BARF vs. Prey Model vs. Raw Meaty Bones

I am considering feeding my kitties a more natural diet (they're on dry Nutro only-yuck!) and have already started supplementing with yogurt, chicken scraps, and some veggies. However, I'm not sure what kind of natural diet to feed them. So, what are the differences between the three?

Hi, Fattykitty.

The Barf (or "Biologically Appropriate Raw Food") diet is described here:
http://www.barfworld.com/

The Prey Model diet is simply feeding whole animals. Mice, birds, guinea pigs, rats, etc. Here are three sites that mention this type of feeding:
http://www.rawfed.com
http://rawdiettruth.blogspot.com/
http://rawlearning.com/

The Raw Meaty Bones diet is detailed at this site: http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Many folks who feed raw are passionate about their particular feeding methodology. Read as much as you can and make your own decision.

For myself, both BARF and RMB seem a bit too heavy on the bone percentages, so I won't use them. Whole prey would be ideal, if I could get my five to eat whole animals on a regular basis. I can't (right now), so I feed a form of "Frankenprey".

There is more info on this thread: TCS: Natural Diet Resources

Hope this helps!

Please do your research before starting to feed your cats raw. There are a few different diets to follow but make your decision off of your research and what you feel most comfortable with feeding. Many people will tell you to feed one way and not the other. I try not to force this upon people because I have had to try different diets throughout the months. I tried following the prey model diet. My diarrhea cat completely is diarrhea free now but his stools are sometimes pencil thin. I tried all the tricks in the books to help his stool on a prey model diet - nothing worked. So I do have to add fibre into his diet (squash, zucchinni, pumpkin) for him to have regular stools. I also now give him a multi vitamin (Nu-Cat) and a digestive enzyme (Prozyme) b/c he has IBD. He does very well with these added ingredients. I know people would give me slack but I have to do what is best for my cat....I now actually follow a diet my holistic vet has made for me. It is very close to RAWPAWS Quick start diet.

RAWPAWS
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawpaws/

WHOLECATHEALTH
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/WholeCatHealth/

RAWCAT
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/

CATINFO.ORG
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm

CATNUTRITION
http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php