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HEALTHY
FOODS!
HAPPY
CATS!
By
Pat McKay
Preface
Chapter One - What Are The Benefits
Chapter Two – Cook & Bone Are Four-Letter
Words
Chapter Three – Foods Labeled For Animals
Chapter Four – What To Feed
Chapter Five – Basic Recipe
Chapter Six – Proteins
Chapter Seven – Vegetables
Chapter Eight - Grains
Chapter Nine – Kittens
Chapter Ten – The Calcium Controversy
Chapter Eleven - Water, Water Everywhere, Not a Drop to
Drink
Chapter Twelve - How Much To Feed
Chapter Thirteen – Problems & Solutions
Pat McKay
Bio
Preface
Mother Nature knows best…
Optimum health for cats is achieved by coming as close to what
Mother Nature intended as possible.
Our cats are in desperate need of natural health care. For generations
they have been fed dry and canned food that is not what their systems need or want. Nearly every cat over the age of five
has kidney problems because of the lack of fluid in their food and low acidity because the food has been cooked.
Felines and canines in the wild eat exactly the same prey. The
main difference between them is that cats never eat dehydrated prey. If a cat kills an animal and is not hungry at that moment,
s/he will leave it for another carnivore to eat. Cats are very adept at killing and it’s a part of their job in the
wild to kill for others who are not as capable of killing as they are. When they are hungry they will kill again and eat only
fresh, fully hydrated prey. Dogs will eat everything from fresh kill to dehydrated, decomposed, rotten road-kill. Cats want,
need, and like fresh-kill only.
Four out of five cats have cancer. At least that many have kidney
ailments. Cats are in serious trouble.
Too many of them are on drugs and chemicals that are poisons
to the body—whether it is cortisone; antibiotics; antihistamines; life-threatening, sometimes fatal, internal and external
flea products; deadly vaccines; insulin; synthetic thyroid—or because they are under the knife, having parts of their
bodies unnecessarily excised.
The majority of these ailments can be prevented and/or cured
with nutrition and homeopathy. First of all, start with the proper raw food, organic vitamins and minerals. If further help
is needed, probiotics, homeopathic remedies, and nutraceuticals may be necessary.
You’ll never know how easy, effective, and cost-saving
healthy foods can be until you’ve read this book.
THE COMPLETE & BALANCED MEAL IS
75/25 up to 90/10 raw ground and/or chunk meat,
finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Chapter One
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
What A Proper Raw Food Program Will Do for You
*Reduce or eliminate expensive visits to the veterinarian’s
office.
*Peace of mind that your beloved companions are getting the very
best of care and will soon gain and maintain excellent health and well-being.
What A Proper Raw Food Program
Will Do for Your Cat
* Clear eyes
* Healthy, shiny coat
* Healthy skin
* Clean teeth
* Eliminates fleas
* Eliminate bad breath
* Eliminate body odor
* Less volume and smell
of stools
* Increased energy—good,
healthy energy
* Hyper and/or aggressive
dogs become calm
* Increased endurance
* Increased alertness,
attention
* Enhance overall health
and well-being
* Rejuvenate organs
and immune system
* Increased coat growth
* Increased confidence
* Extreme reduction
of: * allergies * underweight * overweight * parasites * temperament problems * phobic behaviors * hip/joint problems * arthritis
* ear/eye ailments * kidney/bladder dysfunction * incontinence * irritable bowel syndrome * constipation * diarrhea * indigestion
* pancreatitis * dermatitis, to mention a few.
Chapter Two
COOK & BONE
ARE FOUR-LETTER WORDS
Cats were designed by Mother Nature to eat all of their meat
RAW. We may not like the idea of the food chain, but it is as it is. Don’t mess with Mother Nature!
In the wild, felines eat mice, birds, lizards, worms, and insects,
to name a few. The closest we can come to feeding our animals the way Mother Nature intended and still be culturally acceptable
in this country is to feed beef, chicken, lamb, turkey, fish, eggs, buffalo, venison, emu, ostrich, and a few others not so
common.
In addition, these proteins must be combined with a balance of
organ meats, fats, and vegetables for the proper protein/carbohydrate balance. In other words, provide for your cat a raw
food program that is as close to eating the whole animal as possible.
Cats were designed by Mother Nature to eat RAW meat. In the wild
felines eat mice, birds, lizards, and other prey animals raw…no one is cooking in the wild.
The prey is raw, fresh, and alive. The bones are still soft,
supple, hydrated, and full of nutrients. Our own domestic cats must eat live food just as they do in the wild to be at their
optimum health.
The foods you feed must be fit for human consumption. Do not feed meat with bones or any commercial raw pet foods with bones.
The reason you cannot feed the bones of farm animals is because
they are not fresh kill. They have been dead for days, weeks, or months. Rigor mortis sets in right after death, and the bones
become hard, brittle, dehydrated; the nutrients are dead and gone. What is left is a gritty substance that causes severe pancreatitis,
kidney/bladder problems, crystals/stones in the urine, leaky-gut, irritable and/or impacted bowel, impacted anal glands, chalky
and bloody stools, diarrhea, constipation, all of which are devastating to the gastrointestinal system.
Yes, you can occasionally give some cats bones for dessert;
however, people often take things to the extreme, give them as a meal, and give them too often. After what I have seen in
the past several years, I am now opposed to feeding bone…ground or whole…except an occasional bone for dessert
to chew on for pleasure. And even that needs to be evaluated depending on the individual cat, how voraciously s/he goes after
the bone, whether that particular cat actually eats the bone, whether s/he can digest it, and what it looks like when it comes
out the other end.
If there are any digestive problems, do not give bones. If there
are any chalky or bloody stools, diarrhea, or constipation, do not give bones.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
Their main meal should be a ratio of
75/25 up to 90/10 raw ground and/or chunk meat,
finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Cats Are Carnivores
The three main ways we know cats are carnivores has to do with
their teeth, their small intestines, and their acidic digestive system.
1) Their teeth are sharp for ripping and tearing, not masticating.
2) The small intestines are short to enable the meat to go through
the system quickly before it putrefies.
3) Their pH must be kept on the acidic end of the spectrum in
order for a carnivore to be healthy.
The Key to Health Is Live Food
Raw, live foods have enzymes, little protein molecules, which
are essential for digesting food, for stimulating the brain, for providing cellular energy, for repairing all tissues, organs,
and cells, with functions so diverse that it is impossible to name them all.
Why Is RAW So Important?
Cooked food is dead. Everything in a can or a bag is cooked.
All processed foods for people or animals have been cooked, sterilized, or pasteurized, which means all the enzymes and friendly
bacteria that are needed to digest and utilize the food are destroyed. “We are what we eat” is not exactly correct.
We are what we utilize!
The Only Way To Be Disease Free
Live food is essential for health. It is the ultimate source
of life. There is no other way to be disease free. No matter who tells you that a certain brand of commercial food or home-cooked
food is healthy for your cat, it is not. It is dead – no enzymes, no friendly bacteria, no nutrients. Animal nutritionists,
pet store owners, store clerks, veterinarians, authors of nutrition books, or anyone else suggesting cooked foods for cats
must not be familiar with what carnivores need for optimum health. If they were, they would not be prescribing, suggesting,
and/or selling cooked foods for cats. ALL felines were designed to eat fresh RAW food.
