Hello there! BARF or raw diets are controversial to feline health, but it is the closest thing to their ancestral diet. Cats do not process grains well, which are in every food except for natural diets. Grains just make cats fat and feeding cats (and dogs) poor quality diets are just convenient for us people, not healthy for them. Yes, you do spend a bit more on high quality diets such as Wellness, Halo, Royal Canin, Pro Plan, and Nature's Balance, but your pets reap the most benefits from them because they are producing less waste, have healthy skin, coat, teeth, and internal organs. They may also live longer too. You do certainly run a risk of contaminants or illness from raw food. Here are a few of my recommendations.
If you choose to stick to a raw diet, one place that I have purchase my natural food from that I know carries raw food is Nature's Nibbles in Alexandria, VA. They also have a web site
Nature's Nibbles and they will deliver to certain areas. Their prices are good too. If you want the benefits of a raw diet but can not afford it or need something more convenient to prepare, Innova makes great canned and dry products for cats. Innova Evo is a commercial natural diet that is made from raw meat and vegetables. It has NO GRAINS. I had my cats on this diet and they would eat less, produce less waste (although their waste had more odor), and really liked the taste of it. Another diet you can switch to that I actually have had my cats on for a couple of years now and I think I've found a winner is Wellness canned food. This food is a natural food with no grains, and all natural meat (no by-products). I recommend getting chicken, turkey, or beef flavors only because there is some research that shows that fishy flavors have more ash in them, which causes urinary problems. Another benefit to this diet is it is sold at Petco, which is ultra convenient. It's about $1.29 a can and I feed my cats 1/4 can twice daily. Canned food is the best for cats because it has a lot of moisture in it compared to dry food, and it's best for urinary health. Dry foods to do not clean teeth, as many would think. They are just convenient for people to buy because it's easier to put down for your cats, but they do not clean teeth. (I won't go into a huge tangent about dry food, but I can certainly give you advice I've gotten from vets, if you'd like to know more).
I hope this helps!
Jenn
