It is always a good idea to look at both sides of the picture, so I've looked into the case against raw feeding cats: to date the most extensive articles I've read are published by manufacturers of pet food.
The arguments against a diet of raw meat address two issues: the safety of raw food, and the need for a balanced diet to provide adequate nutrition.
The Argument that Raw Meat Contains Bacteria In a nutshell, the claim that raw meat is unsafe is based on the argument is that raw meat may contain salmonella, e.
coli and other harmful bacteria that can make your cats ill.
If you feed your cats with poultry, or fish, or red meat that meets the FDA standards for human consumption, the risk of contamination is very low to begin with.
As I mentioned in a previous article, cats naturally have a very high acid content in their stomach that is designed to digest protein.
Bacteria simply cannot survive and thrive in that environment.
Recently I learned cats have short digestive organs, engineered for the rapid extraction of nutrition and the subsequent elimination of waste.
There is simply not enough time for bacteria to multiply and spread.
So there are actually two safety mechanisms in place to protect cats from bacteria generated illness.
The Argument of Inadequate Nutrition from Meat Only Diet The primary argument presented here is that a pure protein diet is not a balanced diet.
Cats will not get adequate nutrition unless grain and vegetable material is added to their food.
After all, carnivores in the wild get grain and vegetables by eating the stomachs of their prey.
That makes sense, with the proviso that the proportion of protein to grain and vegetable matter is far higher than that found in the majority of commercial cat food.
If the concept of a balanced diet holds true for obligate carnivores, then it should hold water for herbivores as well.
However, the balanced diet concept didn't didn't work out well for the farmers in England.
Balancing a cow's diet by adding quantities of protein in the form of ground offal from their slaughtered relatives resulted in mad cow disease By all means, consider both sides of the discussion about raw feeding your cats.
As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Test the theory and check the results.
The arguments against a diet of raw meat address two issues: the safety of raw food, and the need for a balanced diet to provide adequate nutrition.
The Argument that Raw Meat Contains Bacteria In a nutshell, the claim that raw meat is unsafe is based on the argument is that raw meat may contain salmonella, e.
coli and other harmful bacteria that can make your cats ill.
If you feed your cats with poultry, or fish, or red meat that meets the FDA standards for human consumption, the risk of contamination is very low to begin with.
As I mentioned in a previous article, cats naturally have a very high acid content in their stomach that is designed to digest protein.
Bacteria simply cannot survive and thrive in that environment.
Recently I learned cats have short digestive organs, engineered for the rapid extraction of nutrition and the subsequent elimination of waste.
There is simply not enough time for bacteria to multiply and spread.
So there are actually two safety mechanisms in place to protect cats from bacteria generated illness.
The Argument of Inadequate Nutrition from Meat Only Diet The primary argument presented here is that a pure protein diet is not a balanced diet.
Cats will not get adequate nutrition unless grain and vegetable material is added to their food.
After all, carnivores in the wild get grain and vegetables by eating the stomachs of their prey.
That makes sense, with the proviso that the proportion of protein to grain and vegetable matter is far higher than that found in the majority of commercial cat food.
If the concept of a balanced diet holds true for obligate carnivores, then it should hold water for herbivores as well.
However, the balanced diet concept didn't didn't work out well for the farmers in England.
Balancing a cow's diet by adding quantities of protein in the form of ground offal from their slaughtered relatives resulted in mad cow disease By all means, consider both sides of the discussion about raw feeding your cats.
As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Test the theory and check the results.
Source...