February/March2016
RAWPETDIGEST IN THIS ISSUE: -Tr an si t i o n i n g y o u r cat t o p r ey m o d el r aw -St er o i d s -Get t i n g a " p i ck y " d o g t o eat -Nat u r al g r o o m i n g -A n d m u ch m o r e!
Photo credit: Thomas Sandberg
Raw Pet Digest Editor-in-chief: Kristin Clark Technical editor: Dr. Jeannie (Jeannette) Thomason
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Our mission at Raw Pet Digest is to share information that supports natural health with a broad audience to help improve the lives of our carnivore pets. We believe that only the body is capable of achieving and maintaining true health, but we also believe that there are many things that we can do to help support the body in its quest to maintain balance (health). Raw Pet Digest aims to help educate and inform you about those things so that you can help your pet live a long life and thrive naturally.
DISCLAIMER: All information contained in Raw Pet Digest is intended for educational purposes only. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prevent, or treat any disease, illness, or injured condition of the body or pets, and the author(s), publisher, and contributors accept no responsibility for such use. Anyone or their pets suffering from any disease, illness, or injury should consult with their physician or veterinarian. The statements herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Additionally, all views expressed herein by those being interviewed or featured are their own views and do not necessarily represent the views of Raw Pet Digest. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author(s) and Editor-in-Chief. The articles herein are for educational purposes only. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the reader.
Lycan, Merlin, Midge, and Pansy. Photo credit: Bre Altherr
FEATURESAND COLUMNS Letter from the Editor - 4 Transitioning Your Cat to a Species-Appropriate Diet: Part 3 - 5 My Dog Won't Eat Raw! - 11 Spotlight on Health: Dr. Jeannie Thomason - 15 The Design of a Carnivore - 20 The Importance of Fresh Air - 21 Natural Grooming - 22
Minky the cat. Photo credit: Jess Ray
Natural Alternatives: Colloidal Silver - 28 Steroids in Our Pets - 32 Flea and Tick Prevention: Part 2 - 34 The Gift of Love - 38
Gage, a Havanese. Photo credit: Bre Altherr
Letter fromtheEditor Welcome to the February/ March issue of Raw Pet Digest! I hope 2016 is off to a great start for each and every one of you. As 2016 really gets underway, I?ve been thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. Just recently, I was in the grocery store doing some shopping, and a woman approached me. She looked very familiar, but I was feeling really ill and not at my best, and I couldn?t immediately place her. She introduced herself to me, and told me she had seen me and wanted to come over and thank me for the advice I had given her about switching her dog to a species-appropriate raw food (SARF) diet. Her dog had been suffering from allergies and hot spots, and nothing she had done had helped. She had tried allergy tests, changing food, medications? nothing had worked. In the summer, I had recommended that she try a SARF diet. She told me that her budget was very limited, but she took my advice. She started feeding her dog a raw diet, and the allergies and hot spots cleared up. She told me that it had been a bit of an adjustment, but that she had grown to value the time she spent with her dog while he was eating, and even the time spent preparing his meals. She went on to say that switching her dog to a SARF diet was the best advice she had gotten.
Kristin with Cleo, Motley, Elle, and Barkley. Photo credit: Adam Gilbert
As they share their stories, they may inspire others to begin their own journey towards natural health, and so on and so on. And, as more and more people begin to take personal responsibility for their pet?s health (and their own health), we become more powerful and more informed as a whole. I think this encapsulates what my goal for this year is? to keep sharing my passion and my knowledge with others, while at the same time learning everything I can so that I, too, can continue to grow.
In 2016 and beyond, I encourage you to take the time to learn as much as you can about how to support your pet?s health naturally. And I also encourage you to share what you learn, because you never know the impact it might have. We will continue to bring you as much information I cannot express how much her words meant to as possible, and as always, we welcome your me. Knowing that she is giving her dog a stories, comments, and questions. chance to heal, and that he is no longer suffering needlessly through the discomfort of If you haven?t already done so, please take a few allergies and hot spots, absolutely warms my minutes to fill out the survey you received about Raw Pet Digest. As a thank you for filling it out, heart. you will receive a free one-year subscription. Each time someone takes a step down the road of supporting their pet?s health naturally, it has Thank you for reading. Enjoy the issue! a profound and positive impact, not only on -Kristin their pet?s life, but potentially far beyond that. 4
TRANSITIONINGYOURCATTOA SPECIES-APPROPRIATEDIET: PART3
Cat in tree. Photo credit: Yanikap
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In this article (the third and final part in our series about how to transition your cat to a species-appropriate diet), I talk about how to make the switch to a prey-model raw diet.
his side teeth to scissor off bite-sized pieces, shortening his learning curve and helping to strengthen jaw muscles atrophied from years of eating crumbly kibbles and canned mush.
