my itchy problems, little by little over time, Mom introduced all the other delicious proteins into my diet – chicken, beef, turkey, salmon, etc…now my fur is thick and shiny…feels like silk she says…she says I smell so good too as she kisses me all over my head and neck! MEOW!
I can really tell you that "going organic" changed my life - no grains, no gluten, no chemicals - just pure raw food "as our kitty ancestors ate"...and since it is raw, I attack (just like in the wild!) and gobble it right down...no grazing for me! That's for cows, please!
Meanwhile Mom wanted me to mention said it took a little bit of a learning curve to figure out how to handle and prepare the raw food considering it is frozen, but now she has it down to a science. She took some photos for you pet parents so that you can see that it is very easy to prepare.
Every day she takes out the following day’s rations (1 ounce nuggets – I get 6 a day and Beau gets 5 - it is based on weight) from the freezer – and puts it in a container to defrost in the refridgerator over the next 24 hours.
When it is getting close to mealtime, Mom puts that meal’s portion in our bowls, breaks it up with a fork and sets it aside to lose the “refrigerator chill” (in our case, she has to hide it in a cabinet or Beau will grab it off the counter!)…when ready to serve, she adds coconut oil to our breakfast…and salmon oil and a pro-biotic to our dinner.
And most important, she adds water to every meal we get - at least a 1/4 cup poured right over the raw food – HYDRATE – hydrate – hydrate us cats please! All cats especially us boys need extra water in our food daily. As it is, by comparison to commercial canned or dry food, the organic raw food diet is full of water, but us kitties still need more to reach our optimum health.
How much does a raw diet cost?
Lastly and very important is the cost to feed us…Mom buys the Primal raw food from the organic pet nutrition store and it costs about $1.75 - $2.00 a day per cat (each nugget is approx $.33 each) to feed us ORGANIC raw meat which is what us kitties crave…plus the supplements which are not expensive on a "per day" basis. For us, buying Primal’s basic line from a local merchant allows us to control our food budget.
Since we started eating “raw” a couple years ago, Primal as well as other organic pet food companies have come out with other “raw alternatives” such as Primal Pronto which is “little balls” of frozen raw that defrost in 10 minutes…and of course there is the option of freeze-dried raw food that you can quickly reconstitute with water and serve.
But Mom says that you will pay a premium for these other options as “freeze-drying”, for example, is a more expensive and lengthy process as the moisture is extracted. Also, please note that buying online is also more expensive than shopping in a store - having frozen food shipped is always more costly.
Mom says if us pet parents are trying to live an organic lifestyle ourselves, its only natural that we should want the same for our fur babies! And Beau and I feel great and have never looked better!
Thanks Mom!