Mom says that according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, more than 100 million pets are obese – 60% of cats and 56% of dogs. YIKES!
Not good news obviously!
And of course, it all starts with the diet – we are what we eat – just like you humans. And in the same way you are learning to become a more health-savvy person to prevent adult onset diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and cancer, us pets are now coming down with the same diseases because our diets are unhealthy!
Many vets say they are seeing many more cats and dogs with diet and lifestyle related health problems all of which cost a lot of money to treat and takes a big toll on our lives.
When in fact, if our pet parents took a PROactive position versus a REactive position and shifted our diet to a BARF diet – Biologically Raw Food Diet – we would lead a more healthy lifestyle to begin with – and this phenomenon of “modern-day human diseases in pets” would start to reverse itself and fewer pets would get sick. And they would be slimmer and trimmer too!
Independent and family-owned pet stores are leading the way in this new awakening by passionate pet owners who want their pets to live a long, healthy life just like they are trying to do with shifting their own diet to healthier options.
Independent pet stores are becoming the “411” in their local communities by getting on board quicker than the big competition in the area of raw food for optimum health – remember biologically appropriate raw food comes either frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated for felines and canines – it is never baked or processed.
At a recent visit to a pet products trade show, mom was so glad to see that the independent and family-owned pet food companies were coming out with more organic raw food for us pets. She said that the trend to “raw food” is out of the barn – and it’s not going back in. That is good news for us pets!
And, in addition, even if the company was considered a producer of traditional pet food (baked and processed), they too were focusing on their limited ingredients and trying to give their customers healthier choices.
Meow Mini Mart is incredibly passionate when it comes to the BARF diet. You can learn more about the differences between “raw” and “baked” here.
Besides transitioning your pet to a more authentic diet, timing is a big issue when it comes to feeding us…particularly us felines!
Ancestrally we are used to hunting for our food, catching it and eating quickly – if the catch was too big, we would either bury it or drag it up a tree for later consumption.
So this idea of putting out a bowl of dry food for all day grazing is simply wrong for two reasons!
Cats don’t graze by nature – never ever! And if your cat appears to “graze”, it is only because you have left the food out, and they are bored and just poking around to see if any “fresh kill” showed up since the last time they visited.
Traditional kibble is basically POISON – we don’t believe in it for cats or dogs as it is baked and processed…just read the ingredients, no whole animal protein plus a lot of chemicals you can’t pronounce! Good news though - lately we are seeing more dry food that is very high in whole animal muscle meat that is lightly baked with limited ingredients.
Mom serves us breakfast and dinner with delicious raw food - un-frozen and room temp…Bouvier, Beau and I happen to be food hounds and my two buddies eat everything in 3 - 4 minute…as for me, I take a leisurely 8 - 10 minutes to savor every drop!
Mom says when she first adopted me, I would eat some food, then take a break, then come back and eat some more maybe. She said it was what I was used to in my former foster’s house because the food was left out all day.
Meanwhile she didn’t like that idea because my appetite was not “robust” and cat-like…after all if you had a banquet set out all day, would you be that hungry? So she started to shorten up the time that the food was left on the floor from a couple hours down to 30 minutes – I can assure you I never starved as I got the message that I couldn’t dawdle while eating.
When she switched to an all raw diet 3 months later to solve my food allergy, I started to finish my meal in one sitting – and quickly because it was so delicious – much more cat-like mom said!
They say that it is a good idea if your pet is always “a little hungry” for the most fit and healthy body mass index – and don’t forget many of us act hungry out of boredom even when we are not!
And mom says she hears all the time from certain friends that their cats beg for food all day…and you know what mom says – SO WHAT! Who is TOP CAT in your house? Mom says let the kitties cry – we are just testing you! Throw a toy to distract us, and if we get too annoying – just put us in another room for a quick time-out with the door closed. We’ll get the message.
Now she does give us a treat around lunchtime – 4-5 days out of the week. She often puts freeze-dried treats in an interactive toy that we can bat around and chase the treats that fall out. That’s fun and we get some exercise too…all the better to keep our weight in check!
So we say if you can just start to introduce a raw diet and adjust the timing of the meals, you will see that it only takes a couple lifestyle adjustments to lead to a sustainable long life for your cat or dog with fewer to none of the diseases that obesity can bring on. Meow-za!
]]>Yes! Cats are obligatory carnivores and rely on a diet of whole
muscle meat, organs, and bones for optimal nutrition. Therefore, a raw food diet promotes good health and a longer, more sustainable life with fewer vet visits.
Cats who eat raw have fewer allergies, obesity, diabetes, cancer, kidney
disease, etc.
Cats who eat raw also have beautiful, shiny coats and no furry odor. Bury
your nose in your raw-fed cat’s fur and you will smell a “clean kitty”.
They also use more of the food they consume, biologically speaking, which
results in 50% less poop - often only having one bowel movement
every 24/36 hours. Their poops are purr-fectly formed and rarely does a
raw-fed cat have diarrhea.
On the topic of poop, cats who eat raw also have significantly less smelly poop. No kidding – try it and you’ll see!
Often called the BARF diet, the raw food diet consists of biologically appropriate raw food. It contains fresh human-grade quality animal proteins that have never
been cooked or overly processed at high temperatures that denature
the protein, after which they have to add chemicals and preservatives to
artificially put the “protein” back in.
That’s why cat food such as kibble and canned wet food have so many
ingredients, many of which you can’t pronounce, or even know what they
are.
Our best advice is to start reading your cat’s food ingredients. Aim for
the fewer ingredients the better. Look for the first ingredient to be the
whole protein such as beef, pork, turkey, etc. followed by things you
can recognize.
“Chicken meal” is not a fresh whole protein. It's often
made from rendered parts of the animal and even diseased parts.
Watch out for corn, soy, grains, too many veggies, and even fruits. Cats
have short digestive tracts and are hard-wired for eating “on the run” in the
desert, so they can't process carbohydrates like dogs can.
Raw food is available in several different ways – the common factor is
that no matter how it comes, it has never been cooked and traditionally
processed.
Raw food comes frozen as patties, cubes, nuggets, etc. and frozen is
generally the best value financially. Defrost and later serve when room
temperature.
Shelf-stable raw food can be freeze-dried, air-dried, dehydrated, etc.
and also coming in the same shapes as frozen options. It is more costly to
produce than frozen, therefore it can be 30% higher in cost for the
consumer. However, the ease of tearing open a bag or pouch will often be worth it for those who don’t want to wait for frozen food to defrost. Freeze-dried cat food will need to be reconstituted with lukewarm water.
Many independent family-owned pet stores have been leaders in the raw
food movement and will carry various brands and types of raw foods. In
addition, they are there to answer your questions and explain the
various types of raw food and the features and benefits. They will help
you get started!
Big box pet stores are starting to recognize the trend towards raw
foods and are starting to stock some of the shelf-stable brands. These brands can also be purchased online, but can be expensive to ship the due to
weights and freezer-packs.
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO FEEDING YOUR CAT IN 6 EASY STEPS!
