I feed them raw turkey, chicken and rabbit. I do not vaccinate them or give them drugs. When they become sick, I leave them alone and let their immune systems deal with it.

I’ve had three 16-year-old cats fast up to 8 days because of upper respiratory (brought on by a stressful move and a month of canned food) and recover without any veterinary interference. My three-year-olds have never been sick, except for Sophie who had distemper as a kitten and recovered (with vet treatment) after three days.

Generally, I avoid the vet whenever possible. When I see one, it’s only for diagnosis, seldom treatment. Oh, and occassionally I deworm.

Also, keep your pet de wormed!

I have a neighbor that has 2 cats, and she feeds them tuna twice a week, they love it, she used to work for a Vet and he says tuna is good for cats.
She’s a mother hen, too, her cats are HEALTHY!

WATER- I always make sure Lacie has water available at all times, very important!!

Crystal- i’m so glad to see ya, missed ya!

My dog gets grass-fed meat and is very healthy. When out of town and someone else feeds him, I try to find good quality pre-made stuff(usually has grain). Unfortunately, he starts to get fat. He does beg for broccoli and peppers, go figure.

Um, organs are what carnivorous animals like cats and dogs need and in the wild, what they go for first. Organ meats are chock full of nutrients and taurine, so crucial for felines, is found especially in heart muscle. Perhaps you meant ick! to animal byproducts, like chicken feathers and beaks, which are processed and added to many pet foods to boost the protein content.

And asking vets for nutrition advice is often futile and sometimes even dangerous, though it is hard ot imagine, I know. Vets learn about animal nutrition in vet school from the pet food industry basically, which has a vested interest in selling us highly profitable, nutritionally inferior, and inappropriate pet foods made from the end of the food waste system (even if it claimed “human-grade, that is no assurance of wholesomeness). Excess grain products, animal byproducts, and waste of all kinds, combined with various individual nutrients to make up for the lack of natural nutrients is what commercial pet food is these days.

That fat cat in the photo was probably free-fed meat-flavored kibble, which despite still being recommended by many vets (and even sold by some!!!) is *not* a good source of food for cats (obligate carnivores). Also, the labels are clearly marketed to human interests: I saw “granny smith” apples listed on canned cat food once. Last time I saw a cat in an orchard it was chasing rabbits and field mice, not climbing the trees for an apple. And I also see silly ingredient for cats such as sweet potato and flax seed. Both can be sources of betacarotene and a precurser for Omega 3 FA for humans, who can convert those into the needed form (not very efficiently but I’ll let that go), but cats, being evolved to eat fresh small animals for all their nutrition, cannot convert those precursers; they need them in the form of Vit A and Omega 3 PUFA.

My advice is to find a vet who knows how to truly feed an animal properly, with a species appropriate diet, homemade being one option (for dogs and cats), but there are a few fresh good options in commercial foods, too (usually frozen). Don’t take diet advice from a vet who only knows about the commercial pet food options, because nearly all of those are made with profit and owner convenience in mind, not optimal animal nutrition for a long healthy life, free from chronic disease (which companion aminals are getting in proportion to the rise in commercial pet food use).

For instance, cats are not evolved to eat more than the approx 3% carbohydrate content found in small rodents, yet dry cat food is mostly grain, which they do not metabolize well at all (goes right to fat storage, not oxidation). And the vast majority of the commercial pet foods, cheap and premium alike, are made from the worst waste and highly processed ingredients imaginable, from whatever happens to be cheapest at the time, used restaurant oils and fats, even rendered road kill and euthanized animals from shelters (yes, it’s true – look into it).

Dogs have some more latitude, so they are somewhat omnivorous and can eat some veggies and non-meat foods, but cats need a high quality meat-based diet, similar in proportions found in small rodents. Not just muscle meat, but bones as well, for proper mineral balance, and moisture %. My older cat (11 yrs) went from years of mysterious health decline (with increasing signs of Chronic Renal Failure in blood tests) on a dry kibble and then a premium canned diet to a healthy, energetic, and CRF-free cat in just one week after I started giving him a homemade, nutritionally balanced raw ground chicken diet. Two+ years later he remains disease free (I get his blood tested) and in much better shape. I did my research (& starting lab values) to make I wouldn’t do more harm than good, finding very good advice at http://www.catnutrition.org, and despite my vet’s warnings, the cat has normal blood values now, and is in pretty good health. Sure, taking an hour every ten days to make cat food for two cats is a pain sometimes, but I just can’t go back to commercial food. And the homemade food is cheaper than the expensive “premium” canned food I was buying. The older cat starts limping and hobbling on canned food within two days. He is in the best shape of the past 6 years on homemade raw food (he’s almost 12 yo).

Another friend had a kitten with severely loose bowel problems from every dry commercial cat food she tried. It cleared right up on some of my cat food. Now she makes her cat food, too, using the same recipe I use from http://www.catnutrition.org (non-profit). Her cat is thriving at a year old.

Vets can be valuable resources when a pet is sick or injured, but not very many of them really are good sources for diet advice. Too many people either are too bothered or have been convinced that they cannot feed their pets well without commercial products. With all the bad pet food news, and the increasing amount of chronic animal disease (the same diseases we are getting from our SAD foods) it makes a lot of sense to do the right thing for our companion animals and feed them an optimal diet, one appropriate for their species and physiology, not just what is on sale at the grocery store or can be left in a bowl for days without spoiling. It’s part of responsible pet care-giving.

Grain free Pet food!

Primal all the way!