Turkish Angora Care

I am an advocate and guardian for my Turkish angoras. I strive to build strong immune systems in my Turkish angoras by avoiding over-stimulation, inbreeding, over-vaccination and anything else that may put unnecessary stress on them. My natural feeding practices, supplementation and quality vaccination regiment are used for balance and healthy moderation – to not only follow local legislation, but also to support strong immune systems and robust vitality in my Turkish angora cats, kittens and breeding lines.

VETERINARY

My first and foremost goal is the health of my Turkish angoras.

My Turkish angoras regularly undergo veterinary wellness exams and have been DNA tested using a comprehensive testing panel by Optimal Selection for genetic diseases. My goal is to care for, raise and breed (first and foremost) healthy, beautiful, happy, well-adjusted Turkish angora cats and kittens.

I currently work with a handful of veterinarians, believing that having multiple support systems is not only beneficial to my cats care and needs, but provides more then one definitive resource for care. My care team consists of a board certified cardiologist, a specialist for BAER testing (hearing test) utilized for white Turkish angoras, one veterinarian who excels at spaying and another that excels at neutering, two emergency resources if ever needed and two wonderfully supportive general veterinary practitioners.

I avoid over-burdening my cats immune system and bodies by using Purevax non-adjuvanted vaccines to avoid vaccine site sarcomas. Additionally, I prefer making multiple wellness visits (1 week apart+) if more then one vaccine is needed, to avoid over-stressing their body with multiple vaccines in their system at once. A multi-visit approach is also beneficial for Turkish angoras to enjoy going out-and-about and having “no fear” in visiting their wellness doctor. Imagine going to see a doctor once a year and being jabbed multiple times - not such a pleasant experience if you think about it! I encourage pet parents to support veterinary practices that are Fear-Free certified to make their veterinary visits all the more positive.

NUTRITION

What is an “obligate carnivore”?

What is “species-appropriate”?
Dogs and cats in the wild ate what they could catch, which changed often during the year. Animals couldn’t depend on their bowls being full each morning and evening, with treats in between. Dogs and cats naturally ate many types of meats. Their systems and genetics evolved to thrive on this variety, and their diets today should reflect that variety.  

An easy way to provide variety for your pet is to change the protein source regularly, say from chicken, to duck, and then to beef. Remember that in the wild, dogs and cats ate what they could catch, so one day it might be rabbit, a pheasant the next, and the remains of a moose carcass the day after. You don’t need to change foods every day with your pet – once a month is generally where I have owners start. Another approach is to change protein sources with each new bag of food. This is not an exact science. Feeding variety is what’s important.

You can also vary your pet’s diet by feeding food in multiple forms, including canned, raw, lightly cooked, canned, and dry. Each type of food has its strong and weak points. Rotating proteins and food forms does even more to provide variety and complete, species-appropriate (there’s that term again) nutrition.

ROTATION

I thoroughly believe protein rotation for my cats is a valuable and healthy feeding practice.
The benefits of rotational feeding are:

• Optimum and complete nutrition. I don’t believe that any one food can be truly “complete and balanced” for the entire lifetime of a cat, no matter what the company or latest expert suggests. Every protein has its own unique amino acid profile. I do not believe that feeding one food to a Turkish angora its entire long life is healthy nor does it provide enrichment, which cats need in their lives.

• Reduces the risk of food allergy development. Food allergies can develop when a cat is fed the same thing over and over and over for a prolonged length of time. Rotation is ideal for optimal health and building a strong immune system.

• Prevents cats from potentially becoming “picky”. When your Turkish angora is provided with different proteins and food textures, they are less likely to be picky and stop eating if you do not give them what they demand. And trust me, Turkish angoras can be demanding. Turkish angoras are very intelligent and are smart enough to train their human to feed them what they prefer and want, if their human seems easily molded to their wishes. It is also extremely valuable to practice rotation in case his/her preferred food/brand changes its formula (it’s not a question of if but when), or if the food is recalled for any reason. You could find yourself without an alternative that your Turkish angora will eat or readily adapt to. Therefore, I strongly recommend rotating. I rotate my Turkish angoras raw food meals in protein sources (Turkey, duck, pheasant, chicken) and also I supplement them with quality, protein-rich canned foods and freeze-dried raw meals (thoroughly re hydrated).

SUPPLEMENTATION

I supplement my Turkish angoras diet with healthy omega fish oils, living cat grass, whole sardines, freeze dried muscle meat treats and organ meat treats. Raw meals have healthy added supplementation to provide necessary vitamins and minerals.