http://www.serve.com/BatonRouge/nutr.htm – tons good information
Recommended Reading:
Raising Cats Naturally, Michelle Bernard (order online at http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/)
The New Natural Cat, Anitra Frazier and Norma Eckroate (amazon.com)
I’ve always been interested in the idea of feeding a raw diet to the cats, but never really summoned the energy to make that kind of change. Now that I’m faced with the fact that three of my cats have a lifelong urinary condition, it’s becoming more than just an ‘idea’.
A raw diet is the closest thing to what felines would eat “in the wild”, and is exactly what cats’ bodies were designed to process. For cats with FLUTD, a diet that is mostly meat, without grains, fillers, or preservatives, can help to maintain a healthy bladder and urinary system without any of the unfortunate side effects that prescription diets have been known to cause.
So I’m researching the various pre-made diets, and trying to figure out which one fits best with our particular needs (like certain food sensitivities) and my budget (gotta love being a college kid). Raw will be slightly more expensive than the canned food I am buying now, but I just think of it as using the money that would otherwise go towards vet bills. And as much as I love our vet, I’d really like it if we didn’t have to see him for anything other than annual exams.
Oh, and I’ll need explain to the vet why I’m returning the un-opened bag of prescription dry food, which should be interesting, because he is adamantly anti-raw diet
*eta*
Forget pre-made. I would be willing to forgive the fact that it is more expensive, but it’s nearly impossible to fine a pre-made raw diet that doesn’t have ridiculous ingredients. Like bok choy, alfalfa sprouts, or garlic (which, by the way, can be toxic to cats)
The plan now is to research the most feasible way to make our own food. Lots and lots of reading…I need more Mountain Dew.
You know how the Inuit have something like thirty different words for snow?
I think New Englanders should have different words for ‘cold’. I mean, there’s teeth-chattering cold, toe-numbing cold, wet-and-windy cold, harsh-and-stinging cold, lung-burning cold, and even frozen-nose-hair cold.
Today is a bone-chilling cold; once you get chilled, it feels like you’ll never thaw out again. So I’m off to burrow deep under the blankets with a cat or two and sleep the morning away…
Many have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You remain responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery
