Raw Turkey for Healthier Cats

Feeding your cat a steady diet of raw turkey or raw meat has befuddled cat owners for years. Should you or shouldn't you? Most people grab a bag of crunchy food at their local discount or grocery store for the convenience of the bag. Millions of easy open cans of cat food disappear off store shelves in a year, again, because it's easy to handle and feed your little fur ball. The pet food industry is a billion dollar business. Cheap brands, medium price or high end, expensive foods all promise a healthy diet. Many pet owners swear by the brand of food they serve their pet without realizing there is something better, just as easy to feed, inexpensive and healthier.

Raw turkey for cats with allergic reactions to store bought food.

Cat allergies can be a result of a lot of things. Some cats can be allergic to other cats or dogs, household cleaners, dust and pollen and the irritating bite from those nasty fleas. Store bought food can also cause allergic reactions in your cat. It's estimated that 15% of all cats in the U.S. have some kind of allergy. A vet visit can determine what the culprit is that is causing your cats allergy. Low and middle priced processed foods all contain corn as their first ingredient. Corn, wheat and rice are nothing more than fillers to increase the cat food makers profits. Corn or wheat have no health benefits for your cat and are two of the leading causes for food allergies. More expensive foods may list a type of meat (chicken or lamb usually) as the first ingredient, but as you read farther down the list of ingredients, most people have no idea what it all means. Even experts have trouble trying to determine if the ingredients are enough, not enough, healthy or not in most commercial pet food. Meat by products, for instance, can be anything from feathers and crushed bones to disease organs unfit for humans. Sounds yummy, doesn't it.

Raw turkey has no confusing list of ingredients to try to decipher. Cats are carnivorous creatures. A cat that lives outside will capture and eat mice, grasshoppers, small rabbits, birds, squirrels, any small prey. Even though my cats live inside and are well fed, a hapless mouse daring to enter their domain will not survive to regret his obvious mistake. By the way, most cats eat a mouse head first. Cats are healthier eating raw meat, not carbohydrates and vegetables.

I've tried raw turkey and my cat won't eat it.

Try again. Some cats need to be persuaded to eat raw turkey. Mix some turkey in with your cat's regular cat food. Slowly begin to remove a little of their regular food until they are eating the desired amount of raw turkey for the best health results. A quarter cup of turkey per cat is the recommended feeding.

Why should I feed my cat raw turkey?

Cats need an amino acid called taurine. They get taurine from muscle meat and it is important for maintaining a healthy heart, eyes, reproductive system and nervous system. Taurine is not produced by the cat's body. The only way they can get it is by eating raw meat, or supplements given on a daily basis. A raw natural diet produces the best results for meeting your cats daily intake of taurine. Commercial cat food does have supplements of taurine added, but fresh is always better than a supplement just as it's healthier for us to eat fresh food. That's why dog food should not be fed to cats. Taurine is not added to dog food.

Is raw turkey the only raw meat I can feed my cat?

No. You can also give them hamburger, venison or finely chopped up red meat. I don't just toss out a breast of turkey for my cats to leap on and devour. The raw turkey I'm talking about is ground turkey that comes from your local grocery store. Fresh is best. Frozen meat loses taurine in the freezing process as does cooking the meat. Do not give your cat raw chicken, fish or a lot of canned tuna. There are high concentrations of mercury in tuna that's not good for your cat.

Won't raw turkey or hamburger make them sick?

People can't tolerate raw meat. E-coli and Salmonellia bacteria doesn't affect a cat's digestive system like it does ours.

Raw turkey has done wonders for my clan.

I'm a life long cat owner. Multiple cats for the record. My vet recommended feeding raw turkey to my cats years ago. I took awhile before acting on his recommendation. Now I wish I had started when I was first told about the health benefits. My cats today are bright eyed, with silky coats that shed less and are more playful because they eat raw turkey daily. Even my old cats act like kittens at times. During the massive recall on pet food last year, the price of canned food went up. Suddenly, canned cat food and raw turkey became comparable in price. It took awhile for some of my cats to adjust to raw turkey, but now, if I miss a day, they are not happy campers. I mix raw turkey in with dry cat food because I use frozen turkey that I thaw before feeding to them. The dry food provides their daily supply of taurine. My vet was surprised by how their health improved over the year. Never again will I deprive my cats of what they really want and need.

What Is The Role of Taurine In Cats?, petngarden.com

What's Really in Pet Food, Born Free USA

T.J. Dunn, Jr. DVM, Cats Are Different, ThePetCenter.com