Transition

I've been a vegetarian for twenty years, but recently I have become obsessed with meat. One of my cats was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and being the fanatic that I am, I refused to put her on Prednisone. Instead I did some research on the Internet, and switched her to an all raw meat diet, which cleared up her symptoms right away. Now you will find me at Whole Foods Market buying five pounds of free range organic chicken at a time. I wasn't aware of how much meat my cats consume until I had to chop it all by hand. Bringing home a five-pound bag of kibble and pouring it into bowls isn't quite the same as slimy meat and chicken livers all over my vegetarian kitchen. I switched all three of my cats to raw meat, since they all eat each others' food. It's a lot of meat -- believe me.

Commercial pet foods have only been around since the 1960s. Before that Fido and Fluffy hunted their own prey, or ate table scraps. Grain is used as a primary ingredient in the foods, but grain isn't a natural part of a cat's diet. A lot of cats have trouble with grains, especially as they get older.

If you decide to try a raw meat diet for your cats, there are books and Internet sources to help you. You can't just feed raw meat, unless you're going to grind entire carcasses, head, organs, bones and all. You need to add some supplements.

My cats are adapting pretty well to a raw meat diet. Enzo and Sashi prefer it over kibble, but Cinnamon, the one with IBD, is more fussy. Her meat has to be fresh fresh fresh, or she won't touch it. She's also hooked on raw fish, which has a stronger flavor than chicken or turkey, and I'm trying to wean her off of that. Fish isn't good for cats. This is Cinnamon. You can ask my friend Ron why he decided to name her that!