I started feeding raw cat food over 5 years ago when I first brought Cornelius home. When I started researching raw cat food, I didn’t know anyone who was also feeding this way. Since I started feeding raw I love discovering others who share this priority for their cats. There is so much we can learn from each other. Feeding raw is definitely not as easy as opening a bag of kibble. But the benefits for our cats are undeniable. Which is why I like to be inspired by other raw feeders to help me continue on my raw feeding journey.
I discovered Small Desert Carnivore on instagram and I was memorized by her beautiful photos. You can see her attention to detail and the dedication she puts into her cats’ healthy diet. I was fascinated with her cats and I wanted to learn more about her story. Below are some questions she answered for me regarding her journey feeding raw cat food.
Why did you start feeding raw cat food?
It all began with Marni. I had been a dog owner previously, disliking cats in general, and I had cat allergies. Then one night, out of the blue, a white, fluffy animal tapped on the door. She was a beautiful (but exhausted and lost) Ragdoll who was just over a year old. Having no interest in or knowledge about cats, I didn’t know what to do but my boyfriend, Ryan, had already let her in the house. Weeks passed and no one claimed her as the owner. I surprised myself at how quickly I fell in love with her, leading to me to consider adopting her. Ryan and I understood the commitment and responsibility of having a new family member. It is a life altering decision. After much consideration, we decided to adopt Marni. Well, it feels as though Marni adopted us.
Initially, I didn’t put much thought into her diet. I took the typical route of visiting Target or Petco to look for basic dry kibble. A few days went by and I started to notice Marni’s excessive scratching, loss of fur, and even some bleeding. I immediately took her to one of the biggest animal hospital chains, VCA. During the visit, the veterinarian made a brief examination to determine a steroid shot as a resolution, without ever mentioning her diet and food. Ultimately, the steroids did just about nothing to help and the scratching and bleeding continued for 3 weeks. This resulted in more money and time spent at the vet, who finally recommended me to take Marni in seeing an animal dermatologist. Meanwhile, her diet and food was still outside of the vet’s consideration. It didn’t feel right. It felt wrong actually, even for someone like me who had very little knowledge about cats. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and tried a few things at home. I started by reading the ingredients on the kibble package. I was horrified and couldn’t believe my eyes. Then after further research, I was able to figure out the truth of the pet food manufacturer’s process. I then took a leap and changed Marni’s food to raw. Marni’s scratching and bleeding stopped in 2 days and her fur has since never been more luscious.
What happened to Marni?
Thankfully, it didn’t take much for Marni to transition from dry kibble to raw food. She now wears a soft and thick winter coat, even in the summer. As for me, witnessing Marni’s struggles, recovery, and thriving due to her transition from dry kibble to raw food has led me to become a strong raw feeder advocate.
Tell me about your new cat.
Marni is dependent on companionship. For a short time I used a home camera to peek at Marni’s life when she was alone and it didn’t take long for me see how lonely she was. My past dog had suffered from loneliness and depression so I was determined not to make the same mistake. I needed to find Marni a sibling. His name is Messi, like the soccer player, because he loves to play soccer all day. He arrived at 6 months old and took on raw food immediately, but his body wasn’t ready. He struggled with diarrhea for about a week. So I returned to Royal Canin dry food, which was what he was eating prior and slowly transitioned to raw. After just 3 weeks, Messi fully transitioned to raw food. I got a bit curious so tried an experiment with Messi, where I offered him two separate plates, one with Royal Canin dry kibble and the other with raw meat. Messi quickly approached the raw meat and licked the plate dry, not even touching the dry kibble plate.
What resources do you use to plan meals?
I find this book to be the most comprehensive.
Other books include:
Where do you buy the meat?
I live in Los Angeles, California. Grass-fed/finished muscle meat, organs, and bones aren’t the most ubiquitous resources. After months of research and onsite visits, I now have a few go-to sources.
Soul’y Raw
Diamond Mountain Ranch
Electric City Butcher
K9 Grillz for non-anesthetic dental cleaning
What reactions do you get from others about feeding raw cat food?
Some repeated reactions I receive are either, “Wow, tell me more about species appropriate diet. Where can I learn more about this?!” or “Oh, how frivolous. You must have high disposable income to spoil your purebred kitties!” Raw diet is still perceived as a luxury option, not a must and species appropriate.
Your photos of meal times are so beautiful, is feeding raw always so beautiful?
I’m a vegetarian. It took some time for me to develop the guts to handle and serve raw meat to Marni and Messi. I had never cut, or even touched raw organs before. I try to cope with it by having fun with them. Their usual meals are served with supplements (to fill nutritional gap) muscle meat, organs in chunks and ground bones instead of everything mixed and ground, at warm body temperature. I learned that this is to mimic the body temperature of a freshly killed prey, and the chunks help with bringing stimulation to the cats through the act of chewing and tasting different body parts of the prey. Most recently, I’ve added beef tongue. The surprising benefit of tongue is that the brush-like texture cleans their teeth, just like a toothbrush!
You can follow her two cats Marni and Messi on Instagram @smalldesertcarnivore
