Kirsten,

I'm sorry to sound so dogmatic about the issue but personally I do believe it is OKAY to feed a cat its natural diet - raw meat. A cat is more likely to become ill/sick from processed foods, and in fact studies have proven that cooked meat will deteriorate the condition of felines whereas raw meat improves the condition.

I will say that there is a small risk in some countries of pork containing the psuedorabies virus (Aujeszky) but only in countries that have infected swine, and even then the risk is very low. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Finland and Luxembourg are free of the disease.

Lamb and beef are fine (excluding CJD) which, again, is not present in many countries and VERY low risk.

The salmonella carried in fowl meat is not the same salmonella that felines carry. As far as I know there is no concern for cats contracting salmonella. Some animals are naturally immune to salmonella - like fowl.

Only cooked fowl bones splinter in a manner dangerous to felines.

Parvo virus in felines, also known as feline distemper virus, is nearly always passed on through feline contact with other infected felines. I have not heard of it being passed on throught raw/cooked meat.

I guess we should also remember that some viral/bacterial problems exist in some countries and not others so one fixed rule is not possible. We should also remember that cats are not people (or dogs) and that their digestive systems are very efficient at ejecting toxic foods.

It just seems to me a bit strange that many of us (I'm guilty of this too) are quite happy to fill our felines with processed, canned, tinned foods (of which few are "natural") yet we fear giving them fresh raw meat which is what they are designed to eat. Considering felines thrive on disease ridden creatures like rodents and birds perhaps we are guilty of being slightly paranoid?

This is all said in a debating manner without grimmaces or frowns