Youhavefoundone

Oh what to do about those presents kitty brings in from outside just for you. Some folks have quit allowing their cats to go outside as a method of avoiding this issue. This avoidance may be less stress for the owner but could be harmful to the cat. Consider the diet of an indoor cat versus an outdoor cat and that would be the difference in eating live prey verses maine coon kittens for sale near me commercial foods.

I remember my past veterinarian Dr. Teague who would say that the difference in today’s cats’ verses 40 years ago is the absence of live prey. He went on to say that a lot of the cats’ immunological health is dependent on live prey whether insects, small mammals or reptiles. It did not impact me as much back then as it does now because I was accustomed to feeding out of a can or bag then.

Oh how I loved the convenience of plopping chow out of a can or bag but nutritionally I am starving the cat from needed meat proteins substituted with grain proteins, starches, vegetables, and sugary fruits that do not fit a proper diet for a cat. Cats are “obligate carnivores”, which means all of their feeding requirements are met with capture and consumption of live prey. Less than that can lead to many diseases that are not typical in a carnivore.

Chronic Renal Failure or CRF, I can’t count the number of cats I had or knew that ended with this terminal disease. CRF is the result of poor diet and dental hygiene which is so typical of today’s’ indoor cat. Not saying that an outdoor cat would not also suffer this way if it was unable to catch prey on a regular basis and likewise an indoor cat given a proper diet of whole raw food and supplements is less likely to contract CRF. It is all about the type of diet your cat is getting.

Maybe when kitty brings in the present there is more meaning to it than what you think. Consider it is the cats’ way of telling you that this is the real food and not that stuff you keep putting into my bowl! Then again perhaps not, because depending on how long you have been feeding your cat “commercial cat food”, and also the age of the cat would determine whether it is a “junk food addict” or not.

I am fighting an uphill battle with my two tabby cats. One is thirteen and the other is three years old and both are certifiable junk food kitties. Converting them to a whole raw diet will take considerable time and effort plus patience on my part. The longterm payoff is reversing my thirteen year old cat that has early signs of kidney disease from the last blood work. The three-year old cat is giving the most fuss and fight and no longer will the crunchy bowl be out 24/7’s.

Back to my opening statement about those presents that kitty brings inside. Consider another possibility that your house, bedroom, or wherever kitty brings in the prey, it considers to be its’ den. That is always a possibility. I currently have such discussions with Journey, (our Torte), who insists that all live catch meals must be consumed in our bedroom. The credibility of this being her den is also where 90+ percent of the time she sleeps. You can bet I am working hard on changing where she thinks she should eat her catches.

Even though she has free run of the house and cat door to the outside she will spend most of the day outside and still sleep most of the night with us. Odd considering most cats are nocturnal but has always been the case with our other cats, and I bet some of this is directly related to the feeding schedule we keep. A wildcat will only hunt if it is hungry and does not require 2 meals plus snacks a day. Our cats’ behavior is likely related to being over fed with the wrong type of food.