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Benefits of a Balanced Raw Meat Diet | Pottenger's Cats

Pottenger's Cats

Between 1932 and 1942 a Dr. F.M. Pottenger, Jr. carried out research involving 900 cats over four generations. The cats were divided into two main groups, one group being fed on raw food, including raw meat, raw milk, and cod liver oil, and the second group being fed cooked meat, raw milk, and cod liver oil. The meat content of the diet comprised muscle meat, organ meat, and bone. Each main group was divided into smaller groups and were housed in large outdoor pens with a sand toilet area at tone end and a covered bedded area at the other.

The group fed raw meat was fit and healthy throughout the ten year trial period, living contentedly together, interacting amicably and breeding normally. Their kittens were much alike in size, shape and structure. They were resistant to fleas and other parasites and also to infections. They showed no signs of allergies, had good teeth and gums, and behaved normally. When dropped, they always landed on their feet.

The second group, fed on the cooked meat, had a lot of problems in health, breeding, and behaviors. The first generation of kittens born to these cats was not alike in size and skeletal structure, and these differences became more marked in succeeding generations. The long bones became longer, narrower, weaker and the density of the bone was poor. In the third generation some of the bones were soft due to a severe lack of available nutrients, especially of calcium. These third generation kittens were wither born dead or deformed, or died before six months of age, so there was not fourth generation. Spontaneous abortion was common, affecting about 27% of the first generation cats and rising to about 70% in the second generation. Many females died while giving birth, as the birthing process was very difficult. Many kittens that were born alive were too weak to feed or their dam had no milk and many queens showed poor maternal instinct and failed to look after their kittens properly.

The cats in this group became more aggressive, with some of the females becoming too dangerous to handle. On the other hand, some of the males became so docile that they had little interest in the females, and there was some abnormal sexual activity between the same sexes. When dropped, these cats did not land on their feet. They also had major problems with fleas and other parasites. Skin problems were common and became even more common through the generations. These cats also suffered a wide spectrum of diseases including heart problems, thyroid disorders; infections; arthritis and joint inflammation; paralysis; and meningitis. They often suffered diarrhea, especially the kittens.

Some cats from this second group were returned to a raw meat diet and their progeny were fed the raw meat diet and measurements were taken of how long it took for them to return to normal health. This took four generations, although their reproductive ability never fully recovered. During the second generation back on a raw food diet, the cats showed improved resistance to disease but it took until the third generation for all allergies to disappear. The reproductive ability of female cats fed on the cooked food diet for only 12 to 18 months was permanently damaged. They never gave birth to normal litters, even after having been on the raw diet for many years. Their progeny did gradually regenerate over several generations on the raw diet.

One sub group of the raw food fed cats was placed on cooked meat for six months during adolescence, and then returned to the raw food diet. The kittens produced by females of this group showed many of the symptoms of deficiency, which were largely alleviated when, put back on raw food. During the period of being fed cooked meat, their resistance to disease decreased dramatically but improved when they went back on raw meat.

Dr. Pottenger felt that even the cats on the raw food were not as healthy as those that were allowed to hunt. Bear in mind that even the raw diet was not very well balanced, as it was lacking in anything resembling fur, feather or gut contents, and that could account for the difference in cats that hunted for food. However, possibly the most likely explanation for the added benefits of hunting is that cats have never adapted to food that is not absolutely fresh. Dogs, for example, are scavengers as well as hunters, so they had to be able to deal with food that was not really fresh and might even be starting to rot. Cats are not scavengers and their food has always been freshly caught and killed, hence they had no need for the kind of detoxification system that canines required. Cats just cannot deal with rancid food because they can not rid themselves of the toxins in such foods, which is undoubtedly why cats on the modern commercial diet have so many major health problems.