NATURAL FOOD FOR CATS AND KITTENS

 A cat's natural food diet includes one obligatory ingredient - meat. Other foods allowed to cats are only recommended and may vary. This is due to the fact that the cat is an obligate ("obligatory") carnivore, which will live comfortably without any product other than meat. Below we discuss why this is the case, as well as how to properly feed a cat natural food.

CONTENTS

• Daily Allowance
• Allowed foods and their proportions
• Micronutrient Balances
• Recipes for mixes
• Forbidden products
• Feeding a kitten with natural food
• Problems, Questions, Feedback

This article will not provide comprehensive answers to all questions about natural nutrition, but it will provide pointers and links to other articles that address each specific aspect in detail. Be sure to follow the links to read more information. The links open in new tabs.

Daily rate of natural food for a cat

Normally, cats eat about 5% of their body weight per day, give or take. That is, the normal rate will be 3% if the animal does not want more, and 7% if, for example, we are talking about a breeding cat, gaining weight for the winter, an active animal, etc. Also, pregnant and lactating cats and kittens eat more: they are not restricted. Typically, kittens consume up to 10% of their body weight.

The natural food system aims to reproduce at home the approximate composition of the carcass of the cat's natural victims. That is, it is necessary to approximately recreate the "portrait" of mice and birds.

 Among the cat's victims, the following animals are found:

• mice and rats;
• hares and rabbits;
• birds;
• moles;
• snakes and other exotics.

Proponents of natural nutrition are sure: evolution has worked successfully for thousands of years, but science still does not know enough, and as a result, even expensive factory foods do not take into account all the nuances.

Many owners give their cats food mice that are sold for other pets. Mice are bought frozen, but some risk feeding live ones: then the cat will also have to hunt. Feeding live mice causes great controversy in the ranks of natural food fans: some are for it, some are against it. Within the framework of this article we will not discuss the topic, as it is quite specific.

Now about the amount of food. A cat in nature hunts many times a day if it gets small prey like mice. One mouse weighs from 10 to 30 grams. That is, to gain, say, 5% of its own body weight, a cat weighing 4 kg needs to catch 10 medium-sized mice in a day. But of course no master will feed the cat 10 times a day, so he imitates the situation when the cat cat catches a large prey or 5 mice in turn. Then it turns out that the cat ate 5 "mice" in the morning and, having eaten enough, went to rest, and 5 "mice" ate in the evening, and then went to digest again.

Allowed foods and proportions

So, the task of the host is to recreate the composition of live prey, such as a mouse. It consists of muscle meat and organs, as well as bones. In addition, the stomach contains food - grains. We will talk about them later. For now, let's talk about the proportions of the meat part and other permitted foods.

• The meat component in the cat's diet - 90-95% of the daily rate (half is muscle meat and muscle organs, 25-30% - meat bones (or bio additives are taken instead of bones, about that below) and 15% - offal and tripe);
• Vegetables (carrot, zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers) - 5-10% of the diet;
• Once or twice a week, cats may receive chicken and quail eggs;
• Low-fat sour-milk products are used as supplements to the diet, but may not be present at all.

The meat portion can be lowered to 90% if necessary, less is undesirable. Also a cat can consume only the meat component without vegetables. But this is not recommended for animals prone to constipation, because they need fiber derived from vegetable food (in this case the vegetable portion is increased to 10%).

If fish is given at any meal, it, being an animal product, replaces meat, not vegetables. Fish may be given 1-2 times a week, not more often. Or every day the cat can get a small piece of fish in the meat mix. You can not give fish at all. But it is still desirable to include fish in the diet, as it is the best source of fatty acids necessary for health and beautiful appearance.

