7

Raw Cat 101 and the Three Rs

THE YELLOW BRICK road of Cat Mojo is paved with your cat’s swagger, her sense of pride, her confident ownership of her territory, and her instinctive knowledge that she has a job to do in that territory. What moves her down the road is her daily routine of hunt, catch, kill, eat, followed by grooming and sleeping. If cats can engage this HCKEGS cycle with consistency, certainty, and confidence, they will experience total Cat Mojo, which is our Emerald City, always rising like the sun on the horizon.

For cats to reach the Emerald City, we need to provide an infrastructure through which all of these activities can unfold each day with predictability. And we do this with the Three Rs: Routines, Rituals, and Rhythm.

Every home has its natural rise-and-fall energy cycles, based largely around when you get up, go to work, come home, then go to bed. As you begin to establish rituals and routines with your cat, and base them on your home’s energy spikes, you create a rhythm. This rhythm becomes the foundation for all of the primary, supportive interactions you have with your cat, such as when you play and when you feed.

But it’s not just about getting your cat to conform to your rhythm. It’s about folding their needs and yours into a household rhythm. Just as human rituals define our confidence and sense of stability, cats need their own. So your day isn’t just about taking your kids to school, dropping them off at soccer practice and piano lessons, then helping them with homework and preparing dinner; I’m saying that HCKE, cuddle time, and cleaning the litterbox are all locked into that rhythm as well.

THE ENERGETIC BALLOON

Cats sleep as much as they do in order to prepare for the hunt. As they sleep, they are collecting energy. They are, in essence, Energetic Balloons, starting as an empty vessel and, through sleep, filling up with energy. When they wake up, that energy needs a home—a target, if you will. Let’s not forget that they are programmed by years of evolution, with a rhythm that demands satisfaction. The Raw Cat awakens and needs to hunt. Anything else that happens to cats (like being petted), or even around them (experiencing the lively rhythm of your and your family’s day), becomes more air in the balloon—more energy that will seek release.

That’s where our job comes in. We can almost guarantee a measure of mojo and proactively lessen the frustration of a quickly filling balloon by being the architects of this preexisting rhythm. When interacting with our cats, we are either putting energy in, filling the balloon, or taking energy out, opening the safety valve. It’s that simple. Just as the rhythm of our day is determined by our various rituals and routines, the same is true for our cats. Each day in our home presents fairly predictable energetic spikes, and our cats spike along with the rest of us. When the family gets up in the morning, it’s energy in. Our rituals range from alarm (and snooze) to shower, from shaving or makeup application to breakfast (both human and cat). These rituals are the building blocks of our morning routine; everyone runs around the house, talking in loud volumes—Did you pack your lunch? Are you ready to go? Did you feed the cats? More energy in. Footsteps around the house, doors slamming, and all of those reverberations: still more energy in. We leave the house with a full balloon (our cat) left behind.

Imagine what happens now as the day passes. We’ve got birds outside the window, traffic noises, people in neighboring apartments making noise.

Now you and your family return home, and energy spikes. Dinnertime, everyone’s home. How was your day? Feed humans and animals. Time to do the dishes! Get ready for the next day. In the meantime, the balloon is filling while you relax and unwind. Watch some TV before the last spike of the day when you get up again, get ready for bed, and prepare for the next day. At this point, all you have to do is breathe loudly and the balloon is going to pop.

What does a full balloon look like? Imagine if you had a balloon and that balloon had a mind and could feel it was ready to pop. That balloon would start to self-regulate—it would let some air out. Redirected aggression is an example of your cat letting air out, but there are more subtle ways. To me, the tail swish is that “balloon’s” ability to let air out. Once the balloon is full, the tail becomes an air escape mechanism. Same thing with what I call “back lightning.” The twitching that happens through the cat’s back is, at least partially, a spasm, but also a way of getting that energy out. You may notice your cat walking across the room, suddenly stopping as if a fly just landed on him and then very deliberately grooming himself. This self-soother is also a self-regulator.

What is our role in filling up the balloon, in this overstimulation? For some cats, petting is air into the balloon in a way that is intolerable. It’s energy in without an out. What might feel good for three or thirty seconds suddenly begins to feel like it’s going to make their balloon pop. And then—bang! That hiss, that bite, their turning on you—running away or self-grooming are desperate attempts to let air out of the balloon.

The Raw Cat 101 tool focuses on the particulars of those key rituals and routines, so that you can enjoy a rhythm in your house that supports the Mojo-fied experience for your cat—every day.

PLAY = PREY

Now that you know about the Raw Cat Rhythm, do you still think that tossing a crinkle ball across the floor counts as play? Are you letting yourself off the hook because you have a bunch of plastic mice and a catnip cigar lying around the living room? Do you still, after all of this, have a vision of cat play being about them batting a ball of yarn around the carpet? If so, do not pass go, and definitely do not collect your two hundred dollars. Go back to the Raw Cat Rhythm (chapter 3), reread it, and meet me back here.

One of the most important things I can tell you about keeping your cat Raw happy and Raw healthy is that play isn’t a luxury, something that is a fun diversion if and when you have time. Look at it this way: If you have a dog, you have a collar and leash and you take the dog for daily walks. And likewise, if you have a cat, you have interactive toys and you use them for daily play sessions. These things should hold equal weight because for the respective species, they are a physical and behavioral necessity.

Having that interactive toy, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Here’s the thing: play is a structured activity. The difference between casually playing with your cat and truly engaging in the HCKE ritual is the routine nature of HCKE. Your cat likes things to happen in a predictable manner, and this is how you Mojo-fy playtime for them. You don’t play Monopoly by sitting down and flicking around Monopoly game pieces with your finger. No, this is Monopoly: you roll the dice, you move, you pick up a card, you buy a house. A typical play session with your cat involves this level of engagement.

As you break out an interactive toy and replicate movements of prey, you’re helping to reinforce the endgame—what the Hunt/Catch/Kill actually looks like—and you bolster the Mojo that goes along with the hunting process. You are essentially providing a structured outlet for your Raw Cat’s behavioral yearnings. This is how you feed the Mojo.

“BUT MY CAT DOESN’T PLAY”

The reason so many people say to me, “Jackson, my cat doesn’t play,” is because they expect playtime to look like your cat is just running laps around the house for an hour. But remember, play (i.e., “the hunt”) is not all about action; the preparation, or the “stalking,” is just as big a part (if not a bigger one) of the process as the “pounce and kill” action part.

The exhaustion that comes from hunting happens even when the cat isn’t continually moving; watching the moth on the ceiling exhausts, the stalk exhausts, those short bursts of energy exhaust. It’s the mind-body focus that exhausts your cat. This is a directed action that your cat is 100 percent engrossed in. Expecting success to look like a track-and-field event will result in both you and your cat being frustrated. Don’t set yourself up for failure: know what success looks like.

Every cat plays. You just need to know how your cat defines it. Your sixteen-year-old diabetic overweight Persian might just do “moth on the ceiling.” For that cat, that is play. If all she does is moth on the ceiling, and when the moth lands, she just bats at the toy twice—that is still play. Expecting your sixteen-year-old diabetic Persian to run around the house leads you to say “my cat doesn’t play,” and then you never try again. Instead, get to know what that “alternate universe” of HCKE looks like for your cat.

. . . And you didn’t think I was going to let you off the hook, did you? Creating ritual around play is only half the equation; your investment in that ritual is the other half.

The Cat Daddy Guide to Types of Cat Toys

Interactive toys: You’re attached to one end; your cat is attached to the other end. You provide the Three Rs (Routines, Rituals, Rhythm) of what the hunt looks like. These are toys that stimulate the prey drive—like the wand with feathers, or small prey at the end of a cord. Without question, THE most crucial tool in the shed.

Remote toys: This is any toy that can be thrown and that you can play fetch with. It usually disappears under the couch or refrigerator and reappears during next year’s spring cleaning. Examples are sparkle balls, crinkle balls, furry mice, and those odd, geometric rubber balls. These are fine, but not as an exclusive choice.

Self-activated toys: These are the lazy man’s toys, usually of the battery-operated variety. You flick a switch and the toy does the rest. The problem is that if your “play partner” is a machine whose movements are entirely predictable, the thrill of the hunt becomes completely muted. To a degree, the HCKE ritual is like walking the tightrope between order and chaos. With no chance of anarchy, the ritual becomes somewhat meaningless to the cat. Am I telling you never to use toys like this? No. I get it—you might have had a crazy-long, crazy-busy day, and being able to flick that switch is a good alternative to doing nothing; so long as it’s not the “spinal cord” of your interactive play arsenal, the self-activated toy still has a place in the Mojo-fied home.

A note on laser pointers: A laser pointer can help you start the engine for play. But I firmly believe that it is limited as a tool. It simply can’t be the through line for ending the game. Why? Because it can’t be “killed.” It is a predatory tease—no biting, no all-four-paw wraparound—just an endless chase. Get that motor going with a laser, for sure; just make sure, at some point, that you switch to something physical that can be “caught and killed.”

BE THE BIRD: ANATOMY OF THE KILL

Play is a dedicated activity. The last thing I want is for you to text with one hand and wave a feather wand with the other, or talk to your spouse or watch TV while you’re playing with your cat. If you want the benefits that come with a cat who has executed all of the elements of the Raw Cat Rhythm, then what is needed on your end is commitment. And I’m not just talking about time commitment, like committing to fifteen minutes of play. I’m talking about owning the role that you are playing in the “game.” It’s what I call “be the bird” or “be the mouse.” What would it be like for you to actually be that prey? How would you move in the presence of a lightning-fast, fang-toothed mammal who is trying to kill you? With that in mind, let’s take a look at how cats hunt and, accordingly, how you should strive to replicate prey movements during play.

First, I want you to pretend you’re a bird.

If you’re the bird, you’re going to do that subtle, moth-on-the-ceiling movement for a minute, simply hovering, and then you do that thing that gets you caught: you swoop down and suddenly hit the ground. And now your cat is going to pounce. But what makes this a game? Just yanking the toy away and having the bird fly away again? No, you’re going to play dead, and make it so your cat will then bat at the bird to test if you are really dead. Next, he will likely walk away to try to trick you into moving again.

From there, you might slowly begin to inch along, playing not-quite-dead, as you take faint little steps away and try to get to refuge around the side of the couch. You’re heading in the right direction when you see wide-eyed, rapt attention, tensing muscles, and maybe a twitch at the end of the tail. And then the dilated pupils, the “head bob” as he sizes up the exact dimensions of the kill, and the famous “butt wiggle” right before he pounces tell you that your cat has stepped into that alternate universe. This is when your cat will run at you . . . but then you take off again!

Now it’s time for you to decide: do you want him to catch you, or is it not time to be caught yet? And off you go again, repeating this sequence—moth-on-the-ceiling movement, wiggle butt, pounce . . . all the while thinking, What are your best methods to elicit that confidence, a.k.a. Mojo, from your cat?

Personally, one of the things that makes me really happy is when, toward the end of the HCKE sequence, a cat takes the feather from the toy in their mouth, starts to growl, and looks around the room for that perfect space to take his prey. Then he starts walking away, and I give him some slack in the line and follow him. To me, that is the Holy Grail. I have played so well that my cat has slipped into that other world—the world of the Raw Cat. Then I wait for him to drop the feather, and I fly away again. This is how you know you’ve hit Raw Cat pay dirt.

YOU HAVE ENTERED THE LAND OF THE RAW CAT: POPULATION 2

This is a generalized list, so now the most important thing you can do is to find out who your cat is. Does she like ground prey or air prey? Is she a lizard hunter or a bird hunter? Can she go fluidly from one place to another? Some cats get fearful of bird motion—they may prefer ground prey.

