Omar, celebrity Aussie Maine Coon, eats raw kangaroo meat

Omar is Australia's celebrity Maine Coon. He's enormous as you can see in the photographs. I think he's the biggest domestic cat in Australia and in 2017 there was talk about him being the world's longest domestic cat at 3'11"! But I don't really care too much about these records because they are a bit artificial. He has a successful Instagram account - as he would - because people love big Maine Coons. I have a full page on him which is linked to below.

Omar, Australia's celebrity Maine Coon cat (info and pics)

Omar carried by Stephy Hirst. Photo: Omar's Instagram account.

But the interesting aspect of this story is that his co-owner, Stephy Hirst, told the BBC that he eats raw kangaroo meat. She said:

"It's the only meat we could find that he actually wants to eat".

It's an interesting snippet of information about this celebrated cat. Sadly, we don't have more information about why Stephy put him on raw meat. It's unusual. Why doesn't she feed him standard high-quality commercial foods?

Showing off Omar's size. Photo: Instagram.

It may be because Omar has a sensitive stomach. There is talk on the Internet that Maine Coons have sensitive stomachs. With that condition, which is rather vague, you get things like diarrhoea and vomiting et cetera. Perhaps she had problems - and I am speculating big time - with Omar's digestive tract and decided to rectify the problem with raw cat food.

There are advocates of raw cat food say that it can help with these sorts of conditions. Better stools and less smelly poo, they say! There is nothing by the way in my textbooks which confirms that Maine Coons in general have sensitive stomachs. I would not take that as the gospel truth. Although Maine Coons do inherit a range of genetic illnesses which you can read about by clicking on this link.

Making raw cat food, I believe, is a good idea provided you do it to a very high standard and that you store the food carefully as well. The preparation and storage can introduce contaminants to the food, particularly bacteria, which is a reason why veterinarians advise against it. The other is that you have to be carefully to ensure it is complete and balanced.

I disagree with the vets. It's more natural and potentially superior to even the best commercially prepared cat food but there are risks and you've got to know what you're doing. Omar looks very healthy on it!