Do Bengal cats require a special diet of raw meats?

I have heard alot of debate on the topic. Here is a little background info: My Bengal Leonidas is 5 months old and his current diet is dry cat food and about 1-2x's weekly wet cat food and anything else he can grab off my 3 year olds plate. I would say that he does eat more than my 3 other regular cats. He is a very big mooch and steals off plates if not watched carefully, and has even gone into the trash can in search of leftovers. He is not having any bowel or stomach problems. He is active and healthy. My sister in law has a sister from his litter and she feeds her cat raw meats and occasionally a raw egg. Should I be doing this as well??

This goes to the age old Raw vs. Dry/Commercial diet for ALL animals.

If your cat is doing well on the diet you have him on, keep him there. And as long as your vet seems to think he is in good health keep him there.

A good quality dry and canned commercial cat food will be fine. Bengal's do tend to be slightly larger than the average domestic cat, but make sure he does not become overweight with him picking up food from your childs plate.

A balanced diet is the most important thing to keep you cat health. Make sure that your cat doesnt eat too many fatty food as this can cause a lot of problems.

I would never feed raw meat or eggs because they can contain parasites. If you want to feed meat and eggs then please cook them. It shouldn't be necessary to feed these though. Get a high quality of dry like Eukanuba and mix it with a high quality of wet cat food and offer this two or three times a week. Don't feed it everyday as it can cause weight problems. I haven't owned a Bengal, but I did own a Maine Coon Cat which is another very large breed. He ate much more than my Norwegian Forest Cat and my Siamese. I also gave the other two cats this special treat when I fed it to the Maine Coon (smaller quantities) so they wouldn't feel jealous.

It's absolutely not good for u to feed yr bengal raw meat or egg.Raw egg can cause illness to your cat.dry food is sufficient for the bengal.Maybe u should increase his dry food intake,any extra dry food,leave it for him to eat.Also try to mix canned cat food with the dry food.&try to feed several times in a day.good luck.

OMG have a Bengal/Persian cross called Leonidas. Great minds must think alike huh?

I feed him dry food daily and a pouch of wet food a day to mix it up too. I find he has a really sensitivbe stomach though, and i can't go changing food without warning, or he'll turn my bathroom into a scene from a horror film!

I asked the vet about raw meat too, and she said to avoid it. her view was that there is a great risk of food poisoning from raw meat, and that the only benefit is that it's pure protein. She recommened dry frying minced beef, or baking a chicken breast every now and then as a treat insted. he loves it.

Bengals are a domestic breed of cat. A good, high quality dry cat food & clean fresh water is what they need. Plus plenty of love, good health care & playtime from their humans(plus the occasional kitty treat!). Hoped I helped!

Bengals (like all domestic cats) are obligate carnivores, meaning that they must eat meat in order to thrive. They do not have the ability to digest vegetable matter. Most of the dry foods you find in the supermarket have grains as there main ingredient and really aren't great for your cat. Being a breeder, I always choose a dry food that has meat as its main ingredient and I would also recommend that meat be eaten at least once a day.

Raw meat is also fine. If you purchase it from a butcher and worm your cat regularly (as you should regardless), you will have very few, if any problems. We also feed our girls raw eggs occassionally and we have yet to see/hear of any one having a problem with this (including vets).

If your cat is an outdoor cat, it probably is already getting its fair share of meat from the various rodents, birds etc that it finds and eats out there. If your cats are kept indoors though, I think it is very important that they eat raw meat daily.

I would highly recommend feeding your Bengal a Raw diet!

Cats were never meant to eat dry food, also known as cereals or kibble. We, humans, make them eat it for convenience to us. It has nothing to do with them or their nutritional needs. It's completely species inappropriate.

In the wild, cats derive their entire liquid intake from their prey. They do not have a thirst mechanism because they don't need it when eating a species appropriate diet. They get all they need from what they eat. So they do not drink water. Regular ol' house cats have descended from those same wild cats.

So in a home environment, your kitty does not get the moisture it needs from dry food and it鈥檚 almost always in a constant state of dehydration. Water fountains are encouraged to TRY to get your cat to drink more and your kitty may even enjoy it, but it will never meet its water intake needs drinking from a bowl.

Deadly feline illnesses such as diabetes, kidney failure, obesity, Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), bladder stones, kidney stones, urinary tract blockages and Urinary Tract Infections (FLUTD), with and without deadly crystals run rampant these days. Cats are not taking in enough water to stave them off. Proper water intake through a species appropriate diet alone can prevent most of these conditions.

Overall, wet is all around better for any cats diet, be it canned or Raw and they should never be fed dry cereal kibble if we wish to most closely match their wild nutritional and dietary needs. Kibble meets our needs鈥?not our cats.

Another reason to feed raw... Cats are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. Even more so with your cat so closely related to a wild cat. Cats are true and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat!

I personally feed a Raw Meat and Bones based diet to my cats and they are very healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. Once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it it's a snap to prepare. It's something you should definatlyconsider.

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet some great places to start learning are http://www.catinfo.org/ , http://www.catnutrition.org/ , and http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/ .

If you would like to try raw with your cat and don鈥檛 want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from http://www.felinespride.com/products/cat... . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it!

Another premade Raw you can try is Natures Varity. I personally have never used this but know many people that do and it鈥檚 pretty easy to find http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...

Here's a bunch of websites to help you learn what you need to know.

http://www.catinfo.org/

http://www.catnutrition.org/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.felinespride.com/

http://www.felinefuture.com/

http://www.felineinstincts.com/index.htm...

http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/

http://www.blakkatz.com/index.html

http://www.holisticat.com/

http://goldcoastragdolls.com/MyOwnCatFoo...

http://www.mypetcarnivore.com/rawfeeding...