COOKING
FOOD CHANGES
THE
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
Put a hamburger patty in a pan and watch the wonderful fatty
acids become grease. That’s one of the reactions you can actually see. Every molecule in food changes during the cooking
process. For a carnivore that can mean serious problems for the pancreas when it cannot come up with the necessary enzymes
because it doesn’t recognize the distorted molecule. That is one of the reasons for constipation, diarrhea, kidney/liver
problems, hairballs, sebaceous cysts, other benign lumps, and fatty tumors in/on your cat. The body has to either store or
dump these foreign objects some place because it doesn’t recognize them, and therefore, doesn’t know where to
send them, how to process them, or even how to get rid of them, except to treat them as what they are—foreign objects.
Chapter Three
FOODS LABELED FOR ANIMALS
What Is In The Can or Bag???
The list of raw and cooked materials that go into commercial
pet food is horrendous: decayed animals from slaughterhouses classified as 4-D (dead, diseased, dying, and disabled); animals
filled with antibiotics, steroids, hormones, drugs, radiation, formaldehyde, charcoal; road-kill; dead and diseased animals
from zoos; dogs, cats, and other companion animals that died or were euthanized at veterinary clinics; including plastic body
bags, decorative collars, flea collars, ID tags, or anything else that was on the body; spoiled meat from meat markets, including
the plastic wrap; rancid grease and spoiled food from restaurants; donuts/breads from bakeries; hair, feathers, egg shells,
hooves, stomach, bowels, feces, cancerous tissues, and organs; all of these animals full of bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms,
and parasites.
In addition there is black paint which is a term used in the
meat industry to cover any number of chemicals from carbolic acid to fuel oil. All left-over meat, poultry, bones, and offal
from production of food for human consumption is put into barrels with black paint added to every layer to indicate that this
food is not for human consumption. This is the basis of the meat that most pet food companies use.
Bone Meal and Meat Meal
All of this material is ground up and cooked for approximately
an hour at 250 degrees. The fat separates during the process and is removed. Actually there exists a videotape of a show narrated
by Martin Sheen that shows the processing at a rendering plant. It is stated in this program that these fats are not only
used for animal food, but for people foods and cosmetics. The left-over, after the fats are removed, is then pressed to remove
all moisture and crushed into what is called bone meal and meat meal.
Truth? In Labeling
If the label says chicken meal, for instance, that means that
there are more chicken products in this batch than any other one ingredient. However, if there are nineteen other ingredients
in this batch, then there has to be only 6 percent chicken products, including feathers, offal, feces, etc, to qualify to
call it chicken meal.
No
Nutrients
Plenty
of Preservatives
The manufacturing process destroys whatever minimal nutritional
content there might have been. Then the commercial pet food companies put in sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, BHA, BHT, MSG,
red dye #40, blue dye #2, propylene glycol, formalin, ethoxyquin or other potential carcinogenic additives, not to mention
the rancid grease, salt, and sugar.
Sodium Benzoate
Sodium Benzoate is a known poison to cats! One of the most commonly
used preservatives right now that is highly touted as being okay and seen even in “health foods” is benzoic acid
or its salt form, sodium benzoate. These can affect the nervous system, cause allergic reactions, asthma attacks, stomach
irritations, and hyperactivity.
Approved by the FDA and AAFCO
All of the above-mentioned preservatives and many more are all
approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. As far as the FDA is concerned, no one has proved that any of
these ingredients cause health problems in people or animals.
However, studies show that all of these preservatives may cause
cancer, epilepsy, birth defects, metabolic stress, severe allergic reactions, brain defects, liver and kidney ailments, and
behavior problems.
AAFCO, the Association of American Feed Control Officials, is
the FDA of our domesticated animals, and just as the FDA doesn’t protect people, the AAFCO doesn’t protect our
animals.
Who’s Looking Out for
Our Animals and Our Children?
No one is looking out for your animals’ nutrition anymore
than they are looking out for our children’s. Cold breakfast cereals, hot dogs, canned spaghetti, etc, are not nourishing
foods for children. Commercial food companies are out to please your pallet and their wallet with lots of sugar and salt and
tempt the appetite with pretty, colorful labels to catch your eye. The bottom line for the majority of commercial food companies
is profit, not healthy foods for your animals or your children.
Chapter Four
WHAT TO FEED?
Eating What Mother Nature Intended
Felines in the wild eat mice, birds, squirrels, reptiles, insects,
to name a few. These animals are not that easily available nor are some of them culturally acceptable for human consumption.
Our cultures does, however, accept eating beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, and fish, (unless you hunt buffalo, venison, duck,
and a few others, they are usually too expensive) so we will discuss what is culturally acceptable, even though my preference
is to feed what Mother Nature intended.
Organic and naturally raised meats, poultry, and fish and organic
vegetables are preferred, of course. If not naturally grown, you have to find the best you can. What is important is that
it is fresh or fresh-frozen and labeled for human consumption…not labeled for animals.
You must read the label of any frozen meats or vegetables to be sure they haven’t added any seasonings. Another caution is to watch for labels saying the meat is mechanically extracted;
they may claim it is fit for human consumption, but most often they will add seasonings to hide the stench of the poor quality
meat.
Of course it is better to feed meat and poultry that does not
contain antibiotics, hormones and steroids; however, if you cannot find naturally grown meats, then go to the busiest market
and at least you will be getting fresh meat.
Feed Foods Fit
For Human Consumption
The key words here are human consumption. Most foods that are
labeled for animals are not fit to eat. Why would anyone feed their animals anything less than they would eat themselves?
Even our present food fit for human consumption isn’t as high quality as it once was.
Poultry and Salmonella
Because cats are carnivores and raw meat is their natural food,
their digestive juices take care of salmonella, Escherichia coli, and other unfriendly bacteria that cause food poisoning.
Many veterinarians oppose the feeding of raw meat and tend to unjustly blame salmonella, E coli, and parasites when actually
the problems come from a weakened digestive system and/or an autoimmune condition caused by feeding cooked foods and/or raw
bones. Enlightened veterinary practitioners realize this and encourage their clients to feed raw meat, raw or steamed vegetables,
and organic supplements.
In 30 years of working professionally with people and their cats,
I have never heard of a case of salmonella or E coli from raw food fit for human consumption. I have heard of salmonella from
eating cooked food. The worst salmonella problem in the country in 1998 was several thousand pounds of cooked baby cereal
that was contaminated and had to be recalled. So don’t think because you are cooking the food you are necessarily killing
the unfriendly bacteria.
Chapter Five
THE BASIC RECIPE
75-90% Raw Meat 25-10% Raw Vegetables
My basic recipe is 75
to 90 percent raw meat, poultry or fish, and 25 to 10 percent finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables. The recommended
breakdown of the meat and vegetables is 35 percent muscle meat, 20 percent organ meat, 20 percent fat, and 25 percent vegetable.
The breakdown for the 90/10 combination is 50 percent muscle meat, 20 percent organ meat, 20 percent fat, and 10 percent vegetable.
If you feed more meat
one day and less vegetables because that is what you have on hand, don’t worry. The body remembers. The above percentages
are a guideline to what carnivores need. Don’t be a purist and feel you have to give the exact proportions every day.
As people, we don’t do that for ourselves, so don’t go overboard for your cats either.
Ready-To-Eat Meals
If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, the Pat McKay raw
food meals, marked PMK, are available from Harmony Farms in La Crescenta. Jan
Naud at the Urban Dog in West Los Angeles also carries ready-to-eat meals, as well as raw meat treats, and the
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS.
All raw pet food companies are producing foods that contain
either ground bone, fruit, grain, or other ingredients that are not acceptable for cats. So be sure to check the labels. Only
Pat McKay, PMK, raw food meals are 75% raw meat and 25% finely ground raw vegetables. This particular recipe was designed
for all cats with any illness or chronic condition, and this same recipe is completely balanced for all cats, kittens, dogs,
and puppies, even though they may not have any illness.
