This may shed more light on a healthy diet for dogs (which are, essentially, wolves).

Hi Lark–

About 18 years ago MD and I got a wolf pup from a breeder of wolf hybrids. It was both the best and the worst pet we’ve ever had. When it reached maturity I once gave it a ham bone to chew on. To my amazement, he crunched the bone to smithereens. Most dogs will gnaw a big bone like a ham bone–not this one, however. It was an impressive sight.

Cheers–

MRE

The last few years I have noticed lots of new premium pet foods, all marketed to appeal to humans. Cat food labels list not just stupid ingredients like apples, but Granny Smith apples! Last time I saw a cat in an orchard it was chasing a rabbit, not climbing the tree for a juicy Rome or Pippen. Michael Pollan refers to this label marketing in The Omnivore’s Dilemma as “pastoral literature”.

As I scrutinized labels looking for better food for my ailing cat, I was astonished to see ingredients such as oat bran, blueberries, sweet potatoes, cranberries, flax seed oil (cheaper than fish oil, I guess), & carrots, etc. When I could find good information, the scientific literature on cat nutrition indicated that the cat metabolism cannot convert many of these ingredients as easily as humans can. All the beta carotene in the world will not help a cat, who must have pre-formed Vit A from animal sources. Same for omega-3 fatty acids. Same for carbohydrates, which are not well metabolized in cats. CHOs are converted directly to fat. Cats are extremely efficient at converting protein into blood glucose. Yet we feed cats fermented organ meat-flavored cereals, then shoot them full of insulin when they become diabetic. Ironic, huh? I finally gave up on commericial cat foods, as they only made my 10 yr old cat more fat, more sedentary, and more unhealthy looking and acting. The final straw was blood work that indicated 75% of his kidney function was gone and the recommendation to put him on Hill’s “Science” Diet Rx, the low protein dry kibble formula. I couldn’t do it. I know too much, which is a curse and a blessing at times (probably describes everyone who reads this blog).

As I’ve stated before, I’m now one of those folks who feeds raw ground whole chickens to my cats. I highly recommend the recipes at http://www.catnutrition.org or http://www.catinfo.org for anyone who has an interest. The recipe was analyzed by one user and is quite similar in carbohydrate, protein, fat, moisture, and mineral content to a mouse.

I don’t recommend feeding raw exclusively unless you have a well balanced recipe to follow. Meat alone is not enough; the raw bones or bone meal is necessary for balanced mineral content. Cooked food denatures the proteins and enzymes and makes the bones splinter, so that is not recommended either. The raw diet needs to be done right, so check out the websites above. They are free and well-researched (one belongs to a vet who has nothing to sell). I have no affiliation other than as a satisfied web reader.

The two main barriers to raw food for most people (I’m assuming that most people reading this blog aren’t creaped out by raw meat) are time and cost. Both turned out to be not a big issue, in my opinion.

Even after buying the $185 heavy duty grinder at http://www.onestopjerky.com, it is cheaper to feed my two cats this recipe compared to the $3/day I was spending on Wellness canned food. The grinder pays for itself in less than a year and now I can also make sausage for the family. I buy organic whole chicken, but for more savings conventional whole chicken is even cheaper. Chicken livers ($2 or less/lb), egg yolks, and the supplemental vitamins are very cheap. The chicken hearts are cheap ($2/lb), but hard to source, but taurine amino acid and additional meat can be substituted.

Commercial raw food is more expensive but for the time strapped I guess it could be ok. But most formulas had vegetables I thought the cats didn’t need and I think home ground is better than pre-ground for contamination issues. And my cats weren’t as wild about the commercial frozen raw food. They prefer mine, paws down.

Raw food is not cheaper than most dry kibbles, but I wouldn’t recommend any formula of dry food for any cat. No cheap food that is unhealthy is economical in the long run.

And I’m sure I am saving money on vet bill’s because my older cat’s health has reversed after being in decline for 2/3 of his life. After two months on the raw diet all his blood tests are normal (I’ll test again in 6 mos and a year), with no more results or symptoms of Chronic Renal Failure, something the vet said was irreversible. He no longer limps down the stairs. He chases his tail, catches mice & lizards outside, and has a pleasant temperament again. His fur has changed dramatically from dull, flaky and unkempt looking to smooth, shiny, and handsome (& touchable).

Now for the time barrier: once the food prep becomes habitual, it takes only a bit over an hour to make a 10 day supply for 2 cats. That’s not so bad. That would last longer for one cat and a double batch could be made to last longer or for more cats. I can shop for cat food ingredients the same places I buy my family’s food, instead of a separate stop at the pet food store.

I ran out of time a couple of weekends ago and fed the cats canned food for three days. We all noticed that Clawed slowed down again, started limping, and looked ungroomed by the 2nd day. After two days back on raw food he looked and acted well again. It is that dramatic. I don’t know what is in or not in the commercial foods that doesn’t agree with him, but I can’t feed it to him anymore, even if it is convenient. It seems negligent. I guess he is a “canary in a coal mine” and all the other cats I have had that seemingly did well on commercial kibble were like the lucky 80 yo who smokes 60 years and doesn’t get lung cancer.

