Useful raw feeding supplies

Hello raw feeders!  After Garfunkel's UTI scare, I've taken the cats off dry and put them back on wet - the expensive stuff. This is extraordinarily cost-prohibitive, so after the move is complete (on August 1!) I'd like to finally... finally... FINALLY take the leap into raw, most likely homemade.

Beyond nutrition -- beyond the stuff that goes in the food itself -- what supplies are helpful to you? Scale, certain kinds of utensils or containers, gloves, knives, baggies, etc.?  Anything that has helped make it easier for you to make (if applicable), store, warm, and serve the raw food to your kitties?

Trying to get an estimate on startup costs so I can budget it into savings we have stored up for the move (brilliant, right?!  ).  I know most of you are several months (or YEARS, gosh!) into your raw journeys so I'm hoping you've made all your rookie mistakes and I can benefit from your finely-honed routines.   

Thanks in advance!!!

-Anna

The supplies you need will somewhat be dependent on whether you plan to feed ground or frankenprey. Ground will need a grinder that will handle bones plus whatever supplements you plan on adding, either individual ones a la catinfo.org or a premix like Alnutrin. If you're planning on frankenprey, are you planning on boneless supplemented with calcium or bone-in meals?

The common supplies you will need are a kitchen/postage scale, containers or baggies, either a good knife or kitchen shears, measuring spoons. I don't use gloves since it's the same as regular food prep to me. I just make sure I clean my hands/utensils/prep surfaces before and after.

I find working with scissors a LOT easier than a knife. And because of the amount they get used, I think the expense of a good pair of kitchen shears is worth it. But they do get dull, so an easy-to-use quality sharpener is also something to consider.

I use baggies to portion meals for refreezing.

...um....oh! Something to consider in the budget the first 3-6 months is toppers. Most use freeze dried meat or liver treats, or Fortiflora or something. I also use chicken babyfood sometimes (I mix it with water to make a gravy). Pure Bites is cheaper than whole life. But the enticements cost can add up during the transition. :nod:

Congrats on your decision to go raw! Please keep us posted with how your raw journey goes!

As for supplies I use, (I do ground raw by the way, not sure if you will be grinding or frankenprey?):

meat grinder (duh) =P

large mixing bowls

large mixing spoon

measuring cups/spoons

push pins (to poke holes in the fish oil gel caps)

heavy duty kitchen scissors (sooo much easier for cutting meat than a knife)

plastic cutting board sheets

kitchen scale

large gallon size plastic bags (to store their food in their bowls to thaw in fridge)

disposable foam bowls (I serve their food in these so I don't have to wash their bowls twice a day)

ice cube trays..and lots of them! (I use these to freeze their ground raw in, each cube is approx 1 oz, and then I just pop out the cubes in to their disposable bowls in the fridge to thaw)

paper towels

disinfectant

Cost-saving ideas:

Make your own "Clorox Anywhere" by mixing 1 part bleach with 10 parts water in your own spray bottle.

Buy a postal scale on eBay.

Furmonster mom uses the take-out restaurant cardboard French fry containers as disposable dishes.

Well, we do have some funds saved up, and boyfriend would LOVE to own a super-manly meat grinder, but I'm not sure the it's a reasonable expense at this point, especially since they've become more resistant to new foods as they've gotten older, so we may have some transition time.  So I will probably start with frankenprey.  I research bone-in vs. calcium on another thread as I know they've been posted about before.

Laurie, thanks for remembering toppers!  Also thanks for your money-savers!!!!!!  (I can't wait until we're out of debt and a dollar is just a dollar again rather than a budget-busting unit of DOOM!) I had kitchen shears that came with my knife block, but no clue where they've gone in my two moves in two years.  If I don't find them during this move, we will go to a restaurant-supply store and get some heavy duty ones.

Chandra, that was a very complete list, and stuff I didn't think about (push pins, of course!).  Thank you!  And O. M. G. - ice cube trays????  You are brilliant!!!!

parsleysage said:

So I will probably start with frankenprey.  I research bone-in vs. calcium on another thread as I know they've been posted about before.

