Author Topic: Question about "prey-model" feeding  (Read 1219 times)

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Offline Middle Child

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Question about "prey-model" feeding
« on: July 30, 2011, 09:17:37 PM »
Prey model feeding is feeding rodents to the cat right?  Whether frozen or live.....(I think the whole premise is based on frozen, but do not know that for sure, does anyone here?)

But rodents have parasites.  I can't see how even the breeders of these rodents can prevent that. And not sure if freezing would kill the parasites.  So if a cat is fed a prey-model diet, does the cat have to be de wormed every three months?

Offline Mo

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Re: Question about "prey-model" feeding
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2011, 01:14:10 AM »
What you are thinking about is actually whole prey raw, not prey model.  Yes, it gets confusing, since the names are so alike!

Prey Model Raw is also called "frankenprey raw".  Below is a quote from http://rawfedcats.org/nature.htm which explains the prey model raw method better than I can.

Quote
A whole raw foods, or prey model, diet for cats can be comprised of a combination of a variety of whole, raw, small carcasses, (for example small game hens, chickens, duck, quail, rabbits, mice, rats and/or fish) along with a variety of different parts of other, larger carcasses, (such as things like turkey, lamb, goat, pork, ostrich, emu, elk, venison and/or beef) which are fed over time in the relative proportions that are found in the average prey animal. The idea is that the overall diet be comprised of a similar ratio of body parts that Nature uses to make up whole carcasses.
 
Basic Proportions of a Prey Critter
These proportions of body parts are relatively the same in virtually every prey animal, and the percentages of these ratios are, approximately:

•80–85% meat (besides boneless muscle meat, this can and should also include things like fat, skin, sinew, tendons, cartilage and any other soft connective tissue etc.)
•10% edible bone
•5-10% organs (with half that amount being liver)
These percentages, although approximate, should serve as the basic guidelines for your cat’s diet. These exact proportions do not need to be fed at each and every meal, but rather should combine to comprise the overall diet over the course of time.

To make up for the fact that most all of the raw meat that’s readily available to us to feed our cats does not come from wild, pastured or foraging animals, whose flesh would naturally contain a greater concentration of the vital nutrients that cats require for good health, but instead is farmed for human consumption, it’s important when feeding a prey model diet to provide as much of a variety of different kinds of meats as possible.
 
Variety is Key

Since we can only approach Nature’s way of feeding and never truly reproduce it, one way we can compensate for this is to feed as much variety as possible. The more different kinds of raw carcasses, boneless meats, meaty bones and organs we feed our cats, the greater the variety of nutrients we will be offering them.

Another important reason to include variety in the diet is because cats can have a tendency to latch onto certain foods if they’re fed the same thing all the time. Some cats can get so stuck on one type of food that they’ll refuse to eat anything else. So to prevent this from happening and to provide a variety of high quality nourishment, it’s best to make sure your cat’s diet is as varied as possible.


Tags: prey-model