Too bad that all the research on diets is almost all done by commercial pet food companies that have a vested interest in NOT encouraging homemade diets...I really hope to see more peer-reviewed research on raw diets so we pet owners and other vets can be much more informed. I'm so glad I was able to find a vet nutritionist that specializes in homemade (cooked and raw) food so my cat's food is balanced. I even have a whole PDF of the food analysis.

My traditional fed cat almost died in Nov 2020, but after antibiotics, I switched from that to raw and she’s like a fuller, more vital feline. It is insane the difference raw makes for my cat. It turns out she absolutely LOVES & THRIVES on raw beef & cow organs. She’s 18 this year, btw.

I had two Persian cats, both had severe ringworm. I kept catching it. I tried everything. The veterinarian tried everything. Nothing worked. A year went by still dealing with it. Until I put them on a raw diet and within two weeks, the ringworm was gone. I stand by a raw Diet.

My vet swears by a 100 % raw diet for both cats and dogs. You can literally see the disapproval in her face when you tell her you don’t feed your own cat a raw diet.

Soon as i saw the title, as a raw food feeder, instantly click! I respect this vets opinion, but I will never go back to feeding my cat commercially dry food. Dr. Wooten if you are reading this, you have very valid concerns! The first one being nutritional imbalances. If you are measuring out organs and muscle meat yourself, it is easy to mess up. Luckily, there are premade raw foods out there that are up to AAFCO standards and are completely balanced for you. “Completers” are also sold that are a complete balance to add to a protein(s) of choice. But i 100% agree is to try and seek out a nutritionist source to help balance yourself! And the biggest concern being safety. What i would say is that if you normally handle raw meat for years, it’s basically the same. I can agree that people/cats who are immunodeficient, is to be CAUTIOUS. I wouldn’t necessarily turn anyone away from trying. I really appreciate you highlighting to seek out a board certified veterinary NUTRITIONIST and not a regular vet, as someone with a nutritionist background will know the best!

Super surprised (in a good way!) that you decided to kick this hornet's nest! I definitely appreciate the nuanced opinion, and you definitely have valid concerns. I'm a raw feeder myself, and I know that some members of the raw feeding community have had terrible experiences with their vets as soon as the vet learned that they feed raw. I hope more vets like you step forward so that raw feeders can feel like they can trust their vets again!

I had a cat that was diagnosed with kidney disease. I had friends with cats with all kinds of chronic diseases. Did some research and decided to switch Micaila, my cat, to a raw diet. The vet wasn't happy with my decision. Micaila adapted very well to the diet. To my and the vet's amazement, Micaila's lab results improved and eventually her lab results went back to being normal. The two cats I have now are on a raw diet. Rafael was originally feral and Divia was a barnyard cat, but they both are now indoor/ outside cats. They occasionally catch and eat prey. They get their vaccines and regular check ups. No fleas, no parasites: they have clean teeth. They aren't on any flea or parasite prevention meds. The litter box doesn't smell. It's amazing what difference a balanced raw diet can do for a cat's health.

