Raw cat food-why it is the best diet For your cat, and what are the tradeoffs you?

The biggest myth surrounding cat ownership is that cats are worry free, self-contained and self-providing pets that require little or no maintenance. Cats are so good at giving people the impression of independence and self-reliance that people believe they don't have to provide the highly focused attention to cats that, say, dogs require. The fact of the matter is that cats do require the same attention to detail that any dog does, and maybe even a little more, in some cases. This is especially true when it comes to probing the controversy regarding whether raw cat food is better that canned cat food or kibbles for your feline ward.

It's a sad thing to look around our country these days and see so many people who have allowed themselves to become overweight and then have to deal with the consequential suffering and ill-health effects of obesity. Diabetes, shortness of breath, constant exhaustion from lugging around so many extra pounds and lowered self-esteem. Of course, the garment industry is singing happy tunes with all the extra thread they have to put together. T

here's no shortage of explanations for why this situation has come about, but I think when it comes down to it we can only blame ourselves at the individual level for allowing such a condition to take root. After all, how many pounds overweight does one have to get before they realize that something's not right and becoming a problem 10, 20. 50 lbs And how long does it take to realize that the magic pills, diets, elixirs and effortless, lose weight with no work out machines are products being marketed to your ego, to separate you from your bank account, and not to solve your problem No the only way to find an ideal normality is with thorough research, discovery and a lot of hard work accompanied with a healthy life style change. But, enough sermonizing about the human condition. This is about cats, their eating habits and raw cat food.

One thing needs to come along with this discussion from the previous paragraph. Most people are not experts in animal nutrition and rely on others to lead them in the right direction. The source for most experts available to a person for their daily decision making and selection of choices usually comes to us through the traditional media of radio, newspapers, television and now, the internet. Media offers two kinds of resources. Investigative reporting which is presented in newscasts or opinion pieces, and secondly, the marketing hype that provides commercial broadcast funding. The former is reliable enough to put credence into and might call for further research on your part if it interests you. The latter really only wants you to spend your money with them. That's not necessarily bad it does ultimately put people to work and provides many with an adequate, and even comfortable living. Unfortunately, the bottom line is corporations only have one objective in the end. That is to feed their bottom line. Now recent events have caused many to reconsider the morality behind a corporations goals. But, as long as this market structure is the paradigm for our economy, the ultimate goal for big business will always be to maximize their profit-loss statements towards the profit end of the spectrum, any way they can get away with, and at your expense literally.

So, what does this have to do with cats and if raw cat food is what you should be feeding them? Simply put, most people rely on the marketing hype to base their decisions regarding the food they feed their pets. Which is exactly the wrong source for basing such a critical decision. Take the cat for example. It's not only a scientific fact, but a cultural one also, that the cat is described as an obligate carnivore. This defines cats as creatures who derive most of their food nutrients from the animals they hunt and consume (raw cat food). When a cat devours it's prey, she will eat everything including not only muscle meat, but the brains, organ meat and the stomach and its contents which may consist of grasses and grains. One thing she doesn't do is fire up a stove and saute or bake her dinner, or prepare a nice sauce to go with it. She eats it raw. Cultural purists use this description as an argument that feeding cats store bought, mass produced canned or dry cat food is doing your cat a disservice by depriving her of the natural nutrients she would normally get in the raw cat food she captures in the wild, and for which she was biologically designed.

Pottenger's cats
Francis M. Pottenger, Jr. (1901 - 1967) was the son of Francis M. Pottenger, Sr., the physician who co-founded the Pottenger Sanatorium for treatment of tuberculosis in Monrovia, California. Between 1932 and 1942 he conducted what is know as the Pottenger Cat Study. One part of this study was what effect heat had on the nutrient value of raw food. In other words, what happens to food when you cook it.

"Pottenger used donated laboratory cats to test the potency of the adrenal extract hormones he was making. The adrenal glands of these cats were removed for the experiments and Pottenger noted that most of the cats died during or following the operation. He was feeding the cats a supposedly nutritive diet consisting of raw milk, cod liver oil and cooked meat scraps of liver, tripe, sweetbread, brains, heart and muscle.

