Weaning a cat off junk food and onto what they were made to eat: fresh, bloody, raw meat

Or how to switch your cat to a species-appropriate food

Who would have thought that our cats would be caught up in the same metabolic disaster of sugar-laden diets that are creating an epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes in humans…but they are.

When I look at the ingredient list on a bag of cat food from one of the “big” pet food companies, the ones sold in vet clinics and on the first few shelves in any large box pet food chain, they read something like this:

Chicken meal, rice hulls, wheat gluten, corn, corn gluten meal, wheat, brewers rice, natural flavors, chicken fat, dried plain beet pulp, grain distillers dried yeast (the rest of the ingredients are synthetic vitamins).

Does that look like a list of ingredients for a weight-loss diet for a carnivore? Or for anyone, for that matter?

The next major problem with these diets is: THEY ARE ADDICTIVE.

The pet food industry has lots of tactics to get cats to eat various commercial cat foods. One of them is adding a chemical called pyrophosphate, nicknamed “cat crack” by the industry because cats go nuts over it and become addicted to it. This is one factor that makes it very difficult to switch cats to healthier food options. There are other appetite-enhancing ingredients they spray on kibble so that the animals cannot help but gobble the garbage down.

Here is an article all about it:

The hidden reason processed pet foods are so addictive

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Once one’s eyes are opened to the situation, it becomes imperative to start feeding the felines in our lives what they were meant to eat: raw meat.

But how do we go about rehabilitating them from their kibble addiction?

Slowly and gradually, with lots of patience!

Cats are imprint eaters, meaning they recognize food items by what they imprinted on as baby kittens - what type of food Mom brought back to the nest while weaning them. 

Words to the wise: If you have a kitten, be sure to feed them a wide variety of tastes, textures, and types of food, from raw to kibble, meat to vegetable. That way, you can raise a cat that will eat whatever you place in their food bowl! 

And yes! It’s possible. I have raised two cats that will eat anything I place in their food bowl.  

The first thing to remember about feeding cats is that they are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES: they require meat and evolved to eat freshly killed meat.

Our modern housecat evolved from a small feline species that lived in the desert, where they obtained most of their moisture from the prey species they fed upon. When a cat is given a raw meat diet, they drink very little free-standing water. 

Modern kibble diets apply extreme amounts of stress to the body’s fluid-regulating systems. That is one reason why we see so much bladder and kidney disease in cats. Their bodies are built to extract most of the fluids they need from their food source. And kibble is bereft of fluids. 

Second, kibble diets are very high in carbohydrates, which lead to weight gain, diabetes, and potentially fatal fatty liver disease. Commercial kibble diets formulated for weight loss are often nothing more than fiber and synthetic vitamins and minerals. Check out that wonderful ingredient list above from a “weight management” diet.

Several things determine a cat's food preference:

Determining which category, or categories, your individual cat prefers gives you a starting point.

1. TASTE: cats fall into 3-4 groups of taste preferences: 

Poultry: chicken, turkey

Hoof stock: beef, pork, etc.

Fish: salmon, whitefish, sardines

Game: venison, rabbit

2. TEXTURE:

Kibble, crunchy

Pate, smooth canned food

Shredded, chunked, gravy-moist food

3. TEMPERATURE: 

Some cats will eat cooler foods, right out of the refrigerator, while others prefer to have their food room temp, or even warmed up. Warming the food releases the odors, and smell, to a cat, is a very important aspect of appetite stimulation. 

Step-by-Step Switch

The idea is to switch them over so slowly, the cat only notices very minute changes over time. 

Begin by knowing your cat's preferences and use that as the starting point. Then gradually add the next step up in food. 

This is best done in very small increments and may even need to start by placing a small spoonful of the new food in a neighboring dish, or on the side of the dish, next to the current food. As they eat they will catch smells of the new food, getting them accustomed to it. 

The next step is to add pea-size quantities at a time, mixed in with their current food. Make sure it is well mixed and not just placed on top to prevent them from smelling it right away. 