Do-It-Yourself Meals
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Preparation for 75/25
Preparation of 1 cup
of food: 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of raw ground or chunk meat and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables.
Preparation of 4 cups
of food: 3 cups of raw ground or chunk meat and 1 cup of finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables. The ratio is 3 parts
meat to 1 part vegetables.
Preparation for 90/10
Preparation of 1 cup of food: 7.5
ounces of raw ground or chunk meat and .5 ounces (1 tablespoon) of finely ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables.
Preparation of 4 cups of food: 3.5 cups of raw ground or chunk meat and .5 cup of finely ground raw or steamed/mashed
vegetables.
Buy the least expensive
meat because that will be higher in fat content. Use dark meat and all the skin from chicken and turkey, because that’s
where the highest fat and nutrient content is.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
The recommended breakdown for the 75/25 meal is 35% muscle
meat, 20% organ meat, 20% fat, and 25% vegetable. This is the breakdown after the meat and vegetables are mixed.
The breakdown for the 90/10 meal is 50% muscle meat, 20% organ
meat, 20% fat, and 10% vegetable.
You should start with the highest fat content in the meat that
you can buy. That is usually 22% to 28%.
These percentages are a guideline to what carnivores need. Just
as you don’t eat exact percentages of meat and carbohydrates each day, your cat doesn’t have to either.
Chapter Six
PROTEINS
Meats, Poultry, Fish & Eggs
Proteins that are best for cats are beef, lamb, chicken, turkey,
organ meats (liver, heart, kidney, spleen and gizzards), egg yolks, and wild fish. Proteins that are great if you are a hunter
or fisher or can afford to buy them are venison, elk, buffalo, ostrich, emu, and in some areas, fresh/salt water fish.
Questionable Proteins
Other proteins, which are sometimes questionable because of pollutants,
diseases, or indigestibility, are pork, rabbit, fish, and many dairy products. Probably the only fish that is safe anymore
is wild fish fit for human consumption. We are working with an excellent fish
company right now to provide the best fish possible. Email me for further information about this company and when their fish
products will be available. pat.mckay@earthlink.net
The Best
First let’s talk about the ones that are the best. Farm
animals raised organically or naturally range fed provide the very best quality of meats. Next would be the meats that are
found in meat markets and supermarkets.
I would like to say that organic meats are the best, but there
are too many companies out there saying their meats are organically raised that must not be, because we’ve had too many
reports of animals not doing well on what are referred to as organic meats. So I can only believe that they really aren’t
organically raised.
To find meats that are chemically free—no steroids or hormones—presents
a challenge. Your health food store or independent meat market is the best source. They will either carry chemically free
meats or maybe they can tell you where you can find them. (If you are a meat eater, this same information is vitally important
to your own health as well.)
However, I repeat: If you do not have access to or cannot afford
naturally grown meats, feed your cat whatever raw meat you can find provided it is for human consumption. If it is okay for
you to eat; it is okay for your cat.
Antibiotics, Hormones, & Steroids
Many of you may not even be aware that the farm animals in this
country are fed and injected with growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics, vaccines, and preservatives during their lifetime.
All of these chemicals and drugs are supposed to make the farm animals grow unnaturally large, do so quickly, and make the
meat tender.
Our health pays a high price for this “tender” meat,
because each one of these chemicals has side effects on both the farm animals and the one who eats the farm animal.
Pork
Pork should not be fed to domestic animals because of the possibility
of trichinosis, an organism which to be destroyed requires cooking. Because only raw meat can be properly assimilated by carnivores,
pork would not be a good choice. It is also the most difficult meat to digest.
Fish
Fish is an excellent source of protein, fatty acids, vitamins,
and minerals. But…are our fish healthy and edible anymore? Therein lies the question. First of all, there is a strong
possibility that much of our fish is polluted with heavy metals, such as mercury and cadmium. Secondly, fish should not remain
at room temperature for longer than an hour. Thirdly, you must be very knowledgeable about the condition, color, and odor
of fish to know that it is fresh and free of disease.
If you feel you have a good source of healthy fish, by all means,
feed them to your animals. As I mentioned above, I believe we now have a great source for wild fish fit for human consumption,
and we will let you know as soon as it is available.
Dairy Products
The only two dairy products that I believe should be fed are
colostrum and butter. Colostrum is actually a food that the mother produces before the milk comes in and butter is fat; neither
of them have lactose which is the real culprit that causes allergies for most animals.
Raw Butter
Raw butter is an excellent source of vitamins A and D and fatty
acids. It is best if it is not pasteurized; however, it’s almost impossible to find raw butter, so you will have to
settle for pasteurized. The butter
My suggestion is to give your cat a tiny bit of butter at the
same time you give the ESSENTIALS4ALL CLO-3-PEARLS;
the butter enhances the effectiveness of the cod liver oil.
Eggs
Eggs are a great source of complete protein and are easily digested.
They contain all the essential amino acids and the following nutrients: vitamins A, B2, D and E, niacin, biotin, copper, iron,
sulfur, phosphorus, and unsaturated fatty acids. The egg yolk is the richest known source of choline, which is necessary for
emulsifying or dispersing cholesterol throughout the system.
Egg Yolks Raw—Whites Cooked
Eggs yolks should be fed raw. If you feed the whole egg, including
the white, it is best to poach or soft boil the eggs for one minute, just enough to turn the clear part of the egg to white.
This will destroy the avidin, which is the protein that interferes with the absorption of biotin, an important B vitamin.
Do not feed eggs in the shell or egg shells unless: the
eggs are organic, then you can bake the shells for 30 minutes at 200 degrees, and then crush them to a very fine powder. When
animals eat eggs or eggshells in the wild, the shell is still very fresh and soft. After the egg is a few hours old or has
been cooked, the shell hardens. The edges of the broken shell become very sharp, which can cause internal bleeding, so the
shell must be crushed to a fine powder. Unless the egg shell powder is very, very fine, cats cannot digest, absorb,
assimilate, and utilize the calcium in the egg shell powder. The yolk of hard-boiled
eggs are very difficult to digest for cats. It is best to feed soft-boiled; the yolk should be raw.
Organic, Cage Free, Fertile
The main concern with eggs is their quality and freshness. Make
sure they come from healthy, organically raised or free-range-fed chickens that have not been fed antibiotics, hormones, or
other drugs. Of course, it goes without saying that chickens who are caged and mutilated by having their beaks and nails cut
are so stressed that they cannot be healthy or produce quality eggs.
Organic eggs are much higher in nutritional value than regular
commercial eggs. If the eggs are fertile as well, they will contain beneficial growth hormones, as well as they will lower
cholesterol.
How Many to Feed
One to three eggs at a meal, depending on the size of your cat
is about right. For tiny cats under ten pounds, one egg per meal will be sufficient. For medium cats that weight from 10 to
15 pounds, two eggs; cats from 15 to 30 pounds, three eggs.
Traveling
If you are traveling with your cat, eggs are one of the easiest
fresh proteins to find. Eggs make a very economical meal.
One Protein at a Time
It is best to feed one protein at a time, because each protein
has its own special set of enzymes. Feeding several proteins at one meal makes it difficult for the digestive system. For
instance, if you have some chicken left over from yesterday and today you are feeding beef, let your cat finish the chicken
first, and then give him/her the beef meal.
What I am saying is don’t purposely mix any two proteins
together; however, eating one protein and then eating another right after that is okay…just don’t mix them. And
you certainly don’t want to waste food and throw out the chicken just because there isn’t enough for one meal.
