Raw Feeding!!
Wahoo!
I can't believe it never occurred to me that my critters should be eating food! duh. It has been really fun too. Dillon is the only over-finicky one, but we're working on it.
Here is Guinness with some beef tongue and chicken (bone and all RAW ONLY of course) on his placemat.
Does he look happy? :)
And here is Dayton working on his ground rabbit (bones, fur and all) - thanks to Mandy for helping make that (although we didn't have to grind the poor bunny thank goodness!). The cats will be moving to non-ground at some point, but not yet!
posted by boog @ 8:54 AM
14 Comments:
cute pics...I love dogs and cats...do you only feed raw food? Have you ever tried Natural Ultramix by Castor and Pollux? I have a blog about it because I think its so good. I work in the retail pet supply industry and have been so impressed with it. anyway just wanted to say hi.
my own blog is www.rickrockhill.blogspot.com
www.holisticdogfood.blogspot.com
Where/how do you get the ground bunny? And are you saying that soon you'll just toss the kitties a rabbit and let them tear it up? Or how will that work? Do you have any resources to recommend on this?
This is much more natural and makes a lot of sense. But difficult for vegitarians to administer. As someone who doesn't eat meat this sort of thing makes me think vegitarians shouldn't own pets. True? Now I'm confused . . .
You’re right, it would be wrong to impose a moral idea on your pets at the expense of their health - that would be irresponsible. But I also wouldn't want to be responsible for the factory farming of 1000's of rabbits during the course of my 2 cats’ lives. Hare Today's web page implies they take measures to let their 'product' lead reasonably happy lives and I have no reason to dispute that. But if raw feeding really took off, Purina and Iams would get into the game and I would not trust them or any other big producers to do the same. The meat industry subjects millions of animals to deplorable conditions in raising food for human consumption at great environmental cost – animals raised for animal consumption are protected by even fewer regulations.
Kudos to you for looking outside the box to better your pets lifestyles, and for finding a reputable supplier for your critters’ ‘feed’. I’m not knocking you as I do believe this is a smart approach. Just remember that rabbits and chickens have feelings and personalities just as dogs and cats do, and you can make a moral decision on their behalf, too. I wish you (and your critters) well!
Moses had tons of skin problems which seemed to be ameliorated by a raw diet for some time. his fur grew back in - it was wonderful. Then he seemed to get worse, but I consider him as a dog with issues that weren't going to be easy to solve, not necessarily that the raw diet was the culprit of problems.
My cat (Morris) has really awful breath and weight problems, despite the fact that I only feed her a little kibble each day. The amount seems to make little difference. Either way, I would say "addiction" is an appropriate term. Her begging and screaming for it would seem to indicate that. I don't think she'll switch over to raw easily, but she seems to have such a voracious appetite for the kible that I don't think it will be that difficult. At least, I'm hoping. I've tried feeding raw meat before without success, and will have to transition. I'm looking forward to seeing what health benefits arise from this raw feeding, and will post back.
I think the discussion here of what is moral is an interesting one. I'm not sure morality can be confined to the human realm. I would define moral as whatever is practical for the proper survival of a particular organism. What is moral for a human is not necessarily moral for a cat or dog. I think a sufficient case can be made, and has been made, that raw meat is necessary for the proper survival of a dog or cat. Thus, it is moral.
Feeding Frenzied Fiasco
Hey I DID check out raw fed cats. All I have in the house is tuna and some ground beef, and I'm really resisting buying any food right now cuz I don't have money. HOWEVEr - I might have to break down and do it. Because this AM I fed a mix of tuna (which she always keeps down fine) with some ground beef. I couldn't bear that nasty kibble any longer. Mistake. She snarfed most of it down and then puked it up a few minutes later. I'm thinking it was just too much on her system all at once. However, I am encouraged that she seemed willing to eat something else right away, and wasn't turned off that it was mixed with ground. I'm hoping to transition quickly from tuna (which I've heard is bad for them) to ground poultry. Perhaps eventually I'll consider natural prey.
