what to do ?

[PapaFlush]

Hello all!

many doctors told me you are allergic to cats but my love to cats is bigger!
it happened I rescued a cat, I dealt with my allergies/asthma for weeks now my body is changing, adapting to my new cat ! BUDDHA!

my Buddha is very calm Iv been feeding him raw food from baileyblue (montreal) they sell really good healthy raw foods, made by a cook in store, for cats and my cat love it !!

many say dry food is better, others wet is better but online Iv read both can be good and bad so I listend to mother nature and decided to give my cat raw food cause this is what they eat, they are carnivors just like lions and tigers.

the problem is this raw food cost alone 4$ for one container ( my cat eat one per day ) and he is really happy ! I can see how much he enjoys his raw food from baileyBlue

the only problem is I am a student ( part time job ) I absolutely cannot afford 4$ a day for my cat. so I decided this for my cat:

2 days a week raw food he loves
but the rest of the week he will eat good quality ( carefully chosen ) dry food
I will wait at least 12 hours before switching from raw to dry food, he doesn't like his dry food but I cannot afford raw everyday

so what should I do ? every person tells me a different opinion that is why I decided to ask for help in forums!
some choose wet some dry some mixes them both all cat owners have their own diet for cat!
what advices can you give ? I would love to give him raw food everyday cause that is the healthiest specially for birman cats!

HELP!

[Reg]

Hello Papa flush;

Welcome to the forum.

What I have found from personal experience is that feeding raw, and regular brushing's lessens the allergy attacks people suffer when coming in contact with the cat. Our neighbour suffers big time from cats to the extent that he carries an EpiPen in his pocket in case he comes in contact with one. A couple years ago he came over to our place to help with some renovations for a couple of days. He was very reluctant when doing so knowing we had cats in the house, and to his surprise he had very little allergic effects from them. The only thing he found was that he felt a little more stuffy than normal, and after doing research I found that this was a good possibility from being fed raw and brushed.

In regards to feeding raw and dry food, I think if I was going that route I would be putting 2 separate bowls down at feeding time one would be the dry food, and the other would be the raw. The reason for that would be to try and help maintain body moisture which would be lost in feeding dry food only, and with the raw food alongside you could add a little water possibly a teaspoon or so to help maintain the moisture level in the cat. I have read somewhere that it is not a wise idea to mix water or moist foods with dry food.

Something you might consider doing if you have the time, and space is to make your own food. That's what I do for my 3 cats, and it's a good money saver. For instance if I'm doing turkey it runs me approximately $0.22 per cat per meal, and if I am doing a leg of lamb it's running about $0.90 per cat per meal. Something to remember is if you go this route make sure you follow a good recipe, and do not leave out the supplements.

Here's a couple of websites for you to go over, and give you some food for thought.

https://catinfo.org/

https://www.holisticat.com/index.php/en/

We would love to see a photo of your cat if possible.

[PapaFlush]

oh!my god you are such a big help !!
this is what I needed to hear man ! every word you said matters!
I indeed will keep feeding my cat raw food ! and will look for good recipes and keep my cat happy and healthy !
I will try to put dry food as 2nd option for my cat but will mainly focus on raw !
thank you sir!
I will be coming back for more information and advice !

[PapaFlush]

Here is my lovely buddha 😊

[hazelrunpack]

What a lovely kitty!! Welcome to the board!

[Reg]

Great photo of Buddha he looks like a pleasant little guy.
Thanks again

[RUSTYcat]

.
Salut PapaFlush and welcome to the forum !

I'm relieved to hear that your allergy is subsiding.....and, good thing for Buddha's sake too !

WOW! What a handsome cat ! And, he looks so at home there, confident and relaxed. How fortunate for him that you came along! (very lucky for you too)

Making your own raw foods for him will probably be a lengthy learning process, and will require some financial investment as well as the time to research what you'll need to know. Reg provided Dr. Pierson's website, an excellent starting point for you. It confirms what you, yourself, spoke about in your post - that cats have evolved as meat-eaters - and if we try to steer them away from their natural diet, there are real negative consequences.

You might consider a gradual transition. Reduce and eventually ditch the dry foods, moving to canned, then adding lightly-cooked meats to the canned (with extra Taurine), then to home made (cooked) meals, and eventually to raw. (and there's careful alternating in between, too) Be absolutely sure you get informed advice about the supplements that must be added - I mentioned one, Taurine, a must-have for cats, without which blindness and severe heart disease begin to develop very quickly.

I looked at Bailey Blu's site.....wow, they're expensive! Global Petfoods and PetValu are going to reduce your costs considerably. (I looked for 12oz cans of Wellness Pate....BB's price is $5.29 - I think I pay about a dollar less at PetValu. (I add shredded cooked chicken to that.) If you travel over the US border, it might be ~$3.00 (!).

Snoop around on the catinfo site - see the articles listed on the right side - the one on vaccines is especially informative. (she's not anti-vax, she IS anti-over-vaccinating).

OK - hope (at least) some of that helps !
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