Cholesterol
If cats are eating raw meat, they very seldom have cholesterol
problems; it is cooked meat that causes cholesterol problems for carnivores. If your cat is having a cholesterol problem,
it is either because s/he is eating cooked proteins and/or grains, or because the liver, which regulates cholesterol, is not
currently functioning properly.
Chapter Seven
VEGETABLES
Vegetables Work Synergistically
Vegetables work synergistically; the greater the variety, the
more effective they are. My suggestion for the top vegetables are: broccoli, zucchini and other squashes, Chinese cabbage,
Romaine lettuce, kale, chard, and celery. Other vegetables can be used if your animals like their taste; there are others
that are very beneficial, but might be more expensive or seasonal, such as asparagus.
Raw vegetables must be processed into very tiny pieces, the size
of sand, salt, and/or add water during the blending so the vegetables are the consistency of baby food. Carnivores don’t
digest vegetables as easily as they do meat, so make it as easy as possible for them to digest and utilize the vegetables.
In nature, cats would get predigested vegetation in the gastrointestinal
system of their prey. That is why we must provide raw finely ground vegetables, as well as raw meat, to have a properly balanced
program.
Steamed or baked vegetables that have been mashed to the consistency
of baby food can be used instead of raw if you choose because they are just as beneficial even when cooked and vegetables
are not the main source of a carnivore’s diet. It is the meat that is so important to be kept in its raw form. So if
you have steamed/baked vegetables left over from your own meals, be sure to put them to good use and give them to your cats.
Keep organic baby food vegetables on hand. They are very convenient
to use as the vegetable if you are in a hurry or caught short of fresh vegetables or if you are traveling. Cooked vegetables
keep most of their nutrients intact as opposed to meat that is totally transformed in the cooking process.
Vegetable Exceptions
Vegetables that are not recommended are ones from the nightshade
family: white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which can cause inflammation. Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, spinach,
onions, and fresh garlic are all difficult to digest, and for other various reasons are best not to be given.
Vegetables with a hull such as peas, corn, beans, lentils can
also cause problems because cats cannot digest the hulls. Cats who are having any type of digestive problems, diabetes, skin
ailments, diarrhea, constipation may also be having problems with the high sugar/starch content of these vegetables.
Many cats cannot deal with root vegetables such as carrots and
sweet potatoes. If your cat has any ear ailments, skin/coat problems, or digestive
problems, my suggestion is to discontinue any root vegetables as well. Stay with
my preferred list as shown above.
Chapter Eight
GRAINS
No Grains
Each enzyme has a specific duty. For example, an enzyme capable
of breaking down fats cannot break down vegetables. Cats, because they are carnivores, make very little amylase, the enzyme
needed to break down grains, which leads to the belief that grains are not a necessary part of a carnivore’s diet.
Cats cannot maintain long-term production of the quantity of
amylase enzyme necessary to properly digest and utilize grains. As a result, the immune system becomes irritated and weakened
by the invasion of foreign, non-nutritive protein and carbohydrate particles. Grains, as well as cooked meat, are probably
the greatest cause of pancreatitis, diabetes, kidney/bladder problems, crystals/stones, irritable bowel syndrome, impacted
anal glands, overweight, plaque buildup on teeth, allergies, hyper- and hypothyroidism, skin disorders, yeast infections,
and other chronic immune problems.
In the wild, felines do eat the offal (digested food in the stomach,
small intestines and bowels) of their prey; however, that is predigested vegetation, not grains.
Grains Are Not
Part of Their Natural Diet
Grains, such as oats, wheat, rice, barley, etc, are composed
mostly of complex carbohydrates. They are not part of a cat’s natural diet. In the true natural setting, grains hardly
exist at all. Even a mouse or other prey animal is not going to find much of its nutrition from grains. Herbivores eat vegetation:
plants, seedlings, leaves, grasses, fruits, blossoms, flowers, etc. Therefore, the argument that cats eat prey animals that
have grains in their digestive tracts doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
The Four Clues
Other clues that tell us grains are not necessary for carnivores
are:
1) Cats do not have a dietary requirement for complex carbohydrates
2) Cats produce very little amylase which is the enzyme necessary
to digest grains
3) Grains must be cooked and thoroughly chewed to be digested,
and carnivores do not chew much at all
4) Nutrients found in grains are readily available from other
dietary ingredients such as organ meats and vegetables.
In fact, if your cat is presently eating cooked or processed
grains, including rice, you will often see undigested grains in his/her stools. Take a look.
Chapter Nine
Kittens
No Commercial Kitten Milk
Do not use commercial kitten milk that you buy in the
pet food store! One of my client’s came to me because while she was feeding a commercial puppy milk some of it dripped
onto another puppy’s coat. She didn’t think anything of it until a few minutes later when she went to wipe it
off. The “milk” had dried like cement and was stuck to the coat. She tried to soften it with water and couldn’t;
she then tried to pull it off and the hair came with it, leaving a bald spot. So obviously there are other ingredients in
these products other than food. Even if you read the label it cannot be truthful, because what food what take off the hair?
And what food would be the consistency of cement?
If this is true of puppy milk, I’m sure it is true in kitten
milk as well, because usually they are produced by the same companies and prepared with the same products.
Raw Goat’s Milk for Kittens
Raw goat’s milk is the best kitten milk if the mother is
not able to provide enough milk or if you have an orphan. Powdered goat’s milk would be my second choice. One of the
reasons goat’s milk is so beneficial for kittens is because it is higher in fat than cow’s milk, and it comes
out of the goat already homogenized (the fat is emulsified in the milk) and kittens need that fat.
Mother’s Milk
Kittens should always nurse until mom finally gives them the
boot and says enough is enough. She will do the weaning just fine.
Mother’s milk of each species is totally different from
one another. There is no resemblance between the mother’s milk of canines, felines, bovines, and humans.
Kitten Formula
However, if for some unfortunate reason you have to bottle-feed
kittens, my suggested formula is:
1 cup raw goat’s milk (powdered goat’s milk, or if
you have to use cow’s milk, use half raw milk and half raw cream)
2 egg yolks (yellow only, not egg whites)
1 tablespoon of 100% Pure Colostrum
1 tablespoon of raw honey or molasses*
Mix well. Feed with bottle or syringe
Depending on the age of the kitten, you will have to offer this
kitten milk mixture every 2 to 4 hours. Yes, that means all night long as well. You will quickly understand the amount of
work and long hours that a momma cat puts in. Always do whatever you can to keep mom healthy and nursing. Feeding a kitten
by bottle is the last resort.
Must Massage the Underbelly
You will have to massage the underbelly of the kitten after each
meal to help with digestion and elimination. When mom is doing all her licking and nudging she is stimulating the system.
You will need to simulate that process.
Honey or Molasses
The kitten should have several bowel movements a day, about one
for every meal. If s/he isn’t going often enough you may have to add additional raw, unheated honey or unrefined molasses
to the kitten milk mixture.
Weaning
Somewhere between 3 to 5 weeks the kitten, will be ready to eat
a little raw meat and steamed/mashed veggies. At that time put the raw food in a blender with a little purified water, blend
well to the consistency of baby food, offer the mixture to the kitten and see if s/he is interested. If so, give one meal
a day of meat and vegetables and the rest of the meals should be the kitten milk mixture. Slowly increase the amount of raw
meat and veggies and decrease the milk. By 6 to 8 weeks your kitten should be off the above kitten formula.
Kittens should be fed on demand. If they are nursing, mother
will encourage them to eat from her plate. At that time put mother’s food in a blender as in the above paragraph and
they will usually wean themselves onto the raw food on their own by starting to eat out of their mom’s plate whenever
they feel like it. Here again, some kittens may have a few nibbles at two weeks; some will eat full meals at three weeks;
others may not start for another week or two. Whenever they are ready, they and their mothers will know when it is time.
