Please go here to register for our 2014 classes and workshops in advance: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/235427

We request all attendees to pre-register for every class they’d like to attend, even the free classes, so we can prepare for how many people will be there and make the most of our time spent with our participants.  You can pre-register up to 12-hours before the class time. Thank you!

Below are photos from last year’s classes.

Hope to see you at one (or more) of our educational events this year!

In preparation for the FREE Introduction to Feeding Raw to Cats event this Sunday, please enjoy this tidbit about taurine in the feline diet:

You may have heard just how vitally important the amino acid TAURINE is in the feline diet. While animal protein generally contains adequate taurine levels for cats when served fresh and raw, you may not know that cooking, grinding, freezing and long-term storage all diminish the viability of taurine in fresh foods and absorption of this vital nutrient may be inhibited when fed along with many common non-animal derived foods/fiber.

Taurine is essential for maintaining normal vital body functions in the feline including: vision, digestion, heart muscle function, to maintain normal pregnancy and fetal development, and to maintain a healthy immune system. The life-threatening damages of taurine deficiency can take up two years to develop – it is slow to progress. A lack of adequate taurine in the diet is very dangerous and taurine deficiency can lead to blindness and heart failure due to enlargement of the heart. Fortunately, feeding a diet of fresh, raw, meats will ensure and maintain adequate taurine levels. Thus, taurine deficiency related diseases are totally avoidable by feeding fresh, raw whole foods (particularly heart muscle meat). However, many people supplement with this essential nutrient, just to be safe (general recommendation is to supplement with 35 and 250 mg a day, or 500-1,000 mg 1-2 times a week). Taurine is easy to find, affordable and safely tolerated at even higher than recommended doses in the feline.

Interestingly, one of the foods highest in taurine is living insects! Did you know the wild feline diet consists of up to 15% live insects? Yes, nature takes care to provide abundant vital nutrients to our feline friends when they hunt & consume insects. My own cat, Briar, enjoys eating many bugs as part of his varied diet. Because I have turtles as part of our family, Briar enjoys many different types of insects during the spring and summer season (crickets, mealworms, wax worms, superworms, butterworms). He also enjoys catching moths and flies, and will eat spiders whenever he can. Here’s a video of Briar gobbling up butterworms; a fruity smelling, soft bodied insect high in fat and calcium (although butterworms are not as high in taurine as crickets, flies or spiders): https://vimeo.com/88393935