Hi,

They eat nothing else but meat with bone in or fish, absolutely nothing except the occasional raw egg. No tinned, no dry. We only use human grade meat.

Cats are obligate carnivores, they have to eat meat to survive. Dogs can survive on a vegetarian diet, cats can't. There's an amino acid only found in meat called Taurine as you probably know, and without enough Taurine cats suffer vision problems and can die from a deficiency.

Our cats are fed on bone-in raw chicken thighs, drumsticks, a very small amount of liver and kidney for vitamin A and D. Basically they eat what they were designed to eat including the bones. Raw bones are safe, cooked bones aren't. They dry and splinter and are VERY dangerous.

The trays are MUCH 'nicer' if that makese sense. They also drink very little water because they get so much moisture from the meat. Their teeth are in excellent condition and their coats are fabulous.

Dry food has a lot of cereal in it and very little meat content. It also contains carbohydrates like wheat, which cats don't need, and which can make them obese and give them allergen related problems like IBS and skin issues.

If you think it's odd to feed cats no commercial diets, imagine the Servals, Golden Cats, Asian Leopard cats etc in zoos being fed on Iams and Whiskas There is nothing physiologically different in terms of dentition, or digestion, between those wild cats and our own furry kids.

A lot of vets are horrified at the thought of feeding raw meat. There is a lot of research out there, and for one, I believe it's truly the best way to feed cats. The results we've had from our own cats is proof in my mind.

From a purely cynical point of view, look what most vet's waiting rooms are full of.. bags and bags of dry food.

Here are a couple of links you might find interesting. One is primarily a dog site, but there is a section on cats too.

Get The Facts - What’s Really in Pet Food
The Many Myths of Raw Feeding

Diane

__________________

hello and welcome!

To respond to the questions regarding feeding our cats.

Our breeding queens feed on Royal Canin Sensible when not pregnant. We change them over to Royal Canin Queen whilst pregnant and feeding their kittens. Kittens are weaned on Natures Menu wet initially and Royal Canin Kitten 34 dry free feed. We found the Royal Canin Baby Cat too rich for baby bengals tummies. Another good wet food to give lactating queens is Applaws Chicken and Pumpkin. Natural Pumpkin helps bring on the milk supply www. mpmproducts.co.uk

Our two studs both have reactions to any foods with corn in so we feed them Eagle Pack Holistic Duck and Rice. It's mail order next day delivery. Not cheap but the amount they require is less than most dry foods so balances out. It's really good. www.postalpetproducts.co.uk

As well as our breeding cattery, we have four neuter pets, two bengals and two tonkinese. Our tonk girl have developed severe food allergies over the past couple of years and lost considerable amounts of weight. No prescription food helps and she is also a very picky eater. What we have found works best for her is to regularly swap the foods. E.g. we will feed, say, James Wellbeloved Lamb and Rice dry and she is fine, her stools firm up. After a couple of weeks she starts reacting to the food and gets very sloppy. So we change her over to another food and all goes well for a couple of weeks and off we go again. She will not touch raw.

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet that is balanced for cats Natures Menu make a ready pack of raw meat Natures Menu Natural Dog Food & Natural Cat Food | Feeding as Nature Intended

Regards
Sue
Chataya Bengals

Hi Sue,

Thats really good information i tried the kitten 34 on my lot and it made their tummies really bad, with the baby cat i found they are ok, i do like the queen from RC but my whole salers don't sell it and other than going to RC direct do you know were i could get some as i hear its the bee's knee's in the dry food department for pregnant queens.

Kindest regards Laura

__________________
www.diamonddustbengals.com

Laura

You cannot get the Royal Canin Queen off the shelf; you have to go direct to Royal Canin. Its easy - order on line and they post to you. We buy all our Royal Canin supplies this way

Sue
Chataya Bengals

Another quick tip if your kittens wean and get runny bottoms. Iams Adult Hairball. Grind down into dust and mix with wet food. Couple of days later, they have lovely firm stools.

Another very common problem with any breed of cats is coccidia and this can cause runny stools. I give all my kittens Baycox 5% piglet. It is soooo easy. One dose 0.2ml/lb (not 2ml) at 28 days and another dose at 35 days. This will kill off the coccidia before it matures. You get it by mail order, takes approximately a week. One bottle lasts forever. www.interpet.biz/Baycox

I also give probiotic to the kittens thoughout their time from weaning and use a liquid formula specially for cats. I also give to any of my adults for a week after worming or medication. Welcome to Lactosym Vet

Regards
Sue
Chataya Bengals

Thanks Sue, i will speak with RC i normaly buy all of mine from Batelys as i get it at trade price there but i will contact RC and get all info thanks x

__________________
www.diamonddustbengals.com

Ok, thanks. I'm getting it now. Although I was led to believe that meat on it's own wasn't a balanced enough diet, it's the bones and offal that make the difference. Just a couple more questions. At what age would you start feeding this diet? I would imagine it's not for small kittens and, anyway, I couldn't get them started on it and expect new owners to carry on. Is there somewhere you can buy good quality meat in bulk as I would think it must be expensive buying enough for 9 cats from the butcher.

Absolutely, muscle meat alone is an unbalanced diet. They need the calcium and minerals from bone, and vitamins from the offal. Regarding Taurine, the more hard working the muscle, the more taurine is in it. So heart (which is muscle meat not offal), and say chicken legs, would contain more taurine than chicken wings.

Our kittens start off trying mum's food with the addition of some raw chicken breast, but it's not long before they are eating the same bone-in meat as everyone else.

Minced meat isn't as good for them, as their teeth and jaws don't get the same exercise as they do from gnawing the meat from the bones. Plus there is generally more bacteria on minced meat as the surface area is so much bigger.

We buy bags of frozen chicken portions from Tesco, they're around 3.25 for 2.5kg, plus frozen chicken livers. Also fresh lambs liver. They only get a tiny piece of liver each 3 times a week. Too much liver can give them an upset stomach and long term can overdose on Vit A and D. Also Tesco often have deals on 2 whole chickens for £5 so we buy some of those and freeze them. It works out much cheaper than buying biscuits and tins.

We also pierce a handful of fish oil capsules and the cats absolutely love them. These are rich in Omega 3, and good if you don't feed much fish.

Regarding new homes for kittens, we tell everyone that comes for a kitten about our raw feeding diet. No-one has objected to it yet, and frankly if someone is too lazy to give their kitten half a chicken portion twice a day, and a bit of liver now and then, we wouldn't sell them a kitten anyway

Raw feeding is no more hazardous than preparing meat for yourself and your family. Cats have a shorter, more acidic digestive system that is designed to deal with raw meat.

I'm a vegetarian, so if I can chop up chickens anyone can

__________________

Thanks for that Diane. I'd like to give it a go and will change over gradually. Lucky you mentioned that you are a vegetarian - I totally forgot that both my daughters are as well and they look after the cats when I'm away!!! I hope they take to it as well as you have. All the best, Susan