Recent research article on raw diets

This is a very clinical article, but thought it was worth posting as an FYI for people feeding raw diets, either homemade or pre packaged. Just something to be aware of.


https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191170

 

That's interesting Julie

 

Great... raw food diet has minimal surveillance in the US. What a surprise. This is unfortunately one of the reason I’m taking my pets off the commercial raw food. All my pets have had issues on it and I’m not in a position to make my own, so we are going back to canned.

 

Would you please share your experience? I ask because I have a close friend with a kitten that the breeder only fed raw so they are doing the same, but she is concerned about it. I have heard that as more people have done it, more issues are coming to light. With that being said, there are people who swear by it, so it’s quite confusing. It is always good to hear what people’s direct/personal experience has been.

 

I will add my 2 cents on this subject and my experience. I started feeding my two girls raw back in 2007, when there was all the recalls and deaths from conventional commercial cat food. It scared the heck out of me.
The first few years I fed them a commercial raw, Feline's Pride. The owner of that company passed away and quality went down, so then I fed Rad Cat raw for a couple years. Then in 2013 I started making their raw food myself (with Dr. Lisa's recipe), and have been doing it ever since.
My girls just celebrated their 14th & 15th birthdays. They have been on raw for 12 years. They are doing good on it...that's all I know. I couldnt imagine going back to regular cat food now.

 

Sure. So it might all be a coincidence or bad luck, but I put my 11 year old cat who exhibited signs of IBD on Primal freeze dried pork. At first she seems to have been doing better (about 4 months) but then she developed bloody diarrhea and vomiting snd was going all over the house. My dog was also on it for 4 months, and also developed bloody vomiting at the same exact time. I was dealing with the 2 of them pooping and throwing up everywhere and in and out of the hospital for a few weeks at the end of September/beginning of October. Thankfully we have pet insurance. The cat is almost 12 and the dog is almost 10. The dog is still undergoing a workup (going to see IM next month), but he was found to have a very thickened stomach on ultrasound. Could be bad gastritis or maybe something more serious going on, and might not be raw food related, but with all the bleeding between the 2 of them we decided we weren’t gonna give them raw food with potential pathogens anymore if their gut is compromised

my sisters cats were also eating this food for about a year, and one of them developed hepatic lipidosis. He’s about 5-6. Again, could be a coincidence - maybe he didn’t like the food and wasn’t eating enough but he lost weight and his liver function tests were elevated and ultrasound showed fatty infiltrates. They stopped the raw and put him back on dry, numbers improved but didn’t completely go back to normal . So hard to say if the food is definitely causing the problem, but the vets also don’t like it and due to our issues we decided we were gonna go back to canned or dry until more research is available on the raw diets. I hope more studies will become available over time.

 

Maybe that’s crazy, but I wonder if some cats do better on it than others? It didn’t seem to help my pets, but maybe they have other issues that contributed to it. It’s so hard to say. I STILL don’t know what the best thing to feed them is. I’ve done extensive research on this, and the problem is that there isn’t good research on it in veterinary literature. All we have to go by is personal experience from different owners. And to top it off, all commercial food whether raw, canned, or dry has all these additives and ingredients cats don’t even need. I definitely understand why people choose to make their own, but unfortunately it’s not feasible for all families, and I’m still not convinced that it’s the best either. I want to see more research on the subject.

 

I dont know if this is true, but I had a vet tell me years ago that pork was lousy for cats. He said it was too hard for them to digest, never feed it to them. I always feed poultry.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your & yours sister's experience with the raw food diets. I will share it with my friend who is trying to get more input. I agree with you that what works for one cat may not work for another cat, whether it be raw or homemade or commercial or pork or chicken, etc.. I become concerned when I see anyone speaking in absolutes (like pork is lousy for cats) or feed raw & it will fix IBD. So much of it at this moment in time is simply opinion &/or based off individual experiences. It is frustrating for sure! I do think one vet put it best when she said they aren't really sure what is best but are working to figure it out. That is being 100% honest. It is more often than not trial & error & it is even more challenging when you are trying to do the very best for your pet, especially when there are health issues involved. Some vets--not all--will be adamently opposed to raw or homemade food while people feeding raw or holistic pet stores will talk about the prescription pet food companies controlling what vets know about nutrition. Yet, if you ask that person where exactly are they are getting their information, it is from a company selling either the raw or commercial food that carry or additives for homemade food. So, how is this any different?! There is an argument for bias on both fronts & then the consumer is caught in it! And then to top it off, there are underlying genetics, just like with people, the inherently drive what will or won't happen sometimes. Not fair or fun, but it is the reality of it.
I want to share a link to blog posts from a vet out of Boulder, CO who is actually a holistic vet who has a cat with IBD. It was a sanity saver when I found it. She talks about trying to do everything with food & supplements & for her cat it just wasn't enough. She has to use steroids to keep her cat healthy.
She also talks about how raw does wonders for some cats, while it makes other cats worse. The more mild cases seem to respond really well to just a diet change whereas the more moderate severe cases require other medical interventions.