I’ve been feeding my cat raw for one year. She is doing so much better. When I got her she was a rescue and badly malnourished. She was constantly throwing up the food the vet recommended. So she was not putting on weight. I tried out Darwin’s which is a very high quality raw food. My vet approved that one to try. They provide a low priced sample of their food that is almost two months of food for $15. It comes frozen. I make her food in the bathroom so her raw food and my food prep is separate. Now I make her food. I follow a very specific recipe for her food. I use a raw food supplement and don’t grind her food but cut into chunks. I make it outside on the patio with designated utensils and bowls and chopping boards and such that are only for her raw food. I put it in glass jars and freeze it immediately. Afterwards I put the big bowl I make it in in the tub and let her lick it clean as a treat. Then wash all the prep stuff n the bathtub so again minimizing the bacteria my food prep could be exposed to. Cuz there are a lot of meat juices everywhere when I make it. But she loves it. Snd I supplement with Darwin’s and other commercial raw foods that don’t have the supplements in them(so I add the supplements myself, using Alnutrin that I buy from Hare Today online). My local pet store sells meat mixes that are from game animals like elk, rabbit, antelope, duck, Guinea fowl, etc. I like she can get a variety of meats so she’s getting a variety of nutrients. I also make a green gravy for her every meal with fermented goat milk or fermented bone broth, snd I add a multi enzyme and probiotic. The green gravy mix included a freeze dried oat snd barley snd wheat grass, kelp, a freeze dried mushroom mix, nutritional yeast. Basically trying to give her what she might get from an animals gut or what she might eat if she were an outdoor cat. I give her actual animal fur toys like catnip mice made from deer skin snd actual feathers to play with that she basically will chew in snd swallow some, so I get her the natural feathers instead of the dyed ones. She is so healthy now. Her muscle tone has returned so she looks like a normal cat again. She has boundless energy snd her eye goop from conjunctivitis is gone(even though the vet said it never would go away. But I put a smidge of lysine and taurine in her green gravy and that seems to have done the trick for that. If the pinkness in her eye starts coming back I up the lysine for a few days snd it’s gone again. So yeah, I did a lot of research snd it’s more work snd expense but not ridiculously more work. I make up one months worth of food snd it maybe takes an hour. More like 30 minutes. But that’s been well worth to see her transformation. She is a five year old kitty but she acts more like a kitten. When I adopted her they charged me the senior price cuz she had so many health concerns. Now they are all but gone or so well managed that you hardly notice them. She rarely vomits now. And her loose stools and farts are completely gone. She doesn’t cry in pain when she uses her box. I completely believe it’s from switching her to raw. I still give her commercially made high quality wet and a high quality kibble as treats cuz she is told for commercial food. But if I give her those more than once or twice a week, she vomits. So I have to be careful. But I try to give her freeze dried raw treats or even my homemade ones as much as I can. Anyway. That’s been my experience with this kitty. Hope it’s useful to anyone else

Thank you for being open to considering the raw diet. In my opinion, peer reviewed studies may be a good place to start but too many rely on them when individual cats can give a better idea of what's going on. I finally got to feeding raw when I ran out of options with my cat who would vomit after eating anything else. She was a skinny cat who did not have much energy, with lesions all over because she was always scratching. She always looked like she didn't feel well and was getting worse. I thought I might lose her although she's only six. Feeding raw solved all her problems! She is now a normal weight and has tons of energy. The itching is a thing of the past, as are the vomiting and diarrhea. I am beyond happy.

My last girl came to me when my partner and I got together. She was 10 years old and used to living with him in the beautiful mountains of Oregon. She spent a lot of time outside and was used to catching and eating a lot of wild prey. As soon as we brought her to live in California she went down hill and we almost lost her twice. After researching I realized she was not getting proper nutrition and hydration because she was no longer getting raw prey and she was eating mostly dry kibble that had grain. I put her on a raw whole prey diet that ensured she was getting proper hydration and raw enzymes and switched her to just a little Origin dry kibble per day and she lived to be about 23 yrs old. There is no excuse for giving your cat grain. The very little vegetation they get in the wild is in the stomach of their prey and if you ever watch a cat eat after catching a mouse they rarely eat much of the digestive parts of the animal. They are obligatory carnivores and should be eating whole prey.

Safety is always a concern with our cats, but if you look at the ingredients in commercial food there are a lot of concerns. With raw food, the only concern is if the food is spoiled. Cats have a key sense of bad food. I have had cats all my life and I have lost cats due to the food they ate. My current cats are 21 years of age and 16. Pure raw diet for the most part of their lives. It's a good idea to look for a good pet raw nutritionist.

Your humbleness makes it easy to listen to any advice you give and makes it easier for one to calmly make a decision for our selves and beloved cats💓

Nulo freeze dried raw turned my very sickly rescue kitten around. She was found barely alive on the side of the road at about 6 weeks. Didn’t think she would make it through the night. Vet started her on Iams kibble & wet foods. After 6 weeks she still wasn’t thriving. I added Nulo in one meal a day ( now 2) and the transformation has been astounding! Thick full shiny fur and bright eyes. Best part-she’s healthy now

I make my own raw using a nutritionally balanced recipe. I make about 10 lbs at a time and freeze it in ice cube trays so my measures are consistent. I unload the trays into freezer bags and take out about 2-3 days worth to thaw and keep in the fridge. I grind 1/4 of the chicken thigh bones with the meat, remove 2/3s of the skin, add livers and gizzards, egg yolks, vitamins and minerals, pumpkin, blueberries, and taurine. My cat is thriving. Her fur is gorgeous and her eyes are bright. She looks like a 5-6 year old cat and she’s about 11. I have a quality kibble I leave out for her but it remains untouched 98% of the time. Sometimes I have to travel overnight and that’s when she’ll eat a little kibble but that’s also the only time her poop smells. Homemade raw made with a quality grinder is a really great way to go.

As a former Hills rep for 34 years this was a great balanced approach to a controversial topic. It would be interesting to know the prevalence of urinary and renal occurrences in raw patients vs canned vs dry.

My old cat Milo died only yesterday at 17.5 years, he was fed his whole life on raw after a stint of yo-yo diets of supposedly top of the line brands that made him more and more sick and left him overweight and miserable. Raw changed all that including the needed weight loss and a high play drive (RIP my toes, lol), and even at the end of his life he still had all his perfectly white shiny teeth, soft and silky coat and never saw a kidney stone or other ailment in his entire life spare chronic kidney disease which apparently came on WAY too late than normal (16.5 years) but old age got him before the disease did. Thank you to all the raw feeders who helped me make his meals appropriate, you're all treasures to me for helping Milo get the the finish line of life as it should be.💖

What a great video! It’s nice to see a reasonable and objective point of view! As a raw feeder I share all these concerns.

Thank you, Dr. Wooten, for being open-minded and tackling this controversial topic!

Thank you for a carefully-balanced discussion that addresses the concerns of groups on both sides of this issue, then leaves the decision to the pet parent. Well done!

As for me, the case was decided when you mentioned your own experience as a doctor in favor of feeding raw. thank you for this informative video

Just want to give my experience with raw. I have a 9-year-old cat who is born in my house and his only ever eaten raw food (Darwin's Pet) since she was weaned. I just took her to the vet this week for a checkup. She has never had a dental cleaning has no tooth decay and no tartar at all. That by itself is revolutionary. Her blood panel is all in normal range. And most importantly she's literally and I am not exaggerating never in her 9 years of life had any illness any health problems any digestive problems not even a cold. She is in an ideal weight her coat is healthy and shiny. The other thing about raw food that I think is a testament in itself is the cat's poop. Meaning the cats digest so much of the nutrition and material from the raw food that they poop out these tiny dry little sawdust like pellets that have no odor and no moisture. Because their body is actually using all of the nutrition, there's no byproduct to poop out.

Thanks for the video! One of the other very noticeable benefits from feeding raw is actually their feces are NOT smelly anymore. This is something if you don't feed raw then you'll never know or not believe. Obviously the urine stream is better too because raw food contains a lot of liquid. I do believe the view that raw is a "species appropriate diet" for cats especially after experiencing that. Obviously this is a strong benefit for human/ pet parents too (who wouldn't love a non-stinky litter box?! lol) Raw food healed my two cats' problems; one with IBD and one with severe skin allergy. The one with allergy was pretty much all year around and the steroids based allergy shots and pills in the end gave him adverse effect for his legs. Contrary to what many people (most vets) think, I do have quite a few friends to switch to raw food and successfully reversed their cats (early) kidney disease. So kidney disease patients can definitely have raw food too. Again it's just because raw is a species appropriate diet while especially the kidney prescription food is just adding excessive salt to make your kitty thirsty and force him to drink water. As for costs, I echo a few other comments here. You can opt for a pre-mix route and just do your own cat food. If you're a completely newbie, just get the ground meat and add in pre-mix powder and water, mix them all nicely and that's it! It really won't take that much time and honestly it can be cheaper than wet food. I live in Canada so I have relatively less choices (and at times more expensive). In US you have TCFeline, Know Better Pet Food, EZComplete and Alnutrin. Just google them up and try any of them. Making your own cat food is really easy as 123. The real challenge is our fridge is not like commercial fridge and won't get to the same level of low temperature; make sure you freeze the meat long enough to kill any microorganisms.

Thank you for all that you do on this channel and as a vet. We need more vets everywhere.

I feed mine all three diets. Raw, kibble and wet food. He’s muscular, bright and active

I love your videos thank you so much Dr.Sarah Wooten for taking ur time to do these videos ❤

Great topic. Thanks for the information & your opinion.

