Nutritional Needs for Cats
Knowing the proper nutritional needs for your cat can be difficult, but we’re here to help.Transitioning a cat to a raw diet can be challenging. For some it can take days and for some it can take months. Kittens usually adapt to raw food with ease. Special kitten food is unnatural and unnecessary; kittens eat the same food as adult cats, just in larger quantities and more frequently to support their growth. You can use the same raw feed calculator for kittens as you would for dogs.
Although cats are naturally inclined to hunt and consume fresh prey, they can also thrive on pre-minced raw foods. Fresh kills provide high levels of taurine, essential for cats. This can be easily supplemented by adding heart to their daily intake. Typically, adding 20% heart to their diet is recommended.
Raw meaty bones are also important, cats will learn to chew and handle bones as they grow. Kittens can generally manage a chicken wing. If you have an older cat that eats raw meaty bones, let the kittens observe and mimic this behaviour.
As predators, cats are adapted to cope with periods of fasting when prey is scarce. This fasting allows their organs to rest and their bodies to flush out unwanted wastes or chemicals, similar to other animals.
The primary issue with processed, dried pet food is its synthetic nature. It cannot be assimilated by the body’s cells like a SARF™ diet can. In the wild, 8.7 million species thrive on their natural diets without the need for veterinary care or treatments for fleas, worms, and vaccinations. Processed foods often contain excessive grains and carbohydrates.
Transitioning a cat from a commercial, processed diet to a raw one can be quick or slow, sometimes taking up to three months. Cats often develop addictions to dry food, making the transition difficult. Additionally, unlike in the wild, readily available food can hinder the process. In nature, animals do not have set meals at specific times or in fixed amounts.
Nutritional Needs for Cats
Genetically, the dog is 99.8% identical to the grey wolf. Because of this close genetic relationship, dogs are often used in physiological studies as models for understanding wolf biology.
Comparing digestive systems among carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores reveals distinct differences. Carnivores have digestive systems that are 3-6 times their body length, featuring short, smooth, and fast-acting guts optimised for quick protein digestion. Carnivores have larger livers to process proteins and nitrogenous wastes, and their highly elastic stomachs can hold large quantities of meat, bone, and organs.
Dogs possess a relatively short foregut and a smooth, unsacculated colon, meaning food passes through quickly.
Despite domestication, dogs’ physiological requirements have not changed. They still have sharp, jagged teeth for tearing meat and forward-facing eyes for hunting.
At Sure4Pets, we advocate for feeding dogs a SARF diet, consisting of raw muscle meat (chicken, beef, turkey, fish, lamb, rabbit, etc.), organ meat (all internal organs and offal), and raw bones. Typically, this diet includes 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% offal. We advise against feeding vegetables for many reasons, as dogs’ digestive systems are specifically designed to break down meat and bones to obtain essential nutrients.
