Caturday ~ Feline Nutrition Q&A 1

Hi Friends,

Happy Caturday!

A little Q & A time for Feline Nutrition.

What do you mean by Raw feeding?

Feeding raw food for the feline consist of feeding a species appropriate diet of raw meat, organs and bones. There are many different ways to achieve this natural diet. The raw feeding spectrum goes from feeding ground meats, bones and organs, to feeding bone in pieces of chicken, to feeding whole prey, such as a mouse or chick. As a raw feeder it is up to you to choose which type of raw food you will be offering your cat.

I personally feed our 14 cats a diet that contains ground whole chicken with bones, hearts, livers, and gizzards. I also buy pre-ground whole rabbit for variety. Due to the sheer number of cats we are feeding, we have to be a bit more economical in what meats we feed so chicken is the base of their diet; however for variety we also offer duck, turkey and mouse occasionally. Someday, when we are not caring for so many, we will be able to offer a much larger variety more often.

There are a huge variety of resources out there to help you decide what is right for you and your cat. Some good places to start your research into raw feeding are at the following links.

http://www.catinfo.org/

http://www.catnutrition.org/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.felinespride.com/

http://www.tcfeline.com/

http://www.felineinstincts.com/

http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/

http://www.blakkatz.com/index.html

http://www.holisticat.com/

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Why do you feed Raw food and not feed cooked foods? 

Is it true that the best nutrients in cat food are cooked out of them?

It is a scientifically proven fact that has been known for decades that cooking foods depletes them of the nutrients. Cats fed raw diets often thrive, while cats fed cooked meat diets or manufactured cat foods will suffer a number of ailments.

A very useful and important study was published by Dr. Frances Pottenger in 1945 about feline nutrition.

http://www.ppnf.org/catalog/ppnf/Articles/PottsCats.htm

While studying the effects of cooked foods for humans using lab cats, Dr. Pottenger stumbled into the first published feline nutrition study about raw food verses cooked diets. It was the first scientific study that proved how important a raw diet is to a cat.

Over 9 years 900 cats were studied and fed either a diet of raw foods or a diet of cooked foods both including milk, cod liver oil, meat and bones.

Today it is certainly not the surprise it was back then that the Raw fed cats were healthy throughout the study. However, the cooked food cats suffered from a terrible array of diseases, parasites, bone infections, skin lesions and allergies. The third generation of cats fed a cooked diet were so sickly that they could not even reproduce and the strain died out. All the while the raw fed cats thrived.

While the Pottenger cat study may be a little time worn on the edges, the information that Dr. Pottenger provided to us through his study confirms that cooked foods are not an appropriate source of nutrition for felines.

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What would a cats diet in the wild be?

Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they are strict meat eaters. Therefore they are hunters and their diet is fairly simple. Meat! Meat! Meat!

A small wild cats diet consist of mice, rats, rabbits and birds. Bugs are also on the menu and one of my cats favorites! Any animal they can catch and eat is on the menu.

Almost as important as what cats do eat is what they do NOT eat in the wild. They do not eat grains or fruits or vegetables as these food sources are not appropriate nutrition for an obligate carnivore.

As confirmed in “The Carnivore connection to nutrition in cats”, by Dr. Zoran, found at http://www.catinfo.org/zorans_article.pdf , cats can not derive the proper nutrition from plant matter, either grain or vegetable. Their bodies are created to absorb nutrients from meat, not rice and peas. Cats even lack the digestive enzyme to digest plant matter. I think that alone proves the importance of meat in your cat’s diet.

Furthermore, cats have absolutely no use for the carbohydrates that grains provide and they end up suffering from obesity, diabetes and other diseases because they can not utilize the sugars these foods load them down with.

While you sit here and absorb all this information please keep in mind that all dry foods are laden with excessive amounts of carbohydrates for a cat and inappropriate for a cat’s diet. Cats should always be fed a wet diet consisting of raw meat, bones and organs or a high quality canned.

A list of good canned foods can be found here: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods#Commercial_Foods

You can further your search for the proper diet of your cat at www.catinfo.org or www.catnutrition.org.

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Until next week…

Carmen and the Primcats

It’s cold for the furries too!

Hi Friends,

It was a FREEZING 4 degrees here this morning!

Don’t forget to take care of your outside furries when it’s cold like this. They can easily suffer frostbite or freeze to death if you don’t provide them proper shelter.

Don’t forget about water either. It freezes quickly and will need changed many times per day.