FREEZE-DRIED RAW FOOD IS THE EASIEST WAY TO FEED YOUR CATS RAW
]]>Mom says there has been some confusion about how to handle the freeze-dried raw food for cats and dogs when serving it as a meal. Since many of the popular treats today are freeze-dried (FD) "single ingredient protein", serving us cats a couple FD treats straight from the bag is fine. But serving FD as a whole meal requires that it be re-constituted with water to expand into "wet raw food" again.
Freeze-dried versions of the frozen raw food diet are same, exact original ingredients as the frozen version – except it has had all the water extracted out of it. The process of dehydration takes anywhere from 14 – 18 hours, making it more costly. While FD raw food is easier, it is also 30% more expensive on average than the frozen version.
In the end freeze-dried (FD) raw food is the easiest way to serve your pet raw food. However convenience has a price! Meow!
Mom says the biggest thing to remember is – if you take the water out of the food so that it has a shelf life, you must re-constitute it with water to serve it to your pet! If you think about it for a moment – it makes sense!
And, in fact, you cannot serve it without re-constituting it with water – as it will be very difficult to digest. Mom once in the beginning served Beau some FD food without water re-constituted into it and checked back 10 minutes later and he had thrown it up all over the floor! Apparently the food expanded in his stomach to the point that he had "eaten too much" and it forced him to vomit.
Also, rule #1 is to make sure your pet stays hydrated enough and freeze-dried food is a perfect way to get your pet to drink water with their delicious raw food! We are going to take the FD food and make a stew out of it! Yummy!
We have included some photos here so you can see how easy it is to serve raw food using the freeze-dried versions!
That’s it – so easy! Now even the busiest pet parent can serve their pet raw food!
]]>In the case of us cats – you first have to understand that our DNA is 96% the same as many cats in the wild. Therefore it is important to think about our ancestral lifestyle and see how you can apply it to our modern day lifestyle to help ensure a long healthy and stress-free cat life for us.
What is an Holistic Approach? A holistic approach is to provide support to the whole individual (human and animal) and consider their physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing.
The concept is to consider the “total wellness” of the individual and not sacrifice one aspect for another. For example taking certain drugs which can cause other areas of the individual to suffer and therefore do more damage than they might cure.
The intent is to be pro-active and anticipate what is needed for the wellness of the whole animal - cats in this case. Us kitties are sensitive creatures and can get stressed easily and suffer if certain trigger points are not addressed.
I, Laszlo have put together a simple list of 6 easy-to-follow steps to take a holistic approach to feeding your cat.
So feed us our ancestral diet…biologically appropriate raw food…fresh whole raw animal protein, raw bones and raw organs – available frozen and freeze-dried.
At the very least eliminate kibble which mom calls “death nuggets” and focus on lightly -cooked limited ingredients wet food. READ the ingredients in all food you buy – if it’s first ingredient is not whole animal protein – don’t buy it! We need a minimum of 90% whole muscle meat to thrive.
Freeze-dried raw food is great option for people who want a shelf-stable product – and all they have to do is re-hydrate the freeze-dried food with ½ cup of water and serve. *please note that freeze-dried is a more expensive process than buying the same exact raw food frozen so be prepared to pay 30% more.
Besides eating kibble all day is the same as you humans eating at McDonalds everyday!
We eat 2 meals a day - breakfast and dinner and we also get a midday treat – freeze-dried turkey breast or duck.
Mom puts our raw food breakfast and dinner food down and we 3 kitties eat every thing up in 5-10 minutes. Just like we would in “the wild”.
When you train your cat to 2 set meals a day verses the “free-grazing” food out all day method – you actually stimulate our appetite and we are excited at mealtime and eat with great gusto finishing everything up.
This is the easiest way to get water into us cats. As we are desert animals, we are not hardwired to drink water ancestrally. Chronic Kidney disease is very common in cats as young as 3 years old – so be pro-active and put a cup of water in our food every day...1/2 cup with breakfast and 1/2 cup with dinner.
Some people think this is a myth – but that is false. As you know, our whiskers are our “navigation tools”, and when we eat from a taller and narrower bowl it forces our whiskers to bend back and causes stress. We don’t like that! As a result, some of us cats will take our food out of the bowl and eat it on the floor next to the bowl.
It has helped me a lot to not have “scarf and barf” incidents after eating! I will say that some cat people don’t believe in raising the bowl – saying it can cause possible bloating and a twisted stomach. Upon further investigation, the word from the holistic vets mom spoke to is that it can occur in canines, but is very rare in felines.
Domestic house cats are social by nature, but we prefer to dine in private. Just because you humans like to eat together at a communal dining table, don’t assume that we are the same.
With multiple cats there is often one food bully; even I have been accused of being one! And the skiddish cats that are affected by the bullies, don’t get enough food and nutrients in order to stay healthy and not stressed.
Mom feeds Beau and Bouvier in 2 different places in the kitchen and I eat in the bathroom. Even if your home is tiny, you can still find corners to feed in – and be sure to face us cats to the wall with our backs to the room.
Even with all these pro-active steps to provide mealtime security in place, Mom remains in the area as the "food police" until we are all finished eating.
With these 6 simple steps, you can improve your cat’s dining experience that is more in line with their ancestral needs.
With these steps in place, you can help ensure that your cat lives a long healthier life – and avoids many of the food-related human ailments that affect many cats today such as obesity and diabetes.
It all starts with our diet as obligatory carnivores – we are what we eat – and mom says these words are truer than ever these days.
Lately in casual conversations with other pet parents, she frequently hears about how their cat or dog throws up regularly, or has recurring diarrhea, or is overweight and has developed diabetes…or worse, it has cancer.
She says there is an epidemic of human ailments affecting pets in much of the same way as our human parents – and a lot of it leads back to the individual’s diet. And it’s the same for us pets!
When mom hears of these health problems, she always suggests the BARF diet – Biologically Appropriate Raw Food – as an opportunity to heal the pet from the inside out, and help ensure its wellness with a life free of fillers, chemicals and preservatives.
The BARF diet is a species-specific diet - made up of fresh human-grade whole muscle meat, bones and organs made by smaller, transparent pet food producers. It comes packaged frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated…nothing baked or commercially processed.
Raw human-grade animal proteins naturally have enzymes, amino acids and intracellular moisture which all lead to improved health and well being for your pet.
Processed and baked foods lose those 3 important nutritional categories through the cooking and processing of the food at high temperatures. In effect, the processing de-natures the protein. And they have to artificially put those nutrients back in.
The biggest issue is the intracellular moisture – intense hydration from the inside out – all vets say hydration is #1 for all cats, particularly us male kitties because of a UTI…but many of us cats do not drink water as we get our moisture naturally from our carnivorous diet which only a raw diet can offer. We kitties never drink water from the bowl even though mom puts out a fresh bowl of filtered water everyday.
We get all of our moisture from our food and mom has always added some more water to the meal. And if you are a weekly reader, you will know that our vet has amped up our intake of water and mom now adds an additional ½ cup of water in our food for every meal. Beau, Bouvier and I are now drinking a cup of water a day. Our meals look like soup with chunks of raw food – and we lick our bowls clean!
Mom believes that the movement towards the BARF diet is growing and being adopted by many pet owners who see the health benefits – and lower vet bills over the long term. We have been a raw food home for over 7 years and when Mom started me on the raw food diet initially, it was considered "far-out" and on the fringe. Now it is becoming mainstream for many pet households.
“Big Pet Food” sees the trend too and is trying to participate with grain-free and limited ingredients. It’s a step but all those foods are still baked and processed with chemicals and preservatives – and kibble for cats is simply "death nuggets" in our opinion.
There is a big European pet food company doing studies on cats living only on a carbohydrate diet, and there are others pushing a vegan diet for cats as a healthy alternative…mom says both are ridiculous – all pets should be fed the ancestral diet – the BARF diet.
We believe that the raw diet in some form (raw/frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated) is the proactive way to help us cats have a healthy and long life.
Just remember - we can not choose for ourselves. We depend upon you to choose for us the best diet possible given all the facts!
]]>Is your cat one of them? And what is the easiest solution to be sure your cat is well-hydrated?
Last year at 6 years old I was diagnosed with borderline kidney failure after my blood work results came back. Mom says that is this is a chronic problem she hears from so many pet parents who get the same news about their pet.
The good news is – is that there is much more discussion about the issue of keeping your cat well-hydrated, therefore many more pet owners are becoming aware of this health problem and can do something about it before it gets too late and turns into renal failure.
By now I’m sure you want to know why us cats are having hydration issues to begin with!
Simply said, it starts with the diet…just like humans, we are what we eat. Modern-day cats (during the last 70-80 years) have mostly been fed a diet of processed foods that come in a can or a sack.
Generally these foods are not super high in moisture with kibble being the lowest at 6% - 10%. Canned food is around 70%. Pet owners leave out a bowl of water, but tell us that their cats really don’t drink from the bowl or the fountain much of the time. I can tell you, us 3 kitties here never drink water out of the bowl.
That is because genetically we are still desert animals sharing 96% of the DNA with wild cats to this day. We would get our moisture from our prey through the blood and the contents of the stomach.
Now in full disclosure if you didn't already know this, we are an “all raw food house” and have been for almost 6 years. We eat a diet of human grade animal protein, bones and organs with as little carbs as possible. Mom buys it from independent pet stores that carry a selection of frozen and freeze-dried raw food. The frozen is packed with moisture, and the freeze-dried is reconstituted with water before serving. As a result we are starting out with food that is full of moisture. However, I still wasn’t getting enough water apparently!
During my last visit with my holistic vet, Dr. Gerald Buchoff told mom that he could tell that I was dehydrated before the blood work even came back. He said that all he had to do was employ the “pinch test” on me and it was very obvious that I was dehydrated!
Just pick up a fold of your cats skin in the center of its back by the shoulder blades – and if your cat is well-hydrated, the fold of skin will “snap back” into position.
If your cat is dehydrated, the fold of skin will just stay “up” and take a few/several seconds to go back down into position.
The blood work came back and confirmed his diagnose and immediately told mom that I needed more water in my diet. Mom was surprised because she had actually been putting a little water in our food because she noticed that we were not drinking from the bowl.
Dr. Buchoff said that I needed more water immediately and the best way is to put it in our food. He said I needed a cup of water every day to help reverse my numbers! And he instructed mom to be proactive and add a cup of water to Beau’s and Bouvier’s food as well.
Mom said she had to think about that idea for a bit because it meant that our meals, which now resemble “stew” with the ¼ cup of water, and we like it just fine. Now with a ½ cup, our food will become more like “soup” – and you know how us kitties hate change!
Dr. Buchoff said the optimum “visual” is to think of chunky chili!
So mom started to slowly introduce more liquid to each of our meals, and over the course of a couple weeks, had us up to ½ cup in each meal for a total of 1 cup of hydration every day.
Mom says YAY - we are on our way!
I must say there have been a few times when I said “enough with the liquid mom” and walked away from my food…but she sprinkled some freeze-dried chicken breast flakes on top of the “chunky chili” – and that lured me back to finish my meal – liquid and all!
She says it’s like “parmesan cheese” when she uses the crumbled chicken as a topper…but we call it “kitty krack” because we love it so much!
It’s gotten to the point that us 3 kitties lap up all the water with our delicious raw food and leave the bowls licked clean…and mom doesn’t even have to coax us anymore with a topper.
In the end, adding the required 1 cup of water to our food each day was super easy as it was gradually introduced.
The only other dramatic result of this increased hydration is – what goes in – must come out!
So it’s a good thing that we have 4 litter boxes for us 3 cats! They are definitely getting more use!
Mom says she doesn’t mind the extra cleanings, if it means we are well-hydrated and that the increased liquid intake adds to our wellbeing and reverses my numbers!
]]>That’s right, and I like to eat alone too!
When mom and I decided to start Best Life Pets, we based it on the concept of sharing with you the simple things to give your cat its best life – its most authentic life.
Mom and I believe that if you can make the small lifestyle adjustments that reflect more of our ancestral ways, we can lead a more holistic and sustainable long life. We hope to share and educate about the past to determine the roadmap to the future of a happy and healthy cat home.
Getting back to today’s topic, ancestrally while we cats are a social species, we are solitary hunters, meaning we prefer to eat alone. Fast forward to today and most multiple cat households have one general feeding area where we are forced to eat together, sometimes even from the same bowl. UGH!
In spite of the fact that we are not “hard-wired” to do so, some of us cats have resigned ourselves to this dining lifestyle, but many cats have not. While we may have domesticated ourselves to live with you humans, there are certain behaviors that remain the same for over 10,000 years and will never truly adapt to the human’s way. And group dining is one of them.
The result of this dining experience can be very stressful for both the cats and the cat parents in many cases.
Mom reports that many of her conversations with cat owners at events focus on food issues, from picky eaters, to scarf and barf incidences, to bullying at the bowl so one cat never gets their full share, etc. Group dining can actually suppress a cat’s appetite with some eventually suffering some health issues even.
She always starts by asking where and how the cats are fed and have they been to the vet within the last 6 months. Always, without exception she says, the cats are subjected to group feeding.
Keeping it SIMPLE, she recommends that each cat has its own dining spot away from each other aka dining’s version of social distancing.
Mom says that you think we like to dine together because YOU humans like to dine together, and you just figured that us cats must like it too. However, this could not be further from the truth!
In our house, Beau eats in the kitchen and I eat in the bathroom.
Mom figured it out when shortly after adopting Beau, she noticed that he ate in 1-2 minutes and would then start to stalk my bowl, stressing me out.
Since I am a feline gourmand, I like to leisurely dine over 5-6 minutes and I don’t need this juvenile delinquent interrupting my nice meal!
As a result, I had some “scarf and barf” episodes and since I never did that before Beau’s adoption, she decided to give us our own personal dining spot also known as mealtime security!
Mealtime security goes a long way in making us feel secure when eating and very often that one simple shift can reduce the issues and problems caused by group dining in multiple cat homes. Even a small studio apartment can identify a few different dining spots as any corner will do!
Eating alone can improve our dining experience and actually enhance and stimulate our appetite. Beau and I now finish our meals completely in one sitting, no grazing for us either, but that’s another blog for another week!
]]>The good news is that there are more raw cat food and treat products coming onto the market this year that are anywhere from limited ingredient food diets to single ingredient treats.
Our belief is that the raw whole animal protein diet is our ancestral diet being carnivores and therefore our diet needs to be 90%+ meat and very few carbohydrates. Bones and organ meat are important too for various cat-specific vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, etc.
There are many offerings that are classified as truly raw, meaning never cooked, available frozen, freeze-dried or air-dried/dehydrated. Raw never comes in a can. It comes mostly in bags and some tubs.
The big commercial pet food companies recognize that the direction is towards the ancestral diets for cats and dogs, but their product lines are based on food that comes in a can or kibble in a bag. They are trying to address this trend by either acquiring small niche pet food companies or shifting some of their brands over to more limited ingredients, which is a start.
I want to remind you all that us cats do not have molars with which to grind up kibble. We have only fangs with which we bite into our prey, tear and swallow. That’s it!
We have no way to eat kibble by chewing it up and then swallowing. We swish the kibble around our mouth, trying to soften it up and then basically swallow it whole. For any of you pet parents whose kibble-fed cats tend to “scarf and barf” every so often after a meal, if you notice the kibble comes back up whole!
Kibble is basically poison in our book as it is baked and has fillers, chemicals, preservatives and other ingredients that we can’t pronounce. Also, cats don’t naturally graze, so kibble really doesn’t have a true place in a cat’s diet, except the one that pet parents force on them.
The pet food industry is busy working on developing “kibble-like” food which is easy to serve for the pet parents who are used to tearing open a bag and serving the contents. We will have to see how that develops for the cats and will it be truly raw?
Mom says that some niche food companies are playing with the idea of a vegetarian or vegan diet for us cats. It’s to cater to the many millennials and Gen Z who are vegetarians and vegan themselves.
We understand that it is coming from a “good place” in their quest to be healthy and eat a more plant-based diet and lessen the impact of the meat industry. Many people feel the plant-based diet is more of their ancestral diet to begin with, however us cats are carnivores and it is impossible for us to not eat MEAT and survive. Period. It could kill us to be put on a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Prices of raw food are coming down which is great for many more families to be able to switch over to raw. Mom feeds Beau and me twice a day for basically US$1.75 a day each.
And raw is much easier to find as more independently owned pet stores are the first to be adding the raw food to their shop’s offerings.
Lately, the major pet chains and even some super markets are putting in freezers and refrigerators for the raw and minimally cooked “raw” pet food!
]]>Since we started Best Life Pets 3 years ago, we have promoted the BARF diet which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food as the foundation for a holistic and sustainable long life for us cats.
After this diet rescued me from a “scratchy, itchy and licky” life with big patches of missing fur due to a food allergy, mom and I dedicated ourselves to sharing our raw food experiences via this blog. Since it changed both of our lives, we thought it was a good story worth telling!
Our hope is that through our posts and experiences we can inspire and encourage all pet parents to try the raw food diet with their cats. After all, it is the ancestral diet of all felines.
Raw food is exactly that, it is food that is raw and in this case, 90%+ whole raw animal protein including raw beef, pork, duck, rabbit, turkey, chicken or salmon.
Raw food can be bought frozen, freeze-dried or dehydrated – meaning it has never been cooked. Frozen is the #1 option but all three are RAW food.
Raw food ingredients include whole animal muscle meat, organs and bone. Some raw brands will include a small amount of greens (carbs) which reflects the fact that in the wild, cats will eat the stomach contents of the prey therefore eating a minimal amount of carbs. It will also include any necessary nutrients such as Taurine if not found naturally occurring in the ingredients.
Raw food is not any food that has been processed and cooked at a high heat which denatures the healthy protein and kills all the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. While “limited ingredients” and “low-heat levels” address some of the issues in the commercial pet foods, it is still not raw food. Anything cooked even at low temps is no longer raw.
Raw food will never come in a can. If the ingredients include words ending with “meal” like chicken meal, that means it is processed and cooked.
Raw food will never contain chemicals and preservatives.
I am 6 years old this month and have been on the raw food diet for 4 ½ years now. I have lost weight (from 16lbs to 13.5lbs.), my fur is luxe, my poop has reduced by 50% and it doesn’t smell!
Needless to say, Mom is happy with all the results!
When we started on our raw food journey, we really did not get support from our traditional vet even after presenting them with the results and the facts of my transition. Eventually, it drove mom to seek an integrative vet/holistic vet who was on board with the raw food diet as the foundation for a healthy cat life!
Many friends and fellow pet lovers had never heard of the raw food diet either.
Fast-forward to today, and things are definitely changing!
The raw food trend has grown an ameowzing amount, especially thanks to the millennials and Gen Z who want their pets to live a healthier life and recognize the benefits of the BARF diet.
Likewise, the trend towards Integrative veterinarian services has grown thanks to the initial boomer vet pioneers but expanding greatly amongst the millennial vets. More and more of the animal medical world is starting to connect the dots that the commercial diets are actually hurting our pets with diabetes, obesity and renal failure to list just a few.
This is the BIGGEST news yet as the veterinarians have been slow to come on board with the raw food diet for a lot of reasons!
If you want to know more and read one veterinarian’s transition from a non-believer to a believer in the raw food diet, check out this post from The Conscious Cat by Ingrid King who mom admires greatly.
They share an article written by Dr. Andrea Tasi, VMD who writes a compelling article for Feline Nutrition Foundation about her experiences with the raw food diet.
Mom said this article was a joy to read as it offers first hand experiences from a veterinarian doctor who covers all the basics and addresses the concerns of all passionate cat parents when it comes to the raw food diet. If you are on the edge of whether to switch your cat’s diet, please click through and read what the vet has to say!
While “raw foods” remain a bit of a specialty, more pet food companies are waking up to the growing demand for a healthier way of life for us pets.
Today, there are many more specialty pet food companies, often started by individual entrepreneurs, in the pet food industry. Many of these companies have stood the test of time to offer a superior raw food product. Some have been around for 30 years, others for less than a decade.
One such company that we want to highlight is FEGNION ™ which is founded by two pharmacists, Dr. Alma Dervisevic and Dr. Joseph Scoleri. They started from the ground up after one of their beloved cats became sick from a commercial diet.
They vowed to create a purr-fect raw diet with no carbs – meaning 100% pure animal protein locally here in Brooklyn, NY. They have a growing following and I can tell you their food is cat-tastic!
Check out their website to find a local store near you or order direct from their site!
]]>While I know that discussing my litter boxes and its contents is not the most holiday-minded theme, with the end of the year approaching, it’s a great time to replace my well-used “toilettes”.
Before we discuss the why’s and how’s of waste management, let’s consider its contents first. After all, what goes in one end, comes out the other end in one form or another!
Start with the right diet, which in our case is fresh, raw, 90%+ whole animal protein, store-bought not home-made in our case – not cooked or processed, no fillers, no chemicals and preservatives. Nothing in a can and no kibble.
Beau and I are thriving on this diet, and never have diarrhea and almost never throw-up. Many people tell mom that their cat throws up “every day” – that is not normal! See your vet immediately if you haven’t already and seriously consider switching your pet to the raw diet!
