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Feline Dines

THE BENEFITS OF RAW CAT FOOD

1. Raw food is more natural than dry or wet cat food
There's no denying that it's very natural for cats to eat raw food. One look at a cat's teeth shows us that they've got the necessary equipment in their mouths to catch, kill, and eat small animal prey. So, feeding them what they’re designed to eat makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, why fight millennia of evolution? Many people get a lot of satisfaction from feeding biologically-appropriate diets, and it’s easy to see why. We don’t know what cats ‘think’ about cat food and whether it's okay for their mental health to be fed the best dry cat food. However, the term ‘natural’ does not always mean ‘better’, and our domesticated, well-fed cats live considerably longer than their counterparts out in the wild!

2. Cats being fed raw food tend to do smaller, less smelly p**p
It’s often suggested that cats fed a raw diet p**p less. This is thought to be because the food is more digestible. They ‘process’ more of the food going in, which means that less comes back out again. Poos from pets fed a raw meat diet are often small, dry, crumbly, and less smelly - which is especially handy if you can't stand the smell of cat p**p. A study in 2002 found that kittens fed a raw food diet (in this case, ground-up rabbit) had much better stools than the group who weren’t fed raw. Another study on African Wildcats showed that kibble diets did indeed cause more faecal output. However, it also concluded that the diets were not different enough to mean that these cats couldn't be fed kibble.

3. Raw food diets mean cats are less hungry and beg less
How much should I feed my cat is a common question amongst pet parents. Protein is very filling, and raw meat is almost entirely protein. So, feeding a raw meat diet means that your cats get more protein and feel more satisfied. This is great for greedy cats who are prone to piling on the pounds or those that pester their owners for extra scraps. Less hunger could also mean less obesity. Obesity affects around 50% of cats and is a serious welfare problem. Having said that, restricting your podgy puss’s diet can be done by having some willpower on their behalf, so this isn’t as clear-cut as it might seem.

4. Cats on a raw food diet have better skin/coat/energy levels
Advocates for raw cat food say there are a range of benefits, from better energy levels to curing cancer. And the problem with most of these benefits is that they’re hard to measure and subjective. So far, there's not a lot of evidence to back up that any of these benefits are actually true – and naysayers say that a change to any high-quality diet would have the same effect. It's certainly true that for pets with allergies, a change of diet would improve their skin if the new diet didn't contain any allergens so that probably accounts for some of the subjective improvements.

5. The ingredients in a raw food diet are better for your cat’s teeth
Advocates of raw feeding say that the bones in the diet keep cat's teeth healthier. It does appear to be true that chomping down on the bones in a raw food diet keeps cats' teeth clean of plaque and tartar. Unfortunately, there is some evidence that cleaner teeth doesn’t necessarily mean healthier teeth, as it's disease beneath the gum line that is considered important. It’s also worth considering that bones in any diet could actually cause damage to your cat's teeth rather than being purely beneficial. Nevertheless, a raw diet does tend to keep cat teeth clean and less foul-smelling than other diets.

6. Cats on a raw food diet have fewer urinary problems
One of the main diseases we see in cats is urinary disease, from cystitis and urinary tract infections in cats to bladder stones, crystals, and blocked bladders. Evidence is mounting that dry cat food contributes to urinary disease. Cats are descended from desert-dwelling creatures, and they don't have much of a thirst drive. Instead, they tend to get most of their water from their diet. Prey is around 75%-80% water, so dry diets, at 10% water, don't meet this need, and cats would have to drink more water to stay optimally hydrated. Raw diets provide much more water and, therefore, may help to stave off cystitis in susceptible cats. Of course, this is also true of wet cat food diets. There’s currently no evidence for or against this benefit of raw cat food, but it does make sense that it could help.