You can also purchase heated water bowls.

Here is an easy build your own insulated cat shelter.

Quick, cheap and easy.

And don’t be afraid to buy them heated pet beds.

Please take care of them… they can’t fend for themselves when it’s this cold.

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Caturday ~ What do you feed the Primcats?

 

Hi Friends,

Welcome to Caturday with the Primcats!

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I am about to get deep into a raw food discussion here but please understand that I do NOT for one second think that you have to feed raw food to improve your cats health. Canned works too.

But please stick with me and read on.

 

I’m just sharing our story not pushing it. Raw feeding is not for everyone. But it is for us. And just you knowing this may someday help you save your cat or someone's cat you know.

Knowledge is power.

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The second most common question I get:

 

What do you feed the Primcats?

We personally feed a Raw Meat and Bones based diet to our cats and they are incredibly healthy on it.

(recipe at www.catinfo.org)

We have been feeding this way since 2006 with no problems, only improvements in their health and well being.

Before raw feeding we had a major illness monthly and our vet bills were $3000+ a year. 14 cats adds up fast. After raw feeding since 2006 the only cat who has needed medical attention is Tracy for her Asthma and now Fefi for cancer.

Seriously. Think about that. The only thing that changed was their diet. That’s it.

We started raw feeding because we almost lost two of our cats to Urinary blockages, bladder stones and kidney stones. Phat Boy and Baby Bear we both on their death beds a week apart.

Phat Boy had emergency surgery on a Friday night due to a crystal created stone blockage the size of a nickel in his bladder. His blood had turned to poison and he was going to die with out surgery.

A week later Baby Bear was experiencing the same symptoms and we rushed him in only to find on multiple x-ray's that he had the same type stone in his kidney and there was nothing they could do. I am not much for “nothing you can do, take him home and make him comfortable until he dies.” So I got on the internet and almost immediately learned that kibble had done this.

Read last weeks Caturday for why.

We started raw feeding all 14 of our cats that weekend. Bear too. He recovered over a few weeks and 30 days later we went back in for more x-rays. That kidney stone was gone. Yep gone. Dissolved by a proper wet food diet and nothing more that forced his own body to break it up and dispel it saving his life. My vet was shocked. Has never seen that happen in his years of service. But he had also never had someone treat an animal’s blockages with raw feeding.

I HIGHLY recommend it. But I DO know it is NOT for everyone and I don’t expect it out of anyone. It is easy though. Once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it, it's a snap to prepare.

Cats are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from wet meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat!

It’s also extremely inexpensive once you source your ingredients properly. It costs me between $8.00 to $10.00 a month to feed one cat a completely natural raw food diet consisting of meat, bones, organs and supplements. You can’t even buy cheap food for that anymore so it makes monetary sense to feed raw. It's something you might want to consider someday if you are willing to devote a lot of time to educating yourself and a little time to preparing.

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet (or just educating yourself about feline nutrition overall) a great place to start learning is http://www.catinfo.org/ .

If you would like to try raw with your cats and don’t want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from www.felinespride.com . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it! Another premade Raw you can try is Natures Variety.  I personally have never used this but know many people that do and it’s pretty easy to find. Pet stores, grocery stores and smart vets often carry it.

If you have any questions about today's topic please ask. I am happy to help.


Until next time...

Carmen and the Primcats

Today is my Birthday! Yay! Party time!

Hi Friends,

Today is a special day!

It’s my Birthday!!!

36!

The big 36!

And I’m cool with it. :)

Tonight, I’ve invited everyone to a skating party and I can’t wait! I love to skate. Grew up skating every weekend. It was all there was to do in my town.

I LOVE TO SKATE!!!!!!!!!

And it’s great exercise!

This picture was in August 2011 at my nieces 16 birthday party. That’s me on the right with my niece in the middle.

Yeah… I can skate backwards!

Like nobody's business!!!!!

So yep… skating party for my birthday! Can’t wait!

Skating makes me happy!

We’re all a little older now… so here’s hoping none of us break a hip!

Happy Birthday to me!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

One more birthday treasure…

Hi friends,

When I bought the box you saw in the last post I also picked up this perfectly sized table cloth at Marples for my entry table. 

Love it!

Perfectly Prim!

And the best part is… cat hair doesn’t stick to it!

 

Doll by Eve at http://leehillprimitives.blogspot.com/.

Tin Lamp from The Olde Farmstead http://www.theoldefarmstead.com/

Bench from Goodwill.

