Answer: Long-term feeding trials have demonstrated that cat fed raw meat and milk show marginally better growth, development, reproduction and location then those fed cooked meat and milk. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to feed cats on raw meat foods because this is a major route by which cats become infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma Gondi which produces the disease toxoplasmosis. As will as destroying this parasite, cooking will also destroy any disease producing micro-organisms and also any toxins formed by the food-poisoning organisms multiplying on the food.
Certain carbohydrates called starches cannot be digested by cats unless they have been cooked. Eggs are available source of first-class protein and also provide calcium and phosphorus. But raw egg whites contain avid in which is antagonistic to biotin (a number of a vitamin B complex) and also a substance which interferes with the protein digestion. Light cooking destroys both of these substances.
Cooking also improve the flavor of most foods. Gently cooking is all that is required boiling for a quarter of an hour for example. This will have no harmful effect upon proteins and there will be little change in most vitamins. Prolonged cooking, however, can distort the B vitamins in particular. Consequently manufactures of canned cat foods often add extra vitamin B to their products to ensure that a controlled amount survives the autoclaving stage, a sterilizing process similar to pressure cooking but with the food already contained in the can.
