Category Archives: Living with cats

Cat feeding : introduction

Two weeks ago, Claire followed a training about cat feeding. This training was given by Philippe Bocion again, a behavioristic veterinarian.

Feeding correctly a cat seems so easy, and nevertheless that can be so much complicated !
What's for dinner ?
Cats are strict carnivores. They need a lot of proteins, lipids, and little (even no) carbohydrates. It’s necessary to know that cats use first their proteins to produce the energy they need, while humans for example use first carbohydrates, then lipids.

Several nutriments that cats need are only in animal-derived food, food which have a digestibility and optimal biological values for them. These key nutriments must be brought by food in quantity and in proportion adequate according to the sex, the age, the activity, and the health of the cat.

How to read the label of a commercial food ?

etiquette

analyse

  1. Verify that it’s really complete food.
  2. Prefer a food which presents ingredients individually (chicken, lard, …) rather than by categories (meats, cereal, animal fats, …).
  3. Prefer a food which sources of nutriments are animal rather than vegetable.
  4. Prefer a food which additives are natural rather than synthetic materials.
  5. Don’t look at the price pro food kilo, but calculate the price of a daily ration for your cat.

Both the lack and the excess of a nutriment are extremely fatal in short, average, or long term !

The damage on the body already show after a few weeks, or on the contrary, declare themselves after several years, and are often irreversible.

As the majority of our meals are home-made (raw feeding), Claire was extremely attentive… and she did well : she discovered that our ration of calcium was a little bit insufficient, and that therefore, the ratio calcium / phosphor of our food was not optimal. Fortunately, the difference stayed in an “acceptable” zone, but it’s something she corrected at once to guarantee our good health on the long term : she uses now a complement to be added to some only meat for one of our meals, and slightly increased the proportion of bone in the others.

We’ll tell it you more about food balance in a next article !

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Raw feeding : six months later

After six months of raw feeding, here is a first review :

Preparation

Claire uses a ceramic knife and a board to cut the meat roughly pieces which we shall have to rip and chew. Meanwhile, Momo separates the frozen necks of chickens with an ax and cuts them in two, because they are too much tall to enter the containers. He also separates the frozen chicken hearts and prepares small dice of liver (frozen also). It needs approximately 30 minutes in all (20 minutes for two) to prepare the portions for two cats during a week.
portions
We eat mainly chicken, turkey, and beef, and sometimes rabbit or duck. Zorro eats finally his chicken necks without Claire has to cut them in slices, but Pixie still toys with the liver : thus the meal which contains giblets keeps being ground just before being served to prevent she from sorting out. Once a week, we eat small whole sardines, but Pixie does not like it very much.
All the used utensils as well as the chopping blocks are then carefully washed with soap then disinfected with vinegar. They are dried then immediately.

Storage

For the moment, Claire prepares the portions for seven to ten days only because we have a quite small freezer. But soon, we will be able to have more reserve. We are delighted, because we will be able to store whole chicks and whole mice also.

Quantities

With raw feeding, it is necessary to count between 2 and 4 % of the weight of a grown-up cat in food. As we are young and active, and as we can go out, we are at 4 %, that is 220 grams for Zorro and 140 grams for Pixie. This quantity includes meat (60 %), meaty bones (30 %), and giblets (10 %, of which half of the liver). If the food is well balanced, our veterinarian confirmed to us that you do not need to add food complements.
Yum ! A chicken neck !
Claire prepares three bowls a day of about 100 grams for our first three meals. The food went out the day before the freezer to defrost in the refrigerator. She completes the quantity with high-quality commercial wet food for practical questions : it happens that we are not hungry for a meal because we hunted and ate a prey outside, most of the time at the end of spring, in summer, and at the beginning of autumn. The commercial wet food supports to be kept one day in the refrigerator, while Claire does not like letting wait raw food.

Frequency of the meals

We are fed four times a day : between 6 and 7 o’clock in the morning, between 11 am and noon, between 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and at about 10 pm in the evening. Claire leaves our bowls 20 minutes at our disposal, then puts them back to the refrigerator if we did not eat (but that never happens, ha ha !).
Yum ! Raw food !

Benefits

  • We are alert and healthy.
  • Our hair is beautiful and brilliant.
  • Our breath is pleasant.
  • Our poop is small, firmer, and smells almost nothing.
  • We vomit much less often.
  • Our water intake is guaranteed.

Next Sunday, Claire has a whole training day on cat feeding : we are looking forward to compare our experience with the course content !

Do you see other benefits to raw feeding ?

Why does your cat cough ?

Last Friday, in the evening, Claire heard me coughing : that didn’t last for a long time, just a coughing fit. As I didn’t seem to feel sick, she kept an eye on me (…and forgot to turn the iPhone for filming me…).


The weekend took place normally : I played with Zorro, he pursued me, I pursued it, I ate well, I came to cuddle, I mewed to say that I wanted to play with Claire or Momo, in brief, as usual. Except that I had a small coughing fit 5 or 6 times a day.

As that didn’t pass, Momo went on Monday morning with me to the vet. He said that I was very quiet in the car : it’s true, I did not even sing ! I’ve been brave : the veterinarian auscultated me, put his thermometer where the sun never shines, and to finish gave me a cortisone shot, without I protest. My humans have to give him news about me on Monday.

Why does your cat cough ?

He choked :

A foreign object blocks the trachea, and the cat coughs to expel it. The cough is strong, dry, and repeated. Watch out, according to the swallowed object, the damages in the trachea or in the larynx can be considerable !

He caught a mild virus :

That’s right, it happens ! But a mild virus can evolve in graver affection if it’s not looked after.

He has asthma :

An allergic sensibility can start an acute reaction. Asthma can also be chronic. The treatment with corticosteroids can be undergone in the long term.

He has a bronchitis :

The cough is frequent, strong and deep. The bronchitis requires an antibiotic treatment.

He has a pneumonia :

The cat is apathetic, often feverish, and his breath aches. The cough is weak and rare. Even treated, a pneumonia often leaves respiratory aftereffects for life. A veterinary treatment is necessary urgently.

He has a broncho-pneumonia :

The symptoms combine those of the bronchitis and the pneumonia. Cardiac, hepatic and renal complications are to be planned if left untreated. Even treated, a broncho-pneumonia leaves respiratory and cardiac aftereffects.

He has a pleurisy (breach of lungs enveloppe) :

The cat is apathetic, the breath is short and painful, and the cough very weak. A veterinary treatment is necessary urgently.

He has coryza :

The cat is apathetic, feverish, and doesn’t eat. He has runny eyes and runny nose, he sneezes or sometimes coughs. This disease is mortal : antibiotics relieve, but the cure of the cat depends a lot of his age and his immune system (adults have a better prognosis). Vaccination is the best protection against this disease.

He has parasites (aelurostrongylus) :

A snail or a slug eats the larvas of the parasite, a bird eats the infested snail, the cat eats the bird, and the parasite settles down in the lungs of the cat. The cough is dry. Medicine allows to eliminate worms.

Pixie recovering from coughing
In every case, cough is a warning, and the cat must be examined by a veterinarian ; the weaker it is, the deeper the breach is, and the higher the risk of aftereffects is.

Sources :
The Original Cat Fancy Cat Bible, Sandy Robins, 2014
Complete Cat Care Manual, Andrew Edney, 1992
Le livre des chats, collectif Solar, 1986