HUNTING STYLES REMINDER

As discussed in chapter 3, cats will generally have a preferred style of hunting, innate to them. In general, they might prefer to ambush from an open clearing; stalk-and-rush from behind cover; or wait to pounce on prey that pops out of the ground. Incorporate these different strategies into your play and see what your cat responds to best.

TYPES OF CAT PLAYERS

Speaking of different styles, consider these two general types of players:

You’ve got your sports car, which is where you simply present a toy, and varoom . . . they’re off! There is no gap. It’s just turn the key, press the gas, and zero to sixty.

And then you’ve got your Model Ts. You have to crank that engine—sometimes for five minutes—before they actually respond to the toy. But when they do, they really do. And once their hunting mechanism has been cranked to the point of the key turning over, they’re in the game. That’s why we use toys like laser pointers. They’re like those old-time engine cranks on the Model T.

Cat Daddy Dictionary: Boil and Simmer

The Raw Cat (and your cat) is a hunter built for speed, not distance. Trying to keep cats running around for fifteen minutes straight during playtime is not going to be practical (unless they are in the kitten-to-teenager age range). It will be not only an undesirable thing to many cats, but ultimately an exercise in frustration for the guardian (who will then exclaim, “My cat doesn’t like to play!” or “I can play with my cat for an hour and he never gets tired!”).

Instead, approach playtime on the Raw Cat’s terms: shorter bursts of vigorous play, followed by a brief rest period. Think of a simple recipe that instructs you to bring the ingredients to a boil and then allow them to simmer. The only difference here is that in cat play, we will keep returning to a “boil.”

So, start with bringing the activity to a boil: get them to chase a toy around, burn off some energy, and maybe even get them panting for a few seconds. (During this first boil—and just to get the engine running—would be a good time to break out the laser pointer if it’s your cat’s particular cup of tea.) Then let them come down to a simmer (rest) for a bit. You will likely notice that they recover quickly. They may act bored or indifferent (in other words, like a cat), but soon you’ll easily be able to bring them back to that boil.

From there, repeat: let them get a little tired, rest briefly, then bring them back up again. Of course, at this point you want to move to a toy that is more truly interactive than a laser pointer—in other words, something they can “kill”! After a few rounds, you’ll see diminishing returns and shorter bursts of energy during the boil. Once you get to the point of “one jump and done,” or when the only way they will engage is if you bring the toy over to them, where it will receive a halfhearted swipe while they lie on their side . . . well, then—your cat is cooked . . . figuratively speaking, of course!

Cat Nerd Corner

Preventing Boredom While Playing

A 2002 study by Dr. John Bradshaw and colleagues tested cats’ interest in playing with the same toy, as opposed to when the researchers presented them with a new toy. Unsurprisingly, offering the cats a new toy increased grabbing and biting behaviors. In other words, your cat might get tired of the toy before they get tired of playing.

While almost any preylike toy can get your cat moving, try rotating toys to hold his interest in a HCKE session.

CATNIP: IT’S A CAT THING— YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND

We all need a little recreation. For cats, it may come in the form of an herb. There are multiple plants that cats respond to, the most well-known ones being catnip, valerian, honeysuckle, and matatabi (also known as silver vine).

Catnip, also known as Nepeta cataria, is a member of the mint family. Nepetalactone is the active ingredient in catnip that cats respond to and, in fact, most species of cats—big or small—will respond to it. This response appears to be somewhere between hallucinogenic, aphrodisiac, stimulant, and relaxant. (Wow—where can I sign up?)

The most common behavior we see in response to catnip is rolling. This rolling behavior is similar to what female cats do when they are in heat, but in the case of catnip, both male and female cats will roll. We can’t really say for sure whether the response to catnip is sexual, playful, or predatory, but it sometimes appears to be all three. Some cats prefer to lick and chew catnip, while others will just lie there, drooling with glazed-over eyes. Meanwhile, other cats get really amped up from it.

