It is a known fact that cats are fantastic predators. Essentially, they evolved by eating a raw food diet that was based on eating their prey. When you cook meat, this actually removes important nutrients from it such as amino acids, minerals and vitamins. The meat that is found in typical processed pet food is cooked at very high temperatures which means they lose their natural nutrients which have to be added back into the food. Unfortunately, when this is done, it is not exact and there are certain nutrients that can’t be added again. The vast majority of wild cats usually consume their entire prey, especially if it is quite small. In larger prey animals, they will eat the entire animal with the exception of their intestines. They will eat the bones since raw bone is very easy to digest and they can a great deal of calcium from it. When bone is cooked, this lowers the nutrient levels and it becomes even dangerous to consume since it gets quite brittle.
When you give your cat a raw cat food diet that is inspired according to what they would naturally eat if they were wild, it has numerous benefits. Some of these benefits include:
– More energy
– Improved urinary health
– Better digestion
– Less hairballs, better looking coat and even significantly less shedding
– Improved dental health
– Better stool volume that smells less
– Improved weight. If the cat is overweight, it would naturally lose weight
Better Digestion
As mentioned previously, cats are natural carnivores which means they need to eat meat and it impossible to have a vegan cat. Basically, their digestive systems are made to digest meat. Their digestive tract is very acidic and short and allows them to digest raw meat in only 12 hours. This means that there is even less time for bacteria to grow which makes them resistant to most forms of food poisoning.
These animals don’t need carbohydrates and their ability to digest them is significantly limited. Therefore, they are better suited to a raw cat food diet as opposed to a plant based diet. This happened during their evolution where they didn’t eat any or extremely small amounts of plant based foods. Since they evolved while consuming a meat only diet, they now have a one enzyme system. Cats vary a lot from humans and even dogs when it comes to this since humans and dogs have multiple enzyme systems that allow them to easily digest carbs.
Better Stool Volume & Reduced Odor
When you feed cats their best diet, their body would naturally digest and utilize the majority of the food, which would result in lower volumes of stool. In most cases, it would be half of what is used to be. They would also need to go much less and maybe as little as only once every day. In most cases, their stool would have very little smell, be dry and even a bit crumbly. If they were in the wild, this is quite good since it would help prevent them from being preyed upon by other predators.
However, when cats are given a diet that has a lot of carbohydrates, their digestive system will have a lot of issues digesting the carbs. This would result in bigger stools that are smelly and quite wet. This is certainly undesirable.
Less Hairballs, Better Looking Coat & Lower Levels Of Shedding
Once you have a cat that is switched to a raw food diet, you’ll notice that it’s coat will become softer and look even more beautiful. This is because they need unsaturated fatty acids such as omega 3 and omega 6 which they would get from meat. It is very difficult to make these from plant based foods. Once they are on a raw food diet they would get the necessary fatty acids which would improve their skin, coats as well as lower the amount of shedding and hairballs.
Improved Energy
When moved to a raw food diet, your cat or cats will have a lot more energy. If they were previously very lazy you’d notice them playing and running around more frequently. Once they are given the correct raw food diet, they will get the energy they need.
Cats are capable of processing protein in raw meats to gain energy. They basically burn the protein via gluconeogenesis in their liver to produce the energy they need. Other animals like dogs and even humans can also do this whenever they want once there is enough protein in their diet. However, cats are not capable of turning off this process and it is necessary for them to function. This means that they need to consume high quality meat for energy.
Weight Loss
In the event that you have an overweight cat,if you switch them to a raw cat food diet, they will lose the excess weight. Basically, when you give them the wrong food, they will naturally eat too much in order to try and compensate for the deficiencies in their diet. However, once you give them a proper cat raw food diet they won’t consume more than they need. They also won’t act as though they are hungry all of the time and wake you up in the night for food. Once they are given the correct raw diet, they will sleep better, have more energy and even lose excess weight.
Improved Dental Health
Lastly, the dental health of cats is partially dependent on their genetics. The cats that live in the wild don’t have issues such as periodontal disease, gum disease, tooth loss etc. This is because they naturally eat raw meat, fur, bones, connective tissue etc which all work to clean their teeth. However, cats that eat a lot of carbs naturally get starch on their teeth which results in a build up of plaque which eventually leads to gum disease. Basically, in order to prevent dental disease or significantly lower your cat’s risk, you should feed them a raw food diet. This means you should also give them raw bones with meat on them to act as a type of toothbrush. This is extremely important to do so that dental infections are avoided because they can easily spread throughout your cat’s body and cause even more health issues.