https://boulderholisticvet.com/inflammatory-bowel-disease-ibd-cats-part-2/

I love what you are doing. Like you, I keep reading, try to find the science to support claims, doing some nutritional consults, getting peoples personal experiences. Ultimately, the science is not always there to direct a decision, so I make the best choice I can & try a food out. It will work or it won't work & ultimately, the cat has to want to eat it, so even if there is the "perfect" or ideal food, the cat may choose one that is not quite ideal but still works overall.

I am going to attach the link for Cummings School of Vet Medicine (Tufts U)/MA. They have a strong nutrition program & have press releases etc.. Again, just access to more information & then you personally can decide for yourself what info is helpful or not & utilize it.

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/petfoodology/

 

I wasn't speaking in absolutes. Her pets didn't seem to tolerate the primal pork food, so I was just repeating what a veterinarian told me about pork. I thought it may be helpful to determine whether it was pork that was disagreeable to them, not the all raw food in general. Speaking of absolutes, I would just hate to see someone completely eliminate the possibility of feeding raw based on the one experience with an uncommon raw meat source. I dont believe pork a common meat source for cats, not in large amounts.

 

Definitely worth it to see if pork is a problem . My comment is more in response to the vet who said it is lousy for cats, not you personally . There are cats who do well on it. Many cats cannot eat chicken & one would think that would be a slam dunk for being a great food to feed cats! Also, some cannot eat fish. It is just very frustrating when vets, or anyone for that matter, makes broad, sweeping general statements like that. It would be ok if he or she said, in their experience or in their personal experience they have seen some issues with pork with some cats vs. stating outright that it is lousy for cats. It does seem odd, but they are also feeding alligator as a novel protein which is interesting. Venison also seems strange to me, but apparently for some cats, it works. It is definitely complicated to find the right food sometimes.

 

Pork was a novel protein for bella. They are most commonly sensitive to poultry beef and fish so I couldn’t give her those flavors.

 

I couldn’t agree with you more on all of this! So glad there’s people who understand!

 

I am with you in spirit !! Try to keep our sanity

 

The article linked above would have been more interesting if it had compared the results against canned and dry foods, which also have their own problems. When Neko was diagnosed diabetic, I switched her and the civvie to raw. The civvie had idiopathic cystits and the raw diet recommended by his vet as a solution for a common diet. I needed both the eat the same thing. Civvie never had a cystitis episode again after switching to raw. Neko did well on the raw and I think it helped her. Her internal medicine one vet was very supportive of it.

Another civvie with IBD had rabbit as her primary food. Not many canned options out there that have just rabbit in them, or without additives that by themselves can cause problems in IBD cats, such as gums. Plus she just prefers the raw rabbit.

 

Please read this article... then pause.
Nelli was living stray on the streets hunting her prey for half her life (@ least)- The day one, the gotcha day, I have fed her a raw diet (rad cat for years until FDA murdered them).
Today at age 19-22? Nelli’s diet is primarily- high quality Darwin’s raw (https://www.darwinspet.com/cat-food).

I am witnessing companies today jumping on the raw food bandwagon – Ching Ching Ching Ching?!

Please read this article... then pause.​

There are good quality, raw pet food companies- Who by the way only produce and sell raw pet foods.

Nelli is happy and healthy, yes she gets Bupe and Adequin for arthritis; look at labs on SS!!, and has all her teeth.
Nelli went into heart failure and is diabetic because a horrible vet, without my knowing||consent, gave her a strong steroid shot for suspect, mild asthma (suspect, according to her cardiologist).
Steroid injection , , .

I am witnessing companies jumping on to the raw food bandwagon – Ching Ching Ching Ching?!
Please read this article... then pause.
There are good quality, raw pet food companies- Who by the way only produce and sell raw pet foods- available , .

 

When I got my current cats at the age of 10 weeks I started on canned kitten food. Mocha had loose stool when she was about 6 months. I switched to raw and her stool became normal. What I see in that article is that proper handling of the food is the key. I feed her Small Batch because she needs duck right now but her sister gets Small Batch and Primal.