Approximately one-third of all cats, however, don’t respond to catnip—it’s a genetic thing. And kittens don’t seem to respond to it at all, so the response may be related to sexual maturity (although being spayed or neutered doesn’t diminish the response). The catnip reaction is relatively short: just five to fifteen minutes. After that, your cat will typically need a break of at least half an hour to show a response again.

Of course, the most important thing to know about catnip is how it affects your cat. By and large, catnip appears to reduce inhibitions, which, as with humans, can be a good or bad thing. Just ask yourself the question “Is my cat a happy drunk or a mean drunk?” It’s the same question you would ask yourself about the friend you’re about to spend New Year’s Eve with—just so you’re prepared. If your friend is a happy drunk, then at some point during the festivities, you can bank on him throwing his arms around you, saying, “I LOVE you, man!” and then finding a place to pass out. If that friend is a mean drunk? Then you’d better have bail money put aside because he will most assuredly be starting a fight with someone in the parking lot. This is to say that you need to be able to predict how your cat will act once her inhibitions are down. If a cat already has bully tendencies, then it might magnify her violent nature and send her over the top. Competition for toys might get a bit more fierce, and if she is prone to overstimulation behaviors, those might come much closer to the surface. For other cats, they either become more relaxed, or less fearful (which could then become a problem if they suddenly approach another cat in a more brazen way than normal).

This is to say that in a multicat home, catnip is at the very least worth trying, but I would always recommend a catnip test run with individual cats first, as opposed to with the whole group. If you have known tensions between cats, or are trying to introduce new cats to each other, it’s a good idea to remove all catnip and catnip toys from the house. Why take the risk? And remember, since the catnip response during a single encounter is short-lived (and multiple exposures provide diminishing returns in terms of its effect), keep your catnip toys packed away, marinating them in loose catnip for even more potency, and bring them out for special occasions. This will enhance your cat’s experience each time, and also provide a positive association when such a thing is needed. (For more info on this, see “The Jackpot! Effect” in chapter 9.)

FEEDING FOR MOJO

The HCKEGS life rhythm represents the direct line from the Raw Cat to our cat. That innate need to live one’s life around the hunt doesn’t begin and end as a series of rituals. The Raw Cat (and house cat’s) psyche and body will only be satisfied with the product of that hunt. In other words, the Raw Cat, and your cat, are obligate carnivores.

My preferred and recommended food of choice for cats is a raw, meat-based diet, which includes all of the aspects of prey: bones, muscle, tissue, fat, organs, and even a small percentage of plant matter, the amount proportional to what would be found in the stomach of the prey they would hunt and eat. Since any commercially prepared diet is not an animal killed and consumed on the spot, there will be some nutrients lacking (for example, those found in the blood of the prey). That said, we live in a time where complete nutrition via raw feeding can be achieved through several commercially prepared choices.

I get that you might be grossed out by “going raw”; also, not all cats will vibe with the raw diet. Sometimes it’s really hard to get cats into it. In that case, I recommend that you feed your cat a grain-free wet diet. Why is there rice, gluten, or other fillers in your cat’s food? Because it’s all cheaper than meat!

Nonetheless, I would rather you feed your cat the worst wet food on the market than the best dry; if you want to use dry, use it for treats. For older cats, however, sometimes anything goes. You just need to keep weight on them. At that point, philosophies about food go out the window, so if they insist on dry, let ’em have it. But my bottom line is: wet food is what is most natural for your cat.

I’ve got pretty strong feelings about dry food. Let’s face it, most people like dry food because it’s convenient. I guarantee that if you’re feeding dry food, there’s a high chance that you’re also leaving food out 24/7, and that does not jibe with Raw Cat logic.

Why am I not a big fan of dry food? First of all, dry food is often full of carbohydrates. Research has associated high-carbohydrate diets for cats with urinary crystals, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Sound like something you want to take a risk on?

Disease risks aside, let’s go back to the Raw Cat diet: prey. Prey animals are high in protein and water. The process of making dry food, or extrusion, breaks down some nutrients in the food. By the time it’s done being extruded, dry food has a moisture content of less than 10 percent. Wet food is about 60 percent moisture, which is much closer to that of a mouse (around 75 percent). You do the math. Cats fed dry food might drink more water to “compensate,” but research shows they still don’t make up that deficit.

