Bernadette, let us know what you decide to do.

Today it would be different when skilled pet sitters are much easier to find, and as professionals are often more knowledgeable than owners. Still, the friends I have with eight cats and three dogs all on a raw diet could not find a pet sitter who would undertake the task, not sure if it was the raw food or the number of animals, so they trained a friend who is also a vet tech to do the job. I was a little surprised they had to do this, and because I know I’ll be away at festivals for long days in the coming year I’ll have a pet sitter come for at least one meal, I’ve been considering what I’d do and beginning to ask around. I always give lots of instruction, but being matter of fact is very important. I’ll see what I come up with.

Thanks!
Bernadette

Having said all that, as a potential client I would be rather concerned with my sitter following through and using appropriate hygiene and food handling techniques in my own kitchen. I’d provide clearly written instructions for how you want these meals prepared in your home and ensure that disinfectant, proper disposal materials and gloves are available. I’d also have a simple general information sheet on raw feeding prepared for those who aren’t familiar or comfortable with the concept.

I’d minimize the topic of raw feeding and keep it as matter of fact as possible (that goes for dealing with my employees, too). After all, many of us are already handling raw meats and veggies at home. It seems people forget that when they are reacting to the topic of feeding raw meats to pets.

Hope this helps.

I can appreciate the concern about whether a pet sitter will do the raw feeding when you’re away, I did think about that quite a bit as I began switching Amber to raw. Amber currently gets one meal a day of a high-quality grain-free diet, and the second meal is all raw. I plan to eventually switch her to almost all raw, but will still occasionally feed canned food for some variety. I rarely travel, but when I do, I’ll probably just have my pet sitter feed canned – I know she wouldn’t be comfortable handling raw food. It would be interesting to hear any pet sitters who read this chime in on this aspect of raw feeding – I’d love to hear whether they accommodate client requests to do it, and how they handle it.

I’ve gone back and forth with a raw diet since the late 80s, partly because I couldn’t afford, and they didn’t like, the frozen diets, and I wanted to use only organic meats to avoid the hormones and antibiotics. I’m feeding high-quality canned right now. Here are a few things I’ve tried.

Until the late 90s, I couldn’t find a reputable source of organic meat, but the Amish around Pittsburgh tuned into the organic needs and we can now purchase chicken at farmer’s markets and even in some supermarkets, or I can drive an hour and buy it directly.

In addition, I have friends who hunt. Wild turkey is pretty popular, and one white-tailed deer that has fed in protected state forest can go a long way toward feeding a household of cats, and they love it best of all, cut in little chunks or strips. You can even ask the processor to grind everything together.

Friends of mine grind up everything themselves, bones, beaks and all. I chopped just the flesh, including organ meats, and added egg, bone meal and fish oil and put the mixing bowl in a larger bowl of hot water to warm the mix.

When I first began the diet a local holistic vet suggested that I start to get their interest by adding a can of mackerel, slowly decreasing the amount added in each day until there was little or none to avoid the use of canned meat. This worked every time for me.

Most of my cats have lived to be very old and came to suffer from old body ailments, and I will still make the raw diet for them or supplement with raw meat, and if anyone was ill I would do so then too. Peaches, 19, gets raw meat whenever I can as a treat by slivering from frozen raw meat and thawing/warming it in my fingers. I’m not sure when I will go back to this again because the other challenge is a pet sitter who will do the meal when I’m away.

I hope that may help anyone else who may feel it’s overwhelming. It’s not.

Since cats are obligate carnivores and don’t gain any nutritional value from plants, this isn’t an issue.