After they are completely weaned, kittens will let you know how
many times a day they want to eat. Healthy kittens are usually very vocal when they are hungry. Kittens should be fed on demand.
They get to eat all they want and to eat as often as they want from two to six times a day. Remember, in the six month’s
of a kitten’s life, s/he grows to full maturity and is able to have kittens of her own…and males father kittens
at that young age as well. Do not hold back on the amount of food or supplements during the first six to nine months. Unless
you have an exceptionally large cat or a cat who matures very slowly, s/he will have reached full growth by eight or nine
months and should be eating just once a day.
The general rule for feeding healthy kittens the raw food program
is:
5 weeks to 8 weeks, 6 times a day
8 weeks to
12 weeks, 4 times a day
12 weeks to 20 weeks, 3 times a day
5 months to 8 months, 2 times a day
Sometime during that 5 to 8 month period, on his/her own, the
kitten will begin to lose interest in the second meal, and eat just one meal a day.
When feeding raw food, you will notice that they will not have
to eat as often as they would if they were eating canned or dry, and they will not be constantly pestering you for more food.
They will be satisfied.
Chapter Ten
THE
CALCIUM CONTROVERSY
Most Cats Have A Calcium Deficiency
Most cats that I see have a calcium deficiency. Calcium is the
most abundant mineral in the body. Cats who are eating canned and dried foods, even home-prepared food, are often not getting
sufficient calcium, not even enough to meet the minimum requirements.
By the time you see symptoms of a calcium deficiency, your cat
has often been calcium deficient for months or years. That is why it is so important that everyone who has their animal on
a raw food program be sure their animal is getting sufficient calcium.
Many people are now feeding BARF, Biologically Appropriate Raw
Food or Bones And Raw Food and/or RMB, Raw Meaty Bones. Claims are made that no other calcium should be given, just bones.
Raw whole or ground bones create a whole set of problems for the gastrointestinal system. (Please re-read Chapter Two: Cook
and Bone are Four-Letter Words)
Signs of Calcium Deficiency
Some of the signs of calcium deficiency are arthritis; skin and
coat problems; splayed feet; broken and/or bent pasterns; weak, easily injured ligaments and tendons; broken bones; patella
luxation, severe pain, most often in feet, legs, hips, and heart; digestive ailments; hyperactivity; hyperthyroidism, aggression;
lethargy; constipation; diarrhea; incontinence; kidney, bladder, liver and heart problems. Because veterinarians don’t
understand healing through nutrition, the only procedures they can come up with are drugs, casts, and surgery. None of this
would be necessary if your vet talked to you about nutrition the first time you came into the office. All kittens and adult
cats must have ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
The Most Abundant Mineral
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. The majority
of calcium in the body is utilized by the bones and teeth; however, it is also involved in the blood-clotting process, in
nerve and muscle stimulation, parathyroid hormone functions and the metabolism of vitamin D. To function properly along with
the high phosphorus content in meat, calcium must be accompanied by magnesium, boron, copper, molybdenum, potassium, sulphur,
zinc and vitamins A, B6, D and E. Cod liver oil will provide vitamins D, E, and K, and the necessary trace minerals and other
vitamins and minerals are already in the raw meat and vegetables.
Magnesium
Is Essential
Magnesium is an essential mineral that must be present in a calcium
formula for the body to properly absorb the calcium. In addition, it plays an important role in utilizing vitamins B, C and
E. Studies point out that the balance between calcium and magnesium is especially important.
Little Known Boron
We don’t hear enough about boron. It is needed for the
metabolism of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. It also enhances brain function and promotes alertness. Older cats are often
boron deficient.
Copper for Felines
Copper is essential for the formation of collagen and connective
tissue, which relates directly to joint problems. Copper is also very important for hair growth and healthy skin.
Potassium for Normal Growth
Potassium works with sodium (yes, sodium is necessary) and calcium
to control the body’s water balance. It is essential for a healthy nervous system, normalizes the heartbeat, nourishes
the muscular system and unites with phosphorus (which is in the raw meat) to send oxygen to the brain. Sometimes just the
lack of raw meat can be the cause of seizures.
As always, we could go on and on about the necessity of vitamins
and minerals and the roles they play for ourselves and our cats.
Balanced Meals
From veterinarians and from authors of articles you hear about
home-prepared meals for animals not being balanced. More often than not, that is true; not because people don’t want
to balance their cats’ meals, but because even the professionals who warn you that the meals are not balanced, don’t
take the time to tell you what IS balanced. In most cases that’s because they either don’t know or they are selling
a commercial pet food that they want you to buy from them, and they want you to believe that preparing your own is too complicated.
Not Complicated
There’s nothing complicated about knowing that cats need
raw meat and that meat is high in phosphorus, so you must balance it with a calcium/magnesium/sulphur/vitamin D supplement
that has the necessary nutrients for the body to utilize the calcium.
Wild vs Domestic
In the wild, carnivores eat their entire prey: flesh, bones,
blood, entrails, organs, glands, digested and undigested food in the stomach and intestines, hair, head, feet and tail. The
only parts they do not digest and utilize are teeth and nails. To provide a comparable meal domestically is impossible, but
we can come close to Mother Nature’s design with a balance of all raw muscle meat, organs, fat, vegetables, and ESSENTIALS4ALL
BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Calcium must be supplemented in a domestic diet unless you are
feeding live mice, birds, lizards, and other live prey.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Bones
Are For Dessert…
And
Only If Your Cat Can Digest Them!!!
Which Bones To Feed?
Beef marrow bones and rib bones. Some cats can pick the meat
off of chicken and turkey necks. You must observe how your cat attacks bones, and take not of his/her next couple of bowel
movements to see whether they are eating the actual bone. If the stools are bloody, if there is any indigestion, discomfort,
gas, vomiting, bloating, if there are any shards of bone in the stool, if your cat is constipated after eating bones, then
do NOT feed bones.
Which Bones NOT To Feed at All?
Do not feed chicken wings, legs, and thighs. These are long bones
that can splinter causing them to be sharp with the possibility of puncturing the intestinal system. Some cats can chew the
meat off of the necks and backs of chicken or turkey bones; however, if they eat the bones, I would not give them any chicken
or turkey bones at all.
All Bones Must Be Fed Raw
If you feel your cat can eat or chew on a bone after a meal,
then be sure to only give raw bones. Cooking bones can cause serious problems because the bones become even more brittle,
chip off, possibly puncturing the esophagus, stomach or intestines, which can cause internal bleeding and infection; constipation,
rectal bleeding and blockages in the gastrointestinal system.
Hairballs
Cats should not have hairballs. If they do that means their pH
is out of balance and their systems are not sufficiently acidic. In the wild they eat the whole mouse—hair and skin—the
whole bird—feathers and all. They digest the majority of the hair and feathers because that is usable protein for them.
This tells us that one of the first signs of digestive problems is hairballs.
Myth:
Too Much Calcium Can Cause Deposits
Too much of the WRONG calcium can cause deposits. Calcium must
be from a food source with the proper vitamins and minerals necessary to digest, absorb, assimilate, and utilize the calcium.
The body must be able to digest it just as it does food. When professionals warn cat guardians about feeding too much calcium,
they are referring to traditional calciums: ground bone and bone meal.
Dissolve Present Calcium Deposits
By eating raw meat your cat will keep the pH in balance, keeping
the system acidic which will facilitate in clearing up present deposits. I have seen many cases where kidney/bladder stones
and bone spurs have been dissolved on my raw food program. When necessary, homeopathic remedies can be given to help the body
maintain proper pH balance and good health.