And if you’ve heard that dry food can clean your cat’s teeth, just throw that garbage advice out the window. Even if kibbles remove some plaque (which is questionable), feeding dry food is not an effective replacement for brushing your cat’s teeth or having their teeth cleaned by a veterinarian.

The bottom line is, if you want to cater to Raw Cat, dry food isn’t the way to do it.

DESTINATION: JACKPOT!

There is that moment when you will find yourself opening a lot of cans of food to find the right one. But remember, this is about a relationship. When you start going out with someone, do you have any idea what kind of food they like? No, so you ask them. You can’t ask a cat, but you can present them with choices that fit both the criteria of what is good for them, and what they enjoy eating.

Which brings us to the importance of variety. The Raw Cat might love him some mouse, but that doesn’t mean he will turn up his nose at the rest of the buffet the natural world has to offer him. Likewise, cats are not built to eat just one thing their entire life. And beyond that, it’s important every now and again to put yourself in their shoes; if you ate the exact same thing every meal for your entire life, I bet after a certain point you’d become “finicky” as well.

The good news is that, if there’s one thing we don’t lack in today’s burgeoning cat market, it’s variety. For relatively little money, you can experiment with different proteins, textures, preparations, and variations that will inevitably lead you to your cat’s gastronomical sweet spot. It comes down to due diligence. There are pâtés, shreds, chunks, and every stop in between. Maybe your cat prefers “roasted” or “grilled”—or you suddenly realize your cat loves spinach. There are hundreds of choices out there, and I can’t stress enough the importance of finding what makes your cat yell, “Jackpot!”

Also, as a veteran of animal sheltering, I want to alert you to something that I hope never happens, but we need to be prepared for it: if your cat eats only one thing his entire life, and something happens to you, more often than not that spells trouble for him and those who need to care for him. If he ends up in a shelter or rescue situation, the combination of stress and his very limited palate provides an opening for a form of anorexia. In essence, consistently challenging your cat from a dietary perspective, and opening him up to new tastes and textures, is not only good for him but, in a way, helps to prepare your cat for different life challenges and changes.

Transitioning to the Raw Cat Diet

For some cats, the raw diet is like coming home. I recommend you try introducing it as a treat at first, and see if your cat goes for it.

If your cat is already on a wet food diet, you can also transition her to raw by mixing in a little bit of the new raw food with what she currently eats. In general, you don’t want to switch her food too fast or you could have explosive diarrhea all over the house. (Fun for the entire family!)

Some cats do best if you start with browning the raw food for under a minute to strengthen the smell, which will increase your cat’s interest (and bring the food up to its prey’s average body temperature). Some cats like it if you add a small amount of water to their food to give it a little “gravy.” You can even sprinkle some dehydrated meat on the top to get your cat started. Once she gets the hang of it, you may not need to incorporate these “tricks” to get her to go for it.

You can match the grind of the raw food to the style of food she already prefers, you can introduce different meats and cuts, chunks versus ground. Remember, feeding for challenge means presenting the palate with variety . . . even with raw meat!

MEAL FEEDING—A CAT DADDY NON-NEGOTIABLE!

We have to make the distinction between scavenging versus opportunistic hunting. One lifestyle suggests grazing; the other suggests HCKE. Free feeding is leaving food out for your cat 24/7 and is basically analogous to scavenging. It’s food for the taking, with no effort involved. It’s unearned and, therefore, unrewarding. No Mojo. My experience is that free feeding undermines the work we try to do, not to mention the cat’s own physiology.

Cats are built to eat several small meals a day, optimally around five to six hours apart. I advocate somewhere between two and four meals a day, matching the rhythm of your home. The difference between a wild cat who is hunting all the time and your cat is that your cat’s circadian rhythm is hooked into yours. When your family wakes up in the morning, energy in the house skyrockets, and so does your cat’s. So, ideally, that’s when it’s HCKE time. You come home from work, and the same thing happens: your cat’s energy rises. And then once again before bed. Every time there’s a ritualistic rising of energy in the home, you should be ritualizing play and food (HCKE) around that.