Cat from Springfield Antique show.

Until Next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Happy Birthday to me!

 

Hi Friends!

It was time for a trip down south to shop and since my birthday is this Friday… I treated myself to a few new pieces.

I picked out this wonderful box from Marples Tattered and Torn Primitive in Greenfield, Ohio.

 

I just LOVE it!

The hanging tin lamp also came from Marples.

The cat in the wreath came from Lecia at http://farmhouseprims.blogspot.com/.

The pretty little pin keep you see on the first shelf was  gift from Earlene at http://earlene-primitivepassion.blogspot.com/ as were the cute little kitty and baby to the right of it.

The buckets on the bottom shelf came from Primitive blessings at http://primitiveblessingsvintagegiftshop.blogspot.com/.

That cute little mouse in the cubby is from Carol at http://buttermilkcreekfarm.blogspot.com/

The Bird Pinkeep came from http://northshoreprimitives.blogspot.com/.

The stitchery came from the Simple Goods Show in Mansfield, Ohio.

And I promise you everything else is Goodwill finds. The blue cabinet, the wreath, the olde canning jars, the firkin, the candle jar, the light, the candle warmer, the Pfaltzgraff Folk Art Tart Burner… all years of goodwill scouting.

I love this piece. It’s going to be fun to work with through the seasons.

I picked up one other treasure at Marples… be back later with that!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Caturday ~ What should I feed my cat?

Hi Friends,

Welcome to Caturday with the Primcats where I answer all your burning cat questions. Ha! Not really burning, but important none the less. ;)

Lets jump right in with the most common question I get asked…

What should I feed my cat?

Well, lets start with what cats eat in nature. Mice, rats, birds, bugs, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, snakes, lizards, etcetera.

Keep those prey in mind as we move on…

All small domestic cats descended from desert cats. In the wild these desert cats derive their entire liquid intake from their prey. They have a nearly nonexistent thirst mechanism because they don't need it when eating a species appropriate wet prey diet. They were designed to get all the water they need from what they eat. Additionally since water was not readily available to them in their desert climate they did not evolve as drinkers. Regular ol' house cats have descended from those same wild desert cats. Their nutritional needs remain the same. They need to receive water in the food they eat. 

Cats were never meant to eat dry food, also known as cereals or kibble. We, humans, make them eat it for convenience to us. It has nothing to do with them or their nutritional needs. It's completely species inappropriate.

Modern kibble was only created as late as the 1970’s when we really started full time living indoors with our animals. Modern kibble was created to accommodate our needs. Not theirs.

In fact the first manufactured cat foods killed tons of cats due to the lack of knowledge that cats are obligate carnivore’s and can not receive proper nutrition from any other source than meat. Muscle meat contains taurine and without the life giving amino acid taurine cats die. The first manufactured foods were overloaded with carbs and lacking meat (taurine) and killed so many pets. Sad.

A great article about this can be found here:

http://blog.onlynaturalpet.com/2008/02/16/the-importance-of-taurine-for-dogs-and-cats/

In a home environment, your kitty does not get the moisture it needs from dry food and it’s almost always in a constant state of dehydration which takes a very serious toll on your cats body. Imagine the state of your body if all you ate was dry food such as pretzles and rarely drank. You skin and hair and nails would look terrible. That is why so many pets suffer terrible skin conditions and poor fur quality. Water fountains are encouraged to TRY to get your cat to drink more and your kitty may even enjoy it, but it will never meet its water intake needs drinking from a bowl. I don't care how much you tell me your cat is drinking, it's not drinking enough. 

Deadly feline illnesses, all caused by improper diet, run rampant these days.

Diabetes, kidney failure, obesity, allergies, Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), constipation, bladder stones, kidney stones, urinary tract blockages and Urinary Tract Infections (FLUTD), with and without deadly crystals and vomiting to name just a few. 

Prior to the 1970’s cats rarely faced any of these deadly issues because they were not being kept on such inappropriate diets. Manufactured kibble is killing our cats. 

And lets not forget what you see on the outside. Dry skin, dandruff, lackluster coat condition, patchy fur... I could go on and on.

Cats are not taking in enough water to prevent these illnesses. Proper water intake through a species appropriate diet alone can prevent most of these conditions.

Wet food, either canned or a fresh balanced raw diet is the best diet for all cats. They should never be fed dry cereal kibble if we wish to most closely match their wild nutritional and dietary needs.

Kibble meets only our needs… not our cats.

