Yesterday two things happened: My persnickety feline Dash chanced a bite of as-natural-as-you-can-get-in-a-package food, and the dSO berated me for not eating enough vegetables.
Here’s the deal. I’m a carnivore. I’m a strong German girl who needs solid food — meat and bread — to fill up. Vegetables and fruit are like Chinese food for me; I get hungry 30 minutes after I finish a meal. So I eat a lot of “filler” foods to help, stuff like chips and salsa. But the dSO, who has apparently been keeping my food diary of late, thought I should eat more fruit and veg. At first I was annoyed (I don’t nitpick about anything of his), but I realized he had a point. What I needed to do was eat my 5-6 servings of veggies, and then I could gnaw away at all the junk that seems to help me stay full.
The irony, of course, is that I’ve been trying to get the girls to eat more natural food. I once read a book called The All-New Natural Cat by Anitra Frazier, and she argues that we ought to be feeding our pets raw meat and organs because that’s what the tykes would be eating if they were in the wild. I’ve made my own cat food before with organic meats and liver, a bit of grain and a bit of veg. Cole loved it and within a couple of weeks he had a show-quality coat. But this was pretty labor-intensive, even when I mixed up a big batch and froze meal-sized bits for thawing and serving later.
Wanting to start the girls out right, I opted for a compromise — Wysong dry food. They love it and I can order it through my local health food store cheaper than I can order it directly online. After a few months, I thought I really ought to get them onto real meat. Both Dot and Dash turn up their noses at raw beef and chicken (!) so I decided to have a go with canned Wysong. Dot licks up the juice and Dash looks offended; no real food is consumed.
This meant pulling out all the stops. The dry Wysong is apparently good enough to them (despite not being made of swept-up-off-the-floor-entrails) that they’re spoiled. I got hold of Wysong’s Archetype (low-moisture, minimally-processed raw food), mixed it up with some water, and we’re finally seeing some progress. Of course, it helps that I haven’t given the girls anything else for the past four days… The thing is, a cat can go without food for about a week. So it takes them a long time to figure out that they’re actually hungry and they need to eat whatever’s on their little plates.
Dot’s been polishing off the food in the middle of the night when no one’s looking. Dash is finally going over for a sniff periodically and she actually had a nibble this morning.
Think I’ll go have a few peas and carrots. After that, I can dig into the popcorn!
4 Responses to “Feed me”
You actually made cat food - honestly, I’m not sure if I’m impressed or laughing. I guess, more impressed. My dogs just think they’re spoiled - they get dry food (pet store, expensive dry food, but dry nonetheless).
Think I’ll go munch on some celery :)
Yep, I made my own cat food. That’s because I read the alarming chapter in Anitra’s book (and which has since been verified elsewhere) that pet food is made up of bits that aren’t “human-grade.”
That means anything swept up off the floor, cancerous or diseased flesh, etc. can go into pet food. Those things are called “meat by-products.”
Even food like Science Diet and Iams contain some of these by-products. Missing nutrients are added chemically.
That’s one reason I started the search for a “natural food” pet food supplier. I used Pet Guard (usually carried by Whole Foods grocer) for a long time as an alternative to making my own cat food.
Now I’m on a Wysong kick because Dr. Wysong actually says, “Don’t feed your pet our food — make it up for them.” Sure, that could be a clever marketing gimmick playing on my guilty conscience, but in reality, it’d be cheaper to make up raw food for the girls than to order his healthy and expensive food off his web site or get it shipped to the health food store.
If only the girls would eat raw food….
Okay, I’m NOT reading Anitra’s book - and I refuse to feel guilty - ignorance is bliss (well, at least, less guilt ridden). And, I’m resisting the urge to look on the Eukanuba bag and see if it lists meat by-products. I’m sure it does, but again, ignorance is bliss. Only, I’m not totally ignorant anymore … and, I couldn’t resist. I had to look. First thing listed; chicken by-products. I don’t even cook on a regular basis for my family. Geeze, here comes the guilt ….
There are several good alternatives: PetGuard, Wysong, and Newman’s Own pet foods use real meat rather than by-products. Wysong is carried in a lot of feed and seed stores, which makes it a bit easier to get hold of. Also, the girls tend to eat a bit less than regular Science Diet, perhaps because their little bodies are getting all the nutrition they need in less food.
If I don’t order directly from the manufacturer, I trot down to my local health food store and they order the food for me; even though I pay a couple of dollars extra, that ends up being cheaper than paying for shipping.