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The proof is in the licking … and H2Ope for Haiti.
February 27, 2010 | 25 Comments
Answer to the quiz:
Raw Ground Turkey + Raw egg Yolks + a host of supplements.
Imagine that. Then take a moment to wipe the drool off your keyboard.
Jan 23, 2010. A leisurely Saturday morning.
We walked into the local animal shelter to look at cats. Just as we entered the door, to the right was a metal carrier with a black little furball inside. She pressed her sweet face against the grate and looked at us with big amber eyes.
Across her was another big cage with a litter of six teeny tiny kittens – eight weeks old – three patterned and three solid black. And a row of cages after that one. Choices. Choices.
I turned to Carrie – the lady with the single kitty. She informed us that Delta was five months old and the last of the litter she had fostered. Alpha, Beta and Gamma had already found homes. While she didn’t say so, the reason seemed obvious. She was solid black. In the canine area, our shelter (and many others) has a sign that says:
“Please consider adopting a black dog. They are as loving and intelligent as other dogs.”
Similarly, black cats are only half as likely to be rescued as cats of other colours and among the first to be euthanised. Many people consider them “too plain” or a “bad omen”.
Carrie opened the carrier door. Delta ambled over to us, sniffed and rubbed her side against our clothes. I asked Jai if he wanted to check out the numerous other cats in the shelter. “No,” he said, “This one’s fine. I really like black cats.” I turned to Carrie: “We’ll take her.”
Neither of us has owned a cat and didn’t really know what to expect. All we’d heard from friends was that cats were easy and hassle-free. We sat down and read the brochure the shelter has lying around. “Welcoming your new cat.” Things like keeping your cat secluded in a bathroom or closet with her supplies for the first few days ‘cos she may be scared and need time to settle in. Not changing brands or types of litter, in case kitty decides to revolt by peeing on your carpet. Not changing the type of litter box. Not changing the type, flavour or brand of food too quickly unless you want a hunger strike, an upset tummy or a pukefest on your hands, etc.
Holy Frijoles Batman!!! Do cats need napkins, forks and spoons too? Do feral cats revolt if they don’t get a particular type of sand to poop in? Or is it just the domesticated ones that are this finicky?
I pulled out a notebook and pencil and started shooting questions:
“What does she eat?”
“Mostly dry food. Purina Kitten Chow.”
“How much?”
“I free feed her. She gets a big mound of food and eats as much as she wants.”
“How many times a day does she poop?”
“Oh, normal like all kittens – three or four times.”
“”Huh? Ok. What brand of litter does she use?”
“Exquisicat.”
“Is she shy or an extrovert?”
“She’s a lap kitty and she loves people. She snuggles up in bed with me at night.”
We told Carrie we’d be back in an hour and went shopping for supplies. At the pet store, they informed us that kittens should not be fed adult cat food. They should be fed “kitten food”. There are very few brands of kitten food – both dry and canned. On the counter at the checkout, Jai saw a magazine that happened to be opened to the horoscope page. Under Cancer it said:
“On the 23rd, you will make a long-lasting emotional and financial commitment. On the 30th you will make decisions that further that commitment.”
We don’t believe in horoscopes, but we’re both Cancerians and that was an interesting coincidence – a form of Jungian synchronicity. We wondered what the 30th would bring. We returned to the shelter and signed the adoption papers. The cage across Delta’s had just three of the six kittens left. You guessed it. The solid black ones.
We brought Delta home and were debating where to “seclude” her. That proved to be a non-issue. An inveterate snoop, her face was an inch from ours as we set up her litter box and food bowl. Then she set about exploring every corner of the house by herself.
Shortly after, we heard scratching in the litter box. And it hit us like a brick wall. The stench of real cat poop. Holy cr@p !!! Is this what cat-owners put up with? Four times a day? For fifteen years? Jai almost threw up while cleaning the litter box – even with a kerchief sprayed with cologne tied around his nose.
When she wasn’t “perfuming” her surroundings, Poopsiculus Maximus was a cuddle muffin. Affectionate, playful, intelligent and very talkative. Delta’s a Maine Coon mix and that breed is known to chirp and trill rather than “meow” (Like this).
