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Bob Dole's Story Featured on Feline-Nutrition.org
Thu, 2010-03-11 16:23 — Robin Olson
While I wallow in self-loathing and despair over parting with many of my foster kittens, I thought I'd mention that my latest article just went live on Feline-Nutrition's web site.
It's a story about how I got started feeding Bob (Dole)(my cat, not the dude), a raw diet. Just after I wrote the article, I made my first batch of “homemade” raw for the clutter. Since it was too late to go to press, I'm including some extra photos, here.
For my crew, this is what it takes to feed my cats for a little over TWO days. Yes, it's a lot. It's kind of a pain in the ass, actually, but I'm still trying to find my pace and getting used to not opening a can and dumping it onto a plate. At least now I know for sure what my cats are getting in their food.
For anyone who fears this is gross, it's not. It smells nice and fresh. The trick is getting it warmed up without cooking it. If it's still icy cold the cats won't eat it.
If you want to know why I bother, look at the before and after photos of Spencer, below. He was a blimp a few years ago. It was hysterical to look at him, but I was doing him an injustice and I knew it. Spencer also has a chronic breathing problem, which left him wheezing all the time. These days I can barely hear him. I'm sure the diet helped keep any swelling down in his sinuses
Here's Bob on day one of the new raw diet. He ate as though he had never eaten before. Most of the cats cleaned their plates, which I have NEVER seen them do in almost a decade. This might sound weird, but they also seemed relaxed and content. Most of them passed out after they ate and washed their faces. It's not like that every day. I'm still working out the kinks, but it's nice to see them be interested in their food.
The article is on the front page, so if you care to read it, just look for Bob's cute face and you've found the right place.
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Comments
Hare Today
Hey, I recognize your Hare Today package of rabbit! I'm glad to see someone else feeding that. That's my cats' favorite flavor. I have yet to find a cat that doesn't like Hare Today rabbit. The local stores no longer carry Hare Today (and no one here has even heard of it) so I order 50-60 lbs of it at a time from Pennsylvania (a mix of rabbit, turkey, chicken, pheasant and mouse flavors, for nutritional variety) and have it shipped to me in Colorado. In the past year they came out with ground mouse, which 2 of my 3 cats will eat. It took several months to get them used to the mouse. Since rabbit is low in taurine & mouse is high, it's a good balance to feed both over time. The only other brand of raw food my cats will eat is RadCat, which is delicious and completely balanced, but it is horribly expensive. It's far cheaper to pay for Hare Today, even with the shipping. Rather than buying supplements from the health food store, like is shown in your picture, I am now using the Wild Kitty Cat Food kits, as shown here: http://www.wildkittycatfood.com/catfoodkit.html. (I have no commercial interest in Wild Kitty.) I don't add the whole package to the ground food as directed. Instead I feed 1/4 tsp of the boneless formula and 1/2 tsp of the bone-in formula per day to each cat. I came up with those amounts with my chiropractor's testing--she is very skilled at testing supplements for quality and dosage. When I had her test the TwinLabs Taurine that I had been feeding my cats, it did not test as a good product so I tossed it out. The Wild Kitty is naturally high in taurine from clams. The Wild Kitty Cat Food kits test so good that my chiropractor is now using them for her cats as well. She feeds canned so she adds it to that (I've not been successful yet in getting her to feed raw to them, though I did get them to eat the Hare Today rabbit when petsitting). BTW, I never heat my cats' food in the microwave, as that can destroy nutrients. If I need to warm it, I put it in a plastic bag and run hot water over it...
this sounds super
this sounds super interesting. I've always wondered about raw diets but the pre-frozen stuff is so expensive and even then you never know about the preservatives.
UK Raw Diet
Well done for doing the best you can for your cats! I would like to feed "raw" to my cat, but I live in UK and have no idea whether there are even any "Raw" diet cat foods available here. He has kidney problems and I'm sure he'd benefit. Instead I have him on a "special renal diet". I'm sure it's adequate, but I would prefer to feed him "ideal" rather than "adequate". I just have this strong suspicion that his health problems would improve dramatically, if he could have a properly formulated raw diet.
UK is Tough
I have a friend who was living in the UK and it was VERY tough to find even grain-free canned food. I agree with you that a diet change would most likely help your cat a great deal.
I suggest you spend some time on http://www.feline-nutrition.org They have lots of fantastic information on how to feed raw, along with resources to get raw food. You can basically go to your local butcher shop and get ground turkey, chicken, rabbit, etc...with the bones and organs included, then by adding a few different vitamins and minerals, some egg yolks and water, you're all set.
Margaret Gates is the Executive Director of FENS and she gave me her recipe for feeding raw and can help you figure out how much to feed your cat. Just drop her a note through her web site. I will also ask if I can post her recipe here, too.
For the short term, read the ingredient panels on the cat food labels and avoid grains of any kind. The less, the better!
Good luck!
What a difference!
Ever since a gentle reader suggested a better diet, minimal or grain free, the kits have been more active. How long did it take you to transition to a raw diet? I understand it should be taken gradually for better acceptance and less shock to the system.
Our Grey is way too heavy and while I dread the idea of such concerted work, if it'll help, maybe we should try... and Spencer's transformation (in a multi cat household, like mine, I assume) is amazing!
Popping over to check out your article now.
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