Feeding half raw and half kibble. How much of each?

I decided to feed Riot half The Honest Kitchen and half kibble. He will not touch canned. The box of raw says I have to feed a 6-10lb cat 1/4-1/2 cup of dry mix, rehydrate then feed. His kibble says to feed 2/3-3/4 for a 7-10 pound cat. 

How much of each should I feed if I want to do half and half? Riot is 10lbs

I don't know. The feeding guidelines on the food always recommended way too much for our cats. They'd be bowling balls if I followed their directions. :lol3:

Just curious - why are you bothering with kibble if he likes the rehydrated Honest Kitchen food?

He wont eat more then 2-3 tablespoons of the raw (about 1/4 cup). Thats why I do half kibble. I worry if I force it on him he will turn his nose totally to it. Im happy hes eating half half since he will not touch ANY canned. Ive tried every thing. Hes one picky cat

:lol3: Yep, they sure can drive us nuts.

Well, how many meals do you feed a day? And how old is he?

I feed twice a day. I have to divide the raw into two meals or he gets picky. So I feed 1-1.5 table spoons of raw in the morning then kibble right after then I feed 1-1/5 table spoons of raw at night then kibble right after again. I am just lost on how much kibble to feed. 

Hes 1.5 years old. I do have a health thread on his weight. I am not sure if hes over weight or if hes fine.

Well, you definitely ought to separate the kibble from the raw into separate meals. Kibble is digested at a MUCH slower rate, and you don't want the raw sitting in his digestive system, that's how you can run into trouble with bacterial problems.

I'd feed him raw at one meal, and kibble at the other. Given he's just 1.5 years old, I'd assume he needs between 2/3 and 3/4 of a cup of kibble if fed only that - so half of the recommended amount, given he's getting half his need from the raw (and I'd feed half the recommended amount of raw at the one meal). If he won't eat enough kibble at one meal, you might want to consider adding a third meal: one fed when you get home, and one before you go to bed, and split his half of 2/3-3/4 cup into half fed a two meals. :nod:

Okay I knew with dogs its not suggested you feed raw and kibble in the same meal. I was told for cats its fine. so what I will do is I will feed morning, early afternoon then before bed. The first two feedings will be raw and the last kibble. 

He always acts like hes starved. Is this just him being greedy? He used to be free fed

Hi! For help on figuring out if Riot is overweight or not, you can take a look at this chart, called a body condition scoring chart. The easiest way is to look at Riley from above while he's standing up take a picture if you need to) and compare it to the chart.

Hope that helps!

Thanks I will check it out in a sec. 

I was going to ask. is it okay if I order The Honest Kitchen dog formulas to spice things up for Riot? I am worried about him getting bored as the they only make a chicken and turkey formula for cats but they have fish, beef, lamb and a couple others for dogs. Could I feed that a few times here and there to give him something new? I know taurine is important etc but since hes still getting half kibble...?

Is there a reason that you're sticking with just Honest Kitchen? Are you open to trying other brands as well? Just asking because it would open up more protein sources for you and it's nice to have something else to fall back on incase of recall, supplier shortage, etc. 

What other brands are there? I have a limited budget and my worry would be buying one that he didnt like and wasting all that money because I cannot return it. But if they had a return policy I would be open to trying others yes

Depends really what you're looking for, if it's frozen raw or dehydrated raw. There are a few threads on here about different raw foods and I know LDG posted a list of them somewhere... I'll see if I can find it. 

I work for Nature's Variety, you can return the foods to the store you bought them if your pet doesn't like them and get a refund - you just have to keep your receipt. Depending on where you're shopping, most stores will have that policy. Just ask next time you go in and they should be able to tell you. 

EDITED TO ADD: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239950/questions-about-commercial-raw  <-- this is where the list of foods is, throughout the thread

I know the one store where I was buying Natures Variety from wouldnt let me return the bag I bought for my small dog. 

As for frozen raw, he refuses to touch it. It has to be dehydrated and I have to make it a little watery in order for him to eat it

Other dehydrated raw foods include Stella & Chewy's, Vital Essentials, Nature's Variety, and.... I think there might be a few more. Those companies also offer frozen raw (they have both).

I do NOT know if Honest Kitchen dog formula is OK for cats. The main consideration in that determination is whether or not the dog formulas are supplemented with taurine. it is always OK for dogs to eat cat food; cats can eat dog food ONLY if it has been supplemented with taurine.

Stella & Chewy's dog foods are supplemented with an appropriate amount of taurine, so they are OK to food to cats. If a food is marketed to both dogs and cats, it means it is supplemented with taurine.

Our cats love Stella & Chewy's rehydrated. It's expensive, so I only use it as a treat or when they've had a meal they don't like much.

But these options are all discussed in the thread to which Nerdrock provided a link.

Yeah I wouldnt feed the dog food version for more then a couple days. Hes also getting kibble still. I just want to spice things up