My vet advised against raw or homemade food as she has only anecdotal stories about raw diets and not everyone prepares it well (good points). She wants scientific studies, but those are not likely to happen as pet food studies are funded and conducted by pet food manufacturers. I’m trying to educate her (about people food, too) but she is quite biased toward what she has been taught (not surprisingly).

Again, if anyone is tempted to try a raw diet for their cats ( have no experience with raw dog diets, but know others who swear by it, too), I highly recommend the websites I have mentioned above. They were the best I was able to find (I spent hours and days reading up on raw cat food and cat nutrition).

So i don’t expect that we will be needing Pfizer’s pet drugs anytime soon.

Cheers,
Anna, Clawed de Pussey, and Mrs. Whiskers

Hi Anna–

It’s up for all to see and profit from. Except for me.  I’m allergic to cats and just reading your comment makes me sneeze.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Ryan–

Sounds like it is working for both you and the dog.

Good luck.

MRE

The only human food they get is meat – an occational can of tuna fish or bite of whatever I’m eating. Once in a great while I’ll give Abby a bite of cheese.

People need to feed dogs the same way – a HEALTHY dog food with human treats of only healthy food.

And no free feeding or eating between meals. Dogs, like cats, only need two meals a day (and sometimes my two don’t even eat breakfast when I set it out).
Hi Victoria–

And humans need to feed humans pretty much the same way they should feed dogs and cats.

Cheers–

MRE

Long story short, I ended up having to give up the cat as he didn’t get along with my 2 puppies (Dobe/Shepherd mixes).

I did, however, switch my dogs to raw meat and bones. When they were 8 months old, I was told by the vet to put them on senior food! When I questioned it (I didn’t tell him they were raw fed), he said it was to prevent weight gain! I asked if they were overweight and was told no, they were “perfect”….but to still switch them. Needless to say, I have a new vet, one that is perfectly happy that their raw fed. Today, they’re 3 yrs old and are beautiful! Perfect weight, never been sick, and they have the whitest teeth you’ve ever seen!!!

Cats are true carnivores….dogs are more omnivores, but do best on a heavy meat diet…..meat and fat….veggies only if they want/like them. I did a lot of research and found that not only are dogs today more often overweight, but they are being diagnosed with heart disease, cancer and diabetes much more frequently….even in the absence of a weight issue!

“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” but they sure are tying!!!

Several years ago the paper ran a story about a vet who saw a cat who was in very poor health. It turned out that the owner was a vegetarian and had been feeding the cat nothing but tofu because she didn’t want her cat to perpetuate the barbarity of eating meat. And I don’t have to tell you she was from Boulder, do I? The reality of it is, the best canned food for cats would be chopped up mice. Good luck in getting people to buy it, however.

Yeah, I saw that story about the diet drug for dogs and just laughed. It goes hand in hand with that article that some friends of mine were passing around about healthy eating for dogs. Essentially, it was the same low-fat nonsense that humans are encouraged to follow. My first thought when I read it was that it’s a miracle that any wolves at all survive in the wild given their meaty diets.

As for thinness in women, yes, women definitely compete with each other and it starts when you are a teen. It doesn’t help that part of that is the fear that men will find you fat and move on to someone else instead. The trouble is, what is considered to be fat has gotten really distorted. Most film stars of the fifties would be considered fat by today’s standards. As for me, Sophia Loren has always been my idea of what a woman should look like.

I agree, Twiggy sure does look great these days!

Hi Scott–

I can’t believe that any males could find them attractive.  I’ve read that it’s not for men that they do it, but for the envy it inspires in other women.

Cheers–

MRE 

The ad was half a page of print, not photo. It started with a question about if you cared for your animal, you would not feed it food with fillers… how nice!
Toward the end of the story, it said something about necessary ingredients for well rounded health, or some such. I checked their package at the store… it had rice as the first ingredient! So much for necessary ingredients!
Marketers never cease to amaze with their lack of integrity and the fine hairsplitting of the English language!

But the tragic thing is how many people don’t check. I’m not an animal owner, but I had enough curiousity to check on the ad’s story. I just don’t know how some Americans today put one foot in front of the other and don’t get taken every five minutes because they don’t check up!

On a more positive note, I sell butcher supplies and occasionally have animal owners asking for bone meal grinders and such–something too specialized for me to carry. It turns out that there’s a whole movement out there to feed cats and dogs whole meat products where you grind the meat, organs, and bones together to feed your animals. It’s very similar to what Canadians,Alaskans and Inuit have always fed their sled dogs. So there are pet owners out there who are learning about their carnivorous pets.

Hi LC–

Too bad there’s not a movement afoot to feed children whole meat products.

Cheers–

MRE

Glenice

Even better!