Every day, add a tiny bit more of the new food to the current diet until you can make the switch. 

Another trick to try is to use the cat treat, Churros, made by Inaba, to mix in or use as a topper for the new food. Cats respond to it like it has pyrophosphate, kitty crack, in it, which I cannot prove but which I would not doubt. I would only use small amounts to get them started eating, but it just might jump start them and get them to take the first bite of the new food.

Try offering various foods from your own kitchen to your cat. I would stick with meats: beef, chicken, turkey, pork, fish, etc.  Any meat you are eating, cut up into small pieces and give them a bite in their bowls. You never know what they may end up liking on a particular day.

Some cats even like vegetables, like lettuce and greens, and butter - which is great for hairballs, as well as canned sardines which are high in omega-3 oils. 

Progression from junk food to healthy eating:

KIBBLE  >>  CANNED >>  GENTLY COOKED >> RAW

STEP 1: Kibble to Canned

This can often be the most difficult step, as the industry uses the strongest appetite enhancements on dry food in order to get an animal that would normally eat warm, moist muscle meat to consume dry tasteless, odorless kibble.

FEEDING TIMES: The first step is to begin mealtime feedings: am and pm.

Many people feeding kibble leave it out all day or use automatic feeders. Cats are not grazers. Think about African lions. They wake up from their naps hungry. So they go out and expend quite a bit of energy hunting. Then they gorge on their kill, eating the meat while it's fresh. Then they lay down to take another nap while digesting the meat in their full guts.  

Feed twice a day at the same time of day and pick up the bowls between feedings. 

BAD KIBBLE TO BETTER KIBBLE:

Not all kibble is created equal. If your cat is really hooked on the crunchy texture, there are a couple of things to do:

1. Gradually switch over to a better quality kibble with fewer grains, sugars, and additives and more protein. Here are a couple of brands to try:

OPEN FARM: ethically sourced meats, no grains or fillers, fewer carbohydrates.

• “Raw mix” kibble that is coated with freeze-dried raw to both make it tastier and a good transition to the taste of raw. 

• Canned food 

• Bone broth to moisten kibble and canned food

FARMINA: uses non-GMO meats and vegetables.

• Dried and canned

SMALLS: make a great human-grade canned food and freeze-dried raw

2. Use FREEZE-DRIED RAW as a topper on the kibble:

Many of the raw companies also make freeze-dried versions of their raw food. It is the raw food with all of the moisture removed and is meant to be rehydrated.
However, small amounts can be sprinkled over kibble to introduce a different taste and smell while keeping the texture the same. 

Do NOT overdo the amount of freeze-dried without adding moisture, ie warm water or bone broth, as cats can become constipated from eating too much of it without rehydrating it.

3. Gradually add either warm water, warm bone broth, or raw goats milk to the kibble. Many cats do not mind a small amount of liquid. The amount can be very gradually increased to get them used to moist food vs the crunch. For cats that like fish, tuna juice can entice them to eat, but use sparingly.

BONE BROTH

Many companies are making bone broth right now (Primal, Green Juju, Open Farm) or you can make your own homemade bone broth. It provides collagen for the joints, skin, and nails, and helps to heal the gut.

RAW GOATS MILK

Raw goats milk is an excellent superfood for cats and most love it either as a treat or poured over food. It provides digestive enzymes, all the essential amino acids and is very high in taurine, which cats require. If it is fermented it is an excellent source of probiotics. 

There are commercial brands - my favorite is Solutions Pet Products Goatnog - fermented, with duck egg for choline, another vitamin that cats require and are often deficient in. If you are lucky you can find a local goat farmer near you.

KIBBLE TO CANNED:

As you get to the point where you are feeding more canned than kibble, you can try grinding up the kibble in a coffee grinder and sprinkling it over the top of the canned food as an enticement. 

BAD CANNED TO BETTER CANNED: 

If your cat likes canned foods, then first move to a better quality canned food with fewer additives, carbohydrates, and higher quality protein. 

You may have to take this step very gradually as well, because of the addictive additives they put in most canned foods. 

