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The Benefits of Raw Food for Cats

The Benefits of Raw Food for Cats

Cats are predators. They evolved eating a prey-based diet, and more importantly, eating that food raw. Cooking degrades nutrients in meat, causing the loss of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.¹Meat used in highly-processed pet food is cooked at high temperatures. The nutrients lost must be added back. This supplementation is not exact. There are nutrient losses that aren't always replaced. Cats in the wild often eat the entire prey animal if it is small, and will eat nearly everything except the intestines of a larger prey animal. This includes the bones of prey, as raw bone is highly digestible and is their primary source of calcium. Cooking bone reduces the nutrients available, making it brittle and dangerous to ingest.²

 

Providing your cats with a diet that is modeled on what they would eat in the wild has many benefits, both for you and your cat:

 

• Improved digestion
• Greatly reduced stool odor and volume
• Healthy coat, less shedding, fewer hairballs
• Increased energy
• Weight loss, if overweight
• Better dental health
• Better urinary health

 

Improved Digestion

 

Cats are obligate carnivores, they must eat meat. There are no vegan cats. Their digestive systems are adapted specifically for a meat-based diet. A cat's digestive tract is short and acidic, and processes species-appropriate raw food highly efficiently in about 12 hours. This gives very little time for bacteria to proliferate, so cats are naturally resistant to food poisoning.³

 

Cats have no requirement for carbohydrates and limited ability to digest them. A raw cat food diet is more digestible than a diet of plant-based foods.⁴ Because they evolved eating a diet with almost no carbohydrates, they have only one enzyme system capable of handling them. This is quite different from humans and dogs, both having multiple enzyme systems that digest carbohydrates.⁵

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Can Cats Have a Raw Food Diet?

CAT PET CARE

By Aly Semigran

A cat’s natural instinct—even a friendly, loveable housecat—is to hunt for food. And if left to their own devices out in the wild, cats would find their food in a raw, natural state.

That’s why, with the proper preparation, knowledge, and veterinary guidance, a pet parent can provide their cat with a raw food diet that not only taps into their feline instincts but keeps them healthy and strong too.

SHOULD CATS HAVE A RAW FOOD DIET?

Cats, like dogs, can be fed a raw food diet, and some holistic veterinarians even recommend that pet parent should have this as part of their cat’s lifestyle. In fact, as Jodie Gruenstern, DVM, points out, a raw food diet may be even more important for cats than it is for dogs “because they are stricter carnivores than dogs.”

WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN A RAW FOOD DIET FOR CATS?

Gruenstern says there are four main components that need to be included in a raw food diet for cats. A balanced raw diet should include flesh, organs, a bone or ground bone and a small amount of vegetation.

In addition, Jill Elliot, DVM, explains that pet parents can also add calcium to a raw-food diet for cats. This can be administered through supplements and small amounts of cat-safe dairy products."

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