Vets in general are not very positive about raw feeding, mine included. I get my cat tested yearly to make sure he is on track. Between the policing of vets by these medical boards to tow the line on promoting commercial pet foods and the fact that vets just aren't getting the information in vet schools, nor are they motivated to steer their clients away from the products they sell in their practices, it's not surprising too many are anti raw feeding vets. Just my opinion.

Thank you for sharing your honest thoughts doctor! Regarding the concern of parasites from eating raw prey, you can hit up companies that sell Frozen prey for boa constrictors. I've actually fed those two some foster kittens and they wipe them out head to tail. Some companies also sell frozen quail, rabbits and chicks. One even sold baby guinea pigs. Of course the company has to be clean and reputable. As for why the raw was so much better for your patients and the commercial, let's be honest doctor. Please understand that most of these foods contain additives, plant-based starches and materials cats can't properly metabolize and causes lots of stones and crystals, chemicals preservatives, and the meat and byproducts that are are rendered, meaning ultra pasteurized until they are cooked into oblivion with next to zero nutritional value and all possible nutrients are destroyed. I'm thinking it's the same process as ultra pasteurized milk, it's basically dead milk. We are basically feeding our cats zombie food. That's why you have to replace all the nutrients back with this inferior artificial stuff that lacks the subtle trace elements and absorption qualities needed. I don't claim to be an expert but I am University educated and this is worth investigating doctor. I hope you are open to taking a look at this because it is very important. I think we need to have a little more faith in the pet owners. We can learn. You can simply give us recipe cards to try out and the vets can monitor the animals blood work and stats to make sure it's balanced. Research and data can also be collected from these individual cases and you can track the patterns. I've also seen a trend where my friend who is normally allergic to cats doesn't react very much to my raw fed cats so it seems that he is indirectly allergic to the commercial pet food that is in the cat's system. That is my theory and I await further confirmations since I've only tested this twice. It is also to be noted that he also detoxed and improved his diet as well. If this is true then raw food will also help to get rid of the cat allergy problem and open up even more homes for adoption. That's how we can work well together with our vets but please don't underestimate the people's ability to learn. It's the same like having a child. We can't get a child and just give them cereal everyday. Why should we expect that of any animal? It would be great if vets and pet stores could facilitate raw food workshops to teach people how to prep it and even how to train cats to eat frozen prey to take the pressure off chicken, fish and beef production. It will give more business to people who sell Frozen prey items too! If we got to put our heads together with our vets and really dig and learn, we would be a powerhouse.

Thank you for talking about this in such an intelligent manner.

Raw can be cheaper than canned food, and easy! I pack mine in cheap deli style cups that hold 1 day's worth, and I always have one thawing in the fridge for the next day. I figured it costs $0.92/ 4.5oz daily serving. That translates to $3.30/lb, compared to quality (not raw) canned food that costs double. I also wash and re-use the cups, so I'm not filling the landfill with tiny cat food cans. Making it and packing it takes some time, but it's kind'a like making cookies.

Thank for for all this info!! Have you guys been experiencing a shortage on cat food in your areas? Specifically wet food. I’m fortunate enough to set alerts that notify me when things are restocked online but I know of some folks that have to go store to store and it sometimes they never find any. Maybe there’s a video in that somewhere

I love how objective you are. Looking for more of your videos.

My vet sells commercial BARF diets at the clinic, he and his assistant have both been very helpful and informative and I was so happy to find a vet who actually seems to know about nutrition beyond "give them pro plan they'll be fine" - my cat has had chronic diarrhea for months, pro plan did NOT work for her.

Always so interested in this topic! I really hope there are more peer reviewed studies in the near future! I’ve heard a handful of vets highly recommend raw diets, but also say it is very important to make sure you have certain nutrients like you said!!

Thank you for sharing this. I'm doing research and there's a lot of ambiguities and you explained many of them :D

My cats are FeLV positive and eat raw chicken, alone with Bravery kibble. But we freeze the chicken (liver, necks, hearts, breast) for 2-3 days before thawing it for their breakfast. That's meant to kill the parasites. We also give them the occasional raw egg. We wash all kitchen surfaces with a colloidal silver wash. It has been many years of this and they are thriving.

Dr. Wooten, thanks for all this valuable information. I haven't had a cat as a family member in over 30 years, but plan on adopting, but first doing my do diligence. I want to make sure my cat has a happy and healthy life.