Many people, including even veterinarians, are of the opinion that too much meat in a cat's diet leads to so-called protein poisoning. This is not poisoning in the literal sense of the word, but a metabolic disorder as a result of an excess of protein in the diet over a long period of time. This point of view does not stand up to criticism, because the cat has a protein-fat metabolism: it extracts useful substances from animal products while eating flesh for many thousands of years. Therefore, there can be no poisoning by excess proteins, especially since meat consists not only of proteins (many people mistakenly believe that the words "meat" and "protein" are synonyms). Protein poisoning is a term applied to other animal species, but not to cats.

It is generally believed that the more varied a cat's menu, the more likely it is to cover all-in-all the body's needs and not create a deficiency of elements. We are talking, of course, about approved foods and, above all, the variety of meats and kinds of by-products.

Natural cat food - what is it?

A natural diet is not food from the owner's table, canned food, or fried chicken; it is a scientifically determined diet that is ideal for cats. Feeding a cat natural food involves the following menu:

1. Meat and by-products (served raw, must be refrozen in the freezer for at least 3 days before serving to kill parasites, if there are any);
2. Meat-bone component or calcium tablets;
3. vegetables as a source of fiber;
4. fermented dairy products (not sour cream, but less fatty ones - ryazhenka, cottage cheese, kefir);
5. supplements (brewer's yeast, kelp, spirulina, sprouted alfalfa, etc.).

Many people are confused by the fact that the meat has to be raw. To avoid problems related to infections and helminths, the following rules should be adhered to:

• buy meat in a supermarket, at an official market or from verified farmers - do not take meat from the hands at unauthorized markets;
• When cutting the meat, check for any strange odors, spots and color;
• freeze the meat for at least 3 days in a normally working freezer that maintains a temperature of about -18 degrees Celsius.

In general, it should be noted that large farms constantly prevent cattle for helminth infections, so you should not worry too much. But it is necessary to visually inspect the meat and to freeze it necessarily. Besides, you should periodically prophylactic treatment of cats, because they swallow helminth eggs every day with dust, which people bring with them from the street on their shoes.

In general, cats, being carnivores and having a much more acidic environment of the stomach than humans, cope well with infections, neutralizing them, including even salmonellosis. After all, their bodies are perfectly adapted to eating flesh with all the possible bacteria and helminths that are widespread in the natural environment.

Nutritional Balance

In terms of the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, the balance in the feline diet should be as follows:

• Proteins of animal origin - 20-25%, no maximum is set by international nutritional systems;
• Fats of animal origin - 15% of the daily diet (minimum 5%, recommended maximum 25%)
• Carbohydrates - a maximum of 10%, but they may not be in the diet at all.

There is no need to worry that the cat will not get carbohydrates or will get very little of them. For humans such a diet would be destructive indeed, but cats, we repeat, have a protein-fat metabolism: they derive everything useful from proteins and fats. That is, a no-carbohydrate or low-carbohydrate diet for a cat is complete. But in order to break down a large amount of carbohydrates in food, the pancreas has to be strained, because cat saliva lacks the enzymes that start digesting carbohydrates while still in the mouth. Therefore, because of the large amount of carbohydrates in the food, the pancreas will fail sooner or later.

A cat needs only 5-10% of the vegetables in its daily menu for minimal carbohydrate intake, not for energy extraction but as prebiotics: the fiber is not digested and reaches the intestines unchanged, nourishing the beneficial bacteria that live there. Fiber also promotes more regular stools.

Many owners are afraid of overdoing it with fats. Indeed, if you regularly overdo the fat content of the diet or give him broths, he will develop pancreatitis, in addition, he will constantly lax intestines. But if you don't give him enough fat you will have problems with his coat, his general activity and the functioning of his organs. A balance is good in everything.

When formulating a diet, you should also pay attention to elements such as:

• Phosphorus (it is sufficient in any meat);
• Calcium (contained in the bones and in special supplements);
• The amino acid taurine (needed for heart function, there is a lot of it in meat, especially in hearts).

