Welcome to Feline Nutrition

There are many things that go into keeping your cat healthy and happy. Genetics and environment play a part. But, there is one thing that has a huge effect on your cat's health, and that is diet. Cats are predators that evolved to eat a diet of raw meat. It is only over the past 70 years or so that we have tried to feed cats a diet based on foods unsuitable for a strict carnivore. Grains, vegetable and plant matter and highly processed and cooked meat products. It's no wonder cats suffer from so many diet-related diseases. We're changing that. Continued

Beginner's Luck: Where Do I Start?

Congratulations on taking the first step toward feeding your cat a healthier diet. Just making the decision to change to raw cat food can be the hardest part. For many people, realizing your obligate carnivore should be fed a diet closer to what it evolved to eat is a complete shift in thinking about cat nutrition. Frankly, it's empowering to take control of what goes into your cat. It's also a bit of a relief. No more mystery ingredients. No more worrying about what "by-products" really means. You now get to skip an entire aisle at the grocery store, well, except maybe to get some more kitty litter. Continued

Bio-Inappropriate: The Dangers of Dry Cat Food

It is important to remove dry food from your cat's diet. This one change alone is a big step forward in improving cat nutrition and health. Dry food, be it premium, prescription or "natural," harms your cat's health. It consists mostly of starch and carbohydrates – it must be, as it can't be manufactured and extruded otherwise. The quality of the ingredients really doesn't matter – that's not the point. Simply that it is carb-laden and dry is enough to make it a terrible choice for cats. The carbs take the place of healthy meat-derived protein and fats that are vital for an obligate carnivore. All of these factors make dry foods detrimental to health.¹ Continued

Answers: What Exactly is an 'Obligate Carnivore?'

I have started Tedders on a raw cat food diet and I've seen a lot of improvement in his health and energy levels. When I was investigating what I should be feeding him, I kept seeing cats described as obligate carnivores. What exactly is an obligate carnivore and how is it different from a regular carnivore? Are there other obligate carnivores besides cats?

People refer to cats as obligate carnivores when they are trying to emphasize the fact that cats are a little different than many other meat-eating predators. Continued

Feline Nutrition's Easy Homemade Cat Food Recipe

Making homemade cat food isn't hard to do at all, anyone can! Once you make your own, you'll realize that raw food for cats isn't complicated. It helps to know how ground raw meals are made, because commercially-made frozen foods are created in much the same way, just on a larger scale. Taking the mystery out of what you feed your cats is important. While they benefit from the nutritionally better food, the benefit to you in terms of peace of mind shouldn't be overlooked. Continued

There's No Such Thing as a Vegan Cat

The reasons people give for becoming vegetarian or vegan are diverse. Primarily, it's the desire to become healthier and to prevent or stop cruelty to animals. Those are admirable reasons, but extending that desire to your cat, an obligate carnivore, is a recipe for disaster.¹ These cat owners don't realize that, in trying to convert their feline companion into a "vegan carnivore," they themselves are inflicting cruelty on their cats. I call this passive cruelty, because in doing so they disrespect and go against the true nature of cats. Continued

Answers: What Dry Food Does to Your Cat's Teeth

For years, I've been feeding my cat the commercial dry diet my vet recommended. In the last visit to the clinic, however, he told me she was developing tartar on her teeth, her gums were inflamed and she needed to go under anesthesia for a dental cleaning. How can this be? I've followed his instructions verbatim. I feel like there's something missing here. The fact that we humans have taken the cat with us to live under a roof doesn't change their marvelous biology and evolution as true, obligate carnivores. Continued

Don't Let Your Senior Cat Become a Skinny Old Kitty

I've received a number of inquiries both from veterinarians and cat owners asking about the daily protein requirements for cats. How about protein requirements for clinically normal geriatric or senior cats with a nonthyroidal illness? These are excellent questions, given the fact that all cats will need higher amounts of protein as they age to prevent a loss in lean body mass and associated muscle wasting. The dogma that all older cats be fed reduced energy "senior" diets must be questioned based on what is now known about the increasing energy requirements and nutritional needs of older cats.¹⁻² Continued

Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Nature and Treatment

The inflammatory bowel diseases are the most common cause of chronic vomiting and diarrhoea in cats, and refer to a group of diseases. The term Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD, is applied to a group of poorly understood gut pathologies that are considered to be a consequence of uncontrolled intestinal inflammation in response to a combination of elusive factors that may involve the diet, the environment, the gut microflora and dysregulation of the immune system in susceptible cats. Continued