Can someone please confim if I'm understanding this right.

Hi Everyone,

Well our kitten arrives tomorrow and so I've gone and gotten the various elements for his raw diet. Plus, I've got a tin of what he's had with the breeder just in case.

I've used the franken prey calculator to work out how much of everything but what I want to confim is:

That I split this amount over the whole day? So I could bag up a day's worth and then give half in the morning and half at night.

Apologies if this is a silly question but I so don't want to get this wrong for him. 

Thanks

Kate

Kittylc said:

 So I could bag up a day's worth and then give half in the morning and half at night.

Click to expand...

How old is the kitten? I'd be inclined to feed him more frequently than twice a day. 

I have two 7 month olds.

They came to me eating raw too (were yours bengals?  I think breeders starting on raw is new and wonderful thing).

Their diet was friskies wet mixed with Bravo Beef blend.

I did a wet/raw mix for a while, they started eating the raw and leaving the cooked stuff behind so then I made the move.

I HIGHLY recommend that you feed a ground diet supplemented with franken pray items.

My kittens gobble up drum sticks, pork ribs (small, see HT store), and chicken necks.

The biggest reason I tell you this is they NEED ALOT OF CALORIES.  Like alot, like so much you should always have food available.

With franken pray you need to do a lot of measuring and math, and you will be stuck not being able to use a supplement like Alnutrin as it will be tough to mix it in.

I am not taking away anything from Franken prey model, it is excellent, I just don't think it is for growing kittens for my reasons, caloric availability, ability to provide supplements like Alnutrin and Omega3.  I plan on phasing my kittens into it as they enter adult hood.

Right now I provide at least one drum stick a day for the two of them. (I feed in unused shower, ground is in bowl, drumstick on shower floor).

For context my two generally consume 8 ounces of raw.

I buy one pound chubs from Hare Today (convenient as each chub is consumed in a day).

I defrost the chub in the fridge for 24 hours, then open it up and drop into a mix bowl.  Inside the mix bowl is already a mixture of water, alnutrin supplement, and 1-2 salmon oil gelcaps (emptied in of course).

I mix it up with a spoon or my hands, split it into two bowls, serve one, cover and refrigerate the next one.

Being they are kittens, they will take to most proteins.

If you order from Hare Today, as I started after the kittens were stable on their previous diet of Bravo raw beef, I now feed them Rabbit, Chicken, Pork, lamb, and goat.  I feed rabbit one day, then another protein the next, then rabbit again, then another protein.

If you have one kitten, that 1lb chub will last you two days.

I am confident I am correct here, and being one of the few active members that raised kittens this way, I think I have a valid point.

PS, here is video of setup, next to drumstick is my mixing bowl (didnt feel like moving food into smaller bowl)

don't know how you figured how much to feed, so cannot confirm whether that's correct or not , however, I would agree with the above 2 posters. 

Would definitely feed more than twice a day, and depending on his age and breed, not sure a tiny kitten will be able to chew up bones.  What type of bones were you planning on feeding? 

BTW, is your Avatar your new kitty?  I just LOVE that picture

I know I overfeed them and am fine with it.  When you see a creature's body expanding in front of you can cause me a some panic attacks that they might not be eating enough (my greek mother genetics kicking in  ).  I dont care if they reject, as long as they get their 5-10% bodyweight injested.

As to small bones, Stella was clearing chicken necks at 5-6 months old.  That worried me so I stuck to drumsticks only.  I didn't want to risk her not being smart enough to know what is small enough to swallow.  Drumsticks give them plenty of cartlidge as such I think its the perfect food.

I gave wings once (and turkey wings several times) I think they suck, no meat, kitties had little interest.

I also worry that if the poster tries to get to franken prey, she will fail and go to commercial food.  If the cat doesn't eat, parenting instinct makes the owner jump to next thing.

Its a slow process, even for kittens who are not finicky.

I SERIOUSLY doubt the breeders did franken prey, sounds improbable.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replys and advice. I've done more reading and it seems that I should be feeding him at least 4 times a day.

He's 12 weeks old and is a British Shorthair and has been fed a combination of wet tin, dry and some raw/cooked meat. Yes, my avatar is him his name is Huggles. 

We don't have HT here in Australia and I've not found anything similar so I couldn't buy the item suggested above.

It's rather frustrating that we don't but I'm able to get supplies from my local butcher and local poultry store.

I can grind up his food to start with if he's having trouble. I was planning on giving him some quail or spachcock wings or ribs or chicken necks for his bones and cutting them down as needed.

I'll also ask on some of the Australian sites for more suppliers.

Thanks

Oh my goodness he's adorable!!!! I don't know where in Australia you are, but give a google for raw food in whatever area. Australia is the birthplace of the B.A.R.F. (Bones and Raw Food / Biologically Appropriate Raw Feeding) by Ian Billinghurst for dogs. Unfortunately, he includes too much bone and a lot of vegetable matter to make up for it in recommended feeding, so any BARF diets that may be commercially available wouldn't be appropriate for cats (obligate carnivores). BUT.... there may be groups that have co-ops to source proteins and organs. :dk: