Pawsitive Instincts - Feline Nutrition

19/08/2024

New Blog Post
Would you like to know why calcium is important in your pets diet?
Where it comes from and what to look for?
This blog post is for you...

By Ann-Marie Cole 2024 (Cert. Animal Nutrition, Dip. Canine Health & Nutrition, Dip Feline Studies, Cert. Holistic Health for Dogs)Calcium is an essential macromineral needed by dogs and cats to grow and maintain strong bones and teeth, muscle contraction and nerve signaling in the body. When a defi...

08/08/2024

We have 20% off ALL nutrition consults and ready to use recipes until midnight Sunday 11th August 2023

No code needed, discount applied at checkout.
Available worldwide

*Ends 11-08-2024, excludes all other items.

https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/feline-nutrition

31/05/2024

15% Off All meal plans and recipes this weekend :D

17/05/2024

🐾🐕🐈 20% off All Ready to Go NRC raw balanced recipes this weekend 🐈🐕🐾
Want to feed your dogs or cats a healthy balanced wholefood diet but now sure where to start?
Our ready to go recipes are a great place to have the confidence of using a recipe balanced to NRC nutritional guidelines while you get a feel for fresh feeding.
I have recipes available for kittens, adult cats, adult dogs and small breed puppies.
Shop for Cats: https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/nutrition-consultations
Shop for Dogs: https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/canine-nutrition-consultations

***Please ensure you read the needed ingredients in the product info to make sure you can source the all ingredients as there are no returns for change of mind with digital files.

*Excludes custom recipes and meal plans and all other products.

01/03/2024

21/02/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoLmJlKGxb8

There is so much information being shared about pre, pro and postbiotics. But what are they? Do your pets need them? How should they be taken and what act...

27/01/2024

For the pups, but cats can have very small amounts as well if they like it :)

25/01/2024

You may have heard about the concerns around certain brands of pet feed recently. No mater where in the word you are located if you and/or your vet suspects your pets food is a cause for an illness please report to the manufacturer ASAP, if you are in the USA report to FDA, for those of us in Australia report to the PFIAA (Pet Food Industry Association of Australia).

An adverse event is any undesirable experience associated with the use of a regulated product.

07/01/2024

It was my precious girl Lottie's 1st Birthday today 🥳🥳🥳
She had a simple brekkie of a Proudi Beef & Roo premade raw patty and diner was:
🐔Chicken Wing
🐂Grass Fed Beef
🐟Salmon (Lottie also had a little left of Mackerel from yesterday)
🐑Lamb Kidney, Liver & Heart
🐑Fresh Green Tripe
🥒Zucchini
🫐Blueberries
🌱Ascophyllum Nodosum Seaweed 9Simply Seaweed)
🧆Topped with some coconut 'Pawty Sprinkles' 🙂

07/01/2024

In light of the current concerns over some brands of pet foods safety at the moment (please see Saving one pet at a time FB page to learn more about these concerns) I think it's important for every pet owner to take a deep breath and ask themselves the question

⚠️⚠️⚠️Do I trust my pet food with my pets life❓❓❓

Regardless of the brand you use, quite literally every bite of food our pets take impacts their health, if you feed a manufactured brand and do so day after day the risks are at their highest if a food contains toxins, excessive nutrients, mould etc....
Can you be certain the food you are feeding your pet/s is safe at all times? Just because the last bag/can etc... was fine doesn't mean this one is.

Something I always feel relived about when I see concerns or recalls over ultra processed pet food is that I don't need to worry as all of my pets meals are made with human grade foods mostly made by me, the commercial raw food I use is fed minimally and in rotation but is also human grade. I also don't feed the same things day in and day out, rotation isn't only important for variety and nutritional diversity it also avoids potential issues from building up to potentially harmful levels.

If you have no choice but to feed commercial foods all of the time, rotate, rotate, rotate. Rotate you brands, proteins etc... regularly to minimal issues long term.

02/01/2024

Happy New Year
I hope you all had a lovely time with your furry family, we tried our best not to melt during the heatwave over Christmas and now trying not to wash away with the storms and heavy rain.
Here are some pics of my furry babies from over the holiday break and their Christmas days meals

31/12/2023

Just a couple of days left to take advantage of 20% off sitewide this includes Ready to Go recipes for cats & Dogs that are available on the website.

Simply enter the code Holiday20 at checkout to redeem

*Excludes P&H, Handmade bird/small animal toys and custom nutrition plans.

Shop Now: https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/

27/12/2023

🎄🎄🎄🦃Christmas Turkey Treats 🦃🎄🎄🎄
I totally forgot to post this 🤦 but made a fresh batch of treats for the dogs & cats for Christmas.
I've been so busy it's been ages since I took the time to make treats and it was lovely to spoil them with some homemade snacks.
If you are looking to make some healthy treats over the holiday season here is the recipe

These are my Turkey & Ginger treats & Turkey, Ginger & Cranberry treats.

Ingredients:
Aprox 800g of diced turkey breast
Chunk of fresh Ginger (finely grated)
Handful of fresh greens (today was Parsley & Dandelion), chopped
Soaked Chia Seeds (Aprox 4 tablespoons chia jelly)
Aprox 1/3 cup dried cranberries (fresh is fine if you have them)
How to make:
I split half of the ingredients to make Turkey, Ginger, Greens & Chia and the other half had cranberries added. Ingredients were put into food processor and made into a paste like consistency. Rolled into little logs or 'cookies'. Put into dehydrator on baking paper and dried at 70 degrees Celsius in the dehydrator for aprox 8-10 hours. I take the baking paper out and leave treats on the stainless steel racks after about 2 hours when the treats firm up to dry properly. I allow them to cool in the dehydrator overnight then put into air tight containers or ziplock bags.

💚These treats are low in fat so great for doggies that need low fat treats, ginger is a great anti-inflammatory herb and soothing to the gut. Chia seeds are a source of fibre and ALA omega fatty acids, Parsley & Dandelion are great for aiding digestion and has numerous health benefits as well as being a nice source of iron, folate and vitamin K, fibre and other vitamins and minerals.

Suitability:
Turkey & Ginger 🐈🐕 (both of my kitties LOVE them 😋)
Turkey, Ginger & Cranberry 🐕

**Recipe is not to be used for commercial purposes, private use only**

26/12/2023

I hope your kitties are having a wonderful holiday season
Satinka & Aslan are trying to keep cool in our Queensland summer heat but enjoying delicious raw meals and tasty treats like Aslan is having here (Freeze Dried Quail neck)

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas 🎄🎄⛄️🎅🦌🎄🎄
I hope all of your pets are enjoying delicious meals this Christmas.
This is what is on the menu for 🐱Satinka, 🐈 Aslan, 🐶 Basil, 🐶 Lottie & 🐶 Wilfred today

14/12/2023

I've just published my latest blog post.
So often I'm chatting with people in FB groups about pets diets and people want kibble recommendations, I've also been nerding out on nutrition conversations online and had to put my thoughts on why it's impossible for me to recommend a kibble to anyone in a blog post, there is just so much going wrong in that category of feed these days it's best avoided in preference of minimally processed balanced diets....

*Pic of my baby girl Lottie as a young puppy who has been thriving on a raw diet since weaning

By Ann-Marie Cole (Cert. Animal Nutrition, Dip. Canine Health & Nutrition, Dip Feline Studies, Cert. Holistic Health for Dogs) Ultra processed are categories of feed that are high heat treated such as canned and extruded diets. In particular extruded diets aka kibble is the most popular category of....

14/12/2023

Interesting conversation about the issue with copper in pet food/feed and why ultra-processed food may be to blame.

