Deep inside I am a crazy cat-lady. This does not necessarily mean that I have hundreds of cats, but the well-being of my two cats is very important to me. That's why I have been reading hundreds of articles about the ideal diet for cats in order to help them having a happy and long life.
Well, to cut a long story short: industrial food for animals is said, to contrary believe, to be really really bad. It makes a whole lot of sense if we keep the reputation of industrial food for human-beings nowadays in mind -- artificial, full of additives and unhealthy -- just that the quality of animal food is far worse. The animal food industry uses similar tricks to deceive pet owners and even the pets themselves. For example, they use include flavor and color enhancers to make the food smell and look better, just as in human food.
Although cats are carnivores (pure meat-eaters), canned cat food often contain less meat than cats need (vegetable ingredients often substitutes as meat as it is cheaper) and contain meat that is considered inedible for human-beings. So what else is left to feed then?
The solution to all cat-ladies' problems is called B.A.R.F: Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It basically is about feeding cats (and dogs) raw meat. With industrial food, you can never be sure what's really inside. With B.A.R.F. though, you yourself prepare the meals for your pets on the basis of what your pets really needs. Luckily, there is a lot of literature and online guides for that which are based on what animals would eat in their natural habitat. Just take a look on the most common prey of a cat: birds. It consists of feathers, skin, flesh (the part with the muscles in them), organs and processed food inside the organs. Each part of this serves an important purpose in the cat's body: the feathers and the food inside the organs help with the digestion, the skin, flesh and organs contain the fat and vital vitamins. Therefore, crazy cat-ladies buy meat and organs at the deli counter or at the butcher, and, if necessary, mix them up with vegetables which serve as a substitute for the stomach contents. Some things such as minerals or certain vitamins are substituted with oils or powders.
All of this might sound a bit odd. Maybe because many people think that putting that much thought into the diet of animals is way out of line, especially if these pet-owners don't live healthy themselves. I think the difference between humans being able to choose what to eat and pets being dependent on the choice of their owners is crucial here. Well, there are cats who don't want to eat raw food, most likely because they are already used to industrial food. But that's okay too. At least they made their choice then, you could say. In crazy-catlady-jargon.
I'm no big expert yet and my cats still eat some industrial food inbetween. But I am convinced that this diet highly improves their life quality. Surprisingly, preparing the meat is not that disgusting as I had thought it would be: it doesn't smell bad (if it is fresh) and it feels cleaner than the mashed meat-mixture my cats usually got before.
For those interested now, they are even workshops in Graz about this very topic. I even attended one yesterday and it was really informative and also very nice. If you are interested, don't hesitate to contact me. I'm glad if I can help!
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