Killer Cats

I have been wanting to put the cats on a raw food diet for a while now.
I am very aware that felines are carnivores by nature and that the majority of kibble food out there is loaded with grains and an unnecessary amount of rice and other fillers. A ferile cat is not going to be eating bread or rice or even a ton of vegetables and probably close to no fruit. So even the foods that advertise "whole grains" and "plenty of fruits and veggies" are not actually good for our pets. What they actually need (and want) is protien. It is what their bodies are biologically made to process. Cats are specifically desiged to be predators of meat.

The unfortanate thing about the industry of pet food is how much crap they put in those hard little pieces of food and how little they care about the nutrition value. Most of those foods are literally just grain, rice, corn, and animal by-products. The cheapest stuff they can find. Then they are loaded with preservatives and artificial flavoring because they know without it no animal would want to go near it. The other unfortanute thing about the industry is they know that the average consumer is not going to actually look at the ingredients on those labels or even know what to look for.

What you should look for is a diet that is high in protien and has zero grain, if possible. I know that for us it is a necessity because Aslan is allergic to it. You should look for a food that has real meat instead of a ton of by-products and has no artificial flavoring or coloring. I don't think fruits and veggies are bad for our little furry friends but I do think that they should be kept to a minimum. 

But what would REALLY be best is to chuck the kibble all together and try for a raw diet. There are varying degrees of this from a literal 100% raw meat diet to a raw meat diet mixed with veggies and supplements such as eggs, fish oil, vitamin E, vitamin B, and taurine.  Either way, a raw diet for our pets would be the closest thing we can give them to emulate what their diet would consist of in nature. It is also believed that a raw diet eliminates a lot of health issues in pets and gives them more energy and a longer life span. I cannot attest to this personally but I can say that I have read many many blogs and articles swearing to it.

But with work and school it is very hard for me to put this into practice. I can't even get myself to portion out their food, let alone prepare them a specialized diet. Instead we got one of those free flowing feeders so they can feed themselves as needed. With Obi Wan being a little food monster this worried me, but it seems to be alleviating some of Aslan's stress and he is picking less fights with Obi since he doesnt have to worry about running out of food. Id rather have one be a chubby kitty than the other be an angry hungry one :)

Also, we had them on a special limited ingredient diet that we could only get from the vet but it was getting way too expensive so we are trying something new. It is called Orijen and it is a 80% protien, 20% fruits and veggies, grain free food made with free range chicken and wild caught fish that is never frozen or treated with preservatives and is fit for human consumption. The food is also slow cooked at a low temperature to retain nutritional value.

I really like it because even though it is a dry food it has a lot of moisture and is not made up of unnatural  perfectly shaped kibble, it looks more like chopped up meat. And as soon as I put it down the cats were all over it.

What I am interested in is the quality of their poop with this food. If a food is high in nutrition and protien their poop is supposed to be dryer and have a lower odor.  So I will have to check in on that!

I swear, these cats... what we do for them!