I got this letter from Bert, who wasn’t just upset with his newly-purchased kitten’s upset tummy – but also with the breeder insisting on using dry cat food whose list of ingredients on the labels make their quality very clear.
Dear Tracie – First, thanks for all you do. I purchased (heaven forbid) a kitten, but he’s a gorgeous Abyssinian and he has been in the house for 3 weeks. He’s now four months old. I feed my rescue Australian Shepherd mix dog raw food, and am thrilled with how well she does. Of course, the cat breeder thinks that Science Diet and Royal Canin dry foods are great, so that’s what Kalki the kitten was used to. I’m trying to move him over to all wet (hopefully raw) foods, but he pays little interest to it or cooked chicken, and wants the dry. I tried “Taste of the Wild” a grain-free dry food, but it gave him the runs. Where can I find advice on weaning him from the garbage and on to the good life?
The kitten was a present for my dog, and the two get along together famously. Both are constantly busy amusing each other (and me) with their antics, and only require an occasional intervention when Tess forgets how small the kitten is.
First of all, congratulations on your kitty. No harm in buying if you do so from a reputable breeder whom you meet – too darn bad she hasn’t gotten the “kitty crack” message, though! For yourself, THE CAT BIBLE is filled with nutrition advice of all kinds, but so is my website. In fact, there’s a list of helpful ways to wean cats off dry food and onto the meat they need. But since you’re feeding your Aussie raw, once you transition the kitten (and Weruva is probably your best bet) you should consider using some of the raw cat foods like Feline’s Pride, Oma’s Pride or Wild Kitty for Kalki.
Thanks for the advice. Of course I checked out the website a few weeks ago and discovered Weruva which I purchased from petfooddirect (thanks for the discount). It worked well, and I was able to convince my local pet food store to carry it. Her concern was that it is manufactured in Thailand. All their claims of government oversight don’t carry much weight after seeing how well government oversight of the peanut industry worked out.
To make a long story short… my problem with the switchover was that I thought the food change was causing diarrhea. No way! What was causing that problem turns out to be a Giardia infection. My breeder claims that she tested for it before she released the kitten, but I think it’s important to remind people (listeners) that one should check for this condition more than once, as it takes a while for symptoms to show up. We’re three days into a Panacur (fenbendazole) course of treatment, and things are leveling off. Kal was really suffering, but is now off the dry stuff and eating Weruva and home-cooked chicken breast supplemented with raw turkey from Tess’ larder.
I created a binder and moisturizer for the chicken breast, which I bake (poach) in chicken broth then run quickly through the food processor by pulverizing a little Quaker oatmeal in the processor and cooking it with chicken broth, then thin it down so it’s soupy. Mmmmm. The next step is moving on to raw. I wonder if there’s a difference between cat raw food and dog raw food?
I bought both Cat and Dog “Bibles”, and find them very useful and informative. Thanks for your insight and helpful response.
Its so nice that you love that kitty enough to be whipping up what sounds like a swell meal for her – and I hate to discourage you, but cats lack taurine which needs to be added to their food in order for their bodies to process it properly. In addition, they need both the bone and the organ meats so in order to properly make homemade food you’d need a commercial food grinders through which you would put the entire chicken — and then you’ve STILL have to add the taurine. Therefore, if you want to continue cooking, you need to keep all that in mind. On the other hand, since feeding raw is natural to you with the dog, I’d really recommend you do the same with the cat but buy it from one of the companies I mentioned earlier since they balance the food. And no, the ingredients are not the same for the two species because there are the differences already mentioned.
Thank you for getting both Bibles! That is so nice — please send me your mailing address so I can send you autographed bookplates to stick in the front inscribed to the animals along with some swell surprises.
Tracie
The Cat Bible