When the number of donated cats exceeded the supply of food available, Pottenger began ordering raw meat scraps from a local meat packing plant, including organs, meat, and bone; and fed a separate group of cats from this supply. Within months this separate group appeared in better health than the cooked meat group. Their kittens were more energetic and, most interestingly, their post-operative death rate was lower.

At a certain point, he decided to begin a controlled scientific exploration. Pottenger conducted studies involving approximately 900 cats over a period of ten years, with three generations of cats being studied.

Meat study:

In one study, one group of cats was fed a diet of:

Two-thirds raw meat, one-third raw milk, and cod-liver oil A second group was fed a diet of two-thirds cooked meat, one-third raw milk, and cod-liver oil.

The cats fed the all-raw diet were healthy while the cats fed the cooked meat diet developed various health problems:

By the end of the first generation the cats started to develop degenerative diseases and became quite lazy. By the end of the second generation, the cats had developed degenerative diseases by mid-life and started losing their coordination. By the end of the third generation the cats had developed degenerative diseases very early in life and some were born blind and weak and had a much shorter life span. Many of the third generation cats couldn't even produce offspring. There was an abundance of parasites and vermin while skin diseases and allergies increased from an incidence of five percent in normal cats to over 90 percent in the third generation of deficient cats. Kittens of the third generation did not survive six months. Bones became soft and pliable and the cats suffered from adverse personality changes. Males became docile while females became more aggressive. The cats suffered from most of the degenerative diseases encountered in human medicine and died out totally by the fourth generation.

At the time of Pottenger's Study the amino acid taurine had been discovered but had not yet been identified as an essential amino acid for Cats. Today many cats thrive on a cooked meat diet where taurine has been added after cooking. The deficient diets lacked sufficient taurine to allow the cat's to properly form protein structures and resulted in the health effects observed. Pottenger himself concluded that there was likely an "as yet unknown" protein factor (taurine) that may have been heat sensitive.

Milk Study:

In another study, dubbed the "Milk Study,", the cats were fed 2/3 milk and 1/3 meat. All groups were fed raw meat with different groups getting raw, pasteurized, evaporated, sweetened condensed or raw metabolized vitamin D milk. The cats on raw milk were the healthiest while the rest exhibited varying degrees of health problems similar to the previous cooked meat study.

This particular Pottenger cat study has been cited by advocates of raw milk as evidence that it is likely healthier for humans than pasteurized milk.

Though Pottenger's experiments don't conclusively verify that raw cat food diets are better for sustaining a healthy support for the physiological needs of cats than cooked (canned) or dry kibbles, (because he didn't use canned cat food or kibbles in the experiments) certain conclusions can be drawn.

Cooking meat can destroy certain food nutrients, namely amino acids (proteins) Cats thrive more healthily on raw meat rather than cooked meat with less degenerative results Cooking meat for your cat requires the replacement of the essential amino acid taurine, and possibly other nutrients destroyed in the cooking process

Pet food marketing hype says that "XYZ" cat food products are healthy for your pet because it adds "ABC" nutrients, vitamins and minerals to their product which safeguards your cat's health. Fortunately, marketing laws require that the ingredients in any given product be listed on the packaging of your cat's food. Ultimately, it is left up to you to make the decision about which is the best shelf product for your cat.

For a discussion that details interpreting cat food labels CLICK HERE

Today's problem plagued market place has left many in doubt as to whether the corporate entities that supply the bulk of our aggregate necessities can continue to be worthy of our trust. Arrogance and greed have always gone head to head with social morality and it's usually the end user that ends up paying with unnecessary suffering. Many pet owners have now taken matters into their own hands and are resorting to providing from raw ingredients meals made with their own hands for their pets. It's not a bad step but certain measures, which include a life-style change, need to be taken when preparing your pet's meals to keep her safe from bacterial infection and insure that her nutritional needs are met.

Here's an example of a raw cat food meal preparation from scratch:

2 kg [4.4 pounds] raw muscle meat with bones (chicken necks are mostly cartilage, are easy to chop and easy for the cat to digest) thighs and drumsticks or, better, a whole carcass of rabbit or chicken amounting to 2 kg; if you don't use a whole carcass, opt for dark meat like thighs and drumsticks from chicken or turkey) 400 grams [14 oz] raw heart, ideally from the same animal (if no heart is available, substitute with 4000 mg Taurine) 200 grams [7 oz] raw liver, ideally from the same animal (if you can't find appropriate liver, you can substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D but try to use real liver instead of substitutes). NOTE: If you cannot find the heart or liver and decide to substitute with the Taurine or Vitamin A and D, then remember to replace the missing amount of organ meat with the equivalent amount of muscle meat. In other words, if you cannot find heart, you add another 400 grams of the meat or bones. If you can't find the liver, add another 200 grams of meat/bones.

