Diet and Nutrition 

At Pura Vida Maine Coons we strive to give our cats the absolute best diet possible. 

Our kittens are free fed on raw balanced diet that we make ourselves.  We also feed Taste of the Wild dry food, the venison and salmon flavor, because it has the highest protein, and it is a brand easily found anywhere in the U.S.  During the 1st two weeks of your kitten in your new home, I strongly recommend you do not change from this Taste of the Wild brand and flavor in canned and dry.  If you can not feed a raw diet, canned Taste of the Wild is the next best thing, as dry commercialcat food can be irritating to the urinary track of males.  Once your kitten has adjusted to the many changes of the new environment,  you can slowly switch over to the canned or dry food of your choice over the course of the 3rd week. 

You can also supplement with small amounts of fresh, uncooked meats like beef, sardines, or chicken.  *NEVER feed a large amount of fish to your cat, as too much fish becomes toxic to them.  Use fish like sardines as toppings for their main meals.

We strongly believe in free feeding a BALANCED raw meat diet with a ratio of 75% muscle, 15% ground bone, and 10% organ meat, like liver.  Feeding raw is not just tossing your cat some raw meat, it is a very carefully balanced mix of raw bone, meat and organ meat in the same proportions as their natural prey would have.   This is the diet your cat has evolved to thrive on, and nature is rarely wrong.  

Some of the benefits of a balanced raw diet include healthy teeth and gums, a wonderful coat, proper weight, highly digestible nutrition, less poop, and practically odorless litter boxes.  It would also be advisable to select a veterinarian that is educated about a balanced raw diet  so that your decision is supported.

There is a very helpful Facebook group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud, and they will practically hold your hand as you learn everything and more that you could ever want to know about this diet.  They suggest premade raw food suppliers and have a raw meat calculator freely available to download so that you can ensure that the mix is properly balanced.   They have files on everything from nutritional studies, identifying healthy poop, reviews on meat grinders, etc.  Everything is in their files at the top of the homepage. Link is below:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CatCrap/?ref=share

There are many companies that offer high quality frozen natural whole prey like mice, rats, quail, or baby chicks that you can feed to your cats.  It is MUCH more simple than making a raw balanced mix, because nature already did the work for you.  

Sadly,  this is not available in my area, so I make my raw balanced mix using the raw food calculator from the Cats Completely Raw and Proud Facebook group files.

This is the raw food recipe I use.

I grind it smooth because I prefer to avoid bone waste.

You can also chop the bones with the meat on them into chunks, and as long as the cut is clean and the bone isn’t shattered in a sharp way, your cat will chew it all up safely.

12.1 lbs chicken thigh + leg with skin

3.3 lbs  chicken liver + heart

6.3 lbs  boneless chicken breast with skin

1.4 lbs sardines in tomato sauce