Natural Companions

Occasionally I watch a show called 'Natural Companions' on Veria network. Most of the show is feel good fluff in my opinion, but now and then there is something in this fluff that gives a hint at the healthful trends that are happening in regards to how we care for our pets. I was flipping through the channels trying to find something worth watching for a few minutes (out of 250 channels) when this episode of 'Natural Companions' caught my interest. There was a story about a couple who was having health problems with thier Miniature Dachshund (was it punctured eardrums?) that had their veterinarians baffled. Long story short, they put the dog on a raw food diet. The health problems were resolved, ears were healed, when all else had failed, and now they have a healthy and happy pup!

It helps me to hear stories like these. When I do tell people what I am doing for our cats, most of the time they look at me like I am a little crazy. One 'cat lady' told me that I am the crazy cat lady! More so than she was! She feeds and cares for over twenty cats (verses my six to nine) but feeds hers low cost commercial cat food. I think that you are either going to pay the price one way or the other. Cheap commercial cat food will lead to expensive vet bills in the long haul. Our venison is free, but we pay for additional vitamins, probiotics, etc., but the hope is for far healthier animals for the duration of their lives.

Venison it is!

I have had the kitties on raw venison for awhile now. The last time I bought commercial catfood was a bag from the vet, Evo Brand. According to a score sheet for dog and cat food, this rates as one of the highest quality brands of cat and dog food that you can buy. We paid about $40 for that bag...more than we paid for Wellness from Petco. That $40 bag of cat food lasted us a week! I would love to be able to have the convenience of a pre-made quality cat food, but this we cannot do!

Anyway, it only seems natural and right to feed them what they would eat in the wild: raw meat. One of the books that I bought is of this exact same opinion: "Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats" by Kymythy R. Schultze.
So now for over a month, we have been feeding them raw, ground venison. I add various other things to make sure that they get what they need. Some of what I add regularly is diatomaceous earth (to help with parasitic worms), calcium (in the form of powdered eggshells, spinach, ground up tablets), various vegetables (roots and leafy), colostrum, cod liver oil, probiotics, taurine...also they have had some organ meat, namely heart and liver.

I still need to read more and continue learning to make sure that they have the healthiest diet possible. So far the kitties are looking good. They are all well over their watery eyes and sniffles. They run around and play and get into trouble like youngsters do! Thier coats are soft and two of the short hair kitties (Minnie Mao and Honey Bear--aka 'Stinky Butt', have shiny fur... soft as bunnies. The other one, Cinderella has soft fur, but she is not shiny, kind of nappy, just a different kind of fur. The two long hairs (Raggedy Ann and Izzie) are just plush little fluff balls. Their eyes are all bright and they seem to be growing and thriving! So far, so good on the raw food.