Since its arrival in the US in the 1930?s, the pet food industry has been extraordinarily successful in their marketing campaigns, managing to convince an entire generation that they are inherently incapable of feeding their pets without ?expert? guidance, and erasing over 10,000 years of evolutionary fact: to whit, cats are obligate carnivores that thrive on a raw meat, prey-based diet. Today, home-feeding raw meat, bones, and organs is considered a novel and dangerous concept.
Chicken and pork are great starter meats, as they are fairly soft and easy to chew. And on the topic of pork, you are likely going to hear comments indicating that many cats don?t like pork or beef, or are ?allergic? to them. First, every cat is different and you never know what your cat will like until you try him. Second, cats change their minds all the time; if you keep offering variety, they will eventually accept and adjust to it. And variety is very important. Third, true feline protein allergies are exceedingly rare. Almost invariably, if a cat throws up a particular food, it?s due to other reasons. Some of the most common are: the food was too cold, the cat ate it too fast or swallowed too large a chunk for proper digestion, and? if the cat has gone too long without eating? he?s regurgitating it due to the high acid content in his stomach. In every one of these scenarios, the cat can usually re-eat the food and keep it down without issue.
The truth, of course, is that anyone putting a little thought and time into it can home-feed a cat; it?s neither mind-boggling nor formidable. To help you get started home-feeding your kitty, here are several prey model raw, or, as it?s affectionately known, ?frankenprey? feeding tips. Int roducing your cat t o meat The best way to introduce a cat to meat is to cut it in long strips no wider than your pinkie finger. This is small enough for the cat to fit one end in his mouth, but will force him to use
Photo credit: Tracy Dion
Another common reason for regurgitating or vomiting raw home-prepared foods is the presence of flavor ?enhancers? in the meat. Always read the labels before you buy, even if it?s an item you regularly purchase. Look for words like ?injected,? ?added flavor,? ?more tender,? and/ or ?juicier?; all of them likely indicate that some type of seasoning has been added to the meat. Cats that don?t hork these products up may suffer from hot spots or itchy skin, rashes, loose stools, or increased thirst, so it?s important to avoid them. Note: If you can?t tell whether the meat has been enhanced or not, look at the ?per serving? numbers. Products with less than 100 mg of sodium per serving are probably free of these additives. 6
Int roducing your cat t o bones If you?ve done any research into this topic, you?ve likely already come across the 80/ 10/ 5/ 5 guideline (or, 80-87% meat, fat, skin, sinew, connective tissue and heart, 5-10% edible bone, 3-5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ). Calculating how much to feed daily? that would be 2-4% of your cat?s weight? is easy enough, and multiplying that by .80 or .05 for the meat and organ percentages is also easy, but trying to figure out 5-10% edible bone when bones are purchased and must be fed wrapped in meat is not. This is, in fact, one of the most common questions from neophyte raw-feeders. My response? Don?t bother trying to ascertain the specific calculations. The 5-10% range is the average bone content of several of the cat?s natural prey animals, and no matter where a cat?s comfort zone lies within that range, too little will cause loose stools and too much will cause increasingly hard stools. The average cat finds three staggered bone-in meals a week (i.e. Monday night, Wednesday night and Saturday night) perfectly acceptable, and for most, the wing-tip and center portions of a single medium-sized chicken wing make a nicely proportioned meal (and the drummette, deboned, makes a great all-meat meal). Keep in mind that these comments reflect a menu that consists of three meals a day. Unlike dogs, cats evolved to eat many discrete, small meals over a 24-hour period, and they shouldn?t be fed any less than three times a day. So start there! For a couple of weeks, feed your cat bone-in meals consisting of the tips and wingettes of chicken wings. Get used to estimating how much bone that is, and watch the litter box? if your cat?s stools stay firm but moist, you know he?s eating an acceptable amount of bone. If they become soft, you can
