No no not my baby human, my kitty. She's almost 3. She has been living at my mom's since last August and my mom has been feeding her and our other cat awful meow mix type food. She's gained a few pounds and her coat is not as shiny as it used to be (I used to feed her Taste of the Wild grain-free cat food). I'm moving into a new place on Tuesday where I can have her again and want to start her eating a (raw) primal diet. I've read through MDA's natural cat diet (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/natural-cat-diet). Do you guys have suggestions for making the transition to paleo? I've given her raw chicken before and she threw it up so I don't want to jump right into it (though I will buy grain-free cat food at least for the transition). Do you feed your cat or dog a primal diet? What suggestions or advice do you have? Cuts of meat etc? Whole foods sells chicken feet for $1.99 a pound so I'll probably get those (if acceptable for her). Should I feed her completely raw? Only meat? I can't find pasture-raised chicken anywhere here so the chickens will most likely be vegetarian-fed. Thanks for your help!
I've seen dogs go after a huge variety of foods, including wild edible plants...they are opportunists!
Just found out my cat is diabetic. Do you know of any good links about transitioning a diabetic cat safely (since an all-meat diet will change the insulin dose . . .) Thanks.
Interesting. My German shepard loves veggies and especially fruit. She used to raid the garden until I put up an 8 foot fence. I couldn't get her to eat raw meat. I had to settle for a high-quality grain free commercial food.
Technically, dogs are carnivores. Yes, they are adapted to digest some plant material and will do so readily, but this only means they are not obligate carnivores.
Thanks for this info, Sienna, I will check out the group. Can you provide links for more info on how you feed?
I have a local bay area maker called Small Batch Pets. It's all organic and a lot pasture raised meat. They are also in Los Angeles.Thanks for the link.
Great to hear! My cat has a 'peeing problem', she pees when she's mad at me or upset/anxious and it can get really bad.... maybe this will help regulate her moods as well.
Thanks for the link, Leo!
Wow what a great story! So glad to hear she lived healthily for so much longer than expected. What kinds of things did you feed her?
Thanks for the link, I will look through the site!
Thanks for your answer, Dexter. Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs are omnivores (as Rogue Nutritionist says below) and I plan to feed her mostly poultry, as birds are what she'd most likely catch in the wild.
ALL Dogs are CARNIVORES being almost 100% DNA match for wolves.
Cats are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES meaning they need a red meat diet to thrive.
Nothing else except maybe O3 oil if you cannot get grass fed/and finished meat or wild caught.
Cats must have raw red muscle meat for the taurine content !!
Todays chicken is a joke ! They barely lve 6 or 7 weeks. The only thing they do provide is EDIBLE bone for your pets' digestive stability and cleaning teeth , which happens as the dog or cats teeth penetrate the bones.
Never feed leg bones from large animals. they are too dense and only serve to wear down the dogs teeth prematurely. Remember it is EDIBLE bone they need .
My cat was diagnosed as terminal diabetic and I took her raw. After a few weeks on all raw meats she went through a healing crisis that lasted 24 hours and then she began to play and be like a kitten again. She thrived for the next 16 months and only then finally began diminishing in health and interest in life. I am convinced it was feeding her such a highly nutritious, raw and as it happens Paleo diet that allowed her to live 16 months longer than they told me she would... and do it with vigor and pleasure. I did add a supplement to her food.
My cat Sooty is almost identical to yours'. She eats 95% raw - raw red meat in the morning and 2 raw chicken necks at night time. A few bikkies here and there as treats and she likes to eat some food off our plates occasionally - she won't eat raw fish, so she gets her fish from our dinners of cooked salmon or gemfish (really small amounts).
At first, it was really difficult to get her to eat the raw red meat chunk (a single palm-sized chunk) and the chicken necks. There were a few days where she didn't eat them at all, so we just had to be patient and give her the new items every second day as she got used to them. She is happy with it now though!
You can not just feed your cat meat. She will not thrive. Cat's need bones, organs, etc. And you should always supplement with high quality supplements or with a high quality, nutritionally formulated grain free cat food. Cats also love raw egg yolks, and they are really good for them once in awhile too.
Sadly, I thought I was doing the right thing by feeding our dog nothing up liver, beef, chicken, lamb etc. But she was not thriving.
Took her to a vet who is practices kinesology...which is a way to muscle test whether a particular food or vitamin is liked by the body being tested. I know it works for humans, but I never knew a vet could determine a good diet for a dog....she said it works on cats also.
Come to find out that our dog should not eat beef or chicken. Lamb is fine and so is venison. So I relented and bought EVO brand canned food...both the lamb and venison and I have never seen such a turn around in the health of a dog. In three days, she was ripping around the house, playing and is a much happier bundle of joy.
I do not think my experience is unique. The vet said she has cured lots and lots of failure to thrive problems in her small animal practice.
My dogs (lurchers) have a raw food diet. They eat chicken portions (with bones) in the morning and then either minced pork and beef or chopped up ox heart in the evening. They won't eat kidneys and they'll only eat liver if I cook it - they won't eat it raw. They also get a couple of massive marrow bones a week and smaller lamb or beef bones every day. They will eat any leftovers and scraps from us but they won't eat raw veg if I just put it down for them. They have masses of energy, still run as far and as fast (and believe me lurchers can run), have glossy coats and good musculature. The best result for me though and the biggest change from 'ordinary' dried food has been smaller, firmer and far less frequent stools - makes cleaning up after them a lot easier!
I feed my dog raw dog food and it's got tubers, veg, probiotics and salmon oil too. She has done well on this for 7 or her 14 years. In the wild they would have eaten the organs and the fermented veg in the stomach. That's hard to replicate unless you butcher animals yourself.
Cats apparently need some special vitamins or minerals or aminos to thrive I don't know which. It's a serious need though b/c the people who make my dog's food told me a little of what they have to do to make raw cat food healthy for cats. It's more than just meat.
I'd love to have a little grain free dry dog food around for emergencies. Does the maker of your cat food also do dog food?