Calcium from Other Food Sources
Asparagus, broccoli, dark leafy greens are all high in calcium.
Raw meals that you purchase or home-prepared meals should include some of these vegetables.
Why All the Fuss About Calcium
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, vital to the
formation of strong bones and teeth and for the maintenance of healthy gums. It is also important to the health of the heart.
Cats often have some form of heart problem, heart murmurs, rapid heartbeat. Lack of digestible calcium is one of the main
culprits.
Lowers Cholesterol
Calcium is also important in the transmission of nerve impulses;
it lowers cholesterol levels; is needed for muscular growth, contraction and prevention of muscle cramps. It is also involved
in the activation of enzymes, including lipase, necessary to break down fats for utilization by the body; thus, tied in with
skin, coat and flea problems.
Arthritis and Hip Dysplasia
Calcium deficiency can lead to the following additional problems:
aching joints, arthritis, brittle or soft nails, eczema, hyperactivity, hypertension, hyperthyroidism, bone fractures/breaks,
early loss of teeth, seizures (also magnesium deficiency which goes along with calcium) and tooth decay.
Teeth and Bones
Calcium protects the bones and teeth from lead by inhibiting
absorption of this toxic metal. If there is a calcium deficiency, lead can be absorbed by the body and deposited in the teeth
and bones.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Chapter Eleven
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
NOT A DROP TO DRINK
Purified Water
If you live in an area where you know the water is safe that’s
great. Otherwise providing yourself and your animals with purified water is essential.
Water, The Most Important
And Abundant Nutrient
Water is not only the most abundant nutrient found in the body
(approximately two-thirds of a cat’s body weight); it is also by far the most important nutrient.
Water is responsible for and involved in nearly every body process,
including digestion, absorption, circulation and excretion. It is the primary transporter of nutrients throughout the body
and is necessary for all building functions. Water helps maintain a normal body temperature and is essential for carrying
waste material out of the body.
Vitally Important for Cats
Pure water added to your animal’s food is vitally important
to carnivores, because this is the most efficient way for their bodies to assimilate water. Felines in the wild do not usually
have easy access to water all of the time, so they must count on the body fluids of their prey for hydration.
You will notice when you put your cats on the raw food program
that they will immediately drink less water from their water bowl right after their first meal.
Pure water added to your cats’ food is vitally important
to carnivores, because this is the most efficient way for their bodies to assimilate water.
Most Cats Ultimately Die of Dehydration
Dehydration in cats is most often the cause of death, no matter
what the ailment was in the beginning. In the wild cats very seldom ever drink water. Often they go weeks without actually
drinking any water at all. That’s why it is so important that they eat fresh kill or fresh raw food that provides all
the fluid they need.
Fresh kill has 95 percent
water; dry food has 2 percent. Dry food is the worst problem ever perpetrated on cats. It is criminal. Felines never eat anything
dry in the wild. Why commercial pet food companies would ever do such a horrendous thing to cats is impossible to imagine.
Problems Caused by Contaminated Water
Studies indicate many of our city water supplies are liberally
laced with asbestos, pesticides, heavy metals like lead and cadmium, arsenic, nitrates, sodium and a variety of chemicals
that are known carcinogens. Then additives like chlorine and fluoride with all the good intentions of the water departments
causes its whole set of problems.
Is it any wonder our animals have arthritis, upper respiratory
diseases, allergies, cancer, heart, liver and kidney disorders, urinary infections, poor teeth and gums, ear and eye infections
and chronic skin problems?
Boiling Doesn’t Help—It Hinders
Boiling tap water only makes it worse because the purest water
will be lost in the form of steam and any heavy metals or nitrates will be even more concentrated.
Even rainwater these days collects atmospheric pollutants as
it descends. If you continue to give tap water, the contaminants in the water can defeat your other nutritional efforts.
Water Provides Oxygen
Purified water has a high degree of oxygen, which not only makes
it healthier but makes it taste better as well. All drinking water and water used to prepare their food should be pure.
What About the Minerals
It is true that most of the minerals are depleted from purified
or distilled water. However, minerals will be in the fresh food and ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS.
Bottled Water
Do not get your purified water from vending machines. Bacteria
build up on the filters and the water is again contaminated. Otherwise they use chlorine to control the bacteria and you are
back to chemically treated water. A reverse osmosis unit, or Equinox unit or other purification systems in your home are presently
the most effective and inexpensive way to provide purified water for your animals and you.
Even the purification units that attach to your faucet or the pitchers with filters are fine for purifying the water
you use for your cats.
Or you can buy bottled water in a food store or have it delivered,
depending on the amount of water you consume. However, be careful, because some of bottled-water companies are adding chlorine
as well. Be sure to ask.
Chapter Twelve
How Much To Feed
Metabolism, Not Weight
Every kitten and every cat needs a different amount of food each
time they eat, just as people do. It is how the body metabolizes the food that decides how much is necessary.
Commercial pet food companies who put on their labels the amount
a certain size cat should eat each day is ludicrous. How much are you going to eat at your next meal? People aren’t
even sure what they themselves are going to eat during any given day, so how can they possibly guess what amount of food their
cat is going to eat?
How Many Cups of Food Do You Feed Your Children?
No one prepares food based on how many pounds they weigh? Most
people put more food on the table than is expected that everyone will eat and usually there are leftovers. That’s how
it should be for your cats.
Adults
Adult cats should be offered food once a day and allowed to eat
all they want at that time. Each time you put the food down, put so much on the plate…cats prefer plates instead of
bowls because they don’t like their whiskers to touch anything…that they cannot possibly finish it. When they
walk away with food on their plate you know they have had all they want to eat.
Quality Not Quantity
This program of allowing them to eat as much as they want at
each meal can only be used if you are feeding healthy raw food. This method with canned and dry food won’t work, because
they never reach the point of being nutritionally satiated. I repeat: nutritionally satiated. Being stuffed full of junk food
does not provide nutrients; it’s just empty calories. The body is not interested in quantity; it is interested in quality.
Do Not Allow Your Cats to Free Feed
Cats should never be allowed to free feed. Their digestive systems
were meant to gorge, digest, then be completely empty for at least 20 hours or more.
There are a whole spectrum of digestive systems from the snake
who eats once a month to the goat who eats 24/7. If you feed the snake every day for a week, the snake will die. If you don’t
feed the goat for one week, the goat will die. Cats’ digestive systems are closer to the snake and people’s digestive
systems are closer to the goat. Mother Nature is always right, so we need to pay attention to what She tells us.
Fat Cats Are Starving
Fat cats are starving. (This is true of people as well.) In other
words, because their bodies cannot reach their nutrition satiation point when they are eating commercial pet food, they continue
to eat, hoping that they will finally be satisfied, but they can’t be, so the struggle goes on, and they get fatter
and fatter and eat more and more.
The “Lite” Diet
Finally you go to your vet or a pet nutrition “expert”
at a pet store who says, “Feed him a ‘lite’ formula and give him one cup a day,” or whatever. Of course,
your cat will lose weight. S/he is being starved. What are they to do? They can’t open the refrigerator or the cupboard.
They can’t tell you in people words the pain of suffering from starvation. All you see is that your cat is losing weight,
and you think everything is okay. It is not! Cats feel the pains of starvation just as much as people do. Being malnourished
isn’t the solution for losing weight.