What do I feed the Primcats? I personally feed a Raw Meat and Bones based diet to my cats and they are incredibly healthy on it. We have been raw feeding since 2006 with massive improvements to our cats health. While I HIGHLY recommend it I know that I am neurotic about caring for my cats and providing them the closest life and environment they would get in the wild. Know that I understand it is NOT for everyone and I don’t expect it out of anyone. We will talk more about this next week though.

So we have established that your cat needs a high protein, low carb (grain), wet meat based diet.

The quickest way to do that is a quality canned food diet. No kibble.

Easy peasy. Pop the can twice a day. All done.

You have just improved your cats life 10 fold and given it a few extra years. :)

Yep. Just. Like. That.

Years!

It also helps to vary the diet with a constant rotation of 2 to 4 different brands of canned foods that your cat enjoys. If you do this, and allow your cat the same assortment they would have in nature when eating mice, bugs, birds and rabbits, your cat’s digestive system won't be so sensitive, making them less likely to vomit, and you won't have to run around looking for a specific brand when your store is out. You will have a nice variety to choose from instead.

A high quality meat based grain free brand is best and you can find them at your local pet store. I will delve into how to choose a food based on ingredients and brands I have used at a later date.

Remember that when adding in a new food or changing cat foods please remember to switch your pets food slowly over a period of 10 to 14 days, if you can. Start by mixing 25% new to 75% old, then 50/50, then 75% new to 25% old, and finally switching over to 100% new. Take it slow as they need as not to upset their digestive system.

I hope you have found some useful information to help you help your cat here.

Next Caturday we will be discussing what we feed our cats. A raw food diet. Even if you never intend on doing this I hope you will read it. Our story is interesting. And I think it’s beneficial for everyone to gain knowledge even if it’s not for them.

If you have any questions about todays topic, ask away!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Pay it Forward 2013

Good Morning Friends!

The first 5 people to comment on this post stating they would like to join in in Pay It Forward 2013 will receive something from me sometime this year.  Sooner rather than later so I don’t forget!

I don't know what these treasures will be, except that they will be something special that I think you will enjoy.

There are three small rules to this offer.

Rule one is: This is open to USA.

Rule two is: The 5 people to request to be included must make the same offer to 5 people on their blog.

Rule Three: You must follow through with your end of the deal....it is always better to give than to receive! You must pay it forward to 5 other people.

If you would like to be one of my 5 to pay it forward to please leave a comment below and I will contact you for your address!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

The Primcats rescued a DOG~ What?!?

Hi Friends,

You read that title right.

The Primcats adopted a dog.

Meet Holly!

Holly is a 4 year old, 3.5 pound Chihuahua that we adopted December 20th. 

She is about the size of a remote. Not much bigger.

Here’s us on night one.

She was in a very sad situation where her owner had lost interest in her and she was keeping her shut off completely from the family. The other house dog was using her as chew toy and the 5 year old son was way to rough and putting her in danger. So they just shut her away by herself for at least the last year.

A friend of mine who works in dog rescue was contacted and I saw Holly on her FB page that she needed a home and I jumped. Shane and I have been talking about a tiny dog for a long time but nothing ever came to me.

Until I saw that face and I knew she belonged with us.

I knew I needed to give her piles of toys and lots of love.

And now she has them.

She LOVES teenie greenies! NOMS!

Our biggest concern was of course how the cats would react. But I am happy to say that The only one who has had any reaction is Holly. She has had a few “your invading my space moments” with different cats. Other than that everyone is shockingly indifferent to her being there.

Here’s a super sweet moment…

Holly on my belly, Gizzy on the couch.

Can I mom?

And crash. lol!

Tell me that isn’t the cutest thing ever? You can’t. It is.

Happy Baby.

She is infectious. She just makes you happy.

Tracy and Holly snugging it up next to mom.

Baby Bear and Holly spooning.

We are very blessed to have been able to add Holly to our family. She fits in very well.

Until next time… 

Carmen and the Primcats (and Holly?)

Hmmmmmm…. not sure how that is going to work. lol

Caturday’s with the Primcats are coming!

Hi Friends,

Most all of you know that Primcats house is filled with the two things I love… Prims and Cats. When I started this site I intended to use it as a place to share my home and as a tool to educate people about their cats. Somewhere along the way I got lost on that second part. 

With everything that has been going on recently with Fefi Le’ Purr and Tracy I feel like I need to share what I have learned about Feline health to help others avoid the things we have dealt with over the years.

