We DO NOT Recommend Feeding Raw To Your Sphynx

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Our Opinion On Raw Diet…

This page is dedicated to our opinion of the raw diet, we get asked a lot why we are against feeding raw meat to our cats, so I decided to put my opinion out there for everyone. My opinion on raw feeding cats is based on feeding homemade ground raw to our cats for over a year, and also with having 15 years experience breeding the sphynx. Raw feeding advocates stress the fact that in the wild animals eat uncooked and unprocessed foods. The reasoning I’ve heard is, “Raw closely approximates the diet cats would get in the wild—the diet to which their physiology is naturally attuned." Wild cats do eat a varied diet in the wild including organs, brains, skin, fur, of small mammals, birds, fish, snakes other reptiles, insects and occasionally stomach and intestines of mice and other rodents.

First off lets start by telling you my experience. I went out and spent $1000 on a brand new meat grinder. Joined every group online about raw feeding and friended a bengal breeder that was feeding raw for a few years that was willing to share her knowledge. So I started grinding about 150 lbs of meat a month. Beef, chicken, turkey, bone, and organ meat. I had 12 cats at the time. 2 had pretty bad belly issues. Well, 4 of my cats completely refused to eat raw. Didn’t matter what I did. They would rather have starved themselves then eat it. My 2 with belly issues got WORSE. I even tried them on Rabbit and Duck meat mixture. It didn’t work AT ALL. They were vomiting and diarrhea worse then ever. The diarrhea was so bad she was having bowel moments of straight food within minutes of eating. She was hospitalized for 8 days. So I thought about it…. I have sphynx well in their late teens (my very first sphynx kitten ever produced in 2003 actually lives with my mother, along with 5 of my retired foundation cats, just to give you some insight on the senior kitties we have ) that all have been on commercial food since they were weaned, and none have EVER been sick a day in their life with anything serious. Over the last 15 years I have had many litters of kittens, and breeding males and females live here, all on a commercial diet of kibble and wet patee, with no issues linked to diet. My 3 mane coons and 4 DSH cats I had growing up that all lived well into their very late teens. I dont ever remember any needing to see a vet. ALL on commercial food. Yes at times someone may have had a belly issue and food may have had to be changed. But no serious health issues known to date. Raw food advocates claim commercial foods cause things like diabetes, cancer, poor eyesight, IBS etc….. I have not experienced any of these illnesses AT ALL over the years. I have had kitties with food allergies to specific proteins and had to find foods that excluded those specific ingredients but the cause of the allergies is not all commercial food.

I can no longer take any of these raw food advocates serious anymore because they have no support of their claims. We see a lot of them telling people not to supplement their raw food with products like “Kitty Bloom” which is a vitamin and mineral supplement added to food to be sure your cats are getting enough of what they need. They claim if you make your raw right you won’t need to supplement. Well how do you know your making it right? How do you know your cats are getting what it needs? Is there a way to test your raw batches? Your feeding dead cow and chicken which cats never eat in the wild. Our human grade meat is usually frozen at some point which can kill a lot of the nutrients in it.

So why did I fall for the hype of raw? Probably the same reason your reading this. The raw advocates made me feel I wasn’t doing right for my cats or my breed. Well, now I can say I tried it, Raw made no difference to the health or happiness of my cats. I look at cats in the wild and wonder WHY would anyone recommend raw in the first place? These outside feral cats eating strictly live prey usually dont make it past 6-8 years old. Their coats are always dull, and they have an overall unhealthy look and usually bad immune systems. Our commercial cat foods are made with a complete balance of vitamins and minerals for our cats.

There is no one size fits all brand of cat food for every cats needs. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find one that works with your cats specific needs. If your cat is having loose stools and you suspect a food allergy there are Intolerance tests you can buy right online! And believe it or not… cats are usually intolerant to a protein NOT A CARBOHYDRATE! THERE ARE NO STUDIES THAT PROVE RAW DIET WILL FIX ANY DIGESTIVE ISSUE IN CATS OR DOGS!

With this said… My beliefs are that raw diet is nothing more then a FAD diet with no real studies to back it up. None of our vets or veterinary specialists recommend raw diet for our cats.

What do the experts say about feeding pets raw diets?

A number of professional associations have condemned the practice of feeding raw food to dogs and cat: