Food not only supplies energy for growth, metabolism and healing, but also acts as a medicine. The proper diet for any individual will help heal and bring the body back to balance.

Juliette de Bairacli Levy’s Natural Rearing principles have helped many to prevent disease in their companion animals and create the robust health that only a natural approach can bring. All species thrive on the foods upon which they evolved.

Cats are carnivores and have evolved on a diet based on raw meat, mostly in the form of small prey animals such as rodents, birds, and rabbits. Fresh air, sunlight and exercise round out the natural approach to cat health. If cats are allowed access to the outdoors, they will find most of the grasses and herbs needed for self-medication.

Divided meals fed throughout the day are much preferable to one big meal, which may cause bloating. Two meals, morning and evening, are good, but even better would be three or four smaller meals.

A varied diet is the closest to what mother nature provides cats. In the intestines and stomachs of their prey, wild cats obtain varied plant matter, including grains, fruits and nuts. Try some of these occasionally mixed with cereals, minced or crushed for digestibility.

Cats allowed to explore the outdoors will also hunt. Fresh caught wild game can be an important part of a cat’s diet. This is the best food your cat can get.

Proteins to offer cats include beef, beef liver and heart, lamb, chicken, chicken gizzards, turkey, duck, venison (and other wild game), rabbit, cod, sardines, mackerel, tuna, eggs, and milk (preferably raw and unpasteurized).

Meats and fish are best fed raw, but may be lightly steamed or baked.

Cats may be fed a variety of cereal grains, including cracked wheat, cornmeal, rolled oats, rolled barley, millet, and well-cooked brown rice. Potatoes, both sweet and white, may also be used.

A little raw bran may be added to replace the roughage cats would obtain from the feathers, hair and skin of their natural prey.

Raw greens are vital to health. Cats should be allowed to forage for their own wild grasses and green herbs. At home, they may be given any healthful greens you can find, such as kale, collards, dandelion, watercress, parsley, clover, turnip and mustard greens. Carrots and other orange vegetables may be shredded for digestibility, or steamed or baked. Raw minced sprouts and alfalfa powder (about 1/4 tsp. daily) or sprouts are also good.

Offer a bit of fruit as a treat occasionally, such as apples, cantaloupe and peaches.

Sea vegetables are extremely nutritious, as they are high in minerals, including iodine, which promotes healthy hair and skin. Seaweeds such as dulse and nori may be fed raw if soaked, but thicker heavier ones like kelp (alaria), wakame and kombu must be thoroughly cooked. Seaweeds may also be obtained in a powdered form.

Food should be warmed to room temperature, neither cold nor hot.

Raw bones are especially loved and beneficial to cats. Never cook them or they may splinter. Frozen poultry bones will also splinter, so be sure the meat was never frozen. Feed bones only after a meal, when they will be mixed with other foods. That way, there will be no danger of a bone piece damaging the intestines.

Oils should be fed additionally, balanced with oily foods (such as sesame tahini, whole mashed olives, almond butter, and so on). Feed the equivalent of 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, depending on the size of the cat.

A balanced and adequate diet will provide needed vitamins. If you want to use a vitamin supplement, good ones are available in health food stores. Vitamin C powder may be especially useful, for it can help to reduce stress and boost the immune system. Approximately 250 mg. per day may be given (depending on the size of the cat), by sprinkling on the food. Vitamin E is also beneficial. Give approximately 50 IU daily (or 100 IU every other day). Cats often enjoy the taste of nutritional yeast flakes. Yeast flakes are high in B vitamins. If a commercial vitamin supplement is not used, you may use about 1/4 tsp. of yeast flakes daily.

Fasting allows the body to rest and detoxify. It may be helpful to fast your healthy cat one half day per week.

Breakfast
Bread lightly spread with butter or tahini; or grain and milk

Midday
Flaked cereal with beaten raw egg, olive oil.

Dinner
Meat, with bran, kelp powder, minced greens.

Evening
Light meal (see breakfast)

White Bear (formerly Running-Horse) lives in Wasilla, Alaska. She offers Wellness Consultations for companion animals using homeopathy, interspecies communication (animal telepathy) and other holistic healing methods. Call 566-3400 or 357-5400.