Primal pets

Just curious how many of you all have pets of feathered or furred (or hooved) variety and what their diet is like?

I have a cat, the 'Fat Boy'. He mostly isn't much for people food although when I roasted a turkey last weekend he was loving the pan drippings. I buy him good quality grain free food, both crunchies and canned. He would eat until he vomits and then eat some more if we free fed him crunchies, so he gets his measured portions served through-out the day by my stay at home husband. We can leave soft food out and he will only eat what he needs.

Previous cats we could free feed without problem.

Just as I won't be crap food for my husband and myself, I won't buy cheap junk for the cat.

Oh, and because he is allowed outside during the day if we are home (we live remotely in the forest, no roads or other people nearby) he does some hunting for himself, mostly gophers, the odd mouse, small bush rabbit, and occasionally a bushy wood rat. The rule is if he doesn't bring them in the house, he can eat it.

I have a dog - a Chihuahua. She eats a home-made, primal diet. I make up large batches of food for her and then portion it into baggies and freeze it. We just warm up a baggie and she eats.

Meant2Move wrote:I have a cat, the 'Fat Boy'. He mostly isn't much for people food although when I roasted a turkey last weekend he was loving the pan drippings. I buy him good quality grain free food, both crunchies and canned. He would eat until he vomits and then eat some more if we free fed him crunchies, so he gets his measured portions served through-out the day by my stay at home husband. We can leave soft food out and he will only eat what he needs.

Previous cats we could free feed without problem.  

Just as I won't be crap food for my husband and myself, I won't buy cheap junk for the cat.  

Oh, and because he is allowed outside during the day if we are home (we live remotely in the forest, no roads or other people nearby) he does some hunting for himself, mostly gophers, the odd mouse, small bush rabbit, and occasionally a bushy wood rat. The rule is if he doesn't bring them in the house, he can eat it.

Would you please, PLEASE come here and underline that "keep it outside to dine" rule?  Our cats have an enclosed area outdoors that they have access to 24/7, and one day a bird must have gotten too close or something.  I was out of the house and when I returned I walked in the bonus room and saw tons of feathers, no bird in sight, and a really bloated, really self satisfied cat grinning like the damn Cheshire cat.  
We have to measure food here too.  Do you have a preferred brand?

ONTARIO wrote:I have a dog - a Chihuahua. She eats a home-made, primal diet. I make up large batches of food for her and then portion it into baggies and freeze it. We just warm up a baggie and she eats.

Cool! Do you cook it, feed it raw or follow a recipe?

I'm curious as I've met a lot of primal people and folks who like eating real foods and do the same for their pets.
Ours eat meat, bones and organs, all raw. They sometimes get eggs and yogurt, or raw cream or milk.

Acroyali wrote:Would you please, PLEASE come here and underline that "keep it outside to dine" rule? Our cats have an enclosed area outdoors that they have access to 24/7, and one day a bird must have gotten too close or something. I was out of the house and when I returned I walked in the bonus room and saw tons of feathers, no bird in sight, and a really bloated, really self satisfied cat grinning like the damn Cheshire cat. cat
We have to measure food here too. Do you have a preferred brand?

I have to admit, he considers the rule to be optional, and if we are outside and he can sneak the catch inside, he will. Especially in the summer, we do a fair bit of tossing creatures (dead, but not eaten) out the door, the boy runs after them and pounces all over again. On a bad day we do this a couple of times and if he won't give up, I throw it in the garbage.

I am simply grateful he rarely does 'Catch and Release' as previous cats did.

I'd love to get another cat, but the can't free feed thing is a problem so he will be an "only' the rest of his days, then I hope to go back to having at least 2.

He gets Blue Buffalo crunchies and I buy both Blue Buffalo and Wellness brand canned food.

My journey to a primal diet started with my dog!
I was very interested in raw diets and finally took the plunge after feeding kibble for a year. My dog had the worst smelling poop and lots of it, smelled bad, had greasy fur and often had indigestion. After switching to a raw (mostly prey model) diet he--smells great and looks great all the time, even though I never bathe him (and rarely brush), only has fleas if we board him with other dogs, has tiny poops once a day, has great teeth, and vet says he is perfect weight and condition.

After that experience, I started wondering about my own diet, and why I would never want to feed an animal the stuff I eat. If it is bad for my dog, it must not be that great for me. I started looking at ancestral diets of humans, the same way I had looked at ancestral dog diets. Paleo/primal just made a ton of sense to me intuitively. And as I read more about nutrition and metabolism, it all came together until I felt confident that I had found a lifestyle that humans were meant to have.

Next project is my chickens--I don't like feeding them a lot of grains, and definitely not corn-based processed crumble. Since I can't free-range I am going to have to get creative...

Mudhenny that is funny. I hope primal proves as good for you as for your dog. Good luck with getting your chickens on board. How many do you have?

I have six hens--two older ones that no longer lay, and 4 young ones that are laying like crazy now. I'm researching a bunch of options. I'll continue to give them grass clippings and weeds when I have them, and scraps and trimmings from our meals. Looking into growing my own fodder indoors, as well as making a worm bin of some sort.

mudhenny wrote:My journey to a primal diet started with my dog!
I was very interested in raw diets and finally took the plunge after feeding kibble for a year. My dog had the worst smelling poop and lots of it, smelled bad, had greasy fur and often had indigestion. After switching to a raw (mostly prey model) diet he--smells great and looks great all the time, even though I never bathe him (and rarely brush), only has fleas if we board him with other dogs, has tiny poops once a day, has great teeth, and vet says he is perfect weight and condition.

After that experience, I started wondering about my own diet, and why I would never want to feed an animal the stuff I eat. If it is bad for my dog, it must not be that great for me. I started looking at ancestral diets of humans, the same way I had looked at ancestral dog diets. Paleo/primal just made a ton of sense to me intuitively. And as I read more about nutrition and metabolism, it all came together until I felt confident that I had found a lifestyle that humans were meant to have.

Next project is my chickens--I don't like feeding them a lot of grains, and definitely not corn-based processed crumble. Since I can't free-range I am going to have to get creative...

We exhibit dogs, and we had one that had constant greasy skin/coat that needed bathing 2-3 times a week, and a good diet really improved that.
Our current dogs get bathed rarely, if at all. Our "high maintenance" coated dogs were given a quick wash before Christmas and still smell nice!

We kind of had the same experience as you did; we cleaned up our own diets when we saw what it did for our pets =)