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Yeah, like right here!!!! From two days ago!!!  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/261077/lets-talk-about-calcium-and-bones

A few more thoughts, though not so much about supplies per se:

My Spooky and Otto's Mazy have FLUTD issues. We both provide sardine (canned, water no salt), and the one or two pieces a week don't upset the pH. So you can use those for the omega 3 and vitamin D instead of salmon oil. You can freeze the pieces of sardine you dont use from the tin in individual servings. This will save some money, because decent salmon oil is rather expensive, IMO. (Though some of my observations are colored by having to feed 8 cats, and I'm not necessarily thinking on a per cat basis).

You might want to see how easy or difficult this switch to raw is going to be by offering some bites of raw chicken thigh now. Might need to be minced and mixed with canned. You can also try offering an egg yolk. These are important for choline and vit D. Some love them; most of mine hate them. :lol3:

I don't know if you'll be able to source heart, but I buy them from http://www.hare-today.com. They're not imperative, but a good source of taurine. So if sourcing will be difficult or cost prohibitive, you might want to supplement with taurine.

And as eating bone-in meals can take longer to get them to do, eggshell is a very affordable calcium substitute. Im on the phone, but I'll provide a link to the mini measuring spoons that make using it easy later. (Amazon, Norpro mini measuring spoons).

If you eat eggs regularly, you can make your own. If not, the eshop at http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com has eggshell powder that is inexpensive and for 8 cats seems to last forever. :lol3:

It is sometimes easier to transition a cat to raw by offering it in a ground form first. Since they are used to canned, it is a little more familiar. A ground meat/bone/organ mix with supplements, then offer pieces of plain raw chicken thighs or breasts on the side or mixed in. Small at first, and gradually increasing the size. This gives them time to strengthen their jaws for bone in meats.

My staple supplies are:

Sandwich and snack size ziplock baggies (for individual meals/leftovers) Also use to freeze cut up meats in various sizes until they can/will eat frankenprey

1lb containers (1 lb feeds my gang for a day)

Postal scale that measures lbs/oz/grams

Ice cube trays (from amazon, rubber, 1oz squares) for new protien intros

Good kitchen scissors

Huge mixing bowl (I do 5lbs at a time)

the Norpro mini measuring spoons LDG mentions

Extra large bag of Pure Bites (Dog treat size is same as cats)

Fortiflora (using this less these days! yay!)

A deep freezer allows for food storage (duh) but more importantly it allows for stocking up on meat while on sale.

I love my Kiwi knife! It debones chicken thighs without cutting me to pieces. And it's only $5.

I use 90% alcohol to help clean my grinder and knife after making cat food; it does a great job of breaking up the fat so my grinder and knife are actually clean.

We needed a chest freezer to make feeding raw possible. We bought ours from someone on Craigslist for $35.

LDG said:

We needed a chest freezer to make feeding raw possible. We bought ours from someone on Craigslist for $35.

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Even if one cannot find a deal like LDG did, she makes an excellent point. I bought my grinder and upright deep freezer new, and they paid themselves off in about 8 months. That's not including not having anymore vet trips for IBS, medications, and flea treatments. Yes, flea treatments. My vet was not only amazed at the visible health of my cats, he was astonished at the absence of fleas. I had to use monthly flea treatments on my dear old Grey who was not on raw and indoor only, and had to use flea treatments on my new 3 cats until they were on raw. There is some speculation that the B vitamins are repelling the fleas, but I don't know of any studies on it. This year and last year everyone I know has been battling fleas, and mine are flea free.

l'd like to add that if you go the grinder route first, you can get away with using two bowls - one huge one and one small enough to catch the meat from the hopper. l use three - huge for unground meat, small to catch, and medium to put ground meat into wet mix when small bowl gets full.

