Felines are obligate carnivores. In short, this means they must eat meat to survive. Cats don't actually need vegetables and carbohydrates in their diets. In fact, they can only tolerate carbohydrates in small amounts. Instead, cats thrive on high-protein, high-moisture diets that are rich in substances only found in meat. This includes amino acids such as taurine, fatty acids, and other essential vitamins and minerals.

Supporters of raw food diets believe that cooking meat can alter or decrease these vital substances. They advocate for a biologically-appropriate diet that closely mimics what a cat would eat in the wild. In general, small wild cats hunt and eat rodents and other small mammals, birds, fish, insects, and even reptiles. When it comes to feeding your own cat raw food, the idea is to create a diet that is similar.