However, each time, when we were just settling down to enjoy her antics, she’d saunter to her litter box and BAM!!! She weighed just five pounds and the amount of stuff coming out of her little butt was just unbelievable. By the third day, we were seriously talking of getting a heavy-duty mask for litter box duty. And what was the shelter’s return policy again? 30 days? Just checking.
Then we read a comment from Anupama about “avoiding commercial cat food”. Really? So what does a cat eat if not the dry pellets (kibble) or canned stuff they sell at Petco?
I spent the next few days reading about feline nutrition. I called local mom-and-pop pet stores to find out about the raw and frozen foods they stock.
I read the label on the Purina Kitten Chow that Delta was eating.
Ingredients
Poultry by-product meal, rice flour, corn gluten meal, wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of vitamin E), soybean meal, ground yellow corn, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, animal digest, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, choline chloride, taurine, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, citric acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), calcium iodate
Cats are obligate carnivores and the kibble and canned food in the stores proclaim loudly how wonderful they are with “whole grains” like rice and oats, veggies like carrots and peas, fruit, fillers like corn and soy, assorted additive, denaturing agents, chemicals and food colouring. And that “poultry by-product meal” which is listed as the first ingredient could be anything from chicken feet to chicken shit. Plus, they add odours and coatings to dry commercial kibble that are actually addictive. The result is a carb-addicted cat resistant to the kind of food it should be eating, susceptible to obesity and diabetes. No wonder it’s called “kitty crack”.
I watched the videos the shelter gave us promoting various brands of commercial cat food. Nine out of ten cats in those videos look overweight and lethargic.
From Delta’s vet I learnt that
**Pooping four times a day was “normal” for a kitten eating regular commercial cat food (less often for adult cats), but that wasn’t what she should be eating.
**The ideal feline diet is grain-free with minimal or no fruits and veggies.
**Cats must get human-grade meats. Pet-grade meat usually comprises rejects that have little nutritional value and may be infected with diseases like salmonella. There is almost no quality control of animal “by-products”.
**Special “kitten food” is a marketing gimmick. Kittens can eat the same food as adult cats.
**The crappiest wet food is better than any dry food.
**Transition her first from dry to wet, then introduce her to raw.
I told the vet I was vegan and she said: “Please do not try to veganise your kitty”. I tried to understand what she meant. Then I came across this site. They claim that their aim is to sell vegan cat food to “reduce animal suffering” while being compelled to concede that “some cats may require meat”. No. All cats need meat. All the time. Don’t adopt a cat if you want to feed it vegan food. Just don’t. It’s cruel and ridiculous. It’s worse than feeding it commercial crap food. Get a rabbit. Or a goat.
The vet started explaining the benefits of grain-free and raw feline nutrition. I was interested in just one aspect. Will it make her poop less frequently? Will the odour no longer waft over the Rocky mountains all the way to Canada? The answer to both questions was “yes”.
Delta had proven most advice on the shelter’s brochure wrong so far. She didn’t need time to adapt. She didn’t care what brand of litter was used. She wasn’t fussy about the brand of kibble we used either.
On 30th, we decided to transition her to a raw diet. First, we donated all her regular kibble and canned stuff to the shelter. Then we switched her to grain-free adult cat food (Wellness CORE and Innova Evo brands). We stopped free feeding her. She got four meals a day at fixed times. Then she started getting wet canned food (grain-free) with her dry.
Next, we stopped the dry (except for a tablespoon at night as a special treat). Then we started adding more raw to her meals while reducing the canned food. Now 75% of her food is raw. We’re aiming for 90%. Free range, hormone-free ground meat mixed with egg yolks and some supplements. Along with fatty meat, cats need bones for calcium and organ meats (like liver and heart) for taurine.
Making Raw Cat Food for Do-It-Yourselfers
Many raw feeders buy the different meats and organs, add the remaining ingredients and grind it all with a meat grinder. We get the pre-ground (free range and hormone-free, even organic) meats with everything in it at local pet food stores and mix in the raw egg yolks and supplements. Or you can buy it ready to go with everything mixed in. (If you’re interested, we buy Rad Cat, Columbia River, Paw Naturaw and Primal brands. We tried Nature’s Variety Rabbit, but she doesn’t seem to like it.)
She was unsure of what this new stuff was at first, so we would mix in some of her favourite fish flakes to induce her to taste it. Her favourites are turkey, chicken, duck and guinea hen. Even her occasional treats are freeze-dried meat or bonito fish flakes. She will get kibble (grain-free) only if we leave town for a couple of days, ‘cos we can’t leave wet food lying around.
Three weeks later, Poopsicle does her “perfume job” just ONCE a day. And no, you can’t smell it in the next room.
Delta still misses her “crack”, though. Just two days ago, when we were away, she leapt on the shelf and toppled her kibble jar. The lid came off and she was in paradise – where the mountains are made of kibble and the rivers are brimming with fat salmon and tuna. By the time we returned, she had eaten so much that she couldn’t move for a while. The kibble jar is now in a cupboard with a door and the recalcitrant kitty is plotting new strategies. Meanwhile, her coat is shinier and softer and she races around the house at 80 miles an hour chasing imaginary prey. She consumes around 225 calories a day. As she grows and reaches her first birthday, it will be down to between 180 and 200 calories.
If you’re interested in feeding raw to your pets, check out these links.
The Basics of Feline Nutrition
Kibble Ingredients
And don’t believe all the hoopla about cats being finicky. Yes, they are, but not as finicky as you think. Plus, if you train them young, they will adapt to a completely new diet.
My dear friend Jeanne at CookSister has organised a raffle for H2Ope for Haiti – an effort to privide clean drinking water and purification tablets to the people of Haiti.
As Jeanne explains:
H2Ope for Haiti is an online raffle that I am launching today together with BloggerAid – Changing the Face of Famine (BA-CFF) to raise funds for Concern Worldwide’s relief effort in Haiti. We selected Concern Worldwide because of its long track record and quick response after the quake to provide clean drinking water and water purification tablets. This non-governmental international humanitarian organisation founded in 1968 works around the world to reduce suffering and work towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Concern International has been working in Haiti since 1994 and had over 100 staff members on the ground when the earthquake struck. Despite losing several team members in the tragedy, they have been quick to act with distribution of supplies.
Concern Worldwide estimates that its initial response to the emergency will last at least six months. The money raised by this raffle will be paid directly into Concern Worldwide’s account by Justgiving and will be used exclusively for the Haiti relief effort.
You can participate by going to THIS PAGE and checking out the fabulous list of raffle prizes donated by bloggers from around the world. Select the one you like.
The cost of each raffle ticket is approx US$10, GBP6.50, AU$11. Follow the instructions on that page and make your bid. All information about the raffle is available at CookSister.
The raffle runs upto March 7, 2010. You can buy one ticket or several.
We are offering
660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer
It’s our favourite cookbook. See the review HERE. We will attempt to get an autographed copy. If Raghavan is traveling and unable to oblige, we will send an additional gift with the book.
PRIZE CODE: HFH17
Thank you for your support.
- Bee (and Jai)
Bloggeraid, cat blogging, Delta, feline nutrition, H2Ope for Haiti, NUTRITION, raffle, raw diet
Poopsiculus Maximus!! LOL!!!
Typo in my name…ooops!
I really laughed while reading your post! Yes, cats are real surroundings perfumers ;-P !
I’d love to feed our cats in that way, but they are quite snobby…
Cheers,
Rosa
It is so true about black pets. I had all the South Indian uncles and aunts here with a genuine concern on their face and mocking me completely when I took Chimi in. They said you have a black dog, a black car… on top of that Chimi is a mongrel. All the pet snobs ask me when I take her to the park, “so you are bringing her up?” To which I say “she is the one who is bringing me up as a mother”. We have had a pomerian, a doberman and a tomcat before in the family and I don’t see a difference in the love a pet reciprocates.
About the food Chimi is mostly a veg. She loves fresh raw food, fruits, veggies and all. Infact she finds it hard to digest dry food, I used to give her pedigree once a day. She vomits it and then eats the vomit. So I have stopped pedigree completely. Whenever she eats at my friends home it is cooked meat, she does not eat for a day after that. At times once a month she needs to be hand fed. Yes her coat is very shiny and she horses around a lot. That is my flappy ears and waggy tails:). We treat her to chewy sticks once in a while.
dogs can handle vegetarian food quite well. i shudder when people feed their cats yogurt and rice.