Also, l find it useful to keep my supplements in a small box. l rarely get the chance to stand there and make 3 or 4 batches of food without being called away for something. So as l add the supplements l take the bottle out of the box so l know where l am in the recipe when l get back.

Another thing is to either print off small recipes, or laminate your recipe since they invariably get splooshed on while "cooking".

LOL - I read the whole thread to see if anyone noted "Make room in your freezer", VERY important - would have been my first comment.

We are not to full raw yet, still a mix of canned/raw, but as I type this my former kibble addict is eating her 50/50 mix happily AND I had just taken it from the fridge so she's even eating it a little COLD!  HUGE progress made in 3 months - at one point, it had to be the perfect room temp before she would touch it!

I want to add that some of your most expensive items are MULTI-TASKING items that can also be used for your own cooking such as a good pair of shears, the scale, and the meat grinder.  In fact, our path to raw started with the fact we got a meat grinder to do our own grinding for US...which then led to making our own sausage.  Once you've made your own sausage...cat food is not that different.

So - if you want your money's worth, find other ways to use your new pricey equipment.  Also, if you are in the US, the best grinders are from Chop-Rite Two in PA.  If you eat meat, you'll love making your own burgers.  YOU will never go back to factory ground for YOURSELF once you've tried your own.

For a bribe/topper, I have been chopping up kitty bonito flakes into a dust I sprinkle onto the food.  I am starting to offer my older cat a snack of 100% raw with "bonito dust" on it.  So far, she'll eat some of it.

Oh yeah, the bonito flakes, if kitty likes them, are a definite money saver for a topper if you buy them at the supermarket. :nod: No need to buy "pet treat" bonito flakes!

peaches08 said:

A deep freezer allows for food storage (duh) but more importantly it allows for stocking up on meat while on sale.

I love my Kiwi knife! It debones chicken thighs without cutting me to pieces. And it's only $5.

I use 90% alcohol to help clean my grinder and knife after making cat food; it does a great job of breaking up the fat so my grinder and knife are actually clean.

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Its also wise to put the grinder itself into the freezer (we have a manual one) between grinds - so you need room in the freezer for that too.  That way, its nice and cold when grinding. 

LDG said:

Oh yeah, the bonito flakes, if kitty likes them, are a definite money saver for a topper if you buy them at the supermarket.

No need to buy "pet treat" bonito flakes!

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My Boyfriend and I debate this.  He is half Japanese - there is a very long, complex process to making bonito flakes for human consumption that includes smoking and fermentation.  Its the basis for dashi, a popular fish broth, which is why the flavoring is important.  I was too afraid those made for people would have extra stuff in them.

Am I wrong?  He buys them from an Asian store, and I can't read Japanese (neither can he) - I'll have to inspect those bags in the Asian stores a little better.  Been wondering if the smoking or fermentation process would produce anything harmful for cats.  I have been thinking of making a "brown" rabbit broth to see if that helps entice my older cat, who I am convinced has a compromised sense of smell.  Trying to get that "gamey" smell into the food, but wondering if the "browning" would be similar to smoking/fermenting, with bad results.

ETA: that would seriously suck, you should see the size of the bags of bonito flakes here in Lakewood, WA - in our Asian/International district stores.  Bags the size of a bed pillow for cheap - I could re-package the stuff and sell it for a profit!

That's really interesting. I didn't know they were smoked. The stuff we bought at the supermarket - not an asian store - listed the ingredients as "bonito." :lol3: When canned fish are smoked, that is mentioned. But that doesn't mean bonito flakes aren't fermented and smoked... but we also didn't buy them from an Asian store. I wonder if it's the difference between La Choy soy sauce, for instance, which is mass produced, and "real" soy sauce, which is really expensive - and is fermented for years. :dk:

Well, if you buy Eden flakes, they're not smoked: http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=109590

aprilprey said:

Its also wise to put the grinder itself into the freezer (we have a manual one) between grinds - so you need room in the freezer for that too.  That way, its nice and cold when grinding. 

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I have a Tasin. I can't imagine manually grinding bone.