I think the most important thing I want to share is that I am a Feline Wellness Advocate. I want nothing but the best for every cat in the world. I want them to be happy and healthy and have enjoyable lives. My husband and I strive to give out cats the best in every aspect of their lives.

I have been learning from cats all my life but the last 15 years I have really spent devoted to them and their health. Mostly because I was dealing with health issues that I later learned could be easily prevented. I also have amassed tons of useful tips and tricks having lived with 14 cats for so long. 

So I have decided to start 2012 with Caturday's… where I will answer cat questions about my cats, your cats, and cats in general. I will share what I have learned and hopefully help you out with your cat.

I will be covering everything from nutrition to fleas to behavioral issues to cleaning to medical problems and so much more.

So if you have a question… Feel free to ask. I would love to answer it and maybe help out someone else out there who is having the same problem you are.

In the beginning I am going to focus on nutrition because I get so many questions about “what should I feed my cat?”, “Is XXXX a good food?”, “Your cats are amazingly healthy. What do you feed them?”.

But before we delve deep into that I want to start by sharing my cats and their lives. I’m reposting my Meet the Primcats page here into this post in case you aren't familiar with my cats and their lives.

Here we go…

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Here at Primcats House we live side by side with 14 wonderful cats. They are our children and we treat them as such. Everyone is spayed and neutered and they have the best of everything.

All 14 were at one time unwanted unloved strays who were rescued by us. They all went from being unwanted… straight into the lap of luxury! They have a huge outdoor cat enclosure, homemade raw food, distilled water, a home visit vet, 2 huge indoor cat trees, toys galore, and all the love they can stand. It’s all purrs around here.

There are two groups of cats in the Primcat Pride. 

The Mini’s and the Biggie’s.
The 6 mini’s came to us as a litter of 3 week old fosters from our local humane society in 2005. The humane society was over run with rescue animals from Hurricane Katrina and we took them in temporarily. My heart is far to big though, I am no longer foster mom material, and I fell in love and could not give them up. We adopted all 6 Tortoiseshell kittens. 4 black tortie’s and 2 dilute gray tortie’s.

Tracy was an addition to the mini’s and though she isn’t really a part of their litter she fit right in. She is a dilute tortie and is small like the mini’s. She was dumped by her old owner in down town Columbus, Ohio on January 3, 2008. I spent 3 weeks walking the streets in the dead of winter searching for her, working with homeless in the area to help me find her, putting up fliers and visiting humane societies and rescues hoping she would pop up.

By the grace of God and an angel on Tracy’s shoulder she was found and returned to me by a good Samaritan via way of one of the thousands of a lost cat posts I had put out on the web. It was a miracle. 

Meet the Mini’s…

Tracy – The Cat-Dog.


Ebby – The Queen



Gizzy – The bed hog.

Chennifer  - The lovey licker. 




Punky –The talker.




Poofie – The cutie pie.

Katrina – The bad cat.

The Biggies are the other group within the pride. They all came to us via a feral cat that lived on our property when we moved here in 2000. All the biggie’s were born to a feral mom in the brief time that it took me to trap her and get her to the Humane Society to be spayed. They are all very, very large cats and shock all who meet them because of their size. They are all big, tall, long, muscular cats.

Pierre’ is the only outside cat we have. She is Mr. Primcats shop cat. Her job is to keep his shop free of mice and she does her job well. She also has access to the house garage and spends a lot of time up there with us too. She is her feral mothers daughter… not fully feral but easily snaps at the twitch of a whisker for no reason. Everyone who spends time with her ends up with a war wound from her. lol. She’s a bad little one eyed pirate cat but we love her and spoil her just the same.  She has it good here at Primcats House too.

 
Meet the biggies…

Pierre – The one eyed pirate cat.




Phat Boy – The snuggler.




Smokey – The jester .

Rascal – The rascal.




Dottie – The neurotic one.




Baby Bear – The baby.





Fefi Le’ Purr – The sweet one.


 

Where do the Primcats live?

Inside Primcats house…





And outside in a 2,100 square foot cat safe enclosure where they love to spend time catching bugs and sunning themselves. They are free to come in and out as they please.







The cat trees…


In the living room.  

You can see the cat door to the enclosure here.



In the kitchen…



So that sums up the Primcats and their home. I hope you enjoyed meeting them.

Come back next Saturday for the first official Caturday with the Primcats!

Until next time,

Carmen and the Primcats