Supplements?

[KrisDunc83]

Hello all,

We have had our 12 week old baby, Cruella, home for 4 days now. She has been raised on a raw diet prepared/sold by the breeder. The breeder also provided an 8 lb assortment of her foods.
She certainly loves it and we have no problem keeping her on it, however, I have been told that raw diets do not provide of the the nutrients/vitamins that are vital. Is this accurate? If so, what do you suggest?

We have also considered implementing a kibble containing freeze dried raw pieces that a Petsmart associate recommended.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[admin]

Hello all,

We have had our 12 week old baby, Cruella, home for 4 days now. She has been raised on a raw diet prepared/sold by the breeder. The breeder also provided an 8 lb assortment of her foods.
She certainly loves it and we have no problem keeping her on it, however, I have been told that raw diets do not provide of the the nutrients/vitamins that are vital. Is this accurate? If so, what do you suggest?

We have also considered implementing a kibble containing freeze dried raw pieces that a Petsmart associate recommended.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello- we don't feed raw but our member @Xandria has great knowledge on raw feeding, perhaps she will chime in on your question. If your happy feeding raw thats great, however it is some work and being obligated to the breeder for food supply sounds like a bit much, I would imagine unless she is your neighbor. Here is our raw section you may find some answers to your question - Sphynx Cats & Raw Diet.

 

[KrisDunc83]

Ok awesome! Thank you!

We aren't necessarily obligated to the owner. We just wanted to keep her on a familiar diet for now and contemplated keeping her on it if it's something she likes, is getting all necessary nutrients from and saves her mommies from having to make it lol

 

[Yoda mom]

@KrisDunc83 , Great advice given
I started to feed Raw years and years ago with my Bengal thats breeder only fed Raw-
When I adopted him it was like I needed to feed Raw or I was just purely denying my kitty the best.
I felt a little guilty switching to kibble ( after arguments with my other half (now x) that I cooked more for kitty than him lol ) kitties did just fine for nearly 20 years with very few vet visits or issues on kibble.


With that said , I would consider Raw for a pet that has certain health conditions/allergies
Where no kibble has been found to work with their Senstive system.
It is a personal individual decision . we have several members who are Raw diet go-to's for assistance continuing quality Raw amd or transitioning to quality kibble /wet food.

You do have to be carful with proper ingredients , trace minerals etc with RAW feeding.

Be sure to google search histories on the store bought Raw food patties etc .
and sign up for recall alerts online.

All the best and looking forward to your journey with us!

 

[KrisDunc83]

Thanks that makes me feel better! Ive been feeling the same way... like I'll too will be denying her the best if I switch from raw food.
Originally we just planned to switch her to a good quality kibble/wet food but definitely wanted to seek experienced advice before deciding.
We still have a decent amt of her breeders raw food that we will continue feeding her until we have run out.
If we do decide to keep her on it we will be ordering directly from the breeders food store and not preparing it ourselves.

My other question is when we should start introducing her to the kibble.

 

[Toa and Ross]

@KrisDunc83 most people who feed their sphynx home made raw food add the necessary vitamines and neutritions. Best is to ask your breeder what's in the raw food.
@Xandria made a thread with lots of info on raw food, you can use this as a check.
Well prepaired raw food is as healthy as kibbles and wet food of a quality brand. So it's up to you to decide what you want to feed. Be very carefull with feeding raw food and kibbles together cause it can cause tummy problems. If you want to feed raw and kibbles, always make sure there is at least 2-3 hours between your sphynx eating raw and eating kibbles.