16 oz [2 cups] water
4 raw egg yolks (use eggs from free-range, antibiotic-free chickens if you can)4 capsules raw glandular supplement (such as, for example, "Raw Multiple Glandular" from Premier Labs)4000 mg salmon oil
200 mg Vitamin B complex
800 IU Vitamin E ("dry E" works well) Buy Vitamin E in dry powder form. It's much easier to deal with than those little oil-filled capsules.OPTIONAL: 1/4 teaspoon of kelp and 1/4 teaspoon of dulse (1/2 teaspoon total) Try and get dulse and kelp in powder form that you can easily measure with a teaspoon rather than in capsule form. Taking apart those capsules is time consuming. If you can only find kelp in caplet form, you'll need to spend time crushing the caplets with a mortar and pestle.OPTIONAL: 4 teaspoons psyllium husk powder (8 teaspoons if using whole psyllium husks)

It looks like this recipe will produce about 5- 6 lbs of finished raw cat food product which would feed a single cat for several weeks. That means most of it would have to be frozen in individual air tight containers and thawed as needed.

The digestive system of a cat is designed to handle things human systems can't. Their stomachs have a highly acidic environment, which is an excellent deterrent to ingested bacteria such as e coli and salmonella. In the wild, cats sometimes eat some pretty iffy stuff with no ill effects. Wild cats die more often from infection due to injuries than from food poisoning. However, there are steps you can take if you have concerns about raw cat food bourn bacteria.

Avoid packaged supermarket ground beef using whole chunks of meat instead Buy "free-range" meat and poultry as fresh as possible Add priobiotics (which help maintain intestinal health) to your raw food preparation Proper handling of raw cat food is essential since some raw cat food may contain bacteria that could cause illness to you or your pets. Be sure to keep raw cat food meat and poultry separate from other foods. Wash hands prior to, and after handling raw cat food. Wash working surfaces, bowls, and utensils that come in contact with raw meat with hot, soapy water. Always wash your hands after cleaning your cat's waste; this includes litter boxes. Pick up and dispose of uneaten raw cat food within 30 minutes of feeding your cat

Preparing raw cat food meals from scratch for your cat is a labor of love indulged in by purists. Most people don't have the time, and maybe lack the talent to take on such a task. If you count yourself among this latter group, rest easy. Ready-made products are finding their way to the market place. There are complete raw cat food meals which are shipped frozen and there are mixes which all you have to do is add the meat. Just remember that if you are going with the mix, be certain that the essential amino acids such as taurine are included. If not then be sure to add the heart (a source for taurine) and other organ meat from the same animal if possible, with the raw cat food meal so that your cat won't be deprived of these critical ingredients.

So, what are the trade-offs you ask

Well, for one thing you will have to forego the convenience of one-stop-shopping in the supermarket pet food aisles. Orders for raw cat food meals or mixes are mostly made on-line so you will have to deal with credit or debit cards. Pre-planning will have to be regular routine so that you don't run out of raw cat food before the next shipment arrives. If a shipment thaws, you will have to return it because you won't want to take any chances with bacterial infection. Most companies will honor returns due to thawing. And, if you prepare raw cat food meals completely from scratch, be prepared to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen with this task.

The real trade-off is with the quality of cat food you will be providing. The store bought meal based cereal foods will be replaced with the high quality fresh foods that cat's were designed for. Some cats may balk at the transition at first because they weren't socialized with raw cat food as kittens. But, their health will show marked improvement, you will probably be surprised by the results which can be compared to how your cat behaved before being fed a fresh, high quality raw cat food diet that meets their needs nutritionally, plus their immune systems will be stronger giving your cat a chance for a longer, healthier life.

