Question
Following the breeder's advice it would be a good idea to feed my British Shorthair cat a bit of raw food from time to time. I saw that the term for a raw diet is "BARF", an acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Unfortunately in the country I live there is no raw (frozen) food available for cats. Therefore I would like to create my own. How should I do it so I minimize the risk of infection but also create a balanced meal for my cat (even if I just give him such food once every 1-2 weeks)?
Answer
I also live in a country with less than stellar food quality. Still, it's possible to get your cat on raw (or semi-raw) diet. There are some things to consider though.
First, it's not a good idea to combine commercial foods with raw diet. Commercial foods, at least good quality, are carefully balanced, there are certain amounts of proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins, and minerals that are supposed to be healthy for your cat. When you mix that diet with something else, you upset the balance, there's bound to be too much of something and too little of something else. It might not affect your pet whatsoever, or it might cause (or contribute to) serious health problems in the long run. There's no way of knowing for sure. Still, I prefer to stay on the safe side. So, either raw, or commercial foods. Unless raw is an occasional treat, then it shouldn't interfere much.
Second, if you can't be sure of the quality of meat you get, you should process it very carefully. Boiling it is an option, but not a good one. Cats digest boiled meat a lot worse than raw, and a lot of vitamins and the like decompose in heat. Chicken should be boiled or steamed regardless though, because chickens are natural carriers of Salmonella (a kind of pathogenic bacteria), and these are very sturdy buggers, they die only if you boil them for at least half an hour.
Another option is deep-freezing meat (or just freezing it for prolonged period), then defrosting it, then putting it in boiling-temperature water, and leaving it there for about 15 minutes. There are some rules though. Many single-cell pathogenic organisms (for example, Toxoplasma) die in -30 °C in about 2 days, in -25 °C in about a week, and in -18 °C (regular temperature of freezers we use at home) in at least 2-3 weeks or more. Some (including Toxoplasma) 'burst' when they are defrosted. Most fungi, on the other hand, endure cold quite well, but they die in heat, hence the boiling water. All of that is from practical knowledge though, not scientific, so if there are any professionals here, sorry in advance if I got anything wrong. Seems to work for all breeders I know who opt for raw diet though. There was just one case of toxoplasmosis, as far as I know, when the breeder gave her cat a bit of fresh meat before she put it in the freezer.
Now, the ingredients. Pure meat is a good treat, but it's not balanced food. In nature cats eat birds and mice with the contents of their stomachs, and they eat some grass (to barf hairballs, but still), so they do need ingredients other than meat, somewhere between 5 and 20%. Some vegetables (pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, everything heat-processed in some way till it's soft-ish), grains (oatmeal, buckwheat, wheat bran, rice, everything steamed or boiled till it's soft; careful with rice though, too much might cause constipation), a bit of olive or cotton-seed oil, laminaria (unless your cat is a smoke/silver/shaded/tipped show cat -- laminaria, as well as everything else with iodine, makes fur a bit darker, which makes smoke/silver/etc. less contrast), good vitamins. In another meal give your cat fermented dairy products (such as fatless yoghurt or fatless sour cream), boiled egg yolk, probiotics, additional calcium. Many people mix those, but it's not such a good idea, because iron (in meat) prevents calcium from being properly digested.
As for meat, fatless beef/veal, fatless lamb, chicken breasts, some beef/chicken hearts/liver, some turkey, some rabbit work fine. Pork -- not so much. Don't give cats fatty meat (or fatty anything) -- their liver is too fragile to handle too much fat. Which is to be expected actually -- have you seen any fat birds or mice in nature?
If you want to give your cat fish, opt for ocean fish, boil it (there can be some specific worms in fish), and don't give it more than once a week (it contains too much phosphorus, which can be bad for health).
Answered By - Kaworu
