Cats

Cats are not small dogs

This is the framing that makes everything else make sense.

Cats are obligate carnivores. A dog is an omnivore that thrives on a meat-heavy diet; a cat is an animal that must eat meat, with far less flexibility. In principle that makes raw feeding an even better fit for a cat than for a dog.

But it comes with a requirement that has no equivalent on the dog side.

Taurine — the one thing you must get right

Taurine is an amino acid that both dogs and cats need. Dogs can synthesize their own. Cats cannot. A cat has to get taurine from its food, and a taurine deficiency in a cat is serious — it causes heart and eye problems.

Two things make this a live issue for raw:

• Grinding and freezing both reduce available taurine. That's not a criticism of raw food, it's a fact about how taurine behaves — and it means a ground, frozen raw diet may not deliver as much taurine as the raw material started with
• Therefore a cat on raw may need taurine supplementation

This is what the Feline Vitality Chew is for. It's formulated to complement a raw feeding diet for cats and includes taurine. If you sell raw food to a cat owner, this is not an upsell — it's part of doing the job properly.

Two useful details if a customer wants more:

• Dark poultry meat is higher in taurine than light meat
• Organ meats are a good taurine source

Talking to a cat owner

Cat owners tend to be more cautious than dog owners and more likely to have been told raw is dangerous. Three things worth knowing:

Cats are harder to transition. They are famously resistant to food changes, and a cat that has eaten dry food its whole life may take much longer than a dog. Set that expectation up front — a customer who expects an overnight switch and doesn't get one gives up and blames the food.

Never starve a cat into eating. This matters and it's the one place where cat advice diverges sharply from dog advice. A cat that stops eating for a few days can develop hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver condition. The "skip a meal, they'll eat when they're hungry" approach that's fine for a dog is genuinely dangerous for a cat. If a cat isn't eating, the customer should go slower or speak to a vet — never wait it out.

Smell is even more important than with dogs. Room-temperature food, and toppers do a lot of work here.

What to sell a cat owner

• Start with Pure, on a protein the cat already likes — usually poultry or fish
• Feline Vitality Chew for taurine
• Kefir or tripe as a topper, because getting a cat to try something new is most of the battle
• Patience, and permission to take weeks rather than days

On the floor

"Cats can absolutely eat raw — they're actually better suited to it than dogs. Two things though: they need taurine supplemented, and you can't rush the switch. Never let a cat go without eating to force it. Go slow, and use a topper."

How much to feed a cat

The number staff get asked immediately after a cat owner decides to try raw — and the one most likely to be guessed at.

Life stage	% of current body weight per day
Kitten, 2 – 4 months	11.5%
Kitten, 5 – 8 months	8%
Kitten, 9 – 12 months	5%
Adult cat	2%
Adult cat, underweight and active	3%
Adult cat, overweight	1.25%

Unlike dogs, an adult cat at a healthy weight sits at 2% whatever its activity level — a very active cat doesn't get more. Only body condition moves the number.

Use grams, not pounds. A 10 lb cat eats about 91 g a day, which is a far more useful answer at the counter than "0.2 of a pound." Send them to the Feeding Calculator rather than doing the arithmetic from memory.

⚠ Never let a cat owner wait out a cat that has stopped eating. More than a day without food and a cat can develop hepatic lipidosis. This is the hardest rule in the Academy and it belongs in this lesson as well as in troubleshooting.