Can Cats with FIV & Immune Compromised Issues Eat a Raw Diet?

[Luna]

My answer to the query, “Can you feed raw foods to a cat whose health is compromised in some manner?” is a resounding “Yes!”

Cats are so finely-tuned for a diet of prey animals that it’s not only safe to put FIV+ cats on a raw diet, it’s vitally important to support their immune systems by feeding them the foods that are going to nourish their physiology at the highest levels.

All the reasons we feed our healthy cats a raw diet apply twice as strongly to a cat who is coping with some type of illness; she needs the foods that are going to provide her with the highest level of nutrition and energy for the least amount of work – for an obligate carnivore, that’s animal-based meats, organs and bones. And cats’ natural, inborn defenses against bacteria don’t disappear just because their health is compromised, they become FIV+ or catch an upper respiratory infection – the glands in their mouths still produce lysozyme-containing saliva, their stomach acids still kill incoming pathogens, their digestive tracts are still just about the shortest, comparatively-speaking, in the animal kingdom.

Why isn’t this more widely known, or accepted? Why do so many raw-feeding experts and advocates tamp down the rhetoric when the discussion turns to sick cats?

It is my belief that proponents begin waffling and throwing out caveats because we have all – every last one of us – been sold so solidly on the dangers of raw foods, especially meat, that even in the face of plain logic, those doing the recommending can’t stand their ground because they don’t know – as in, don’t have anything they can point to as proof (notwithstanding the thousands of years of evolution and wild living) – that raw feeding health-compromised cats is safe.

Logic and evolution, however, shouldn’t be discounted simply because science hasn’t gotten around to “proving” them. I believe it’s both safe and the best choice we could make to feed health-compromised cats a raw diet.

Bottom line, not only are raw foods safe for our beloved felines, they are the highest in bio-available nutrition and the best foods you could feed, especially to health-compromised and FIV+ cats. Options are available for assuaging fears if needed… what’s important is to get the cat on a healthy diet.