Because of our fresh raw diet, more of what we eat stays with us and we have much less poop, like 50% less! And as mom says, it is beautifully formed! And, wait for it, it virtually has NO ODOR! The best part for her is LESS scooping!!
What more could any pet parent want?! And our dog friends who eat raw, also have the exact same results with less poop for the dog owners to pick up!
Okay, now that we have established what the optimum contents should be, let’s discuss the litter boxes and proper waste management!
Since litter boxes are made of plastic, they will retain the urine odor no matter how many times a year you may empty it out completely and wash it. So we recommend throwing out the box at least every year or so as we kitties like a very clean box!! And after a point, you cannot eliminate the retained urine odor completely.
Use a mild dish soap mixed with warm water (mom likes Dawn!) You can also use a mixture of baking soda and warm water.
Scrub the interior very well and rinse thoroughly so there is no residue left inside.
We like a very clean box so please scoop daily!
Consider using a sustainable litter such as OKOCAT, which is reclaimed wood from the forests that are turned into cat litter with no chemicals! It clumps, does not retain odors, is flushable and biodegradable.
The optimum number of litter boxes is one for each cat and an extra just in case. I know space can be a concern for many apartment dwellers, but try for at least one box per cat. For those of you with many cats, you will just have to scoop a few times a day maybe to keep it all under control!
So change out those boxes for fresh ones! Mom is always on the prowl for inexpensive litter pans at the dollar stores, online when there are promotions, etc. She says she pays on average $5 a pan.
With 2020 right around the corner, ring in the New Year with brand new litter boxes for your fur babies! They will love you for it!! Meow!
]]>When mom started feeding me “raw” over 4 years ago, we were definitely considered by our friends to be “out there”. After much research, she decided that I would live my best life by following the BARF diet – Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Suffering from “overgrooming” issues and literally licking myself bald in places, mom was desperate to bring me relief from feeling icky, itchy and scratchy all day long – which usually means a food allergy.
Within 30 days, I stopped overgrooming and all my fur grew in. Over the next few months, I lost some weight, my black fur felt soft and luxurious – and my coat glistened in the light!
Also, my poop reduced by 50% in quantity because my fresh, raw 90%+ animal protein diet has no fillers, no grains, no chemicals or preservatives….so there is less to get rid of…and less for mom to scoop!
Also, I can say that my poop doesn’t smell! OK well a little, but so little that people who visit don’t even know there are cats in the house!
Again, it’s because the food is natural and purer so we are eating better.
Remember we are what we eat – just like you humans!
It has been substantiated in many studies that the huge increase of “human diseases” in pets – such as diabetes and cancer – have been linked to the poor diet and low-grade foods that many pets live on.
Often the owners are not educated yet about the “raw diet” particularly for cats, or price and the logistics of feeding raw are perceived hurdles that they feel they can’t handle.
However, I am here to tell you that the raw food diet is growing in a way to becoming the dominant offering on pet stores shelves in the not too distant future. We can thank the Millennials for this growth as they want to eat healthy and they want the same for their pets so they are pushing this change.
Besides the independent, organic small family-owned raw food companies who started 30 years ago, now you have every major pet food company racing to catch up.
The raw food “cow” is out of the barn – and it’s not going back in!
In a nutshell, mom feeds Beau and me a fresh, raw food diet twice a day for less than $3.00 a day – total! That’s $1.50 for 2 meals a day for one cat!
Mom buys “frozen raw” as it is the best value for fresh food. She takes it out and defrosts it overnight in the fridge. She also keeps a bag of freeze-dried raw on hand in case we are out of the frozen version.
Cooked and processed foods that come in a can or kibble bag cannot compete with fresh food with the price of the raw becoming more affordable than ever. And the ease of serving raw is here now with frozen, freeze-dried and dehydrated options.
If you haven’t tested a fresh, raw animal protein diet yet with your cat or dog, now is the time to jump on the raw bandwagon. The price is right and the time-invested is manageable and allows you to change your pet’s life – and yours!
]]>According to our authentic diet being desert hunters, my great-great kitty ancestors rarely drank water as we got most of our moisture from our prey – small rodents, mice and more.
Today we are still hardwired to get our water from our food, except the commercial diets that many of us exist on today involve dry food which only contains about 6–10% moisture.
Canned wet food is better, containing 70–80% moisture, but believe it or not, that is still not enough water each day for us cats.
Mom will tell you that she almost never sees us drinking water so it is important to structure our diet and hydration around the reality that we don’t!
The problem of dehydration in cats is as serious as it is in humans. And us kitties can get dehydrated very quickly. If we don’t have enough moisture in our diet, we can get crystals and urinary stones – or come down with diabetes or hyperthyroidism.
Also, with the onset of summer and hot weather, it is extra important that we don’t become overheated.
You may know if your cat is dehydrated if it has a loss of appetite, is lethargic and portrays less playful behavior, even vomiting and diarrhea.
You can do a quick test to see for yourself if we are a bit dehydrated – just pinch the skin on the back of our necks – the skin should be elastic and go right back into position…if the cat is dehydrated, the pinched skin will slowly retract back into position.
So what is a cat parent to do since most of us do NOT drink from the water bowl like you think we do!
To begin, if you serve your pets commercial pet food, we strongly recommend you transition your cat to canned wet food only if you serve dry. Kibble and dry food is poison basically and has no redeeming nutritional value and should never be served.
We focus on the benefits of a fresh raw protein diet, but if that is not something you want to do, then at least only serve canned food.
Cats need at least a cup of water each day – about 3.5–4.5 oz for 5 pounds of weight. So a cat weighing 10lbs needs 7–9 oz daily in liquids.
Both of our vets recommended to mom that she put the water, flavored or not, directly into each meal. That way you know how much water we are drinking. Knowing how hard it is to guarantee that we are drinking water, mom decided to go with the vets’ suggestion and just put the liquid into our food.
]]>It’s been awhile since we have talked about food and nutrition, so mom thought it was time for an update. Since the traditional pet food industry is undergoing a huge shift to more “natural foods”, every major brand is introducing a new collection of cat and dog food that is “all natural, limited ingredients, grain free”, plus other “buzz words”, so what is a pet owner to think?
Driven, in a great part, by the Millennials, more people are looking for upgraded versions of their own foods, and feel the same way about their pets’ food. As a result, the trends in pet food are following the trends in human food and nutrition.
Many more people are looking for non-GMO, organic ingredients, less processing and higher human-grade quality in their pets’ food. People are becoming convinced that highly processed foods are not as good as raw foods (for both themselves & their pets). If you are including more fresh foods into your diet, why wouldn’t the same be true for your pet?
As many of you know, Beau and I only eat raw food. Mom believes in the Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (BARF) diet for all pets. In today’s post we will focus mainly on cats, but please note that we feel the same way about our canine friends!
A quick refresher…my cat food must be at least 90% whole animal protein. Us cats need 2-3 times as much protein as dogs, who are omnivores. We are strict carnivores! There are 11 essential amino acids plus various vitamins that can only come from an animal protein.
The only carbohydrates we would eat naturally is the stomach contents of our prey and the occasional nibble on grass. So, our food must have a high-animal protein and high-moisture content, which only fresh food offers.