Here there are a few more choices in brands: 

• Open Farm

• Farmina

• Weruva - shredded chicken, fish

• Tiki Cat - lots of fish

BETTER OPTIONS:

• Smalls - make a human-grade pate canned food with no additives

Stealing the dog’s raw food.

STEP 2: Canned to Raw

If you have made it this far, Congratulations!! 

That means you have made it through the kibble withdrawal and the withdrawal from all the appetite additives, two major hurdles. 

Digesting raw food requires a healthier digestive system than digesting canned foods. Different digestive enzymes are required and a healthy gut microbiome. 

At this stage, I would consider adding some supplements to help the process go smoother, especially if the cat is older and has primarily been on a processed food diet for most of their life. 

SUPPLEMENTS:

• Raw goats milk: provides digestive enzymes and probiotics

• Adored Beast: Feline Gut Soothe and Felix’s Flora are both probiotics formulated for cats

• Bone broth is always good for healing the gut.

CANNED TO GENTLY COOKED

This can be an intermediate step, or the final step for a cat with weak digestion, or who is a senior and has been mainly on processed foods. 

Some brands available: 

• Raised Right: 

• My Perfect Pet

• Smalls

• All Provide: they offer a unique option: frozen raw which you can cook yourself. This may be a good option to start out as fully cooked, then cook less and less to transition them fully to raw. 

ALL THE WAY TO RAW

A gold star for making it this far. Out of any species of animals that deserve and require raw meat diets, it is cats that evolved over thousands of years, to eat fresh, raw meat! 

Congratulations on sticking it out to make one of the best health choices you could for your cat. 

Go slow, add small amounts, gradually work up, and take your time! 

With any frozen foods make sure they are fully thawed out.  I highly recommend bringing them to room temperature before feeding, 

An easy way to do this is to “meal prep”: thaw out a package and then portion it up into smaller meal-sized portions for a few days. Keep in a cold refrigerator. A half-hour before feeding time, fill your sink with hot water and place the meal-sized container in the water to gently warm. 

Please do not microwave these precious raw meals. The microwave destructures the proteins and you do not want to feed it after that has happened. 

Some cats will readily eat organ meats, ie liver, or certain cuts of meat readily. Give them a try!

If your cat tends to regurgitate food, make sure it is warm, make sure they have access to cat grass, or add a fiber supplement like ground wheat grass or psyllium to their food. I love Green Juju’s freeze-dried product “Just Greens” for this purpose.

NOW, ONTO RAW!

Here are some brands I recommend and have fed to my own royal felines: 

• Solutions Pet Products: the best fermented goats milk, all of their meats are suitable for cats as long as you add one of their milk products for the extra taurine, the best sourcing, true farm-to-table, and fermented. 

• Small Batch: organic, no synthetics, many protein options

• Viva Raw: impeccably sourced, organic, brand new feline formula

• Savage Cat Food: prey model, whole quail

• Rebel Raw: small company, packed in-house, good sourcing

• Real Meal Pet Food: whole prey rabbit and cavies

There are many others out there, but these companies really stand out in terms of sourcing and integrity. 

A COUPLE FINAL NOTES….

Have patience and do not give up! You never know when one day, out of nowhere, in the Realm of Cat, they suddenly decide to take that initial bite and begin gulping it down. 

You will notice I used the phrase “some cats” quite a bit. That’s because every cat is a unique individual, and it is this individualism that makes us love them all the more. Notice I did not say “snowflake”.

Just remember: DO NOT allow them to go more than 24 hours without any food, especially cats who are overweight. As long as they are nibbling it is ok. If they go without food for too long they can develop fatty liver disease which can be deadly and require force-feeding. 

If you have to give in, take only a few steps back, maybe even only a few kibbles, but do not revert to the automatic feeder!

Keep trying different things. It is so worth it! 

My soul cat, Vajra, is 17 years old. She goes out every morning to eat grass and hunt lizards on the patio. She is still strong and vibrant, with no medications. She eats a combination of several of the raw foods listed above. 

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