Three reasons why dieting doesn’t work:
1) Starving your cat only works to lose weight while you are
depriving your animal; as soon as you allow your cat to eat again the weight comes right back, only now the body takes on
more weight to protect itself from starvation again;
2) Your cat will not be getting a complete and balanced diet
on these so-called lite foods;
3) If there is a physical problem, for instance, diabetes, or
if the thyroid gland is not working properly, you will only be making the problem worse during the time you are depriving
your animal. I just got a call from a person who had their overweight cat on one of the “lite” diets (prescribed
by her vet) for a year, only to find out the cat had diabetes, for how long, no one knows.
You must give them healthy, raw food and let them eat all they
want. They will lose weight while feeling comfortably full, and they will be getting all their nutrients as well. If they
continue to gain or lose weight when eating all they want once a day, then you need to find a classical homeopathic practitioner
because your cat has a chronic illness.
Felines Don’t Always Eat Every Day
Healthy adult cats don’t necessarily eat every day. If
your overweight cat does not want to eat, do not encourage him/her! In the wild, felines may eat only once or twice a week.
Caution!
When You First Start the Raw Food…
When you first change over, offer your cat the same volume of
raw food as compared to the canned or dry food s/he has been used to eating. Just eyeball it to decide how much. If s/he finishes
it all that meal, then the next meal put double the food on the plate. Cats very seldom will overeat raw food. Make sure there
is always food left on his/her plate.
If you have a dog, I would suggest giving the cat leftovers to
the dog. Cats prefer to eat fresh food each day.
If your cat has been eating dry or canned foods, s/he may eat
a huge amount of raw food at first to reach his/her nutrition satiation level or s/he may go to the other extreme and not
eat at all, because the food smells foreign. Whichever the situation, be patient and understanding and in most cases your
cats will soon work things out for themselves. There is always the exception that refuses to eat.
For some animals, you may have to hand feed for a while or maybe
mix the raw food with some canned food or with some dry food that has been soaked in water first. Never feed dry food dry. Dry food is the worst garbage that has ever been
perpetrated upon our animals. Dry food destroys the kidneys, pancreas, and liver; causes severe gastric distress, dehydration,
to name a few of the serious ailments. All this devastation is caused by 1) it is cooked; 2) it contains mostly grains; 3)
it has only 2% moisture. All food must have water, blood, or some kind of fluid in order to be processed by the body. This
is a serious concern with cats.
Cats in the wild are used to eating fresh kill. If they kill
an animal and they aren’t hungry, they will leave it for another animal in the wild, and when they are hungry, they
will kill again. They do not go back and get a previous kill that is dehydrated and rotting. Dogs will do that, but not cats.
A Little Bribery
You may have to mix a little of your own cooked beef, chicken,
turkey in with the raw food. Be sure it is ground or cut up small enough that it mixes with the raw food; otherwise they will
just pick out the bits of cooked meat and leave the rest.
You can also try some melted butter, colostrum powder, or any
healthy food that you know your cat likes, even if it is cooked, as a bribe to get them started on the raw food.
If all else fails, mix an egg yolk with purified water to
dilute it enough to go through a syringe and give the egg yolk through the syringe.
When giving any liquid with a syringe, do not force open the
cat's mouth. Just pull up the lip and put the syringe in the side of the mouth between the teeth and slowly empty the syringe,
making sure that the cat's tongue is moving back and forth and doing the swallowing.
Caution: Cats will choke on liquid
if you syringe it directly toward the back of the mouth and don't give the tongue a chance to actually do its part in the
swallowing.
Hyperthyroid
Presently a very serious problem with cats is hyperthyroid, caused
by feeding the wrong foods, being given supplements like kelp, alfalfa, sea meal, vaccines, drugs, chemicals, and poisons
which over stimulate and/or destroy the immune system.
Extreme Weight Changes
Weight changes, especially loss of weight, are very serious for
cats. Consider one of the following:
1) One or more of their organs is not functionally properly,
such as thyroid, pancreas, kidney, bladder or liver
2) Their acid/alkaline level is off
3) They may have diabetes, hyperthyroid, or cancer.
Cats Are Not Finicky
With cats it is important to find out why they aren’t eating
and keep a journal of how many days they don’t eat at all or, if they are eating small amounts, how much they are eating
each day.
Cats will starve themselves if they are 1) ill, 2) if they are
dehydrated, 3) if they have thyroid, kidney, bladder, liver problems or 4) if the food that is being offered isn’t a
food they know. It is essential in these situations to consult a classical homeopathic practitioner.
Dogs are pack animals. If the leader of the pack (that’s
you) says this is what you are going to eat, dogs know that the leader has checked the food out and it is fit to eat.
Not so with cats. Cats live singly in the wild and they check
out their food each time they are presented with something different.
It is important to understand that when they are kittens they
instinctively know how to kill their prey; however, they are taught what to eat. Some prey animals in the wild are poison
to felines, so what they eat has to be taught by their parents.
When domestic kittens are put on commercial pet foods after weaning,
they are being “taught” that that food is okay. So later on when you change to raw, they are just doing what is
natural for them and that is to be cautious, because they have already been imprinted with canned/dry foods as kittens.
It is relatively easy to put a kitten on raw food because they
are not already imprinted with commercial pet food; not necessarily so with adults. They are more difficult to convert to
any new food because their instincts are more defined. If it is not one of the imprinted foods, they are very skeptical…and
rightly so. So be patient with your cat and help him/her to understand that it is safe to eat this food.
Cats are not finicky…that
is a myth.
They are rightfully cautious by
nature.
This is a condition that must be
treated by a classical homeopathic practitioner.
Each Cat is Unique
Not only will each cat in your family eat a different amount,
they will eat a different amount every day just like we do. No one eats the same amount of food each meal, each day. You can
have two cats that both weigh 10 pounds and one will be a big eater and one will hardly touch the food. It has much more to
do with metabolism, age, general health, exercise, than it does size. That is why it is important to let your cat decide how
much.
If you feed their favorites, they will eat more just like we
people do, so be sure to vary their foods. Do not give their favorite food day after day. Cats should not eat the same food
more than two days in a row. Each meat and each vegetable has a completely different set of nutrients; every one of these
nutrients is vital for a complete and balanced food program, so be sure to vary their food program.
Carnivores vs Omnivores
The main three differences between carnivores and omnivores are:
1) Carnivores have a more acidic system; their digestive juices
are much more acidic, so they don’t have to worry about breaking down the food without chewing it before it gets into
the stomach, and the acidic juices take care of salmonella and E coli;
2) Their small intestines are about a third shorter than ours;
therefore, the meat does not putrefy in the system;
3) They have sharp, tearing teeth, while ours are flat, masticating
teeth; they do very little chewing in comparison to people; just enough to be able to swallow the chunks.
Cats Decide How Much
You decide what, where and when. Your cat decides how much. When
I see and hear all the different scenarios of the eating habits of people’s cats from my clients, I know that the cats
themselves must be the ones to decide how much.
Nobody is Portioning the Cougar’s Food
Let’s take another look at what Mother Nature does. Cougars,
lions, and tigers decide how much to eat on their own. Nobody is out there portioning their food. You never see a fat cat
in the wild. In fact, most people comment that they appear to be too thin. That’s because people are comparing their
overweight companion cats to the sleek and slender wild animal.
When To Feed
The best time to feed is in the morning. The body has its own
clock: times to eat, sleep, cleanse, heal, et cetera. The best time to eat is between 7am and 9am or as close to that as your
own schedule will allow.
During the evening hours the body does its best sleeping, cleansing,
repairing and healing. So the emptier the stomach is at that time the better.
If your cat is truly nocturnal—up all night prowling the
house—you may have to consider feeding between 7pm and 9pm because being active during the night is instinctive in many
cats and needs to be taken into consideration. That would definitely be the exception, because most cats give in to our schedule
and turn their lives around for us.
