Alternative to RAW diet

[tkymasters]

We would love to feed out cats the best food possible, but there were too many options out there. Some say a raw food is best and some say a dry food is best. My F1 is a really picky eater, so I came up with a recipe that he loves. He cleans his bowl all the time. I use only the best cat food kibble (your choice), Jenny-O ground turkey, and freezed dried chicken.

 

[admin]

That's actually pretty cool and looks like a great alternative. My only question is do you give any supplements, since the freeze-dried chicken and turkey do not have anything like Vit E, B Vitamins, etc.

 

[tkymasters]

The cat kibble is the main supplier of vitamins.. You have to buy really good cat kibble with this recipe and the kibble has to be sealed tight until served. I use this brand http://www.petfooddirect.com/Produc...oasted-Venison-And-Smoked-Salmon-Dry-Cat-Food

It has a lot of the vitamins needed.. just look at the ingredients tab on the link and you'll see what I mean..

 

[admin]

Ok -thanks for making that clear...

 

[waitingforgeorge]

I feed the dogs this brand of kibble and really like it, but my main question was when I checked the ingredients for the cat variety while it is grain free they have fruits and vegetables. I believe I was reading a discussion about a cats inability to digest either of those? All other very good brands seem to contain lots of grain products so now which is the lesser of two evils, grains or fruits and vegetables?

 

[Wyldthingz]

I did notice that as well. I think a lot of that is put in as a selling feature but probably doesn't matter at all. I do think that grain isn't very healthy as they do not have the digestive tract to handle grains. Where our digestive track is long, carnivores are relatively short so much of grain is probably waste product. I think there is a website that rates cat food diets but you have to pay into it.

 

[WitchyWoman]

That ingredient list is scary. Chicken meal is listed first, not chicken and you don't even get to meat until the 6th ingredient. The amount of ingredients listed on pet food products diminishes the farther down the list it appears which means that "Chicken meal, peas, sweet potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potato protein" are the major ingredients.

I understand that we have to feed picky eaters whatever they'll eat but we should not be consoled by the marketing used on these foods to assume they contain the best ingredients for optimum health.

Check out the processed food recommendations at Holisticat.com to compare ingredients in commercial food and as a resource for choosing foods that are best balanced for cats.

 

[Patti]

Chicken meal is the rendered chicken, in other words it is the chicken muscle without the by products such as gut, feet, etc, so considered the best part/edible part of the chicken carcass.

 

[admin]

I didn't know that, patti! Thanks for the info...

 

[WitchyWoman]

Chicken meal is the rendered chicken, in other words it is the chicken muscle without the by products such as gut, feet, etc, so considered the best part/edible part of the chicken carcass.

Chicken meal is legally permitted to contain 4-D meat (dying chickens prior to butchering, chickens already dead prior to butchering, diseased chickens, disabled chickens -- perhaps due to infection/disease). Also, rendered meats are allowed to contain restaurant waste, meat processing facility waste, and packinghouse waste.

Obviously, it is not particularly harmful to animals to consume food made with meal and rendered ingredients, but I think it shameful that pet food companies using these ingredients market their food as top quality and the ingredients as "fresh".

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/IngredientsAdditives/default.htm
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074717.htm