thats understandable. mite be too much for her little stomach.

__________________
If You Want The Best Seat In The House, You'll Have To Move The Cat

http://http://www.royalcanin.co.nz/news.htm

here is another one its not dry though

Strange how there is more & more urinary problems turning up!!!!
Ever wondered why there are more & more companies now making natural or raw recipe dog/cat food or as close as pos????? It's because they see we are now asking what is in the recipe's.
The more we ask for good ingredients & keep clear of food filled with additives/fillers/animal derivitives/bi products, the companies will change the ingredients & only then.
It's ok folk saying well my pet is the age of ........ whatever..... & looking ok.
Would you feed your family on animal derivitives, bi products???
I think we have been taken in for a long time now, so well done the folk who use natural/raw, keep up the good work.

Whilst I can see the benefits of a raw diet and would not be against feeding a very carefully planned raw diet to my two cats, people should not always confuse 'natural' with healthy. I know a lot of people on here feed raw, and do it very well following good diets, however some people do not have the knowledge to do this and do not provide an adequately balanced diet.

I have some veterinary knowledge, and during research came across a study which was very interesting: Role of Diet in the Health of the Feline Intestinal Tract and in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Progress Report (Glasgow et al) . To summarise, two groups were set up (one raw rabbit, one kibble) after one month there were no differences in terms of growth rate, degree of inflammation in the intestinal tract and the numbers of bacteria in the upper small intestine, although a slightly higher number of cats in the raw diet group were shedding pathogenic organisms (Giardia and Cryptosporidia) in their stools (so zoonotic diseases are a risk some may wish to consider). It was noted however that those on raw diet had more solid and less smelly stools! (which many cat owners would rather be cleaning out of their litter trays I'm sure). After 10 months one cat from the raw diet group died suddenly of cardiomyopathy which was attributed to lack of taurine (an essential amino acid cats cannot make themselves and have to obtain from their diet), which could have been due to low levels of taurine in the rabbit (or bacteria in the rabbit caused it's breakdown, or vitamin E levels in the meat were also low). Upon investigation 70% of the cats in the raw diet group had breakdown of heart muscle that is consistent with that seen in taurine deficiency. This investigation is obviously only one of many (and as with any investigation has its flaws, such as cohort sizes), but does hint at some of the positives and negatives associated with a raw diet. Of course, supplements could ensure the cat receives sufficient taurine, and this was added to the raw food group after they discovered the cats were taurine deficient.

Unfortunately that study is flawed. If I remember rightly, the rabbit fed to the cats was minced up i.e. the whole rabbit including stomach and intestines, cats in the wild would not always eat the stomach and intestines.

The rabbits they were fed were also commercial meat rabbits that had been fed pellets containing grain, soy, alfalfa etc, so the minced up rabbit was laden with grain - something a cat would again, not normally eat. These commercial meat rabbits are kept in tiny cages, therefore they lack any appreciable muscle tone - the more a muscle is used, the higher the taurine content. The process of mincing up the rabbit causes further taurine depletion.

Therefore the cats being fed the rabbit were not getting a balanced diet anyway. Feeding a correct, balanced raw diet does not cause those problems.

Agreed, as I suggested in my previous post lots of people feed raw very well by following very good (balanced) raw diet, but there will be some cat owners that will not take this into account. As I said, I'm not against feeding my own cats a raw diet but as with most things in life if it's not done carefully/properly it can carry it's own risks/disadvantages!

GO AMBERCAT whoop whoop!!!! If left in the wild where would our cats find an oven & ingredients to make this dry food that's what I want to know, if left to fend for themselves, they would be catching wild.
My raw recipe has Taurine in, I use muscle meat.
This argument could go on & on, I still think it's down to us to show the cat/dog food industry we want less rubbish & more healthier ingredients in their food.
The pet food industry isn't going to say hey raw is better are they, they are not going to loose all those millions,when we start going out & buying meat & not using thir brands totaly:
Also vet's get quite a kick back for pushing certain brands, & are not alway's trained on animal nutrition.

It is an argument that could go on forever I'm sure! I don't feed raw at the moment, mainly because my girls haven't been with me that long but it's something I am considering moving them onto in the future.

I think it's really great that people are so passionate about things like this , and also that there are people on this forum that can advise about the correct way of raw feeding (like balooJ).

My concern is about those that go into it blindly without understanding the various components of a cats essential diet, or how the cut of meat affects the quality of the diet. I used the study as an example (and pointed out that it was a flawed study, but hey can anyone truly say a scientific study has absolutely no flaws?)

You are right, cats wouldn't be able to cook their food in the wild (but I suspect many would also suffer illness due to pathogens in the raw food!), and some pet food manufacturers do put all sorts of horrible rubbish in their foods. Again, it's about making informed decisions and choosing a diet you feel is best for your cat and you are comfortable preparing! Being the owner of a domesticated animal leaves many questions to be answered about how far we should go to ensure the animal is happy and still has elements of it's ancestors non-domesticated lifestyle.

Just as a general musing, I wonder how many people only feed organic raw diets? It's a similar argument that many of us may have had about our own diets, can it be healthy to eat meat that is treated (in one way or another, whether it be for commercial/profitable reasons or for the animals health) with chemicals throughout it's lifetime?

Sorry to have taken this thread onto a bit of a tangent! I'm sure we could have a whole sub-forum about raw feeding pro's and con's!! How are your kitties enjoying their samples hayleyb?

thankyou i have contacted them too

__________________
If You Want The Best Seat In The House, You'll Have To Move The Cat

Me three!

__________________