06/12/2023

Ready To Go recipes for dogs and cats are back up and available on the website.
I'm still taking a break from custom consults for the moment while I clear bird toy orders. Please check back soon....

https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/feline-nutrition

29/11/2023

I'm currently taking a short break from Nutrition Consults as the other side to my business (Bird Toy making) is keeping me very busy in the lead up to Christmas and I like to make sure I put as much time as needed to get every custom recipe right.
I still have ready to go recipes up and available for purchase in the mean time for both dogs and cats :)
Please check back soon for our custom options when they become available again....

13/11/2023

https://truthaboutpetfood.com/very-concerning-potential-requirement-of-freeze-dried-pet-foods/?fbclid=IwAR3LXvGSSBWzNZeDsDDHzN_bkce-OVkvmiH3U04AkilpDQSWsufj7nFHATw

Speak now, before pet food is required to be irradiated.

27/07/2023

It's been ages since I've shared a day menu for Aslan & Satinka 🐈🐈
We've had a little breakthrough with Aslan recently and he is now willing to eat small sections of chicken necks without being mushed and chopped up. He's been happy eating chunks of bone in quail and the occasional chicken wing tip whole but this is another step up for him. It's so wonderful seeing him chew on a bone 🥳

Both had the same menu....
Organic Chicken Neck section
Kangaroo Mince
Lamb Mince
Lamb Liver & Brain
Organic Green Tripe
Quail Egg (no shell)
Antinol Rapid (for Omega's, Phosphatidylcholine, Astaxanthin)

*This isn't a "complete and balanced" daily menu in itself we balance certain things over time.

Need help getting your cat onto a healthy species appropriate raw diet? Check out our recipes and meal plans to help you on your path today https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/feline-nutrition

04/07/2023

So great to see a dosage guide for Canine Ceutical products for cats now 🤩

27/04/2023

Please forgive me if I'm a little slow responding to emails at the moment, we have had a new addition to the family that is keeping me on my toes as well as working on orders for the bird toy production side of the business.
Rest assured a response will be on it's way ASAP :)

* Our new addition Lottie with her big 'brother' Wilfred

22/04/2023

Puppies and kittens need bones, not only a great source of calcium, phosphorus and other important minerals, glucosamine, collagen etc... they are also wonderful Natural enrichment to help calm your puppy and aid in dental health when selected correctly.
Here is our new family member Lottie a 15 week old Labradoodle enjoying her chicken wing for breakfast. 😋🥰🐶🐾

26/03/2023

❓It's best to avoid fish in ultra-processed feed but is it ok in a fresh wholefood diet?

🐟Yes, fish can be an important part of a fresh food diet, not only do we obtain Omega 3 fatty acids EPA & DHA that reduce inflammation in the body from oily fish it's also a valuable source of Vitamin D3 and selenium. Vitamin D3 can be difficult to meet in wholefood diets and just two servings (aprox 30-40g) of human grade oily fish such as Sardines, Salmon or Mackerel can help meet our cats requirements each week.

⚠️If your cat is allergic to fish or has a medical condition where feeding seafood is not suitable, then finding alternatives for these nutrients is important.

✴️Fish can be very addictive for some cats to the point they only want to eat fish based foods, it is important to wean cats off fish gently my mixing new non-fish foods with the fishy food.

❎Avoid Tuna - Tuna is a common ingredient in cat feed however it isn't the healthiest choice for our felines as it is a longer lived fish higher in the food chain that has high levels of Mercury. Always leave tuna out of the diet in place of a smaller oily fish.

Are you currently feeding a fish-based diet to your cat?

If so, make sure you read this...

Cats may love fish, but it's actually not a natural protein for them.

The fish used in canned pet foods actually comes from "trash fish."

These are the leftovers of the seafood industry, which usually includes bones and can be high in phosphorus and magnesium.

If you have a cat with urinary issues or kidney issues, this is the exact opposite of what you want to be feeding to them.

Fish is also one of the most common food allergens for cats too. These types of food contain high levels of histamine, which leads to inflammation and is part of the allergy response.

Here's another reason not to feed fish-based canned foods if you needed one.

There is a known link between feeding these types of food and hyperthyroidism in older cats.

