Fact: Raw meat is actually low in protein!

Check out:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl

Notice the grams of protein (258) in a whole, raw, roasting chicken, neck and giblets that weighs 1509 grams. This example: 17% protein.

Notice the water content? 65% water (you’re right Beth, when pets eat this way they get their water from their food).

In case you want to check out other cuts:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

We do not cook the cats foods as that destroys many of the vitamins that they need. But, as I said, different opinions galore out there. I’ll send you the link on the miracle day I get it all up. We make food about once a month but with your two kitties it would be easy to make a month of food in an hour.

We also switched to World’s Best Cat Litter, even though it comes in a plastic bag and even though it’s made with corn and brings with it all the environmental problems of the corn industry because gosh darnit, the stuff really works.

We use a plastic litter box that we got from Freecycle. At least, we didn’t buy any new plastic for the box.

So, I have no good answer for you. I’m in the same boat you’re in.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/hodgkinsarticle2.htm

” REL=”nofollow”>http://www.holisticat.com/crf.html

http://meowmeowmom.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/six-reasons-not-to-feed-dry-cat-food/

http://www.yourdiabeticcat.com/diet.html

I appreciate that your cat has thrived on dry food and I’m not telling anyone else what to do. But I think if I can get it together to make them the chicken recipe, that will be the best solution for my cats.

Oh, and I forgot to say in my post that every single time I try to get them back on dry food, Soots gets diarrhea again. He just can’t handle it. So that’s the main evidence I have that the dry food isn’t good for him.

Beth

> Cats eat small rodents and
> birds. Meat, bones, water, all
> in one package. They don’t eat
> grains.

> I’m not going to put them on a
> diet of all dry food because
> that is how cats end up with
> kidney failure.

There’s a very good fact sheet about kidney failure in cats here, and one of the things it lists as a contributory cause is a high protein diet — which seems to me what a cat would be on if all it ate was small animals and no grains.

I realise you are trying to do twelve things at once, but I think you do need to do more research about cat diets. My cat is now 17+ years old and has been fed nearly exclusively dry food except for the odd occasion and/or mole/shrew/mouse/small bird, and there’s nothing wrong with her kidneys at all.

Thanks for linking to Just Ducky’s laundry soap recipe. All the other recipes I’ve seen so far have involved adding water to make a gel. I figured I’d have to go thrifting to find a pot and spoon to use only in soap making, and be sure to keep the dog out of the kitchen while I worked. Not having to do all that makes the prep SO much simpler and makes me all the more excited for the day when my giant tub of store-bought soap runs out. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself, but I’m glad someone else did.