Controlling when your cat eats regulates your cat’s energy. Regulating your cat’s digestion gives you information about when he will eliminate. We tend to overcomplicate things. Keep it simple and connect the feeding schedule back to the Raw Cat!

How Much to Feed Your Cat

One-size-fits-all feeding guidelines are unrealistic. Don’t take any one source’s word as gospel on how much your cat should be eating. Do your research, but also get to know what your cat likes and dislikes and how much he likes to eat, and monitor his weight and activity level.

Cats require somewhere around twenty-five to thirty-five calories per pound a day for maintenance. One mouse is about thirty calories. Outdoor cats eat eight to ten mice a day, but that is after twenty or thirty hunting attempts. Cats who live outside have a different rhythm than our indoor cats and work a lot harder for their food.

Feeding Time for Multiple Cats

Of course, as much as I try to arm you with hard and fast rules for cat living, when it comes to multiple-cat homes, that’s where rules go to die. In multiple-cat households, your cats might not all be on the same page when it comes to how fast or how much they eat. If you have an elderly or sick cat, he may need more access to food than your other cats. He might even need food out all the time. Also, cats don’t share mice, and most cats don’t want to share their food dish. So space your dishes out accordingly. Your house cat has a nice-sized personal space bubble that needs to be respected.

Some cats are part of what we call the “Snarf and Barf” crowd: they eat like there’s no tomorrow. They might gulp their food down just to barf it back up. Usually it happens so quickly that you’ll be cleaning up undigested food that looks almost identical to what you had just put in the bowl. The reasons for Snarf and Barf are varied. Sometimes there’s an underlying physical problem like, for instance, hyperthyroidism. It’s always smart to take repeated episodes as a symptom and have them checked out by a vet. Just as often, however, there are emotional reasons—the cat might have lived out on the street, competing with other cats for scant resources. It could be that before she came to your home she lived with a dog who liked her food as much as she did, and so she got used to speed eating before trouble came knocking.

Whatever the cause, there is a simple solution. My favorite solution is a “slow down bowl.” These have barriers or ridges that cats have to work around to get their food. You can make your own by feeding your cat from a plate with a few clean rocks she has to work around. Slow feeders not only put the brakes on Snarf and Barf, but can buy you precious time during pet introductions (see chapter 10).

Food for Challenge

You may have one cat who won’t eat around everyone else because he is a Wallflower. However, you don’t want to feed that cat in the other room just because he is scared. Instead, use mealtime as a means to slowly move him into the community.

Everything we provide for cats is an opportunity for challenge. Food is it. They are food and resource motivated, not human-praise motivated. It’s not just routine and rhythm. You cannot get cats to do what you want if they’re not a little bit hungry. When I first started filming My Cat from Hell, the network folks observed my “food challenge” methods and asked me, “Aren’t you just bribing the cat?” Hell yes, I’m bribing the cat! And that’s okay.

Preventing Pickiness

The first thing you need to do is take a look at your feeding situation. If your cat has dry food sitting out 24/7, do you think she is going to be that motivated to try something new? Is she being picky or is she just not hungry? This gets back to why cats need meals. They need to be a little hungry to try something new.

Whisker stress: Many cats do not like the feeling of their whiskers touching the side of the bowl. Feed cats from shallow bowls or small plates.

Texture: Some cats are particular about pâté, chunks, slices, and even the shape of dry food or treats.

Temperature: Food should be served at “mouse body temperature.” There’s no self-respecting Raw Cat out there that would choose to eat something out of a fridge.

Choice: Offer lots of choices, rotate foods, and note preferences.

Location: Make sure the food dish is in a safe location—that may mean away from other cats or with a view to see the comings and goings of other animals. And let us not forget: dogs love cat food. And young children love to play in it and with it. We all need and deserve a little peace and quiet when we eat.

