In recent years, a number of commercially-prepared frozen raw diets have come on the market. Local stores may still only carry these products. Luke's all natural carry these products, but they don't ship them. They can be purchased in-store only.

Cats' digestive systems are finely tuned to handle things humans can't. Their stomachs have a highly acidic environment, which is an excellent deterrent to ingested bacteria. In the wild, cats sometimes eat some pretty putrid stuff with no ill effects. Wild cats die more often from infection due to injuries than from food poisoning. However, there are steps you can take if you have concerns about salmonella, e coli, or other bacteria.

• Avoid packaged supermarket ground beef
• Buy "free-range" meat and poultry from a trusted butcher
• Add priobiotics (which help maintain intestinal health) to your raw food mix
• Always use safe handling procedures, and take up and dispose of uneaten food within 30 minutes

You can put together your own recipe, using wholesome, natural ingredients. This method is a bit labor-intensive, but if you're handy with a chef's knife, or have a yen for the personal touch, you may prefer it. You are encouraged to do your own research, but here are some suggestions for the basic ingredients, in descending order, quantity-wise, with about 75% meat:

• Raw muscle and organ meat (from the same animal source)
• Grated above-ground vegetables (no onions - carrots are okay) and herbs
  The real purists insist that cats don't eat vegetables in the wild, and that adding vegetables to a raw meat diet is unnecessary. However, others add various vegetables and herbs for flavor, as well as their antioxidant properties, among other reasons.
• Ground raw bones (non-splintering type such as chicken neck bones)
  You will either need to invest in a commercial grade grinder or enlist a friendly butcher to grind the bones for you.
• Raw nuts and seeds in small amounts
• Vitamin C and Fatty Acid

Cats are obligate carnivores and their systems have evolved from thousands of years of eating a raw food diet in the wild. A raw meat diet supplemented with grains, vegetables and fruits, taurine, certain enzymes, and essential fatty acids will closely approximate the food your cat would get in the wild. Controlled tests using two groups of cats, getting either raw or cooked food (otherwise identical) revealed:

• After three generations, the "cooked food" group could no longer reproduce
• The same group developed serious medical problems, including mouth and gum infections, bladder problems and heart lesions
• The weakened colony was switched back to raw foods and within four generations became completely healthy again