There are other nutrients without which a cat will not live long, but the three listed substances are the ones you need to pay attention to first, and the ones with which there is most often an imbalance when the menu is not properly formulated. To avoid mistakes, the following rules should be adhered to.

1. A cat needs to eat raw meat, not boiled or baked meat, because heat-treated products no longer contain important trace elements. For example, taurine is destroyed at high temperatures.
2. Cats who for some reason receive only cooked meat need additional vitamin and mineral complexes. However, it is easy to create an overabundance of synthetic vitamins, which leads to serious pathological conditions. And some cats simply do not digest synthetics. Ideally, everything should only be natural, since you have chosen such a system.
3. The balance of calcium and phosphorus should be about 1.2-1.3 to 1. But meat has a lot of phosphorus and almost no calcium. Therefore, when feeding animals naturally, they need to get calcium either from the meat component (calcium is in the bones, and there is very little in the meat), or from special additives. Preferably, these are supplements with calcium chelate or calcium citrate, and not with other ineffective compounds such as calcium carbonate or calcium gluconate.

Recipes for natural food: basic rules

There are two options for feeding natural food: mono-feeding and mixes. Mono-feeding involves eating one or two types of meat, usually in noticeably larger pieces. Mixes are mixtures of different types of meat and by-products with other ingredients. Meat is frozen in the freezer for at least 3 days in portion packs before serving. Defrosted and heated naturally to room temperature before serving. If you need to heat quickly, you can dip the bag in room temperature water.

Scheme to follow to plan the cat's ration so that it will always be fed.

1. Plan the menu for a week or two ahead if the volume of the freezer allows. We calculate how much food the cat should eat in one day and multiply by the number of days it should last. From this number of kilos, calculate how much muscle meat and hearts, how many organs, how many meat bones and how many vegetables should be. We convert the percentages to grams (kilograms). Based on this, write a shopping list. It is not necessary to make calculations up to grams, an approximate proportion is enough. For example, a cat weighs 5 kg, 5% a day of its body weight = 250 grams. In order to make up the menu for a week, you need to multiply 250 grams by 7 days, and obtain 1750 grams. Of these, one third (about 580 g) are meat bones, half (875 g) are muscle meat, and the rest (about 300 g) are organs or organs with a pinch of grated vegetables. Based on this, you should buy, for example, 580 g of chicken necks, 875 g of hearts or thighs and 300 g of stomachs at the market or in the supermarket. The proportion is enough to count once and follow it. If the animal is growing, weigh it every week and adjust the numbers.
2. Go to proven outlets or order the right amount of products online. Stock up on small bags or pouches to spread out the meat.
3. If we make mixes, we throw in muscle meat, meat bones and organs, vegetables. All these things can be minced with a meat grinder or cut into small pieces beforehand, or you can leave them in big pieces if the cat can chew them. When mono-feeding do the same, but in each bag we put one or two kinds of meat. Each pouch is weighed on a kitchen scale. One bag may be equal to one serving or a daily portion for two meals.
4. We put the bags in the refrigerator. It is advisable to write the start date of freezing on them, or mark it somewhere so you won't forget.
5. When the right time comes, take out the bag and defrost the meat. We serve the cat food at room temperature.
6. When there are 3-5 bags left in the freezer, we do it all over again: buy, chop, freeze.

Natural cat food recipes

To make it easier to put together a menu, here are natural food recipes for cats. Each owner can make their own, using the correct proportions. But there are also ready-made ones from experts.

Assorted

Turkey legs - 1 kg, heart (pork, beef, chicken, turkey) - 1 kg, turkey liver, chicken necks chopped and chopped - 1 neck per bowl, grated seasonal vegetables (such as carrots or pumpkin) - a pinch, dried kelp (added just before serving).

Beef mix

Beef + offal - 1 kg, grated cucumbers and zucchini - a pinch.