Don’t top off: Some cats learn they can get attention by meowing at the bowl waiting for humans to “fluff up” their food.

Know the difference: Cats that don’t eat may not just be picky. Not eating, even just for a day or two, is a major red flag. Obese cats are particularly at risk of hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), which can be deadly in no time at all.

GROOMING AND SLEEPING FOR MOJO

Unlike the other components of the Raw Cat Rhythm, the last two need very little help; they are products of the momentum created by the successful execution of the first four. In a way, they act as proof of full commitment on the part of the Raw Cat and his human shepherd. If your cat has hunted, caught, killed, and eaten in a way that signals completion—and a fully deflated Energetic Balloon—an infallible instinct to groom and sleep will be triggered to call an end to the HCKEGS cycle and get ready for the next one.

With that said, here are some general notes around grooming and sleeping:

To Groom or Not to Groom . . .

When was the last time you saw your cat grooming herself? If they’re not grooming, something is wrong. Also, if your cat’s fur is oily, or she’s getting mats when she never did before, these are also warning signs. Either way, this is something you need to be vigilant about. If your cat is avoiding grooming, it can be a sign of illness or depression. It’s also sometimes a sign of obesity; note whether your cat is grooming but avoiding her back or butt. The truth is, she may not be able to reach it, which should be a major wake-up call.

DOES YOUR CAT NEED YOUR HELP GROOMING?

All cats benefit from brushing, but for some breeds, it’s not optional—you must brush them. Long-haired cats can get painful mats that may require professional help for removal.

DOES YOUR CAT NEED A BATH?

My question for people who bathe their cats all the time is this: why are you torturing your animal?

There is simply no reason to bathe your cat. In fact, unless your cat has been skunked or has soiled himself, he will never need a bath (with the exception of the hairless breeds, who, because of their unnatural state of hairlessness, need to have a bath once a week). Cats spend all that time grooming to cover themselves with their scent, a Raw Cat staple and a source of serious mojo, and then a human steps in and bathes them, erasing their ID. Some cats can be wiped down with a baby wipe if they are older and don’t groom much, or are obese and can’t clean themselves well. Otherwise, step away from the bathtub.

The Lion Cut: No, It’s Not Cruel

I think people tend to look at cats with lion cuts and think, Oh, my god, that’s terrible! Why would you do that to your cat?

A lion cut is not just something you do in the summer because your cat might get hot. Truth is, you don’t see a lot of long-haired wildcats because it’s not really a natural look. We have come to embrace the long-haired cat look because we have bred it into the gene pool. But cats with long hair are going to be even more sensitive to touch, and to the displacement of their hair during grooming or petting. This also explains why many long-haired cats don’t like to be brushed, even though it’s often a necessary evil in order to help them avoid matting.

Lion cuts are also recommended for senior or overweight cats who don’t groom themselves well or often enough.

Just like anything else, ask yourself, Is this for you or is this for them? In this case, given that a lot of cats are a lot happier after a lion cut, we are actually doing it for them, even though the “cosmetic” nature of the cut might first suggest otherwise.

. . . Perchance to Dream

Sleep is a welfare issue, and cats under stress can be sleep deprived just like us. So make sure your cats have quiet, calm, and safe places to rest, especially in active households or homes with multiple pets. It’s fine to let your cats share your bed, but they might want their own personal options as well. Offer different textures and styles of beds to see what gets your cat relaxed, and remember, some cats like to sleep up high, some like to sleep down low. (More on this in chapter 8.)

EVERY SINGLE STEP of the HCKEGS cycle seamlessly feeds confidence into the next. The beauty of applying the Raw Cat Rhythm to the rhythm of your home is that it can be done with relative ease, and the benefits are immense, immediate, and echo throughout every corner of a cat’s life. But, as we’ll see, while the Three Rs—Routines, Rituals, and Rhythm—provide the rhythm of Total Cat Mojo, confident ownership of the territory is the drum it’s played on.