Anyway, if any of you have any advice, let me know. She does occasionally puke up food - I don't think this will be a long lasting problem.
Oh - I didn't answer your question. I think what was actually happening with Moses is that after a month he started to decline because he wasn't getting organ meat. I honestly don't remember whether he was still getting veggies at that time. It could have been a reaction to that. It never occurred to me that he should be getting organ meat. In any case, it's been totally amazing for me to see how animals respond to food, truly. even some kibble cat foods are better than others. Since I'm new to Colorado, and couldn't find the kibble I ordinarily buy (nutro), I bought Iams. YUCK! This stuff is NASTY. Her breath has never been so bad. I'm kind of glad I bought it, because the nasty effects were what finally made me decide something had to change.
I'm thinking about getting dogs. May I ask what sorts of meat your dogs are getting now? Beef? turkey?
here's a story about pet deaths and illness from commercial pet food.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Mar/20070318News017.asp
Lovely, no?
monica - I feel like a moral hypocrite for thinking this because I have a couple cats and of course I want the best for them, but ... What is moral for a cat or a dog? Is my cat's optimum health worth the suffering and death of 1000's of chickens or rabbits (or cows)?
** Or is the moral answer that we just shouldn't own pets? ** That's the question I keep finding myself wrestling with, lately.
If all you think about is the well being of YOUR animals then the answer is easy. But if you think about all the resources that go into keeping your pets at their best possible health, then I think things get grey.
OK, Modulus, I see your point that human morality is implicated here because of the necessity of action to feed our pets. Also perhaps I was wrong to insinuate that morality is not confined to humans. After all, in nature, a dog or cat has no choice to eat meat or not. They just do it.
We do have a choice. You're exactly right, it boils down to a choice between the value of the thousands of other animals your pet will eat over its lifetime, and the value of your pet. my personal belief is that there is nothing immoral in killing an animal so long as it is not done gratuitously, and that it is done humanely, and that if the animal has been in human care, that it should have been properly cared for. This ultimately boils down to my belief that my pet is worth more than those thousands of other animals. I am not a vegetarian, so this isn't a difficult issue for me.
As an update to my saga, I am now feeding to my cat ground turkey and pork sprinkled with liver juice. ewwwww! or yum as the case may be :) Since she will only eat ground meat at present, I have stopped feeding chicken due to salmonella concerns. So far, I'm very happy with the way things are going. yay!
I agree 'there is nothing immoral in killing an animal so long as ... it is done humanely'. In fact, while I don't hunt, I actually don't have a problem with responsible hunting - at least you see first hand what you are eating. Unfortunately the 'humane' treatment of animals is more the exception than the rule. Hare Today seems to be one of those exceptions.
To think that 'if the animal has been in human care, that it should have been properly cared for' is a big assumption that I wish were true, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest that food producers care a great deal more about profits at the expense of any humane treatment. After all, it costs a lot of money to give 100,000 chickens enough room to move around.
I understand that a 'Randian' pet owner's self interest may override the need to think about all the 'resources' that go into maintaining your pet, or yourself for that matter. But I do think that many people would have second thoughts if they knew how the process worked in reality.
http://www.meat.org/
Sorry if I'm kicking a dead horse (and sorry for the pun). ;)
You're not sorry or you wouldn't have said it.
I'm not a "Randian," whatever that is, although I can see you have made your own assumptions about what it is based on your comment in the Barack Obama thread.
You know nothing about me, or my values. So I'll thank you to keep your comments less personal.
Oh by the way, I meant HUMANE, not human. It was simply a common typing mistake.
Ug. OK. This is the wrong forum for debating this, anyway. It’s been a while since I checked this but if you see this Monica, I apologize to you and to Jen for spreading any negativity. I hope you and all who read here, and your critters, are well.
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