As long as you feed a low phosphorus diet for cats with KD, which is possible. Meats like beef and bones are high in phosphorus. Add edd shells for calcium organs and chicken. And it's perfect for cats with KD. High protein diet is false they can have high protein so long as you avoid high phosphorus foods for them.

Great video. I feed my scottish fold a raw diet mostly Feline Natural & Stella & Chewy's but when i took him to the vet , he had high liver valves - so he went on a dandelion , milk thistle formula & now hes great. I still give him those along with some wet food from Hill's, & Instinct -umm he eats better then me !

Thank you for tackling this topic! Really appreciate the input. I do feed my cats commercial raw food that are already balanced. It actually works out the same price if not slightly cheaper. Really good point about concerns over immunocompromised cats and people, definitely will take this in mind as my cat gets older.

I've been feeding my cat raw meat since she was a kitten. I've also been feeding my cat raw meat, good canned cat food, sometimes good dry cat food, frozen raw cat food. My cat still goes out and hunts mice, birds, lizards, large bugs. My cat likes raw fish, raw pork, she eats the ends off of chicken bones, she likes raw rabbit. My cat goes outside when she feels like it and comes in the house when she feels like it. My cat is now a strong healthy adult cat with healthy fur 🙂

I do the freeze dried raw food from Stella and Chewy. It’s probably more expensive then if I did a truly raw diet, but I didn’t want to put in the time and also worried about making sure it was balanced. My kittens have been on this pretty much since I got them so can’t really comment on changes in energy or coat, but! The big win for me is that all litter box smells disappeared! Big big win in my opinion.

I appreciate your expertise and open feedback. Great information.

This makes sense when you explained they ate the whole animal, including what's in their gut. I noticed my cat became a bit constipated when fully switched to raw. Now I mix in a teaspoon of carrot in his meal to solve the problem.

My 8 month old kitten is on a raw food diet :) This diet was recommended by her breeder, so she weaned directly to raw and has never had kibble. She is very healthy and shiny and never sheds! I have been very impressed. I don't trust myself to formulate the right nutrient ratios for her (and also I'm a bit squeamish) so I use a commercial frozen raw food called Big Country Raw (I believe it's only available in Canada). It is NRC compliant and includes bone, organ meat and a small amount of veggies. I rotate her through all the proteins they offer for cats, and I've been very happy with it so far! Thanks for posting this balanced and honest video, it made me feel more confident in my choice to feed raw to my cat!

Thank you for this great video! I have been doing lots of research about cat food since me and my partner got our kittens this month. In their old home, they were fed with dry food and deli meats. I didn't think those were the appropriate food to them so I slowly transitioned them from dry food to homecooked food (which is what they are having now). I have done my research regarding the essential supplements needed to be added and what ingredients i should and should not add to their food. From time to time, I would offer them slightly-boiled chicken hearts and meats to see if they would want it. My kitten Luna loved it, although she still prefers the cooked meal. My other kitten Luca would only smell and play with it. I am still yet to try giving them raw meats. I guess even if we want our pets to have the best possible nutrition, it is still down to our pets if they want it or not. What I am sure of is my kittens love the soups/broths i made them 😁

Since my cat has been on dry food for most of her life, I continue to give her such unless her diet calls for something else (swapping to wet food for need of weight loss). On the other side... When I am cutting chicken or fish, I do in fact give her a couple little chunks and enjoy doing so as I know she REALLY likes raw chicken, even more so than cooked chicken.

Very interesting, full of good information about pros and cons and the dangers. This get is also very easy to listen to. I am sure going to try raw food diet but need to find out how to make it balanced diet for my cats. Thank you

Our journey started about a decade ago with rescue kittens that weren’t thriving. Switching to a homemade raw food showed an instant effect and once we added fermented vegetables for probiotics all digestive complaints pretty much ceased. We’ve made mistakes along the way but there is no denying the results you get from raw feeding!

Vet here. AAFCO doesn't have moral authority to say raw food is not balanced...maybe, maybe not. The average content of carbohydrates (sugar -which is not written on the cat food label-) in any bag of commercial dry food (AAFCO approved) is around 30% (!!!), and that, ladies and gentlemen, IS NOT balanced, because natural requeriments of carbs (sugar) for cats is ZERO, or at best 1 to 3%, which is in the stomach content of prey (mostly insoluble and indigestible fiber). In my 20 years of experience feeding and recommending raw food I haven't seen but benefits. Raw food is the best thing owners can do for for their beloved cats. Thanks for your video.

thanks for the info

Thank you for addressing this conversation. I'll continue feeding my cats commercial cat food.

Fed my 16 yo cat home made raw food fed for 15 years is incredibly youthful and healthy. Haven't had the need for a vet for 14 years. Didn't Vax her either. Fed her how mother nature designed her to eat. Not out of a box, bag or can.

Thanks for the tip about trying the packaged raw food first.

I have a 10-year old male Manx that I'm about halfway through the process of converting to raw. Changing him from dry to wet was pretty easy and going from wet to raw is proving pretty easy too. The only problem I ran into was that he was used to grazing with his dry food so I had to introduce him to the concept of mealtime. For safety reasons you can't leave the food out for more them 30- to 40-minutes. So anything he hasn't eaten by then goes bye bye; he's getting used to it. If you're thinking about making it yourself be sure to research because it's not as easy as grinding up some raw food. It requires an investment of time and money. Also, even if you're feeding a commercial raw food it time much more of your time than feeding dry or raw. You'll spend 15- to 20-minutes either thawing or rehydrating the food all while your VERY hungry cat is screaming at you to hurry up.

I've been feeding raw to my cats for 10 years. I had a cat with chronic kidney disease who was diagnosed at age 14. I switched her from dry food to canned and frozen raw (Rad Cat), and she lived until she was 16. My current cats are 8 and 6 years old. The 8-year-old has IBD and allergies, and when we give canned foods in addition to raw, both get worse, and we have the data including his symptoms on an Excel sheet to prove it. We are transitioning him to solely raw. The 6-year-old has been FIV positive since birth (SNAP+ and verified with IFA), and he eats about 25% canned food and 75% raw, but he has no health issues. We feed them both frozen raw (Bobcat foods from Houston, TX, which meets AAFCO standards) and Stella & Chewy's freeze-dried morsels (also meets AAFCO standards). I do not worry about my FIV+ cat's immune system, because he is asymptomatic, and because the health benefits of raw outweigh the risk of salmonella or other raw food pathogens. The raw foods we give carry a very low risk since they are frozen or freeze-dried, and we practice safe food handling techniques. I worked in food service for 14 years, but raw meat handling is common sense. I'm vegetarian, but most people work with raw meat on a daily basis when cooking for themselves, and this is no different.

When you feed raw you can see the advantages for yourself they are vast. I have meal prep videos that can help in the transition to raw.

I started feeding raw as a treat and my two voids really love it! Could you please give some perspective on a mixed diet; wets and some raw

Always a pleasure to hear, always full of good information. Thanks, doc Wooten! Love from Brazil! ps. What about raw meat specifically? Surely you've mentioned some of it in this video, but I'm wondering about giving my cat half of premium dry commercial food, and half of raw beef meat. She loves them both; and this is meat coming from good butcher shops (we humans eat it, but I realize it's cooked, not raw), I wash everything before and after, don't let it linger on her plate, I freeze it and thaw it in the fridge, etc. Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I adopted a Devon Rex at 15 years old who had numerous skin issues including weeping tummy sores. I was directed to an online cat food website who taught me to prepare and balance a raw cat food diet. Within 2 weeks all his weeping sores were gone, he was a more active. I now have two rescue cats and they are both on Raw cat food they absolutely love it. The doctor was right the owner has to learn how to balance the food to ensure proper nutrition.

Why no comparison with slow cooked/steamed canned and/or pouched options ? Some high quality ones ( not purina,friskes,etc...) have good protein/fat/carbs mix, similar to prey with very short ingredient list.

I feed my cat a human grade wet cat food called honest kitchen, I also feed him a little dry food (purina HA for his allergies).. and I just sent him to the vet and they said that his fur is so healthy and clean..

I would be interested in your thoughts on wysong brand vet developed food.

Loved Your Video 💝

Stray cats eat mice and birds, the only difference with dry pet foods is someone is making money off of it and some contain bad things that makes our pets full of disease such as cancer, liver disease etc. People forgot to be in touch with mother nature since we get everything in a package. I’m currently feeding 2 stray cats, they prefer to eat raw fish and cooked fish over the dry food. They’re crazy about it and they stopped touching the dry food. That says something.

Thank you for your opinion about raw food. Can you suggest a homemade lightly cooked food recipe for cats that's not expensive?

Hello, there is something I don't quite understand. Is calcium phosphate the same as regular calcium? Or do we need to give our cats regular calcium and calcium phosphate together? Or is calcium phosphate the form of calcium cats require?

Could you please talk about cats that have developed asthma. I have a 17y.o Sphynx female cat which is on a raw diet for 9 years. During your video you mentioned something about steroids and raw food was a con. Could you please discuss further. Thank you for your informative videos.

I feed my cat raw food and she was limping and her green eyes turned brown. I even added vitamins just in case I don’t get enough nutritions on her raw. Anyway I swapped into dried food ( I picked a fair good brand that is not so cheap at all) so now she is ok and her eyes are green again. So not sure what was happened there

is healthy gut bacteria important in cats the way it is in people? and if so are there equivalents of prebiotics (e.g. starches/fibers which feed normal gut bacteria) for cats? Thanks

I know our parasite teacher strictly said “dont feed raw they will get parasites..” and so on..she said its better to at least cook the meat and then give them the food. I was always confused by her sayings since ik processed food is kinda bad. I want to try to include raw food for him soon:)

I feed my cat a balance of wet and dry from open farm and she gets fresh spring water not from tap every day. I just haven't tried to go raw yet as I'm not sure of good sources for that kind of diet. Her coat is good and so far everything else is good.

thanks so much Doc.

Hi hi. So I tell my clients the exact same things for their pets health. I do have one concern though and do not know if its valid - cats + dogs. If feeding raw, the their pets lick them, is that a concern for pathogens? Also a dog playing with toys around the house, etc. I am so worried to get sued over telling a client it is ok to feed it. What if the humans get really sick? Am I liable for "allowing it"?

No more poop smell after starting my cat in raw. It’s incredible! ♥️

Hi I'm wondering your opinion on Big Dog for Cats and Leaps and Bounds Raw?

Thank you for this video, it is exactly what I was looking for! Could you do a video on Cat food allergies and/or other allergies cats can have? Thank you :)

Red dog, blue cat raw food is amazing. All of the meat is ethically sourced, the factories are very clean, and they offer a wide range of proteins for my cat!

I have been transitioning my cat to raw for several months now. I had blood test done b4 as a base line. I use mostly raw food from small companies like raw paws. Commercial kibble is the worst thing we could feed our cats. People ahould be very concerned about the # of recalls of commercial kibble. My cat has more energy and his eyes are even brighter. I am sold on raw feeding but u have to learn about cat nutrition nutrition.

I gave a raw 1 day old chick to my cat, she got very sick with diarrhea non stop for may weeks. Previously to that she was eating small portions of ground chicken neck without any problems - as an addition to dry cat's food.

Besides cats, i also have some pet snakes. If you really wanted to commit to ancestral (I don't), you can buy frozen mice, rats, chicks, and quail of various sizes.

Would love to feed my cats raw. But one prefers kibble and barely touches any wet food I give, and the other has been put on a special urinary kibble by the vet cos he wasn't drinking enough water due to eating most of the wet food I give them. The water he was getting from the raw food plus the water I added to the wet food weren't enough, and he just rarely drank from the water fountain. Raw is overall just a bit hard when you're not home all the time. Don't want it sitting there all day and I'm not always home to give it to them in multiple meals throughout the day.

My goodness I am in a rut trying to find out a good food to switch too. Ugh. Its so confusing. My vet and friend who I work for suggests Purina pro plan. But thats what was stuck in her pylorus! She's healthy and we aren't sure why it was even stuck. Her Bowel movements were hard clay like when we went into her intestines I need tonfind something to help with this. Ugh. Thank God shes healing fast and well. Shes my Turbo!

I have made my own cat and dog food for 10 years and kibble is the reason vets have a job, kibble is the worst for animals period!

Thoughts on Toxoplasmosis risk? Is it something to be concerned about?

Thank you!

Raw food reversed my cat’s IBD. Guess what gave him IBD in the first place? The industrial waste they pack up and sell to us as pet food.

