Transitioning

WHY SWITCH TO A RAW FOOD DIET?

Cats are amazing creatures, unique and interesting in almost every way. Unlike canines, cats are obligate carnivores and their systems have evolved from thousands of years of eating a raw food diet in the wild. In their natural habitat, cats consume prey high in protein with moderate amounts of fat and minimal amounts of carbohydrate. The natural diet of cats in the wild is a meat-based regimen eg, rodents and birds that contain little carbohydrate. Therefore, cats are metabolically adapted to preferentially use protein and fat as energy sources. Cats do need a little vegetable matter – approximately 15% of their total diet but do not possess the enzymes to digest this in large amounts. From time to time, and as the mood takes them, they may nibble on herbs, grasses and even flowers.

Cats' digestive systems are finely tuned to handle things that would damage a human. Their stomachs have a highly acidic environment, which is an excellent deterrent to ingested bacteria. They are ideally adapted to eat raw meat.

A word about salmonella

You might worry about salmonella. Yes, it is out there, but as with meat you would prepare for yourself, following safe-handling practices minimises the risk. Cats are very resistant to bacteria such as salmonella, which makes sense for an animal that evolved to exclusively eat raw meat. Their digestive tract is very short digestive tract and on average it only takes six to eight for them to digest a meal. This doesn't give bacteria enough time to proliferate and make the cat unwell. Compare that to humans, where food takes 36 — 48 hours to pass through, so we are much more susceptible to bacterial pathogens. Parasites are killed by freezing the food.

Because our feline friends are obligate carnivores i.e. strict meat-eaters, they have less ability to digest grain and high levels of vegetable matter. Cats have very low thirst drives and are designed to obtain the majority of their water intake from their food. They did, after all, originate in desert environments. For this reason, cats thrive on diets which have a high water content, such as raw food.

In contrast, cats exclusively fed water-depleted dry diets produce less volume of concentrated urine and may become susceptible to urinary tract problems.

“Nature knows best” is one of those trite sayings, but is a phrase of much truth. In the wild, providing they have a choice, all animals eat what is best for them. For cats this means small prey or, if hunting with others, a share of larger prey. They are thrifty, too. Nothing is wasted, and that includes the bones. Initially these are ripped, torn, chewed and sucked to remove all the meat and marrow.

So why have pet food companies invested so much money and effort over the last 150 years creating processed and dry foods? Pet food is big business. In the UK alone dog and cat food is worth something like £2 billion in sales a year.

It isn’t just the overall size of the market that makes it so attractive to manufacturers. Processed pet food is incredibly profitable.

The argument goes that cats can’t eat bones because they will choke. Also, there is supposed to be a risk that the bones will splinter and cause some dreadful internal injury. This is not borne out by fact. In the wild, wolves (so closely related to dogs that they can interbreed) have been eating bones for millions of years. Bones provide about a third of a dog’s nutritional needs. The only bones that are risky are cooked bones or bones from very old animals – both of which can splinter. What holds true for dogs also applies to cats. Remember before processed food existed, owners fed their cats raw meat, bones and leftovers. Over the course of a century and a half, manufacturers have persuaded us all that there was a better and more convenient option.

Bones and organs are packed full of vital nutrients. It is easy to understand why dogs and cats want the meat and marrow, but what makes the bone and organs so desirable? The answer is that they both contain a huge number of nutrients that are vital to their health. These include:

Minerals such as calcium and phosphorous
Protein containing essential amino acids, including lysine.
Essential fatty acids.
Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D and E).
Blood-forming nutrients (these are in the marrow), including copper and iron.

It is perfectly natural and safe for cats to eat raw meat, bone and organs as they would with their prey. After all, they’ve been doing it for millions of years.

New to raw feeding?

Q. What’s the similarity between a cheetah, lion, tiger and domestic cat?

A. They are all obligate carnivores, so their dietary requirements are the same. This means that by necessity, your cat needs to eat a raw diet high in protein. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx2YIIpF4cc&t=29s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJPToVsJj-c&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1F7AsmEkw

Transition

How to transition your cat to Purrform raw cat food

Switching your kitten or cat onto a raw diet could have tremendous health benefits. A kitten should be started on a raw diet as young as possible and can easily transition in around four to six days. The key to a successful transition for an adult cat is patience. As we know, cats can be opinionated (that’s why we love them) and this process could take up to two weeks or more.

Changing from processed food to a raw diet

Switching to a raw diet allows you to know what you are feeding your cat. You’ll feel much more comfortable knowing that you’re feeding them wholesome ingredients. It is ideal to start your kitten on a raw diet at an early age. They can eat the same food as adult cats, just more of it and more often. Kittens need about twice as much food per ounce of body weight as an adult.

All that growing requires them to ideally eat about every four to six hours. Transitioning your cat onto raw food needs to be carried out over at least eight to ten days. Cats have sensitive stomachs and any change in diet should be done gradually. They also need to get used to a different texture and smell.

Essential rules for moving your cat onto a raw food diet

Cats smell their food before eating it. If the food smells different, cats will often not even try it.
Pet owners should know their cat’s food preferences and try to disguise the smell of the new food.

Ways to disguise the raw food

Crunch kibble and sprinkle over the raw food (if your cat is currently eating dry food).
Pour tuna brine onto the raw food.
Pour water into their pouch of favourite wet food and sieve to make a gravy. Then pour a small amount of the gravy onto the raw food. Store the remaining gravy in the fridge.
As a pet owner you will have to do everything necessary to entice your cat towards the raw food, so be imaginative!
Behaviour towards your cat is also important. Be relaxed and do not make eye contact with your cat when serving the first raw meal.
Move away from your cat and pretend to be busy. Cats know how to get your attention, so don’t fall into their trap!

HOW TO TRANSITION

If your cat is currently on wet food:

Follow the steps below, twice a day, morning and evening.

Days 1 and 2: Mix 10% of raw food with your cat’s current wet food for two days in a row.
Days 3 and 4: Increase the amount of raw food by another 10% and decrease the amount of the current wet food.
Days 5 to 10: Apply this method until you have eliminated the need to mix the current wet food and raw, until your cat is eating a purely raw diet.

If your cat is currently on dry food:

Make sure that your cat’s dry food is available in a separate bowl at all times during the early stages of the transition.

Follow these steps, twice a day — morning and evening.

Day 1 & 2: Serve 10g of raw food into your cat’s bowl, then crunch and sprinkle a few bits of kibble over the top of the raw food.
Day 3 and 4: Serve 20g of raw food and sprinkle the crunched kibble over the top.
Day 5 to 6: Serve 40g of raw food and reduce the amount of kibble.
Repeat this process until you have completely cut out the dry food and your cat is eating a raw meal twice a day.

Switching your cat from a raw diet onto Purrform raw

This is necessary as not all raw foods are prepared in the same way.

Follow the steps below, twice a day, morning and evening.

Days 1 and 2: Mix 20g of PurrForm raw food with the current raw diet and decrease the current raw diet by the same amount.
Days 3 and 4: Increase the amount of PurrForm raw food by another 20% and decrease the current raw diet by the same amount.
Days 5 and 6: Apply this method until your cat if fully transitioned onto PurrForm raw food.
This process can also be applied when trying to introduce a new PurrForm flavour.

Key guidelines

When switching from processed food or a dry food diet, remember the following:

Cats can be opinionated – be patient!
Stick with it, the results will be worthwhile.
Mix the current diet with some of the raw food.
Give your cat a variety of different raw food flavours.
Cold food can upset the stomach of your cat. The raw meat should be at room temperature. Remember that when a cat hunts, its prey would never be chilled!

How much raw meat and bone to feed your cat

A daily amount should be around 2% to 3% of the total body weight of your cat, spread over two meals, morning and evening. Please refer to our catculator https://www.purrform.co.uk/calculators/
Food portion will also depend on your cat’s appetite. Sometimes they might ravish their bowl whereas the next day they will only eat half of their meal.
Nine-month-old kittens can eat twice as much per gram of body weight as an adult cat, as they are growing.
When feeding your cat, set a routine whereby the food is given in the morning and in the evening, preferably at the same time each day. If a cat is eating the correct food, it does not need to ‘graze’ during the day.
Remove any uneaten food after 30/45 minutes, cover it and store in the fridge for later.

How to serve a raw food diet

Keep frozen until ready to prepare for feeding.
For maximum food safety and freshness, defrost your cat’s daily portion by thawing it in the fridge for a minimum of eight hours for our 70g pouches or 24 hours for our 450g tubs.
The food can be left at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.
Once defrosted, our meat will stay fresh for three to four days in the fridge.
Do not heat or microwave any of our ground bone products under any circumstances.

Take care when handling raw meat, and ensure all utensils and surfaces are thoroughly cleaned after use.

GOING FROM KITTEN TO ADULT PURRFORM

We use a special mincing plate to give our kitten food a smoother and finer texture. After nine months old your kitten will need to be transitioned to PurrForm adult food. It is important to note that all our adult food has a coarser texture due to the bone and meat being minced with a bigger mincing plate. Apart from the size of the bone, the ingredients and nutritional values of both our kitten and adult foods are the same.

How to transition your kitten to adult food

How to transition your kitten to adult food

Day 1 and 2: Mix 10% of the adult food of the total meal weight with 90% of the kitten food.

Day 3 and 4: Mix 20% of the adult food with 80% of the kitten food.

Repeat this process until your kitten is eating only adult food.

You might find that your kitten may initially refuse to eat the adult food due to the texture. Rest assured that your kitten will still receive all the nutrients that it needs on a daily basis.

Please note that we would discourage feeding our weaning paste for an adult cat (with the exception of a breeding queen), as these have been specifically formulated for babies from the age of four to eight weeks old.