Ask any monk or even the ordinary, next-door-neighbor contemplative type, and they'll tell you that life is not easy; suffering is the characteristic that describes much of the existence in this corner of the Universe, and that the punishment for ignoring this fact is to bear more suffering. Yet this suffering can be relieved with even a little knowledge and understanding of why and how things can operate to ease your burden. It does take a willingness on your part to change and accept new habits to accommodate a changed life-style. But, knowledge and understanding cannot be acquired through osmosis. It takes a lot of work to comprehend even a small amount of the sense that holds life together. One can't depend on epiphanies either. Like magic and miracles, instant knowledge occurs only rarely and you can grow old waiting for it while your cat pines for a raw cat food meal. It'd be like huffing and puffing along wondering why you're carrying around all that extra baggage.

Raw food list

List of food, which is a part of the popular raw food diet is enormous. It contains an almost infinite number of unprocessed and uncooked vegetable food items that will improve your health and your lifestyle.

List

The list of these foods include fruits, vegetables, Brussels sprouts and a couple of processed food items. You can enjoy fresh food as:

Ripe tomatoes
Green
Squash
Tangelos
Kumquats
Washington cherries

This is just a short list of the most interesting food products that may be included in this diet. There are so many more!

You can enjoy processed foods with elements from the list. Fermented food items such as kimchee and miso, nut butters made with raw nuts, milk from the raw nuts, pure maple syrup and other raw prepared food items.

Improve your health

Items from the list will immediately improve your health when you start this diet. Science has shown that heating food above 116 F when it is hot to the touch, destroys healthy nutrients.

The most important nutrients destroyed in cooking process is digestive-enzymes. These enzymes work to break down and help the body absorb the food you eat.

You are born with a supply of digestive enzymes, which is depleted over time. These foods to replace these enzymes. If the body is not enough working digestive system enzymes can the food you eat will not break down properly and when stored in your body it will be toxic. This leads eventually to disease and other physical and mental diseases.

Exciting food choice

Is a common misconception that foods on this list is boring. Not so say Raw foodists. You can combine raw food and use different preparation methods in order to create exciting and delicious meals.

A perennial favorite with all is pizza. If you like traditional pizza would you love a pizza from raw foods. Pizza live contains a crust, Brussels sprouts, seeds, veggies and grains. Sauce is made from fresh tomatoes dried in the Sun, garlic and other herbs. For topping, you can create a luscious cheesy, lactic mixture from nuts, vegetables like mushrooms and Avocados, herbs and spices.

Even tempting desserts can be done from this food list. A to-die-for cannoli are easy to prepare. The outside shell is made of wheat berries, (Spire), and dates. A sweet and tasty center is created by using a mixture of nuts, lemon juice and fresh honey.

A new vegan raw food diet suggest very specific diet choice. Dr. Douglas Graham calls on supporters to eat 80 percent carbohydrates, 10% fat and 10 percent protein. This diet mimics the natural composition of your body, which makes it one of the best and healthiest raw food diet.

Prepping raw food

There are several methods of preparation, Raw foodists recruit when preparing meals. You must use a dehydrator, a juicer and a food processor to begin creating delicious and comprehensive breakfast, packed lunches and dinners.

A dehydrator absorbs all moisture from the food items on this list, food. This important piece of equipment used to provide a different texture to raw foods. In the above recipes was a dehydrator is used to create both live Pizza crust and cannoli wrapper.

A juicer can be used with the fruit and vegetables in this list, food. You can make standard fruit juices or juice food items to use as a workbook or a sauce when creating meals.

Many of the items in the list of raw foods require chopping. A food processor makes this a simple process. It will shorten your food preparation time and give you nice textures and an even consistency.

As you can see, this food list is used to create exciting menus. It is so comprehensive and inclusive you find even raw foods such as salads and raw vegetable plates on restaurant menus. Switch to this diet and enjoy a colourful and fresh range of live food.

Safe food packaging material

People have always required packaging in one form or another. Some of the earliest types of packaging are still around today, for example, reed baskets. Originally all packaging was produced from natural materials, because it should be.

Wood boxes and woven bags were among the first. As more materials were developed and processed, they were also in use as packaging.

In the 19th century, and as a result of the industrial revolution, was much more advanced packaging. Cans and the first cardboard boxes come. Later still, in the early twentieth century, was incorporated into the plastic and aluminium packaging around the same time we were becoming more and more aware of food safety and hygiene.

We have made tremendous progress in both the packaging and food safety.

Today packaging is an extremely scientific field, it also requires technological and artistic understanding and in-depth product knowledge. There are hundreds of high-profile careers within the industry, including "packaging Engineering". Topics studied for this qualification is varied, basic techniques, basic science and industry, food safety, recycling, even robotics! It is an industry that exceed always.

Some features of packaging;
Containment of product Protection of the product (physical and hygienic) Product control-such as tamper evident opening Product Information Marketing and branding of the product or vendor Contains the controlled medium-sized parts or quantities of the product

Our global awareness of the environment should be increased, our priorities and requirements what packaging possible changes. A now commonly used expressions-reduction, recycling, reuse is of great importance in terms of packaging. Sustainable packaging is an area where experts are especially interested in developing.

The package has been more than just a means to easily transport or containing products and is currently categorized in the types of packaging;
Primary-normally in direct contact with the product, for example. Brown kraft paper bags secondary-contains primary packaging and product, e.g. a package of crisp packets Tertiary-involves inventory storage and transport of bulk products, e.g. pallets
Within these types of packaging is more type-specific fields, for example. medicinal products or food.

Food packaging is a specialized topic in the packaging industry and works closely with the governing body for all the dks food legislation and security, the British food standards agency  Food safety involves scientifically well-documented rulings on all aspects of food to prevent food borne diseases.

We all expect that there are particular rules and guidelines in place for Dental Surgery assistants or Hospital nurses to prevent illness or disease through the spread of bacteria and viruses, but you expect such rules are in place for food? Well, they are!

The UK food standards agency provides food industry and the public with good well documented, easy to access to information about food and food safety, it also enforces laws on, for example, required standards on food packaging.

Much scientific research is committed to ensuring all food contact materials help at any stage of its treatment is safe, from food containers to ink in food product labelling. It is your responsibility to ensure the public is kept safe from harmful chemicals through the related materials. There are special rules for certain materials, plastics, for example, have a whole list of laws for itself.

The UK food standards agency website, there are notes about guidance on plastic materials and articles in contact with food (England) Regulations 2009, available for affiliates to read. It also provides information about what legal body represents specific materials, so you know who you are legally obliged to obey.

In 2004 introduced a new European regulation concerning food contact materials, and the UK food standards agency was responsible for representing the interests of our countries. Their primary goal was to ensure UK citizens are still being kept safe from the risk of harmful chemicals in food contact materials on holiday in Europe. This is also available for reading on their home page.

Development, research and management of food packaging both supermarket food and for home-prepared food is crucial not only for our convenience, but also for our security. The next time you put your sandwich in food safe polyethylene bags or your children come home with sweets in candy stripe paper bags, which many experts believe has made it safe enough for us all to use.

Safe handling of raw meat to dog food

The reason why many pet owners to reorganise their dogs to a raw food diet is because they want their pets to be healthier. The last thing you have to have your dog intercepts a food borne illness due to his diet. Many of these food bones diseases such as salmonella or e. coli poisoning occur because the raw meat to dog food that is served is not handled correctly. The correct handling of meat can help you to avoid problems with food borne diseases in your dog. Here is a list of things to remember.

never Let your raw meat stands for more than two hours. If you do not want to prepare your dog meal immediately thereafter make sure you freeze or refrigerate for at least. Leave your meat will make it possible to settle in room temperature makes warm moist environment perfect for culturing bacteria and parasites.

one of the biggest culprits food borne illnesses are salmonella. Chicken has a much higher rate of contaminated with this than other types of meat. If you are using a combination of meat when you prepare a meal, it may be best to concoct chicken last or even wash your thing after using it on chicken before you use it on others.

makes it a point to always have clean hands when you prepare your dog raw meals. Wash water, hot soapy is the best way to go. If you are using need touch the Recycle Bin or use the bathroom in between preparations you should wash your hands more.

Even tools should be kept clean. Hot water and SOAP should be used for cleaning of tools. Cutting boards are often the breeding ground for bacteria as food residues are often in the Scrape your cutting board. with a knife before washing to remove any meat residue. You can also soak in some water with bleach every week.

Avoid handling meat too much when you prepare it. More to keep the higher the chances of it being contaminated. This is especially true for ground meat. Because it is in smaller pieces is exposed to all areas of it compared to meat chunks where Interior remains untouched.

Keep even your workspace and counter clean when you prepare your dog for meat meals. Not just flesh everywhere if you do not have purified your workspace because the bacteria is transmitted through contact.

If you want to use frozen meat, it would be best to take it out the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator. By minimum temperatures will still be cool enough to prevent breeding bacteria.

Security tips to prevent food borne illness this summer

Picnic and grilling season is upon us, much of our focus is on enjoying the warmer weather and outdoor dining area. But now is also a good time to refresh our memories about handled security and disease prevention from food borne illness foodstuffs. We can take two methods to protect our health from food illness: kitchen cleanliness and proper food storage and preparation.

Kitchen cleanliness: even in a spotless kitchen cross contamination can occur. Good housekeeping practices means immediately wash something comes into contact with raw meat, by means of a cleaning rag is dedicated exclusively to the cleaning of instruments and surfaces that come into contact with raw meat or poultry. Some restaurants use pink dish cloths for work in areas where raw meat is handled, and white wiping rags in areas where food is handled or cooked. It is wise to limit handling raw meat into such a small area as possible, such as washing, and wipe thoroughly the meat preparation.

A diluted mixture of hot water and chlorine bleach is a powerful disinfectant for sterilisation surfaces where raw meat is been handled. Convenience to keep on hand disinfection wipes financial or Clorox to kill 99% of bacteria. Use wipes clean counters and tools, and then delete in order to avoid the spread of bacteria and pollution from cloth to other surfaces. I keep a spray bottle with 1/3-part chlorine 2/3-parts water at your fingertips to spray surfaces and then wiped off with paper toweling. Allow chlorine mixture to set on the surface a few minutes before wiping clean and discard paper toweling.

Food handling: safe food handling begins at the time of purchase. At best, meat or poultry must be used soon after the purchase, but if not should be kept between 28F and 32F in meat space in the refrigerator. If the meat is not to be used within two days, it should be wrapped in a non-high permeable plastic and stored in the freezer until use, but not longer than 6 to 12 months. Meat should only be thawed in the refrigerator never at room temperature where bacteria, yeast, moulds or virus could develop.

E. coli is the best-known of food borne bacteria, and can live in the meat and vegetables. In fact, any food can be contaminated with it: undercooked hamburger and roast beef, unpasteurized milk, unpasteurized cider processed uvaskede apples, which fell on soil contaminated with dung of sick cows, vegetables grown in soil fertilized with cow manure. There is no way a farmer, but careful and conscientious, can know which cow is contaminated and which are not. It is therefore up to cook to prepare the foods they serve properly in accordance with safe food handling guidelines.

United States's agricultural Ministry has drawn up a list of Fahrenheit temperatures such as meat, poultry and eggs should be cooked to kill food-borne bacteria. Temperatures shall be measured with a clean instant-Read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the flesh. The Reference in the table below:

Fresh ground beef, veal, lamb, pork: 160F

Beef, veal, lamb: roasts, steaks, chops: 145F (medium rare); 160F (medium); 170F (Bravo)

Fresh pigmeat: roasts, steaks, chops: 160F (medium); 170F (Bravo)

Ham: Cook before eating: 160F

Ham: fully cooked, to reheat: 140F

Ground poultry: chicken, Turkey: 165F

Poultry: whole chicken, Turkey: 180F

Poultry: breasts, roasts: 170F

Poultry: legs & wings: Cook until juice runs clear

Fills: (cooked alone or in bird): 165F

Egg dishes, casseroles: 160F

Leftovers: 165F

Contact the USDA meat and poultry Hotline at kl-800-535-3406 for more information.

Fruit and vegetables: raw foods, such as production, should be washed thoroughly cold running water in an area free of contamination from raw meat preparation. Separate utensils and cutting boards should be used for products and meat to avoid cross-contamination.

Vegetables stored best chilled to slow deterioration. Chilling of fruits and vegetables creates all the metabolic activities, including respiration, that the brake. Most fruits and vegetables are best stored at refrigerator temperatures and in conditions where oxygen is limited. Save the vegetables in the refrigerator until use sharper, uvaskede spaces.