And let's just talk about salmon, since this is one of the most popular cat food ingredients.

Unfortunately, most of the salmon comes from factory-farmed fish. These fish are kept in overcrowded net pens, usually in polluted coastal waters. They're fed antibiotics, antifungals, and dyes to make them look a more appealing red color.

Pesticides and other common water pollutants are found in farmed salmon at up to 10 times the amount found in wild fish. Your pet is now eating these.

There are many other reasons why fish-based foods should not make up the majority of your cat's diet.

I highly recommend buying Dr. Jean Hofve's book "What Cats Should Eat." It will open up your eyes to what's going on in the pet food industry and give you the tools you need to help your cats achieve optimal health.

Put a YES in the comments if you found this info helpful.

01/03/2023

When was the last time your kitty cat enjoyed some leafy greens?
While cats are obligate carnivores they can benefit from consuming a small amount of low starch plant matter, usually in the form of leafy greens and grasses to provide:

🟩Antioxidants
🟪Flavinoids
🟦Vitamins K, A, E & C and some B vitamins
🟨Fibre to help support a healthy microbiome

🤓In a study on wild felids from 2020, it showed that wild felids have a microbiome that supports the digestion of plant biomass, while we never want to include large amounts of plant matter to a hypercarnivore that requires high levels of quality animals based protein for normal biological functions, small amounts of well chosen plant matter may be aided in digestion by the cats microbiome. It will be interesting to see if a similar study is done on domesticated cats to see if there are parallels in their microbiome when fed a species appropriate diet.

❓How much and what types of plant matter? there is no hard and fast rule, my guideline is up to 2% of the diet. Low starch plant matter is the best, think of leafy greens like Kale, spinach, Dandelion greens, Bok Choy, Chicory etc... you can also use small mounts of finely grated or pureed zucchini, broccoli etc... Free access to grasses such as wheat grass or barley grass is also an excellent choice.

❌ Avoid starchy plant matter like rice, corn, potato's, peas, legumes etc... as well as toxic plants such as rhubarb, onions etc...

Reference: The Gene Catalog and Comparative Analysis of Gut Microbiome of Big Cats Provide New Insights on Panthera Species
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01012/full

01/03/2023

Attention all pet owners! Did you know that bone feeding is an essential part of your pet's holistic health? Bones provide important nutrients such as calcium and phosphorus that support strong bones and teeth, as well as a healthy immune system.

At The Natural Vets, we recommend feeding raw bones to dogs and cats as part of a balanced diet. Not only do bones offer essential nutrients, but they also promote healthy chewing, which can improve dental health and reduce stress.

It's important to note that not all bones are created equal. Cooked bones can splinter and cause serious harm to your pet's digestive tract, while small bones and bones from poultry can pose choking hazards. It's best to consult with a holistic veterinarian to determine the appropriate bones for your pet.

So, don't overlook the importance of bone feeding for your furry friends. Incorporating raw bones into their diet can have a positive impact on their overall health and well-being.

🐾 New arrivals for your furry friend! 🐾


Raw sardines and kangaroo tail now in stock! 🐟🦘


Hurry in and grab some for your pet today! 🛍️

08/02/2023

It's not all about our adorable kitties I also am a huge dog lover and I'm really excited to announce we have three brand new Ready to Go NRC balanced recipes for Dogs available on the website :)
One for Adult dogs and two for small to medium breed Puppies :)

Head over to our website to check them out....
https://www.pawsitiveinstincts.com/canine-nutrition-consultations

05/02/2023

It's been a while since I've done a meal share, here is my own kitty cats menu's for today, these will be divided into 3 meals for the day :)

*Please note these meals are not completely balanced but are part of a rotational diet which aims to balance over several days.

01/02/2023

How adorable is Butters with his new Zanies Mouse in his favourite colour yellow 😍 sent in by one of our wonderful customers.

We love seeing your precious pets with their new goodies, if you have a cute photo to share we would love to see it :D