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What should you be feeding your
cat?
All cats, small or large, are true carnivores. There-
fore to be able to survive they must eat meat.
Throughout domestication cats have not
changed and their nutritional needs have re-
mained on animal tissues as the
main source of its food. Cats will
never be vegetarians.
What food would your cat eat in the wild?
In the wild cats would eat a whole raw
prey. This diet would include mice or any
other small rodents, rabbits, birds and
amphibians. This diet is high in moisture,
high in protein and very low in carbohy-
drates. Cats digestive systems are highly
efficient at metabolizing a raw diet meat,
organ and bone.
TM
Feed your cat a natural diet.
Cats are unable to adjust to low protein diets and
can not easily digest carbohydrates diet. Cats
evolved as desert animals, so they have a low
thirst drive. The benefit of a natural raw diet is
that it contains 60 to 70% moisture. If your cat is
fed on a kibble diet you need to make sure that plenty of fresh
water is available as this could increase the risk of urinary and
kidney problems.
There are a lot of choices of different water foun-
tains that can be purchased online.
Using a fountain means that the water is always
fresh, never stale or stagnant.
There are many benefits of
a raw diet
Improved digestion
Reduced stool odour and volume
Healthy Coat
High in moisture
Easy to feedIn our July newsletter
- We will give you tips for raw feeding for beginners.
- The importance of a varied diet.
- More history about cat food
Www.purrform.co.uk
Cat Care Retrospective - The 1900’s
Frances Simpson was an author , breeder; a show judge, and a fund-raiser for cat rescues, a show organiser, a committee member on many cat clubs
in the 1900’s.
According to Frances Simpson (1903): "One of the strangest and most profitable trades in London is the wholesale and retail business of horsemeat
for cats. In barrows and carts the hawkers of this horse-flesh cry their wares throughout the city and suburbs, and find a ready sale for them. It is
stated that 26,000 horses, maimed, or past work, are slaughtered and cut up each year to feed out household pets. Each horse means on an average
275 pounds of meat, and this is sold by pussy's butcher in half pennyworths skewered on bits of wood. The magnitude of this trade can be estimated
by the fact that it keeps constantly employed thirty wholesale salesmen. I may mention that a cats'-meat men's supper was organised last year in
London but the editor of Our Cats, assisted by Mr Louis Wain and others; and a most successful entertainment was given at the City of New York
Restaurant. The applications for tickets were so numerous that 400 men had to be refused; and when the 250 guests were seated, it was clearly
proved that every available inch of accommodation had been utilised. Having been present, I can testify to the
excellent supper and entertainment provided for the cats'-meat men of London."
Many of the horses would have been cab horses injured in road accidents or through overwork. It is ironic that
in modern times, horsemeat may not be used in pet-food in the UK even though surplus ponies from Dartmoor
and the New Forest are slaughtered (or shipped abroad for slaughter) annually. The only reason for this is
a strange English taboo against eating horsemeat. The illustration is from 1883 "The Cat's-Meat Man"
and is a song celebrating this "Purveyor of Cat's Meat to Her Majesty" (the legend on the basket and
barrow in the bottom right corner). The song goes "He calls 'Meat, Meat!', All down the street;
And dogs 'bow-wow,' And cats 'mi-ow,' While kittens sly Come purring by, As if to say -
'Do serve us, pray, For we're so small.' The man throws bits Of meat to kits, And cats and dogs;
Then on he jogs, And down the street Still cries 'Meat, meat!'"
In her chapter on the "General Care and Management of Cats", Simpson writes: "In the care, management,
and feeding of cats no hard and fast rule can be laid down, for the dispositions and constitutions of these
animals differ just as much as do those of human beings. Fanciers must therefore learn to treat their cats
individually and not collectively; they must study their character and make allowances for the fads and fanciers
of the feline race. I am convinced that a varied diet is the best for cats, and fanciers should bear in mind the
importance of regularity in the hours of feeding, whether two or three or four times a day. fresh water should
always be supplied, and unfinished food should not be left standing about. For one or two pet cats the scraps from the kitchen table given with some
judgement will probably suffice; but in the case of a large cattery with several inmates, some sort of system in feeding is necessary. I would suggest
that the chief meal for two days a week should be fish, mixed perhaps with rice or Freeman's Scientific Food, raw meat twice or three times a week cut
up into fairly small pieces, horse-flesh (if obtained from a reliable source) twice a week. Lights, liver, or sardines may be given occasionally.
Spratt's biscuits of various kinds, soaked and mixed with stock, are relished by
some cats. Vegetables should be given frequently, and grass supplied, as green
food purifies the blood and keeps the bowels in good condition. Persian cats
require special attention as regards their coats, and should be combed and
brushed regularly, and, if the fur becomes matted, the knots should be cut
away. Avoid washing your cats; there are other means of cleansing their coats,
Did you know?
The commercial pet food
industry started in 1860 with
James Spratt's invention of
the first dog biscuit in Eng-
land. Made from vegetables,
beef blood, wheat, and beet
root, Spratt reportedly was
inspired by observing sailors
throwing hardtack to dogs at
the docks. His biscuits were
very popular and other com-
panies soon began making
their own versions. By 1890,
commercial pet food manu-
facture had spread to the
United States.