Overall, this shift is a new way of thinking about your pets’ food and it has brought a BIG change to the pet food industry. For years, the industry has relied on highly processed ingredients which denatures the protein and the use of chemicals and preservatives to put back the nutrients killed off in the baking of the canned wet food and kibble…which mom likes to call “dead food”.
Basically, anything that is not cooked or baked. Fresh food does not have chemicals or preservatives that cooked and baked food require.
Always read the ingredients as whole animal protein must be the first ingredients listed. You should also be able to understand what each ingredient is and be able to pronounce each of them!
Fresh food can be frozen raw or freeze-dried raw, which is “raw with the moisture removed”.
Additionally, raw alternatives are also being offered such as dehydrated and air-dried raw food.
Another way these fresh foods are getting into our diets is through the food toppers, bone broths and supplemental treats that are now being offered. Mom puts bone broth mixed with water in both our meals each day, and will often sprinkle some organic food topper on top of our “chunky soup” meal just to spice things up!
Raw and raw alternatives for pets have been around “forever” but only produced by small independent companies who had the vision and commitment to pioneer the BARF diet because they knew it would mean better long-term health for us. Little by little this more authentic and holistic way of eating has emerged from the fringes due to demographic changes and more education about diet and nutrition in general.
Not to be left out, big pet food companies have finally recognized what the trend is and are introducing new collections based on a more “natural diet” which is good!
While mom prefers supporting the smaller companies and the independent pet products shops that were there first in this “fresh food” space, she’s excited that there will be many more healthy options on the shelves and refrigerators in the big pet stores and supermarkets for all pets’ benefit!
]]>Mom just came back from the Pet Connections Expo in Philadelphia and was all excited by what she found at the show.
While it was a regional show with approximately 50 companies, she said the exciting news was how many companies were focused on all things green, holistic and authentic…from the food ingredients to cat litter to how things were made in sustainable ways to offering preventatives and supplements so pet parents can be proactive instead of being reactive when an issue arises.
Starting with the small, but entrepreneurial pet food companies who sell through independent pet stores, boutiques and online specialty stores, every single company was focused on the source of their ingredients and following the ideology that cats and dogs should eat a BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet according to each species.
Mom says that the raw diet has finally started to move into the general population as people are becoming more educated about how “us pets are what we eat”…just like our human parents…and more people are paying attention to the ingredients in the food they serve us!
She also said that there were many more companies in comparison to when she started 3 years ago – offering a plethora of preventatives and supplements to augment the diet of cats and dogs…certain ones were for healing, others were preventative…and others apparently did both.
Dental treats were in demand amongst many of the buyers – however the category of “healing from the inside out” – prebiotics and probiotic, immune-support, overall digestive tract support seemed to have the most interest.
In addition, CBD oil and healing treats are becoming more mainstream and are very popular as alternative medicines for us pets!
Mom was very happy after she attended this show – as it bode well for the improved health of cats and dogs. As more companies recognize the need for us pets to have an organic and sustainable lifestyle, they’re working hard to make it simple, not expensive and accessible for all.
Mom says it was time we checked in on the topic of waste management…also known as the litter box!
Next to food, diet, and related allergies, the litter box and its contents is the next big topic on the various kitty Facebook groups that mom belongs to. The “debate” is an on-going conversation between pets parents as to which litter is better for which issue, and why, etc.
Some litters have a lot of dust, some track worse than others, some have a certain odor which can be an issue for the pet parent and/or the cat, some cats are allergic to certain types of litters and corn litter can occasionally have an insect in it – yikes not in my box please!
When mom adopted me, I had a yeast infection all over my body making me itchy, scratchy and licky – causing me to over-groom and go bald in spots. At this time, in addition to researching the best food to combat the yeast infection from the “inside, out”, she also investigated the litter we were using.
The more she compared the litters online, the more she knew that she was not going to ever find the “perfect litter” but she could come close once she set the parameters which adhered to our focus on all things “organic and sustainable”.
The litter, itself, be 100% organic with no chemicals and synthetic scents added
It had to come from a natural source
It had to be sustainably available all the time
…pretty simple standards – no?
Last year after trying a few different types, we wrote about ÖKOCAT litter and Mom, Beau and I are all happy to report that we are still using it!
ÖKOCAT litter is 100% reclaimed fallen timber in the forest and unused lumber materials which go through a “green-processing” with plant-based binders. It is a naturally occurring organic material (trees) and since a certain percentage of trees regularly die off every year in the forests, it is sustainably available all the time, lastly since it comes from the Earth, it can be returned to the Earth as it is biodegradable and flushable.
In full disclosure, mom does not flush the litter as we have an old house with original pipes underground. We dispose of the litter in a tightly closed paper bag in our regular trash and it will biodegrade, whereas clay litter will sit in landfills forever, clay-users think about that!
In addition to meeting our basic organic/sustainable criteria, it is also lightweight, has virtually no odor itself, contains our waste odors and has amazing clumping ability (absorbs 500%) and lasts “forever” – one 7lb box lasts at least 4-5 weeks and we have 3 litter pans.
Last but not least - it is affordable and accessible - she buys it at our local ShopRite and regularly gets coupons for it from the grocery store.
Mom says after getting all those benefits, we did still have to deal with a little dust and some tracking of the litter, so she wears a little cotton mask when she scoops and she got a litter-trapping mat for outside the box to help trap the litter on our little paws!
By the way, in writing about our favorite litter, please note that we receive no financial remuneration from the company or anyone for our reporting and recommendations.
When we created Best Life Pets, our mission was (and still is) to share with pet parents the simple things to give their pet its best life based on our research and practical application...and to demystify the concept that an organic lifestyle for your cat (or dog) is difficult to achieve and expensive….because it’s not!
Our hope is to give you a “roadmap” to follow so that it will be easier for you to transition your pet to an organic and sustainable life free of chemicals, additives and synthetics.
]]>Mom says when she took me for my first vet visit after adoption, Dr. John Hatch at Secaucus Animal Hospital told her to add a ¼ cup of water to my food every meal. He said keeping your cat well-hydrated will hopefully prevent a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection).
It’s a known fact that many cats, particularly males can get a UTI – often from the dust in many litters that can back up into the urinary tract. It has also been said that cats should not eat too much fish because it can also cause urinary infections and even kidney disease.
A lot of the concern with fish concentrates on the processed wet food in cans or kibble – not the organic, raw food frozen and freeze-dried that Beau, Jack & I eat.
And speaking about hydration and raw food – raw food inherently has a lot of natural moisture – so much that I don’t drink water from the water bowl. Neither does Beau. However mom still puts out a fresh bowl of water every day just in case we are extra thirsty!
Meanwhile, Mom says you can never have too much hydration – and faithfully every meal she adds that 1/4 cup of water that Dr. Hatch recommended. One thought about the quantity of the water - mom says use your eyes to determine the exact amount - a lot depends upon the weight of the pet and the quantity of food served...She says the ratio should turn the meal into a “stew" – not a soup...freeze-dried raw food may need more than the 1/4 cup to reconstitute well, whereas the unfrozen raw food may need a little less than the 1/4 cup. Mom also recommends warm water not cold. We like it warm!
