![](https://hearmeraw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Picture-2-300x300.png)
I had already decided and planned to make all Alfie’s food myself at this point. With my first cats’ health issues playing a part for this decision. I am a Nutritionist, a Health and Fitness fanatic and I believe in whole food, unprocessed, sourced locally, organically where possible, I grow my own veg/fruit, I have raw dairy and prefer to eat meat occasionally, and if I can go to see the field where they had previously been roaming. I didn’t see why my pet shouldn’t deserve anything less than the same respect I have for what I put into my body and my clients.
After a lot of online researching I had decided on the raw food diet. Mine would include raw meat including bird and game, offal, bones, fish, raw milk and dairy, with a small amount of fibre in a selection of veggies, a selection of good fats and some additions of taurine as its essential for a cat’s diet.
I read all about those that are for the raw food diet and those that are against it, but I couldn’t help thinking how right it seemed. Cats were all once wild carnivores. So why on earth could it be so wrong for them to continue to be so?
TIP: I always give Alfie bones like ribs of lambs or pigs, or turkey legs/necks to avoid small splinters. He loves them. Although he does like to drag them around the place showing them off!
Additional nutrients like taurine is also an essential for cats, and although their bodies can make small amounts themselves, but not enough, so need relatively large amounts of it included in their diets. There have been many cases of cats becoming taurine deficient which can effect cats’ vision and other negative health effects. This always makes me wonder about little Mash ending his life blind.
Cats are also not big drinkers and are supposed to get most of there water from their food. Which is why a predominantly dry food diet isn’t ideal for cats. I was advised for Mash to eat mostly a dry food and interestingly he did have a few kidney infections, where the vet said he was a little dehydrated. Yet another great reason for cats eating raw! Raw meat or muscle tissues are about 60-75% water, therefore has a decent amount of water naturally. Cooking the meat reduces the water content. That’s not to say a constant supply of water isn’t needed. But raw does provide a good amount of fluid for you cat.
Raw food is also totally unprocessed. This provides a more efficient protein digestion because of this lack of processing. Cats can digest raw foods as they have a much shorter digestive track and more acid in the stomach to break it down. Outdoor cats will still bring you back a half-eaten mouse or bird if they can. They are natural hunters and cats gut bacteria is also very aggressive to handle this wild food when caught. Even if the cat is regularly fed tinned/dry cat food, they often have no problems digesting that ‘raw’ mouse or bird.
So armed with all this info, I started by creating my home-made meals. Alongside my friends at Cairo Kitts. As a team we shared recipes made of meat, offal, bones, birds from the butchers, I added good fats like fish oil, salmon oil, olive oil, grass fed butter and ghee and sometimes coconut oil as he loves the taste. I always use animal or fish fats or unprocessed fats like coconut and olive oil. Avoiding processed oils like vegetable or sunflower oils. These can contain trans fats and are super processed. I won’t eat them, so nor will my cat.
This was a great learning process, but also raw food making has some safety issues. In that preparing raw foods regularly in my home kitchen risked contamination with pathogens found in raw foods. And keeping everything clean and decontaminated was a massive job.
Then, after a few months, including breaking two hardcore blenders on bones, and a day of food prep which left my kitchen looking like a scene from Sweeney Todd, I gave into looking at companies that make raw cat food along with the Cairo Kitts Gang. We had all had enough of the raw meat prep leaving carnage in our home kitchens.
And now I have a raw food supply that I can trust supplies the best quality for Alfie and the Hear Me Raw Teams cats and kittens. And, with a clean kitchen, and working blenders, I can watch my Alfie boy enjoying his dinner every day and know he is getting all the nutrients he needs. Thank you Hear Me Raw!
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TerriGriffithshealthnutritionandlifecoach
Alfie’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/alfie_sphynx2021/
Terri’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/terrigriffiths/