Some myths about cats appear to be to under no circumstances die and are really difficult to right. A single these types of myth is the belief that cats go wild, even feral, if fed raw meat.
This concept keeps demonstrating up on lists, in forums, on issue and respond to internet sites, chat rooms, and yes, even in the grocery store line when another person purchases a big deal of hen and mentions it is really for the cats.
“Are not you worried your cats will go wild?”
“You should not be feeding that to your cats. They will go wild, you know.”
Properly, no. Not seriously. What they do, even so, is in some cases they growl. This is a purely natural reaction and has even been observed in some cats when they are feeding on a bowl of dry kibble. Probably it has additional to do with “ownership” and serves as a warning to other cats close by to hold out their switch. It also can be a indication of pure enjoyment. After all, meat is their pure eating plan, the craving they were born with.
In our shelter, when cats arrive in poor health and fitness, or strays that are clearly underweight, they are fed uncooked meat, if they will take it. In each and every situation, without having exception so much, they all have improved somewhat promptly. Some of them growl, some do not. So what?
These that were conditioned to consume only dry food stuff took much longer to get nicely and appeared to require additional assist, such as medications and veterinary visits. The raw-fed individuals blossomed and turned pleasant, adoptable cats in a limited time.
The biggest opposition expressed by common vets is typically the worry of salmonella. Very well, it can be not like we feed the cats some rotten previous rooster that has been discarded or was on sale for being out of day. We use human grade, clean chicken. And while salmonella is still a concern for human beings, necessitating extensively cooking the meat, cats have a different physiology from ours.
In nature, predatory animals are uniquely suited to consuming meat that could not be risk-free for us. Their digestive tracts are shorter, and their digestive juices are considerably a lot more acidic, permitting the meat to be digested immediately and properly, unless someone has interfered and poisoned it. But which is a distinct situation.
In any scenario, use precautions when planning raw meats for your animals. Don rubber gloves and hold all surfaces and utensils thoroughly clean, this sort of as reducing boards and knives, disinfecting them when completed. This is far more for your protection than the cat’s.
As for the growling? Don’t fret about it. Remember, the concern is with the proprietor, not the cat. Even so, it would be smart not to place your hands in the space. If a quite hungry cat feels protective of its food, you could be scratched, but we have not witnessed that habits really typically.