add a wee bit more bone (unless you?re feeding a lot of fat or organs, and we?ll talk about that in a minute), and if they become too hard or dry, you need to cut back on the amount just a bit. Note: If your cat is new to bone or has trouble with the wings, cut the tips off at the joint, and cut the wingettes in half lengthwise, parallel to and in between the two bones. If he still has trouble, you can break the bones for him, but try not to break the skin, as you want him to learn to eat these on his own. After that two-week period, you should have a good grasp of how much bone your cat needs and can start swapping the chicken wings for other bone-in meals. Variety is important, so try to source at least one or two other types of bone-in products, like chicken and rabbit ribs with meat, and small rabbit bones. Int roducing your cat t o organs There are two organ requirements in a frankenprey diet. The first is liver and the second is any other secreting organ from the body of an animal? pancreas, testicles, thyroid glands, and kidneys are all great options. If you can alternate between them, so much the better. You can source these products from any animal, but poultry and rabbit organs seem to be better tolerated.
Red chicken. ŠStef22
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Note: From a raw-feeding perspective, lungs, gizzards, and heart are considered muscle meats and do not count as part of the organ percentage. Organs contain enzymes? one of their primary benefits? and are often strongly flavored. A cat that is not accustomed to eating organs may become nauseous if fed too much at one time. Even many experienced cats can?t handle more than an ounce at once (think of how tiny are the organs inside a mouse or a bird!). For this reason, don?t feed an entire week?s worth of organs in a single meal and don?t make an entire meal out of organs? your cat is almost guaranteed to throw it right back up if you do. Instead, spread the week?s organs out over several meals and make each meal half organ and half meat. In addition to nausea and vomiting, too much organ can cause loose stools. As you are working to transition your cat onto a frankenprey diet, work first with meats, then get the bone-in meals adjusted, then add in the organs. It is not harmful for your cat to eat an organ-free diet for a few weeks (a few weeks only!). Fat and Skin Cats are constrained by their physiology to sourcing all of their energy, growth, and maintenance needs through the calories found in meat-based proteins and fat. They cannot properly utilize the calories from carbs (these are simply turned into body fat) and, in fact, if they do not get enough calories through meat-based protein and fat, they will sabotage their own bodies for what they need, irrespective of how many plant-based calories they may also be eating. (This is the underlying reason so
many older and kidney-compromised cats lose muscle mass.) Obviously, then, a cat?s need for protein and fat is higher than human or canine requirements. Any cat eating a meat-based 80/ 10/ 5/ 5 diet is going to get its protein needs satisfied. Fat, on the other hand, needs to be monitored.
Cat hunting mice. ŠKatarzyna Mazurowska
Skin is a good source of fat, so try to leave it on whenever possible. Chicken products are also often high in fat, so including them on your cat?s menu several times a week is a good idea. Rabbit is usually a very lean animal, so it should never be the bulk of a cat?s diet. Unless the fat is very thick, hard, or chunky, it can usually be left alone in pork and beef products. Of course? as with any excess? too much fat in a single meal has consequences, and these usually arrive in the form of nausea and/ or loose stools. For this reason, it?s usually best to pull the thicker skin off chicken breasts, thighs, and quarters.
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Keep a journal and creat e a schedul e Keeping a journal might take a bit of your time, but the return on investment is high. You will come to understand your cat and his needs quicker, and you will be able to spot potential trouble sooner. Without a journal, for instance, I may not have realized my lovely Rachel had regurgitated several of her first few beef meals because she absolutely loves beef and was so eager to eat, she was swallowing whole chunks. Once I started cutting her beef in smaller pieces, the regurgitation stopped, and I was able to slowly work her back up to whole ounce chunks. Likewise, a feeding schedule might take a bit of work initially, but once created and posted somewhere easily accessible, it relieves you of the need to wonder on any given morning what you should be feeding that day. I sometimes hear raw feeders proclaiming that feeding raw is so simple they just throw down a little of this and a little of that, and I find myself concerned on their behalf? raw feeding is a simple concept, but it cannot be haphazard in practice. Balance is vital to maintain health. So work up a schedule (an example of my schedule is included on the next page for you to see) for stress- and error-free balanced feeding. Don?t st ress it !
meal, others may take weeks. However long it takes your cat, don?t force, don?t hover, and don?t stress about it. Cats are very sensitive creatures and pick up distress quite easily. If you are hovering over them, shedding anxiety and begging them to just eat one bite (and I have counseled owners who have done just this), your cat is more likely to want to hide from the obviously impeding ?awful event? than he will be to eat. So relax! Take it at your kitty?s pace and enjoy each step as he learns to eat the way nature intended for him. You will be better able to manage and even enjoy his progress. I have spoken with many owners who exclaimed that after cringing during the first few bone-in meals, the sound of their cat chomping through bone now gives them a curious sense of satisfaction, and so it will be with you! -By Tracy Dion Tracy Dion is a writer and feline care and behavior consultant, specializing in nutrition and feeding a species-appropriate diet. She has worked with rescue and shelter organizations rescuing and socializing cats, dogs, birds, rats, and reptiles for many years, but her focus for the last decade has been on cats. She is dedicated to improving their health and welfare through owner education, and is passionate about improving the owner/animal bond through increased understanding of natural feline behaviors and needs. She is a professional member of the Cat Writers?Association and past Editor of Raw Instincts Magazine, as well as the mind behind CatCentric.org. Her articles have been published by the Feline Nutrition Education Society, the online magazines Raw Instincts and Catnip Chronicles, the American Council for Animal Naturopathy, and more.
And speaking of stress? . don?t! You are not in a race and there is no time limit on a transition. This is a lifestyle change for you and for your cat and it must be done at the cat?s pace. Some will take to raw after a single
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Below is an example of my weekly feeding schedule for my cats. You will find that making a schedule keeps you on track and ensures that you feed your kitties in such a way as to create balance over time.
Somali cat hunting. ŠJuliasha 10
MYDOGWON'TEATRAW! Sometimes, when we decide to start feeding a species-appropriate raw food (SARF) diet to our dogs, they seem to have other ideas. I have heard things like, ?My dog just won?t eat raw,? ?My dog only likes cooked chicken,? or even ?My dog refuses to eat anything other than her kibble.? Nobody wants their dog to starve, but we do want to make sure they?re eating the best thing possible, so what do we do? The first thing to keep in mind is that, unlike cats, it is perfectly fine to fast healthy dogs for several meals, and even several days. So, before switching your dog to a SARF diet, it is a really good idea to fast them completely for 12-24 hours (my recommendation is the full 24 hours). This is true whether or not you typically feed your dog once per day, twice per day, or even free-feed them their kibble. Fasting gives their body a chance to flush out some of the kibble (reset, if you will) and build up a hearty appetite.
Once you have fasted your dog for 24 hours, put down their first species-appropriate meal. Give your dog its space; in other words, don?t hover nervously over him or her, anxiously watching for them to take a bite. Keep an eye on your dog from a bit of a distance? after all, would you want someone looming over you while you ate, intently watching your every move? Dogs are sensitive, and this is even less appealing to them than it would be to us. If your dog doesn?t seem very interested in the food, that?s fine. Leave it down for 15 or 20 minutes, then pick up the food bowl and put the food away. Of course, if your dog is still working on eating after 15 minutes, let them continue eating, but if he or she isn?t interested, calmly take it away. If your dog is a healthy adult, wait another 24 hours before you try again. Put the same amount of food down, and give your pooch another 15 or 20 minutes to eat. You can encourage your dog to eat, but again, don?t hover anxiously. If your dog refuses to eat, pick the food up as you did the day before and put it away. After a few days of this, healthy adult dogs will realize that this is the food that they are now getting, and will eat it from that point on. I have seen this more than once, and in fact, we used this method with Motley when we first got him. It took him two or three days before he would eat a SARF meal for the first time. Because his teeth and gums were in such poor shape, it took about a week before he was able to eat without
Raw meaty bones. ŠCybertrone | Dreamstime.com
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