Natasja

 

[celsei]

You do have to add supplements to make sure they're getting everything, same as they do for commercial food. It's best to follow a recipe to make sure it's balanced: Balanced Recipe for Use with Raw or Cooked Proteins here's one and also a longer one explaining the nutrition and it includes a recipe for a supplement mix you can make yourself to sprinkle on or add to batches so you don't have to mess with the supplements every time: Balanced Recipe for Use with Raw or Cooked Proteins

There are also premade supplement mixes specificimally made for raw or cooked food that you can add to your own meat to make it balanced, here are a few: Food Fur Life Store, Better in the Raw for Cats, Know What You Feed Your Cat - Shop Online

Honestly you can give them all the organs (particularly kidney and heart), bone, egg yolk and vary the protein they should be getting close to all they need, I have fed like that for months and had perfectly healthy cats so you can work up to adding all the supplements over some time with no problems but long term it's better to be safe - they're still always gonna be missing some parts they'd naturally eat (like brains, eyes, whatever bizarre stuff) and there's gonna be some nutrient loss with freezing/heating so might as well cover all bases. The most essential to add are calcium and taurine cause they probably don't eat bone or enough of it and taurine to keep their hearts healthy and some form of omega 3 (salmon oil/krill oil, I use green lipped mussel extract and some actual mussels)

I think the vast majority of cats are healthiest on raw food especially if they have any stomach issues which sphynxes are prone to, there are too many unknown/questionable ingredients/presarvatives/too much processing and drying/flavoring in kibble and canned food - all the natural nutrients are destroyed in the process of making them have long shelf life without being in the fridge so they have to rely entirely on synthetical supplements which they generally get from the cheapest sources like china and they're not high quality or optimized to be absorbed by cat guts, just like with humans it's not a great idea to rely on just eating processed junk food with the cheapest multivitamin - it's best to get what you need from fresh food so your body can actually use it for sure and you're not burdering your digestive system with unneccessary waste from things your body doesn't need and vitamin quality does differ as well. I wouldn't downgrade onto kibble if your cat is used to raw and doing well on it, if you do need a convenience food for when you're not able to give them a raw meal I think the best option is pure freezedried meat without the kibble. Another option is partially cooking or fully cooking meals that need to be left out for longer for them to eat while you're gone so you don't have to worry about the bacteria

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Welcome tosphynxlair, good to have you.
I would ask the breeder if all the supplements have
been added or what do you need to add.
Before I started adding things, which, might already be in there.
But, if it's without supplements, @Xandria is great with raw.

 

[celsei]

Oh yes, I missed that part I would ask her for a list of ingredients including supplements if there are any to make sure she knows what she's doing or make your own. If it's ground chunks are preferable for dental health

 

[Xandria]

Most of what I'd say has already been said, but I'll reiterate my two cents.

First, congrats on your baby!

You should not feel obligation to maintain a raw diet. It makes sense for me because apart from some take out food, I cook my own meals from scratch and I kind of like to really know what's in my and my nakeds' food. Having said that, making home made cat food is not for everyone and if weren't for the accompanying wine and audio book to augment the two hours I spend every 3 weeks making cat food (irony is I spend about an hour every day making my own food!), I might fall off the cat food making wagon.

Any way... IF you decide to keep up the SAME raw food diet, definitely ask for the ingredients in detail and quantities. A properly put together home made raw food diet should have all the nutrients they need. I have a document here that will clarify: Raw Cat Food Information | Sphynxlair or http://www.xandria.ca/Max/RawCatFoodInformation.pdf The document outlines what a raw food diet should consist of, and the various ways to provide said raw diet.

IF you like the idea of a raw food diet, consider either making your own or buying (again, the aforementioned document outlines the options and has some resources).

IF you don't wish to follow a raw diet, then I know @Yoda mom has great experience with quality commercial cat food.

Bottom line -- good raw diets should have all nutrients needed.

Max has been on a raw diet for about 2 years and Min about 1 year (both since 4 months of age), and I think they're pretty healthy and active:

Latest pics here: Max & Min PicSpam (Jan-22-17)

Food is the foundation, but you should be comfortable and confident with what you're providing (be it home made or commercial). And you've certainly come to the right place for feedback

Cheers.

 

[Condo commando]

You aren't obligated to keep feeding the same food, like everyone else has already said.

I feed mine raw but I think canned food is fine too. I'm not a fan of kibble because of the risk of kidney issues from not taking in enough water. But that's me. Your kitten is very young still, but over time you will find out if she does better on one thing vs another and that is how you will know what to feed her and what to keep her away from. When you're a cat parent you observe everything, even the poop. :wideyed: