Is Raw Food Really Good for Cats?

Raw cat food refers to the uncooked or unprocessed animal products, which are either homemade, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. They consist of muscle meat, whole or ground bones, and organ meat.

A healthy diet is very important to cats, just as it is for you. It’s always advisable that you feed your pet cat a complete, well-balanced, and nutritious meal. But what is the right food for your cat?

Some cats may have different food requirements as compared to others.

Nala, my pet cat, vomits whenever I feed her cooked beef. She had never reacted negatively to processed food before.

When I mentioned it to a vet that I thought Nala was allergic to some ingredients in the cooked meat. He corrected me and said that vomiting was a sign of food intolerance not food allergy. Nala had lost so much weight and I had to do something to help her regain back.

I couldn’t eliminate beef completely from her diet. So, I decided to feed her raw beef. It was not easy for Nala to switch because she had been eating cooked food her entire life. I slowly stopped cooking beef together with some ingredients. Thankfully, Nala regained all her lost weight and started playing again.

Cats are stricter carnivores than even dogs. In fact, they don’t need any vegetables, fruits, or carbohydrates in their diets. Instead, they thrive on high-protein food, which they can only get from meat. Cats can eat raw or cooked meat.

However, cooking meat can alter the structures of proteins. Besides, a non-allergenic protein may become allergenic now that it has been cooked. It’s recommended that cats should be fed a diet that closely mimics what they would eat in the wild, which is raw food! That’s why you find cats hunting and eating raw rodents, insects, birds, reptiles among other small animals.

How Raw Diet Benefits Cats

Food plays a crucial role in promoting the overall health of your cat. However, it’s challenging to choose the best food for your pet, especially with so many existing food choices. Raw food is now becoming increasingly popular. While many people have chosen to feed their pets raw food others are submerged in the controversy of the risks associated with raw diets.

Let’s have a look at the benefits and drawbacks of feeding your cat raw foods:

1. Cleaner Teeth and Superior Dental Health

Raw meat is a natural dental abrasive. It contains enzymes that facilitate food breakdown and digestion. This also keeps food particles from accumulating in your cat’s teeth, which in turn prevents formations of plaque.

2. Improve Immune System

Raw foods such as Meow freeze-dried raw beef, are an excellent source of fatty acids and immune-boosting nutrients. They are also rich in vitamins like B1 and B12 that strengthen a cat’s immune system.

Providing pet cats with a variety of Meow freeze-dried raw products will ensure that they have a range of micronutrients.

3. Healthier Skin 

Cats need unsaturated fatty acids, Omega 3, and Omega 6, which are all found in a raw diet such as freeze-dried sardine treats. These fatty acids and Omegas are responsible for keeping your pet’s coat healthy and extra soft that in turn reduces shedding. Raw food also has anti-inflammatory properties that promote your pet’s general health.

4. Less Stool and Odor

Raw food is highly digestible. More of it is absorbed and utilized by cats, which means less stool is produced. Raw-fed cats also produce less gas because their bodies are digesting biologically appropriate food.

5. Stronger Bones

Crushed raw bones are a good source of calcium, collagen, marrow, and phosphorus. These components are responsible for promoting healthy and strong bones in pets. Calcium in raw bones is up to four times digestible than other commonly supplemented calcium.

Setbacks of Feeding Your Cat Raw Food

Feeding your pet raw diet may also come with some drawbacks. Some of the disadvantages of raw food include:

1. It’s expensive

Feeding your cat raw food is more expensive than buying processed food. But there are many ways you can feed your cat raw food on a budget. For example, you can substitute raw for conventional treats like Absolute Holistic Air-Dried Red Meat, which is of high nutritional value and will benefit your cat greatly.

2. There’s a significant risk of contamination

Contamination results from poor handling of raw food. Raw foods should be prepared just the way human foods are also prepared. It’s also best to use ingredients from a reliable source to prevent contamination.

3. It’s easy to end up with a nutritional imbalance

Homemade raw food often results in nutritional imbalances, especially if it’s formulated by a non-expert. Unbalanced diet may lead to serious acute health problems in cats. So, to avoid this you should opt for frozen food that has already been formulated.

4. You’ll need a freezer

You may need a freezer to store raw foods. Raw food tends to spoil faster and the best thing to do if you’re making homemade raw food, is to buy a freezer for storage. Homemade food should be discarded after two hours at room temperature.

5. Preparing homemade raw diet is time consuming

Preparing a homemade raw diet takes time. You may have to make a week or two’s worth of food at a time then freeze meal-sized potions to prevent spoilage. However, you’re not supposed to store the food for long in the refrigerator. You may as well buy the commercial freeze-dried raw food to save on time.