Hang on here. Have a look at natures best or natures menu ingrediantes. Dogs do well on a raw food with 15% consisting of raw vegetable matter. On the ingrediants list carrots is seen as 16% and turnips at 16%, basically a whopping 32% volume. I nearly had kittens when I read that. Carrots are high sugar and dogs do best with having only small amounts of carrots sporadically. Turnips if I recall correctly and please correct me if I am mistaken but is this vegetable not high in sugar and starchy too. If the vegetable matter is not prepared properly and along with the high volume then this may be the cause of stomach upsets. Dogs physiologically treat fats the way we treat carbohydrates so we can not and should not give low fat meals to our dogs. As for salmonella. Yes it is true that 40% of chickens have salmonella but the dogs stomach acids are far stronger than ours so they don't become unwell. If you look at natures best you'll see they've put in 1% flax oil. This is certainly noit enough. I think nature menu or best is over priced and the ingrediantes are not appropriate for dogs. jmho.

yep mine too All kittens are weaned stright onto raw diet

Cats - we are talking about cats! CAT forum here. Dogs are different to cats and natures menu is for cats 70% meat which is what the need. No veggies involved at all - it does have various sugars which isn't too good but is better than 4% meat in Whiskas.

Ingredients and Protien analysis for the chickne and fish variety.

Chicken min. 61%. Salmon min. 6%. Tuna min. 4%. Minerals. Various sugars.

Typical Analysis
Protein: 11.0%, Oil: 6.0%, Fibre: 0.2%, Ash: 2.5%, Moisture: 81.0%. Vit.A: 2000 I.U./Kg, Vit.D3: 200 I.U./Kg, e Vit.E (alfatocoferol): 16mg/Kg. Taurin: 300 mg/Kg. Vitamins level guaranteed until best before date.

Edit: my last batch cost me 30p a pouch - that's good value as far as I'm concerned!

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Update:

My female has taken to raw and crunches wings, chicken legs, rabbit etc with no problem whatsoever.

The male totally ignores all raw.

If you are gonna go for that whole raw meaty bones diet it has to be fed raw, cook or part cook chicken bones and as said the bones get brittle and nasty.

All that said i would never, ever feed my dogs raw chicken, the danger of salmonella and campylobacter is way too high.

Sorry if i sound like a traditionalist but hey.... i'm a vet.... what do i know?


Genna xxxxx

*braces herself for the backlash*

No backlash you can believe what you believe but if you have an open mind read Your Cat: A Revolutionary Approach to Feline Health and Happiness by Elizabeth Hodgkins D.V.M (Vets prefer to believe their own collegues than lay-people)

Also the risk of salmonella is as high in dry food as it is in raw and hundreds of pets did die in America eating contaminated dry food (some recommended by their vets)

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Karen

www.kiskasiberians.co.uk - The home of Hypoallergenic Siberian Cats
www.back-2-nature.co.uk - Raw Food for Dogs, Cats and Ferrets

www.rawfed.com - Information on Raw Feeding

Hi and welcome.

No, it's raw through and through - no cooked bones! I am quite amazed at how the female has taken to the bone crunching. It is 50-50 as to whether she demurely chew around the bones or eats them. Her favourite is rabbit which I get gutted and skinned and butchered from the local farmer's market.

I chop up into smaller pieces for her. The semi feral also eats the raw, but as she used to have to hunt in her youth to stay alive, I think she appreciates the Bozita more.

My vet is absolutely fine with me feeding raw chicken, and pork too!

The risk of salmonella will always be there - both in dry/wet cat food and in raw food. Just google salmonella cat food and you'll see the various food recalls. Luckily cats have a digestive system made for eating meat, and can handle salmonella well. For campylobacter - well, just wash your hands after handling the cat/litterbox and don't kiss it on the mouth

I think people in general are too scared of a little bacteria here and there, and it's a shame if that should put anyone off feeding a species appropriate food for their cat.

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Have a look at my photoblog!

Fit for the sunshine so it followed her, a happy tempered bringer of the best, out of the worst.

As is my vets, i did take the advice of the specialist nutritionist at the referral centre before making the switch too. However i respect the opinion of the lady who doesnt wish to feed it, its a personal choice.

O.K. No need to take it personal because I spoke about my dogs but I have 4 dogs and 3 cats. I feed the cats what I feed the dogs and they love it. They are very healthy but let me pose this question to you. If they got the ingrediants wrong for a dog then do you really think they'll get it right for cats. Remember they pay for smart advertising and even though they say its 70% meat it would more than likely be rendered meat of an inferior quality. Google rendered meat and see what comes up. My sister was advised by a vet in london to stay away from commercial cat foods and feed Jimmy fresh meats and put some dark leafy veg in a blender. She was told this would be closer to the diet of a cat as the contents of a birds stomach or other like rabbits would have vegetable matter in it and it would be all mushed up. It breaks down the cell walls so the cats can digest it better. My argument still stands they companies charge over inflated prices for an inferior price.