I have been feeding Raw to my dogs and cats for 15 years. About three years ago I got a gray cat from the Humane Society. I think she had been a stray before that. She was fat, but I figured a little time with the raw diet she'd lose weight. The exact opposite has happened. She just keeps getting fatter. I've had her thyroid checked and I've had her check for diabetes. Both came back negative. She eats about 1/4 cup of raw food a day. I don't feel like I can go any less than that. What am I doing wrong?

We sell Big Country Raw at my work, and we have nutritionally balanced dinners.

i come from an exotic pet background. with exotic pets, you give them as close to what they’d eat in the wild as possible because that’s what their bodies are built to break down. my boyfriend and i just got a kitten so i naturally looked into raw because that’s simply what their bodies are built to break down and i was gobsmacked when the vet treated me like i was trying to do some hippy dippy alternative thing with my cat and urged us not to. i just don’t get it. the cat came before the dry and wet food industry. there’s no reason not to? all felines in a zoo or wildlife rehab are going to be fed raw. as long as you source well and understand that carnivores eat all parts of the body and do that right, what the hell is the problem?

I've seen Organic food for dogs sold at pet stores, but not cat food. After watching several vidoe's by vets and also Jackson Gallexy, I would def feed my future cat raw food and would add whatever vitamins they would need.

I have a Savannah and was told raw is the preferred diet

I bought a meat grinder. I grind chicken meat, chicken live, and chicken hearts. I add chicken bone powder and krill oil. I also feed them Farmina kibble which is a high qualitly dry food as well as Nelo wet can food which has no fillers or grains.

thank you for being brave and stating your professional opinion on raw diets which im sure goes against a lot of what you've been taught and what your colleagues likely scoff at. I can see how careful you have to be so you don't say the wrong thing here and it's sad that proper testing isn't done on raw food benefits so we can potentially stop being the problem in our pet's diseases. Thank you for the info

Can you please recommend what and how to feed a cat Raw, if they have allergies. My cat has had breakouts and stomach upset mainly to chicken, turkey, grains, etc. He has refused to eat venison and rabbit and deer are so expensive that I can’t afford to even try it. Even on what he can tolerate which is fish, salmon, he has a chronic ear itchiness. I desperately want to switch him to raw but have no idea what that means for limited ingredient cats because no one is given any specific recipes or suggestions. Everyone says yes it can help, or maybe it will help, but that’s it. No idea how to prepare it, what additives are needed, how much to feed them, etc. How do we connect with a Veterinary Nutritionist? My Vet pushes the limited ingredient canned food. I’m definitely concerned about time, preparation, cost and how to preserve it. My cat doesn’t eat all his canned food right away, so it’s likely to sit for a couple of hours before he finishes it. He also has FIV, so he’s considered immune compromised. 11:06 Yeah, my brain is overwhelmed now. 🤦🏽‍♀️

We feed dry food but the odd time they get a treat and we feed them and the dog deer meat I cook the outside of it and the middle is rawish.

Thank you for this Dr. Sarah, I just subscribed. Been trying to introduce my cat to freeze dried raw food. She ain’t having it though, not even in minuscule doses. She can smell it when I mix it with her regular can foods. I’d feel a lot better about her health if I could get her on a raw food diet. She’ll be 14 soon. Sorry to ramble. Thanks for posting this

I think cara and dogs are very different in terms of diet where I’m fine feeding kibble to my dog but refuse to go near it with my cat

My cat had a urinary blockage and i had to switch him to Royal canin SO diet, i feel like this isnt the healthiest food i should feed him, would switching him to a raw diet give the same preventative effects

Thank you for speaking about this. I have two male tuxedo rescues, and the older one (by three years) hasn't been as lively lately. His coat is more rough and dim, and he's very picky with his food. Sometimes he just won't eat it immediately, but he always eats. Recently I had to get his weight up as it dropped a bit, and that worked well. But the food choice, kibble (mainly meowmix) and wetfood, doesn't seem to work well for him, so I wanted to know if raw meat was safe for him. Cooking and making food for him is fairly useless, as he won't eat it at all. Eggs, steak, chicken, it's wasted. He was never on the streets long, and has been cared for very well, so he's spoiled. The other, younger cat, was on the streets longer and sometimes had to eat GRASS, so he eats everything. Long and short - does anyone think a piece of porterhouse from walmart would be good for a cat? I want to introduce it to him a little bit at a time.