Flashback to 4 years ago, I was a hot mess physically!

I was itching, scratching and licking every moment when I wasn’t sleeping. Needless to say, I was very uncomfortable and mom was a wreck trying to figure out what was going on with me! It was particularly upsetting to her because I was literally licking myself bald in places like my stomach, patches on my paws and even on my side.

Taking the deep dive into researching the internet, talking to other cat owners and of course after consulting with my vet, it was determined that I most likely had a food allergy. 

Off to the animal dermatologist, and it was revealed through tests that I was covered in fungus aka yeast! YUCK! And that was making me scratch and lick all the time.

Now, here is where it gets interesting.

The dermatologist vet prescribed anti-fungal mousse to rub into my fur and handed mom a big bag of feline duck kibble for me as duck is one of the most hypoallergenic foods for pets.

We tried the mousse for 30 days and while it would work for a week or so, the effects would wear off and I would resume my itchy-scratchy ways. Mom definitely didn’t like the idea that it was basically chemicals and the fact that it really didn’t “cure me” made us decide to stop the mousse.

As for the food, that bag of kibble never got opened and we donated it to a rescue group. By that time, mom had educated herself to what cats should ultimately be eating if they wanted to be the healthy. Just like you, we are what we eat.

Canned wet food and dry kibble are cooked and processed which denatures the protein and kills off all the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals which have to be artificially put back in. 

My Switch to A Raw Food Diet

That didn’t seem right to her and the more she read and studied “food allergies in cats”, the more she saw that all arrows pointed to a fresh raw food diet. This diet is 90%+ whole animal protein human grade with very little carbohydrates and certainly no fillers, or things like chicken meal or by-products from the meat industry. 

Those who have never seen the documentary about the pet food industry, Pet Fooled, we recommend it.

If it’s a food allergy she said, let’s start from the inside out. She then switched me to a fresh raw food diet aka the BARF diet.

I will say I loved the food from the first day and I was fully converted to all raw food in 3 days. Beau was adopted at 4 months and immediately went on the raw food diet. Mom is lucky because we are two “cat foodies” and finish our two daily meals in literally 3-5 minutes!

She made a couple other shifts in our lifestyle, for example no grazing for us as cats don’t graze normally. We also don’t eat together because ancestrally cats hang out together but don’t eat together.

After eating real food, Beau and I would never want the cooked and processed food again. We are eating exactly what we cats ancestrally should be eating!

Within 30 days of switching me to a raw food diet – I stopped licking, scratching and being itchy all day long! I felt better than I had felt in months. My fur grew in more luxurious than ever. 

And mom rubbed her nose in my fur and said I smelled sweet!

Benefits Of A Raw Food Diet

Meanwhile, allergies are very common in cats and dogs and 50% of the time it is diet, no surprise here!

Mom buys the food frozen and defrosts it overnight. She allows it to reach “room temperature” before she serves it. She adds ¼ cup of warm water to “replicate” the sensation of us eating real prey that would be warm having just been killed.

The best part for you cat owners is that the raw food diet is just as affordable as all the “bad cat food” aka canned and kibble. 

And let’s not forget the BEST part for you is that our poop is reduced by 50%, and it doesn’t smell, bet you can’t say that!!

Looking back 4 years later, the raw food diet changed my life and my mom’s life too!

Mom and I decided to start sharing what we had learned through our own experiences with the raw food diet. As she would talk to other pet owners and hear about their issues, she felt that we could do our part in sharing the success stories and all of the benefits of switching your feline to the BARF diet. 

In early 2017, we launched this blog dedicated to all things holistic and sustainable for cats. 

Many problems involving health issues and behavioral issues can be helped and even solved by following an ancestral lifestyle for your cat.

And it starts with the most basic of things, the diet!