Chicken mix

Chicken thigh meat - 25%, chicken breast meat - 25%, minced chicken backs and necks - 25%, minced chicken heads - 5%, chicken liver - 5%, chicken heart and stomach - 10%, cauliflower - 1%, grated pumpkin - 1%, grated cucumber - 1%, grated apple - 1%, kelp (dried seaweed) - 0.3%, a piece of trout - 1%.

Turkey mix

Turkey thigh meat - 25%, turkey breast meat - 25%, turkey necks - 30%, turkey heart - 5%, turkey stomachs - 10%, cauliflower - 1%, pumpkin - 1%, zucchini - 1%, apple - 1%, cranberries - 0.5%, kelp - 0.3%, trout fat - 0.2%.

Healthy cats should not be served meat in the form of soups, broths, minced meat and pâté. The cat should eat pieces - small, medium or large. Large is preferable if the cat can handle it.

Forbidden foods

Cats are forbidden many foods. Let's list those that are not allowed categorically, as they can lead to tragic consequences.

Porridge

Cereals are not recommended for cats in any form. They are practically not digested, passing through in transit, but preventing the absorption of useful substances from other foods and even destroying the calcium already in the body. This is due to phytic acid, which a cat cannot neutralize, unlike the body of a mouse. For many cats, cereal food passes through and does not seem to affect their bodies for a long time. In many, however, it disrupts the digestive system and can even damage the mucosa and cause fermentation.

Problems with digestion of cereals are connected in particular with the fact that in cats the pancreas hardly ever produces the enzyme amylase, which is necessary to digest carbohydrates. Plant carbohydrates in a cat's diet can be present insofar as it is able to eat its prey together with the stomach and intestines, and the stomach of the victim is known to contain cereals. But first, the stomach is a small part of the carcass of a mouse or rat. Secondly, the grains are already there in a fermented form: non-fermented grains are almost impossible for a cat to digest. Thirdly, cats often gnaw off the carcass, leaving their intestines unpalatable.

Nutritionists agree that cats do not need gruel, but opinions differ about bran. Some advise to use a pinch of bran if there is a need to relieve the animal from constipation. Others believe that bran can do the same damage to the intestines as cereal. It is better to use vegetables to speed up the passage of feces through the intestines because in the wild cats can eat vegetables and herbs but they will not find bran anywhere because it is a human invention.

Onions and Garlic

Onions and garlic are controversial ingredients. On the one hand, they are sometimes contained in foods and are even tolerated by the BARF natural food system. However, classical natural feeding of cats and dogs does not include onions and garlic, because they irritate the mucosal walls and contribute to serious problems in the body.

Eggplant

Eggplant contains a poisonous substance that can even disrupt the nervous system. Chances are, if a cat eats an eggplant, it will vomit it up, but if not, the consequences can be very serious.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are too heavy and unpredictable a food. Especially since it is possible to come across poisonous ones. The consequences of such a meal for the cat will be as deplorable as for humans.

Canned food

Canned food is contraindicated for cats, as it is generally salty, spicy, pickled, consisting of unsuitable foods, containing vinegar and preservatives, and has undergone heat treatment.

Lots of fat

Although cats have a protein-fat metabolism, still excess fat is harmful. A single ingestion of excessive fatty food is likely to cause diarrhea at most, but regular ingestion will lead to pancreatitis.

Salty

To die from salt poisoning, a cat needs to eat a lot of it - so much so that it is unlikely that she can handle that much. Still, a cat can overeat salty meat to the point of extreme thirst and other unpleasant consequences. The right amount of salt is already in the meat. That is why food for cats is not added salt. However, if the animal does not get blood and organs containing it (liver and spleen) at all, read this article to learn how to maintain electrolyte balance in such a case.

Chocolate

Chocolate for cats is a poison that affects the nervous system. Even a small bite can lead to poisoning. If the cat accidentally eats chocolate, a sorbent should be given, after which the cat's condition should be closely monitored.

Popular answer to the question: Is it OK for a cat to eat chocolate?

Coffee

Coffee has a similarly negative effect on cats. If a cat tries to drink it, it will most probably do so because it contains milk, or simply out of a desire to imitate its owner.

Popular answer to the question: Can Cats drink coffee?

Sweet

No sweets for cats, as they require too much carbohydrate. Excessive consumption of carbohydrates leads to diabetes. Moreover, this food makes no sense because cats cannot taste sweet. If a cat wants ice cream, for example, it's because of the milk in the composition. The sugar itself does not interest him. And, of course, a cat is unlikely to want fruit, although there are exceptions. Fruit in small quantities is allowed to be given occasionally.

Potatoes

Potatoes are a starchy food that cats do not need. A small piece of potatoes will not lead to terrible consequences, but such food has no sense either. If you give a cat big pieces of potatoes that it wants to eat for some unknown reason, you will most likely see the same thing on the way out as you did on the way in, and the animal will begin to ferment in its intestines.

Popular answer to the question:  Can cats eat potatoes?

Beans

Pulses are forbidden to cats in any form. They are a heavy meal and cause gas. In addition, it makes no sense because it is plant-based. Yes, many food manufacturers add legumes to their formulas to make their products cheaper and formally increase protein content. But that's no reason to follow their lead.

Popular answer to the question:  Can cats eat fava beans?

Feeding natural foods to kittens

Natural food for kittens is similar in composition to what is given to adults, but with a few caveats. Let's begin by answering a few questions about meat.

First: When can I give meat to my kitten? Beginning at one month of age (3-4 weeks) babies are introduced in the form of raw minced meat or finely chopped pieces. Chicken or turkey meat will be a good option. Give the kittens the same that their mother eats. They themselves will start to "shop" in her bowl when the time comes. You start complementary feeding with one kind of meat, and gradually you introduce the rest.

Question two: Can kittens eat raw meat? Raw meat for kittens is not only allowed, but necessary. It is raw frozen meat helps to adjust the digestive system in the right way.

But dairy products and vegetables are introduced later - only when kittens are already well digested by different kinds of meat. Fish is introduced into the diet when kittens are a few months old.

For more information on how to feed kittens natural food by month, read a separate article. The article applies to the Scottish breed, but this system of feeding is suitable for all domestic cats.

General rules

Feeding cats natural food should be done in a quiet environment, at about the same time, so that there is a certain routine.

Food should be at room temperature - not cold or hot. Hot will burn, and cold makes digestion much more difficult, to the point that the food will not be digested at all. This is especially dangerous when feeding on bones.

The plate is taken away and washed immediately after eating without chemicals - just plain water. You don't need to leave your cat's plate all day if she didn't eat it all at once. If she ate so much, it means she needs so much. Do not provoke her to eat during the day. Especially since natural foods spoil quickly.

Food is served either in small pieces, or in big pieces, if the cat is able to cope with them. But broths, soups and minced meat are permanently forbidden for cats.

Cats on a natural diet drink less water, because meat consists of 60-80% of it, which means that water enters the body with the food. In the process of evolution, mammals have learned to extract moisture from food. By the way, humans often confuse appetite and thirst for this very reason: the body demands water, which can be obtained from food.

Possible problems and questions

A natural cat diet is great because it promotes health. However, many people make mistakes which lead to negative consequences. And some cats have mental peculiarities and habits that prevent an easy transition to natural food.

Why won't a cat eat meat?

If your cat does not eat meat, you need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Has he previously eaten dry food? If yes, then the reason is that the cat is not used to meat and he needs to be taught to be a carnivore. In that case, read the article on how to transfer the cat to meat.
2. The cat doesn't eat meat, but eats other foods: vegetables, porridges, soups without meat, etc.? Does it eat because it wants to, not because you don't give it anything else? If so, it means she has a digestive problem and needs to see a vet right away. Vegetarian cats don't live long.

What if she's allergic to food?

