Dennis said:
Spiral said:
How do you low carb a carnivore?
Heavens above! We are surely not saying that the 20th century's love affair with carbohydrate has even resulted in feeding carbs to animals which have not evolved to eat them in that lovely wholesome canned and dried food :shock: :roll:
Hi Spiral,
Unfortunately almost all pet foods these days are loaded with cereals to bulk them up - even the more expensive ranges like Iams contain typically only 25% meat and 75% carbohydrate-rich vegetables and cereals. When have you ever seen a cat eat vegetables - other than grass in order to make itself sick!
The rise in diabetes in cats and dogs is in direct proportion to the reduction in meat content in prepared pet foods!
I know exactly what goes in to pet food, Dennis :shock: :shock: :shock: It isn't just diabetes that has increased in dogs and cats, they have developed numerous other long term health problems too. I find what is put in to pet food quite disturbing :shock: Sarcasm and toungue in cheek does not always come over in print :roll: :?
I find it unbelievable that the standard manufactured pet food you get from the supermarket for an animal which is an obligate carnivore contains grains and a high proportion of vegetable matter :shock: And most of it is stuff that isn't fit for human consumption.
About 10 years ago, I had a cat with perfectly healthy teeth (I know this because he had a scale and polish, which cost £125) but his gums were so ulcerated and inflamed he could not eat :cry: The vet suggested extraction :shock: I paid a small fortune for a battery of tests (FIV, leukemia etc) which did not find out what was wrong with him.
Eventually, a combination of homeopathic treatment and a raw food diet turned his oral health around. My vet disapproved of the raw food diet :shock: (a bit like carb counting and reduction benefiting diabetecs, eh?). But after well over £500 of investigation and treatment over a 6 month period, including steroids and antibiotics every 6-8 weeks :| his chronic kitty oral hygiene problems were solved mainly by changing his diet.
I found that a minimum of 50% raw food and (uncooked) bones was necessary to stop his gums breaking down again. His gums invariably broke down when I went away and left only supermarket canned food for the cat sitter.
At the time I was using recipies that came out of the Pitcairn book, "Natural Health for dogs and Cats". These recipes contanied grains (oats and polenta mostly), but were human quality raw food. They also got lots of eggs.
I got a bit lax eventually, after the cat concerned went out for a long walk from which he never returned :cry: I also became more concerned that I was feeding grains to obligate carnivores, but I have acquired more knowledge since then
Our current feline companions didn't like the food I had been making (high grain Pitcarn recipies), and as a vegetarian this was a real labour of loveto cook for teh ungateful cats :x :roll: So I went back to cans, but continued to feed them regular raw food - heart (beef or lamb) and chicken livers, which they love. But because of my caring responsibilities over the last 2-3 years I never got back in to the habit of the raw diet for the cats until recently.
We have 5 cats and 2 of them have recently had their teeth removed because of dental problems
Since then, I have upped the proportion of raw food in their diet again.
I also have a local independent pet store that sells a frozen pure meat dog food - my cats get the rabbit and the turkey varieties of this food - and I have also discovered that Jolleys also sells it. I still feed them cans of supermarket chow, but they are getting a lot more biologically appropriate raw food these days and I'm working up to at least 50% again, which seemed to be the crucual figure for Pilchard.
Interestingly, when I was feeding them a completely home made diet, they didn't eat anywhere near as much food as they do when they are on the supermarket cans, even with the vegetable matter in it. I think the diet was a much better quality.