Also mom says we can't say it enough...please remember that freeze-dried raw food must be re-hydrated with water to return it to a wet food so we can easily digest it...a freeze-dried treat given "as is" - is fine...but a meal portion must be well rehydrated, otherwise it will expand in the pet's stomach - and they will vomit...ugh!
Recently, mom was introduced to Primal Feline Bone Broth which is packed with nutrition and has been using that to hydrate our raw food sometimes.
The bone broth is good for all types of food – both wet and dry. She even served us a ¼ cup of the bone broth as a treat! YUM!
And the warm months mean we can get dehydrated if we don’t have enough moisture in our diet….some homes have air conditioning and others don’t - so temperatures can rise and us kitties can get hot…the summer is a purr-fect time to introduce more moisture into your cat’s diet and make it a “must-add” to every meal.
When mom switched us to a BARF - “biologically appropriate raw food” diet, we had to go all the way and throw out the old pre-BARF treats too…to tell you the truth, I never really liked those Temptations treats that everyone says us kitties love!
After doing her research and speaking with the team at Wholistic Paws, we were introduced to SINGLE ingredient pet treats – namely whole freeze-dried chicken breast meat – which while labeled a dog treat, was affectionately known as “Kitty Krack”!
I mean really – what cat or canine doesn’t love a pure meat protein – and you know it is pure by the way the freeze-dried chunks break up into smaller pieces and flake. Yummy Beau and I say!
From there mom was on the hunt to find other single ingredient treats made by small organic and all-natural pet food producers and soon Beau and I were being offered a plethora of delicious treats of all sorts of different whole meat proteins…beef, salmon, duck, rabbit, turkey, anchovies and of course, our kitty krack is still #1, but we love how mom rotates them so we gain from all the different nutrients that each protein offers.
Sometimes, there will be more than one ingredient and mom says that’s ok as long as it is limited to just a few – and you can recognize them as good ones like veggies and fruits, etc…FREEZE-DRIED is the best preservation method in her book…nothing processed or baked as it kills all the nutrients…dehydrated is good too but know that freeze-dried is the most optimum as it preserves 95% of the nutrients, while dehydration can only preserve 55% to 60% of the nutrients.
Beau and I have been working on mom to give us a treat “mid-day” as we love them so much…we start around 9:30 am circling her legs – but she always reminds us that we just had breakfast 3 hours ago! Nevertheless, we wear her down with our sweet little purrs and leg rubbing, and she always gives in mid-day because she loves us so much! And we love her! Meow!
]]>Recently, on KittenToob.com mom saw an article written by Nat Berman titled, "The 20 Worst Consumer Rated Cat Foods".
Mom was in shock to see the list as it included many of the classic, famous pet food brands that are in all of the grocery stores, large pet shops and big box stores. According to the post, Berman simply read the ingredients on the packaging and rated the nutritional value accordingly.
Unfortunately, the KittenToob website has a ton of pop-up advertisements, so please be forewarned, but mom said it would be very educational for all cat owners to read the original post anyway and strongly encourages it as it will "blow your mind"...MEOW!
Whiskas Kitten Formula
Purina One Adult Formula
Hill's Science Diet - Original Adult Formula
Purina Kit'N Caboodle
Friskies Seafood Sensations
9 Lives Indoor Complete
Fancy Feast Filet Mignon Formula
Purina Cat Chow Complete
Hill's Prescription Diet with a Feline Low-Fat Diabetic-Gastrointestinal Formula
Purina Feline UR RX Diet
Iams Healthy Naturals Adult with Wholesome Chicken
Tender Centers Salmon with Turkey Flavors with Vitality Bursts
Friskies Surf and Turf
Meow Mix Orginal Choice Dry Cat Food
Goodlife Recipe Indoor Dry Cat Food
Munster Natural Cat Food
Purina Cat Chow Naturals
Ami Cat Vegan Cat Food
Evolution Vegan Cat Kibble
Optimum Adult Cat Food Formula
The overall message was that the nutritional value in each of these cat foods was low - sometimes not even a whole protein! Good quality cat food should start out with WHOLE PROTEIN MEAT as its first ingredient. "Natural and Healthy" was not a correct description of many of the ingredients and many foods were stuffed with fillers, chemicals and preservatives! Yikes!
Mom has always checked the ingredients of everything she buys for herself - and will not buy any item that has ingredients that she cannot pronounce and/or doesn't know what they are...and she says we have to apply the same principle to our pet's food!
The newer, limited ingredient pet foods are focused in the right direction with whole meat proteins, are grain-free and gluten-free and have fewer chemicals and preservatives. Mom says it's time to read the ingredients in your pet's food and make the educated decisions that will ensure your pet its best life!
]]>Mom was doing her research for this post last week and came across an article from Primal Pet Foods. In the article they broke down the differences between “raw and processed” into the “haves and have-nots”….what raw pet foods have, versus what processed pet foods do not have.
Essentially raw food offers 3 important nutritional advantages over processed foods all of which lead to improved health and well-being for your cat or dog.
Enzymes
Amino Acids
Intracellular Moisture
Mom felt the article was super important so she insisted we tell you all about it as well as give you the direct link to see for yourself!
In the article, Primal clearly explains the difference between raw and processed foods with each of the 3 nutritional categories, and why those components are key to a long life for your pet. Even though the post is written by the pet food company as a means of educating and promoting their raw food products, it is based on simple scientific facts about the ingredients in each product and the effects of those ingredients...or the lack there of.
She also wanted me to tell you to pay particular attention to the third nutrient – intracellular moisture – intense hydration from the inside out! Dehydration is a key contributor to many common ailments that bother pets!
It is a pretty compelling read and mom wants to encourage all of you who are on the fence about switching to an organic raw diet for your pet to read it – as it will most likely convince you to “go raw all the way".
For those of you who are looking for solutions to your pet’s food allergies – too much itching, scratching and licking – start to investigate the raw food solution to many of those issues in this article! Over 50% of all those skin problems are food allergies – and raw is the best cure.
Some of you have asked about freeze-dried raw food – is it the same as RAW…? Yes, it is, because it is raw food that had the water sucked out of it, but you must reconstitute it with a lot of water and give it time to absorb so that it
becomes edible. Before Mom knew what she was doing with the freeze-dried (or "FD" as we like to call it!) food, she once left a bowl of it out for Beau NOT reconstituted with water, who ate the whole thing…and promptly threw it all up - all over the kitchen floor…ugh!
A freeze-dried treat is one thing – but a full meal of freeze-dried food MUST be soaked with water and rehydrated!
Also, mom wants to be candid with you, the freeze-dried raw food versions are always a lot more expensive than the frozen raw food. This is because the process of “freeze-drying” is slow and costly to produce. However, there is always a place for some FD in every pantry even when the pets eat "raw" all the time...it's excellent for traveling with your pets as it does not need refrigeration. We always have some on hand in case mom runs out of frozen raw food for us (really?) - and of course for emergencies if we lose electricity in a storm - which would ruin whatever was in the freezer.
]]>Mom is always on the lookout for new organic treats for us since we are such good little kitties (well, most of the time!)! Actually, there are not a lot to choose from so she often looks in the dog section…which I will never understand...