Cats, like humans, can have food allergies. Chicken is the most common, since this meat is far from being environmentally friendly due to the peculiarities of modern production. When a food allergy is suspected, the first thing that is excluded from the diet is chicken. However, the problem may be another product that needs to be figured out.

Do cats eat rotten meat?

Outdoor cats can eat rotten meat and not get poisoned. Domestic cats that are used to fresh food can be harmed by rotten meat, so it should not be given. In addition, pets themselves, as a rule, do not want to eat even more or less fresh meat, which is weathered, not to mention the spoiled. And rightly so. Cats are not dogs who like and digest this kind of food well.

What if the cat doesn't get enough meat?

Many owners worry that they work during the day and only have the opportunity to feed the animal in the morning and evening. At the same time, they wonder how the cat will be full if he had dry food at all times, and you can't do that with straight food?

The cat really should have constant access to the dry food, because the food is already half processed and quickly rushes through the stomach and the entire gastrointestinal tract. As a result, the cat will feel hungry again pretty soon. And a natural diet of raw meat is digested for a long time, the stomach stays full for a long time. Accordingly, the adult cat will not be physiologically hungry soon, just about evening (not to be confused with psychological hunger!). Therefore adult cats are fed natural food only 2 times a day, maximum 3 times a day.

Reviews about natural feeding

Catherine: "At first my kitten had a huge belly, sticking out his ribs, we brought him to the form that we think it is necessary. He was weak, skinny (ribs and even the spine stuck out), with a huge belly (it felt like it would burst), slept all the time, almost had no voice (gave out something uterine), and even got sick with a runny nose and conjunctivitis right after moving. The whole month could not remember his name, was all in himself. This despite the fact that the cat was from a cattery, with documents and was even sold for breeding. Within 2 weeks of switching to meat, the kitten's stool normalized and his stomach began to go down. During the first month he put on weight again: at 3 months he weighed 1 kg, at 4 months - almost 2 kg. By 5 months the abdomen became normal. At 10 months the cat weighs 4 kilograms, his build is normal, he has a nice silky coat. No health problems.

Stefany: "My Phili at five years had plaque on his teeth, although he ate dry food, and I was told that dry food cleans the teeth. But it didn't. After a while after switching to straight food, the plaque disappeared as he was brushing naturally with bones. Of course, if the cat had a stone, the bones would no longer help, but they coped with plaque".

Frank: "I think it is wrong to feed my cat with pads that are factory-made and nobody knows what they put there. Well, I do not trust the manufacturers, because they only want to cheapen production to the detriment of quality. I have a cat and a cat - both on a meat diet. No health problems".

Aisha: "I have a Scottish cat on a natural diet. Before she was four years old, she got a bunch of different diagnoses from being on dry food. In particular, the cat used to go to the bathroom with blood. When we switched to organic food, the problem went away.

Gven: "At first it was hard to figure out all these proportions, grinding meat and so on. But then the proportions themselves were somehow put down in my head, and the meat is no longer cut so finely, because the cats have learned to eat large pieces. As a result, in about six months the amount of work on the preparation of a natural ration for the week (we buy a week) is reduced by half, I feel. It's only hard at first."

Conclusions

Feeding the cat natural foods is the only species-specific dietary system that has evolved evolutionarily. For thousands of years, cats have eaten this way and thrived. Scientists make revolutionary discoveries in feline nutrition every year, which means that food manufacturers are only guided by what is currently known and could easily miss something when preparing their products. This was once the case with the lack of taurine in feeds, which resulted in the death of many animals. What do feed manufacturers know today and what do they not consider today? We will probably learn about that only years later.

But we must understand that the natural food is not a panacea for cats. It does not cure diseases unrelated to nutrition. It often doesn't cure chronic gastrointestinal diseases either, because they are already there and are not 100% curable, but can only have long periods of remission. However, feeding cats naturally can indeed make an animal much healthier and prolong its age.