raw cat food Archives - French Bulldogs by Bullmarket

Petal the cat says she prefers raw mice

When you feed raw, it’s sometimes easy to get sidetracked by all of the debates and infighting that can take place in any insular community of like minded people. Arguments swirl around just what is (or isn’t) the “right” way to feed raw, with every party equally convinced that their method is the only correct method.

Then again, we sometimes run into a story that puts everything into perspective, and which makes us realize that it’s the essential core of what we’re feeding – raw, unprocessed meat, bone, organs, fruits and vegetables – that really matters.

Just before Christmas, I was contacted by a Veterinarian who had recently started exploring the concept of raw feeding. She had switched her own family dog over to raw, and he was an enthusiastic convert. She was now thinking of changing over some of her clinic cats, but had some concerns, since almost all of them had really specific health issues, two of them seriously diabetic. I told her that, while she would of course know better than I do about the medical management of diabetes, I did have numerous stories from pet owners who had told me that their own cats had experienced a total reversal of their diabetes when put on a raw diet.

Understandably, the Veterinarian was skeptical. I can be accused of having an ‘agenda’, I suppose – I don’t just feed raw, I work for a raw pet food company, and so my motives can’t be considered pure. My intent, however, was, and I did tell her that I could not claim that feeding her clinic cats would make any change in their diabetes – I could only suggest she try it, monitor their condition, and let me know about the results.

Christmas and the holidays came and went, and I received an excited phone message from the Veterinarian – she had some news for me about her cats, and she wanted to speak to me about it as soon as possible. When I returned her call, she started by telling me that she simply “stunned” at what she had seen happen with her cats since she started feeding them raw. Of the two diabetic cats in her clinic, both of them experienced completely normal blood levels within one week of being put on a raw diet.

Let me clarify something, first. Both of the cats she was telling me about had diabetes severe enough to require daily insulin. One cat was receiving seven units per day, the second was receiving eight, and even that was not adequately controlling his blood sugar. In the case of the second cat, all of the clinic staff believed that this was a cat looking at a slow but sure death sentence, since they simply did not seem able to get his diabetes under control.

In both of these cats, regular daily testing of their blood showed a stabilization within a week – one cat within just four days. Both cats, both severely diabetic, and both completely and totally off of insulin within the first week of eating raw. Both cats showed additional changes, as well – reduced volume of urine, formed stools, weight loss and glossier coats.

The changes that took place in both cats are so remarkable that the Veterinarian in question is now working on an article which she plans to submit to a Veterinary Journal. She’s been convinced of the benefits of feeding raw, and is now a vehement raw diet convert. These results – verifiable, tangible and, for the pets in question, life changing, are what brought most of us to raw feeding in the first place. It’s sometimes good to have a reminder of that.

Top quality protein is essential to a top quality raw pet food.

Over the past few years, commercial raw pet food has become so popular that some ‘shady’ companies have popped up on the market. They use crappy, cheap ingredients, held together with crappy, cheap binders. They then slap the label “Raw Holistic” on it, and charge a premium price. They’re the raw food equivalent of Old Roy, with better packaging and marketing.

Also, the term Holistic makes me suspicious, because:

a) there’re absolutely no regulation as to what this word has to mean, when applied to food
b) there’s almost never a good reason for it to be used to describe a food, other than as a market buzz term

Instead of getting caught up in what terms food manufacturers use to describe their food, I prefer to get down to brass tacks, and ask some clear questions that I believe let me decide if a food is really quality, or just masquerading as such.

I’ve created what I consider to be my own ‘wish list’ when it comes to shopping for a commercial raw food.

Things I would personally look for:

Is the company using HUMAN grade ingredients, specifically grade “a” certified meat, poultry and fish? If not, then you’re not getting top quality protein, but you’re probably paying top price.

Are they doing in house testing for Salmonella and e coli? The only answer I want to hear to that question is “yes, on every batch”.

Do they outsource, or is all their food prepared in house? Outsourcing is when you have another company make the food for you, at their plant, and then slap your label on it. Think “Menu Foods”.

Are all of their ingredients domestically sourced, if possible? ie; is all of their meat/fish/game/poultry from the USA or Canada? You can’t expect their papayas to be from here, but for most ingredients the answer should be ‘yes’.

An added bonus – do they use as much local and/or organic produce and ingredients as possible? Not necessary, but it’s a sign that the company is putting some thought into what they’re making, and how sustainable it is.

I believe that you almost always get what you pay for, and that this is doubly true for raw pet food. If one food is 50% cheaper than almost everything else on the market, I’d be asking “Why?”, instead of just rushing to buy it. A bargain is good – but a bargain that seems too good to be true, usually is.