By Moses Wright
Popularly know as BARF diet for bones and raw food or biologically adequate raw food diet, the natural raw feeding diet has been drawing increasing interest in the cat lover community.
One of the many people that support a raw feeding diet is Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD, author of "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to the Natural Health for Dogs and Cats," Rodale Press. He states that a cat's health is improved by feeding a raw diet and that many of his clients have been feeding their cats raw meat successfully for many years.
When you are deciding what type of meat to feed your cat, Dr. Pitcairn suggests meats that can be easily found and prepare; many of his recipes use ground lean meat because it is high in protein but low in fat. In preparing the meat, Dr. Pitcairn says that 1 pound of ground meat equals roughly 2 cups. He warns that you should not feed raw rabbit, fish or pork as they can carry particular parasites.
Some of the meat type that he recommends as interchangeable are: turkey or giblets; chicken or giblets; beef, chicken or turkey liver; mackerel; tuna; beef, chick or turkey hearts; lean ground beef; duck, among others. Dr. Pitcairn recommends a varied diet and using more than one kind of meat in each meal.
On the other hand, a strong supporter for homemade food, Ann Martin, author of "Food Pets Die For," New Sage Press, does not favor the raw food diet. The main concerns of a raw diet are bacterial and chemical contamination.
Citing the research of Jeff Bender and Ashley Robinson, veterinarians at the Department of Clinical and Population Sciences at the University of Minnesota, about an epidemic of food poisoning in a cattery. The food poisoning was caused by Salmonella that was thought to be traced to the 4-D meat (dead, diseased, dying or debilitated) in cat food. She is against feeding a raw food diet because of the potential for bacterial poisonings such as this and notes that these bacteria can also be found in meat intended for human consumption. Freezing the meat, she explains, destroys some but not all bacteria.
While Dr. Pitcairn disagrees and says that in over 17 years of practice, he has not seen any food poisoning in raw diets used by his clients. He comments that though it is not impossible that a pet may become ill, he believes they are less vulnerable. However, he leaves it up to the cat owner and suggests that if you do not feel comfortable feeding raw food, do cook it but realize that some of the nutrients will be lost.
Currently, there are still little substantiate results to support or go against raw feeding, and like what Dr. Pitcairn suggested, it's totally up to the cat owner. As a cat owner who is truly concern about your cat's health, you can try raw feeding and observe your cat's response. You can then judge and decided for yourself if raw feeding is suitable for your cat.
| Moses Wright is the founder of FelineDiet.net. More helpful information on Feline Cat Diet, Natural Cat Food and Homemade Cat Food can be found on his website. Webmasters are welcome to reprint this article if the content and live link are keep intact. |
1 comment:
Hi,
Rob Muelle, owner of BARF World, Inc- I would like to offer you my experience in the feeding of raw meat diets to dogs and cats. I have over 32 years of experience in feeding raw food diets to racing greyhounds, the zoo community, and the general pet market. I have owned three production facilities and have sold the raw meat diets to thousands of customers. I am a registered Pharmacist as well. I feel qualified to post a comment regarding the safety of feeding the raw food diets. I have dealt with many different raw food formulations and have seen the successful results of feeding this way. After 32 years of experience and having had very little negative results from feeding the raw meat diets I can assuredly support the philosophy of the BARF DIET. It is biologically appropriate for the dog and cat to eat this way. Their internal and external systems are designed to eat meat and both species are considered carnivores. It is un-natural for these animals to be fed a heat processed dry grain product. It is amazing to see the difference that a natural raw food diet will have on the development and maintenance of the immune system. The real key ingredient in the raw diets is the presence of living enzymes. These enzymes are present in the food and will relieve the pancreas and other organs from having to release enzymes for digestion. This makes them available for other metabolic processes and cell regeneration.
I would also suggest that your readers refer to a study that was conducted back in 1939 by Dr. Frances Pottinger that will support the raw diet philosophy much better than all the dry food research conducted to date. Feeding your dog or cat the right food is like putting the right fuel in your car's gas tank. Over time the use of improper fuel will create harm to your engine. It is the same with the food you eat. The old saying is true- Garbage in- Garbage out.
I have just finished writing my new book entitled "LIVING ENZYMES- The World's Best Kept Pet Food Secret". This is my attempt to suggest that we make better choices for feeding our pets and ourselves.
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