Congratulations on the new addition to your family- she is such a doll!
Our Dale’s fur is shiny jet black (now slowly turning grey) and I only recently heard about the whole black dog thing.
LOL.. I don’t know a thing about keeping cats but now know a thing or two.. you guys are too funny. Delta is royal!
Enjoy kitty catting! And I couldn’t stop laughing that only Jai does the litter box cleaning work
Hey, so I actually got it right!
Delta is absolutely adorable – i miss my cats – have a Bichon Emma now – Bee I had sent you an email response to your query – not sure if you got it – i can resend it if you let me know – i will be more than happy to sign the book – would it be easier for you if i send you a signed bookplate? I leave for India and Bhutan this Sunday for 3 weeks – leading a group on a food and cultural tour. Thanks for all your great work.
aren’t you the one who had a male cat named priyanka?
thank you, sweetie. enjoy your trip.
wow that is fascinating – I just gave our cat the dried food that we were recommended by her previous owner but we give her tuna (just what other people eat) occasionally but I find the smell of that hard to cope with.
I was surprised to hear about black cats not being popular – my parents have a black dog who is lovely but when she was a pup she got lost in a shadow once and we couldn’t find her. Our cat – zinc – is white and it saddens me sometimes because we have to be really careful about letting her in the sun or she will get sunburnt so in summer she miaows at the door to go out – but life is easier for her in winter – so I thought white cats were not popular
pure white cats are the rage here. they find homes fast. and orange tabbies.
Delta is a sweetheart. I,too, know nothing about raising cats, but I know Delta is lucky to have sensible owners like you two
Missed Jeanne’s email for the donation, as I was ill during that week and didn’t check the mail; but have bought the tickets for the raffle
Trying to get in touch with you I would love to share you Pea and Mint soup with my readers and of course give you credit. I would also like to post the pea picture and give you creidt. May I?
sure. thanks for asking.
The cat is really amazing. I love cats too.
A question : what about the “click event” ?
I miss it !!!
verO
i will e-mail you.
Actually from the start I thought you’d show us the cat food label straight away. Amazing how people project their own philosophies on animals. “Reduce suffering” for cats?! By feeding them vegan food?! Heavens.
Yuck! is all I can say. Ick…makes me wanna throw up, not drool.
anon, are you human? sounds like it. bite me.
- delta.
Oh Bee, I LOVED this post!! And I am in love with your kitty! I have always loved black cats, and to have one that is part Maine Coon sounds like a dream. Our neighbour has a Norwegian Forest cat that is related to and similar in appearance to the Maine Coon and they are SO clever and generally gorgeous – her cat has learnt to open the fridge by hooking a paw under the bottom of the door – beware
Very interesting to read the cat food info. I have been told only to feed cats dry food because the tinned wet food causes kidney problems (one of the leading causes of death of pet cats). I can see, though, that making your own would be beter than either and far closer to what nature intended. And the added bonus of Poopus Minimus! Look forward to many more updates (says the frustrated cat owner!!)
Thanks also for your generous donation to H2Ope for Haiti and for the mention
vets in the u.s. claim the opposite. dry food leads to kidney failure and they mandate that cats be fed at least one wet meal daily to reduce the risk of that.
http://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood
Amazing! The poop tranformation that is! We have given raw fish to the cats (I hide in a room far way with agarbhathis under my nose!), but never “raw” chicken/goat meat. I don’t know why he cooks it lightly, makes it softer?
You are right about not veganizing them. Their bodies are designed for meat. However, I have heard that the cats body was evolved to be an omnivore and hence can handle some amount of vegetarian food every other day. My cat used to “ask” for boiled potatoes!
Commercial pet food is highly processed and could be the reason for many diseases, including cancer. I could be wrong, but I cringe at these products.
That is quite a serving size for one meal for a kitty! How many pounds/kgs in weight is that frozen yumminess?
Love the wrassle pic. The way they play with stalk and prey. Priceless!
And we all went coconut, dates, walnuts. Hahaha!
she eats about 5 oz a day, plus 1 tbsp of kibble. it’s okay to feed cooked meat, but don’t ever feed them cooked meat with bones. they can handle raw bones, but cooked bones are brittle and may damage their intestines and stomach.