Keep It Simple
Feeding your cat the natural way is easy and fun, especially
when you realize the true benefits of raw food and organic supplements. Keep it simple. 75 to 90% raw meat, 25 to 10% finely
ground raw or steamed/mashed vegetables, and ESSENTIALS4ALL
BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS.
Feed as close to what Mother Nature had in mind and have a complete
and balanced meal. Both you and your cat will be happier. Maybe this program will inspire you to start eating better and taking
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-CAPSULES & CLO-3-PEARLS
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Chapter Thirteen
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
Never Use a Microwave
Never use a microwave for yourself, your children, or your cats,
even to thaw out your meals, because it heats by vibrating molecules at 2.5 million times per second causing serious damage
in the breaking up of the molecules, consequently, the body considers them foreign objects; therefore, the pancreas doesn’t
even recognize the substance as food and does not know what enzymes to produce to digest these foods.
Microwaves have been known to cause anemia, high cholesterol
levels, high radiation levels of light-emitting bacteria, and a major decline in lymphocytes, with the body responding as
if the food were an infectious agent. Studies have shown that babies have died from consistently having their bottles and/or
baby food warmed in a microwave.
NO HERBS FOR SUPPLEMENTS
Many commercial pet companies, veterinarians and nutritionists
are suggesting kelp and alfalfa as supplements that are to be added to a cat’s food every day. Both of these herbs are
medicinal: kelp stimulates the thyroid and alfalfa stimulates the appetite. You definitely don’t want to do either of
these herbs for your cat. Constantly stimulating the thyroid will cause shaking and nervous disorders. And you certainly don't
want to continuously stimulate the appetite so that your animal feels hungry all the time and becomes overweight.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
No Junk Food
No dry cat food or treats, dehydrated food or treats, pressed
treats, cat biscuits. All of these will cause dehydration which is a serious problem for cats...not to mention indigestion.
Your
cat’s favorite and best treat is a chunk of raw meat!
No Drugs, Chemicals or Poisons
No vaccines, frontline, advantix, program, flagyl, rimadyl, antibiotics,
steroids, antihistamines, etc. The exception would be an extreme emergency…a life and death situation…where you
must give anesthesia for surgery, steroids to breathe until you can find out what’s going on, etc, but there are very
few times you will ever run into these types of emergencies. These are the very poisons that cause the problems. There are
always natural solutions.
Occasionally in a very desperate situation you may need to give
an antibiotic. In the last 25 years I’ve used an antibiotic once for an inflammation that had to come down before we
could operate. That’s what I mean by emergency and occasionally.
Instead of vaccines or antibiotics feed a raw food program.
Instead of any poisonous flea medications give MSM and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS.
Instead of heartgard give CoQ10. And there is CoQ10 already
in the ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER.
Pancreatitis
When you feed canned, dry, dead, cooked food or bone (cooked
or raw) you put a burden on one of the most important organs in the body, the pancreas. If there are no enzymes to stimulate
the digestive processes, the pancreas has to come into action and produce extra enzymes, burdening it with yet another job.
It already has enough to do producing insulin and pancreatic enzymes. Too many cats already suffer from diabetes.
Raw Meat Broth or Raw Egg Broth
If your cat is ill, possibly not eating well and/or dehydrated,
add two tablespoons of raw ground meat to each cup of purified water for your cat and see if s/he will drink it. If your cat
is too ill to drink this broth, strain it, and give just the liquid with a syringe.
This can also be done with a raw egg yolk (yellow only) mixed
with a couple of ounces of water.
This raw broth may save you and your cat a trip to the veterinarian.
As a guideline, in a 24-hour period, your cat needs approximately
2-3 ounces of fluid per 10 pounds of body weight for a minimum amount of fluids to keep from being dehydrated.
One way you can tell on your own whether your cat is dehydrated
is to pull up the skin on the back of the neck of a healthy cat. The skin should snap back to the body very quickly. Now do
the same to the cat you feel may be dehydrated. If it doesn’t snap back quickly or if you have any doubts at all whether
your cat is dehydrated, this is the one time you need to see a classical homeopathy practitioner.
If You See Any of the Following
Symptoms include: chronic ear infections; incessant licking
of the genitals or the paws or both; lick granulomas; habitual scratching, usually the ears, sides of the torso and underbelly;
rashes, most often on the underbelly; and when the symptoms begin to move into the head, loss of hearing; loss of eyesight,
loss of intelligence, memory, and comprehension.
The main cause if from cooked, canned, dry foods, grain-based
foods, dairy, fruits, yeast, alfalfa, kelp, drugs, chemicals, poisons, including vaccines, advantix, program, frontline, antibiotics,
steroids, anything that kills the friendly bacteria and enzymes in the body.
Vaccines compromise and destroy the natural immune system.
Antibiotics kill the friendly bacteria which would ordinarily fight and overwhelm any infections within the body. All drugs,
chemicals, and poisons are additional reasons for seeing such a preponderance of illness in cats.
Usually these symptoms start somewhere in the digestive system;
then move to the genital and reproductive areas; then to the ears, eyes, nose, and throat; then finally to the brain, taking
over the entire body. It is insidious. Very often these problems are treated with antibiotics and/or steroids which only compound
the ailments.
Rather than dwelling on what causes the problem, immediately
you need to get your cat on raw meat, vegetables, and organic supplements to provide a healthy food program for him/her to
be able to resist the breakdown of the immune system.
The next action to take is to find a classical homeopathic practitioner
because your cat has given you all the signs of serious, deep, chronic health problems.
The
key to nutrition for healthy, happy cats is:
75%
up to 90% raw ground and/or chunk meat,
25% down to 10% finely ground raw or
steamed/mashed vegetables
and
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
Pat
McKay Bio
Acknowledged pioneer and leader in the development of the raw
and fresh food diet, animal nutritionist, classical homeopathic practitioner, counselor and author, Pat McKay is nationally
recognized by animal health care professionals for her contribution to the raw food revolution for cats and dogs.
She has devoted over 30 years researching and completing thousands
of case studies where her findings consistently reveal that a raw food program insures maximum health results from her animal
clients.
Moving from the theoretical to the practical, McKay has spent
the last 30 years synthesizing her findings to create a complete nutritional guide, which offers the most up-to-date clinical
information and quick-step menus that make raw, fresh-food preparations both fun and easy.
In 2003 Pat McKay sold her business and retired. In 2008 Pat
founded the Society for Animal Homeopathy, and started practicing homeopathy again.
Her present companions are Bogie, Belgium shepherd/Golden retriever,
who is 21 years old…yes, an 88-pound dog who is 21 years old; Jacques, a
black standard poodle, 14 years old; Dutch, a Dutch shepherd, who is 13 years old, and
Pat’s latest rescue: Lena, a 7-year-old, dark chocolate mini Shar-pei. All of her dogs are rescues.
Pat McKay is 76 years old, has no aches and pains, no ailments,
follows the LIVE RIGHT 4 YOUR TYPE food program; takes absolutely
no drugs of any kind, but does take ESSENTIALS4ALL
BIO-8-CAPSULES & CLO-3-PEARLS.
ESSENTIALS4ALL
provides
email & phone nutrition consultations
at no charge.
pat@patmckay.com
Phone consultations: 775-313-5884
Hours: 7am to 6pm
Monday – Saturday
9am to 6pm Sundays Pacific Time
There is no charge for
nutrition consultations.
To place orders for supplements
ESSENTIALS4ALL BIO-8-POWDER & CLO-3-PEARLS
775-313-5884
or email Jeri Sylvestri
jeri@patmckay.com
Copyright
2008 www.patmckay.com
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