Our Cat Suki Illustrates Why Cats Crave Raw Protein

Suki was a feline hunter at the top of her game. She was sleek and black, blending seamlessly into the shadows of the trees. Through the tall grass, she silently stalked her prey on stealthy cat paws. She effortlessly brought down mice, squirrels, birds, and even small rabbits, proudly dropping them on our porch before settling in to enjoy her latest kill. We were both horrified and amazed at her hunting prowess.

In order to protect our local wildlife, we placed a tiny bell on her collar. We also switched her to a high-protein raw diet and upped our playtime to satisfy her strong prey drive. All this goes to show that cats are carnivores, and they crave raw protein and are driven to hunt for it.

It’s funny because as I was writing this, I read about a study done in 2021 by a team of University of Exeter scientists. According to the article published by Petfood Industry, the scientists recruited 219 households in southwest England with a total of 355 cats. They divided them into five groups and assigned each group a method with one group being the control group that did nothing but record the numbers of wild prey brought home every day.

They studied them for 12 weeks and came to the same conclusion we did. Pet parents who fed their cats a high-protein diet and played with them more resulted in less predation on wild birds and small mammals in their neighborhoods.

When it comes to high-protein diets, in our opinion, raw is best and the best way to deliver it is through wet food, which has been proven to be a popular choice among pet owners and cats. Cats actually prefer to eat wet diets with a soft pâté texture.

At Tucker’s, we emulsify all our formulas for maximum absorption and a smooth texture. One of the things we’ve learned is that you cannot control how quickly food moves through an animal’s body. However, by changing the size of the particulate, you can change absorption. This is one of the main reasons we focus on emulsification instead of a multi-grind process.

Most companies will grind and then regrind their product to reduce it down to a workable size. Emulsification results in an even smaller and more digestible product. The smaller the particulate, the more accumulative surface area is available for our pets to absorb all those valuable nutrients. Tucker’s does not add any thickeners like starches, gums, and proteins to our diets, and because our product is not cooked, we don’t lose any of the nutrient rich juices from the proteins.

With cats and dogs having such a short digestive tract, providing the added surface area allows them to absorb more nutrients in a short period of time, and emulsification results in a soft, smooth pâté texture, which is exactly what cats want.

Cats are carnivores. They crave raw protein and are driven to hunt for it. Suki certainly was. That cat could bring down anything.