...and as long as it is a 100% organic freeze-dried single ingredient protein treat, she figures if dogs can eat it, then it must be okay for cats too...I wish she was wrong...but she isn't! I have one smart mom - I hope she is reading this! LOL!
Last week she came home with Awesome Anchovy treats by BooBoo’s Best – yum yum I purrrred….the bag is full of freeze-dried individual little anchovies that are so delicious…Beau and I go crazy when Mom brings the bag out! And if your kitty is a little finicky with food, these anchovies are great crumbled up and sprinkled on top to stimulate the appetite! Meow WOW!
Mom says that she heard two opinions when it comes to feeding us anchovies...I know that she would never give Beau or I anything that would harm us...but I still wanted to eavesdrop when she was talking to one of our neighbors. She was saying that anchovies are an oily fish, which means that Beau & I get all the omega-3s we need WITHOUT mercury. She read that it is best to feed us fish as a treat and not as a meal (who knew!)...which is fine for me because that means I get raw meat AND anchovies...boy, my life is great! Anyway, she also mentioned that it is a cat superfood...I'm not sure if that is like Superman or not, but I'll take it! Buy your cat some anchovies, your feline friend will thank you!
As we all know, great pet health starts with great pet nutrition.
While making us dinner the other night, Mom said that when she started to transition me to an all-raw diet, she never really knew how true those words were until she looked at my “before and after” photos.
As you might know from reading about my journey from eating regular pet food to a 100% organic, raw diet, I was suffering from a yeast infection all over my body and in my ears (which generally means a food allergy), over-grooming and had bald spots with no fur. I was itchy all the time...it just wouldn't stop!
After doing her research and believing in the words "we are what we eat", Mom started introducing Primal Frozen Raw Rabbit into my meals and within 3 - 4 days, I was only eating organic raw rabbit meat combined with organic veggies, fruits and all the vitamins and nutrients a cat needs - and it was all prepared by a specialized organic pet food company. Rabbit is one of the least allergic of all proteins, but once I was cured of my itchy problems, little by little over time, Mom introduced all the other delicious proteins into my diet – chicken, beef, turkey, salmon, etc…now my fur is thick and shiny…feels like silk she says…she says I smell so good too as she kisses me all over my head and neck! MEOW!
I can really tell you that "going organic" changed my life - no grains, no gluten, no chemicals - just pure raw food "as our kitty ancestors ate"...and since it is raw, I attack (just like in the wild!) and gobble it right down...no grazing for me! That's for cows, please!
Meanwhile Mom wanted me to mention said it took a little bit of a learning curve to figure out how to handle and prepare the raw food considering it is frozen, but now she has it down to a science. She took some photos for you pet parents so that you can see that it is very easy to prepare.
Every day she takes out the following day’s rations (1 ounce nuggets – I get 6 a day and Beau gets 5 - it is based on weight) from the freezer – and puts it in a container to defrost in the refridgerator over the next 24 hours.
When it is getting close to mealtime, Mom puts that meal’s portion in our bowls, breaks it up with a fork and sets it aside to lose the “refrigerator chill” (in our case, she has to hide it in a cabinet or Beau will grab it off the counter!)…when ready to serve, she adds coconut oil to our breakfast…and salmon oil and a pro-biotic to our dinner.
And most important, she adds water to every meal we get - at least a 1/4 cup poured right over the raw food – HYDRATE – hydrate – hydrate us cats please! All cats especially us boys need extra water in our food daily. As it is, by comparison to commercial canned or dry food, the organic raw food diet is full of water, but us kitties still need more to reach our optimum health.
Lastly and very important is the cost to feed us…Mom buys the Primal raw food from the organic pet nutrition store and it costs about $1.75 - $2.00 a day per cat (each nugget is approx $.33 each) to feed us ORGANIC raw meat which is what us kitties crave…plus the supplements which are not expensive on a "per day" basis. For us, buying Primal’s basic line from a local merchant allows us to control our food budget.
Since we started eating “raw” a couple years ago, Primal as well as other organic pet food companies have come out with other “raw alternatives” such as Primal Pronto which is “little balls” of frozen raw that defrost in 10 minutes…and of course there is the option of freeze-dried raw food that you can quickly reconstitute with water and serve.
But Mom says that you will pay a premium for these other options as “freeze-drying”, for example, is a more expensive and lengthy process as the moisture is extracted. Also, please note that buying online is also more expensive than shopping in a store - having frozen food shipped is always more costly.
Mom says if us pet parents are trying to live an organic lifestyle ourselves, its only natural that we should want the same for our fur babies! And Beau and I feel great and have never looked better!
Thanks Mom!
]]>I am about to share with you a special cat treat that is affectionally known as “kitty krack”…
One day Mom came home with a new treat that she picked up at the holistic pet store…Whole Life Pure White Meat Chicken – freeze-dried DOG treats…
WHAT? Dog treats for us felines…? Is this a joke? I was really hoping that mom didn't go and get a dog...
Mom immediately calmed me down and told me to “just try it…you’ll like it”! She said the store told her that since its only ingredient is pure chicken, how could it not be for cats too! Matter of fact – they told her that the cats love it so much – that it’s nickname is “kitty krack”…meow!
Well with that kind of endorsement – she didn’t have to ask me twice!
And all I can say is this treat is everything they said and more – YUM YUM all the way!!!
It's so delicious that Beau and I practically ripped the bag out of Mom’s hands when she says “its treat time”…it is addicting – now I know why they call it kitty krack!
And its reputation with us felines is spreading! Mom and I were watching CBS Sunday Morning a couple months ago, and they did a segment on Bobby Flay - the Master Chef and Restaurateur and featured his Ginger boy, Nacho who is even bigger than me at 20 pounds….and what did Bobby have in his hands – a bag of Whole Life Pure Chicken - getting ready to serve up a treat to Nacho!
I say MORE KITTY KRACK PLEASE – definitely Laszlo and Beau approved!
Mom often says she was sorry that she didn’t get a cat after she lost her dog, Hank, when she lived in the City. But she was always turned off to the idea of an indoor kitty in an apartment with a litter box because of the ODOR issue!
She says it used to be that when anyone walked into an apartment with a cat – they could smell it right away unless you had literally just cleaned out the box and lit incense or sprayed some flowery scent around! What do you mean our poop smells??? The nerve….!
Well, now she says everything has changed and it is so easy to have a sweet smelling home – well at least with no litter box odors!
The magic combo she says is the organic raw or freeze-dried diet with the new natural litters on the market, which, essentially have no odor themselves.
The raw food diet is so pure that we absorb more of the actual food itself and therefore have less poop to well – POOP! And it has virtually no odor because it is pure and not filled with “stuff” that we don’t need like grain, by-products and chemicals - which are all what gives off a smell - by the way...meow!
Mom says that she loves the ÖKOCAT litter because even though it comes from reclaimed wood, it does not smell wood-sy…whatever that means!!! I have to admit it does not have an odor while I am” flushing and flushing”…I like to “flush a lot” to do my part in making sure my poop doesn’t smell up the house.
So that’s it she says…an organic raw diet and OKOCAT litter…and no more litter box odors! Really…truly…she swears!
]]>