Cooked food more economical than raw?

I have like 20 tabs open now reading about raw and cooked food already. Too much info, eyes glazing over! I'm thinking I may have to try cooked food first before I venture into raw. One thing I am struck by with the raw is how better quality organic fresher meat is important, just like with sushi. I'm thinking that could get pretty pricey with three cats. I also would need the grinder to properly deal with the bone. Unfortunately my old kitchen aid mixer is underpowered to handle the grinder accessory I think.

I live where there are plenty of grocery stores to choose from, one nearby is a world market type of deal with lots of ethnic foods, meats from different species and parts of the animal. I just took a quick spin through one day and saw just about every part of the chicken available separately, some quail, even goat. I don't think much is organic though. Would any extra supplements needed with cooked offset the savings of using this non-organic meat?

Also I have seen some places that specialize in raw meat for pets that take large orders and make regular drop offs in certain cities where you go pick up your order at a certain date and time. Does anyone here do that, and how does it compare to the cost of buying at local stores? I'm assuming having it shipped frozen to your house is a huge added expense. I am near Chicago and I came across one company in Indiana that does these types of deliveries somewhat in this vicinity.

Also are there any type of homemade pet food co-op type of things? I was thinking how nice it would be to buy the meat and supplements with bulk discounts for a group of people, and then use good equipment in a commercial kitchen to prep it under the tutelage of knowledgeable pros. I have read about people doing this to make freezer to oven type food for their human family.

There are local buying co-ops that I could access if I wanted to. I found them by googling for local Yahoo groups related to raw or BARF feeding. Around here though the coops buy ground mixes in bulk from local suppliers - that doesn't help me at all.

As to the organic, I couldn't afford to feed organic canned food, and I sure can't afford to feed 10 cats organic meat. I always wonder why people try to aim for perfection in feeding raw, when just ANY human grade food is a step-up from kibble or canned. :lol3: I mean - the leftovers from human food production or downed cows or non-slaughtered chickens that go into pet food aren't even usable in human food, or they'd be in it - other than a very, very, VERY few brands of cat food. :dk:

I buy supermarket meat on sale. I wish there were an ethnic market we could get to for organs, I'd so be experimenting! I'd LOVE to be able to buy goat! But I can't even find chicken hearts in a package of gizzards. :lol3: I do order what I can't source locally from Hare Today. I buy hearts, turkey thigh, beef kidney, and ground rabbit. Venison at times, when I can afford it. This still costs me less than the "premium" canned foods I was feeding.

No reason you can't buy meat on sale, and add your own supplements, or use something like Alnutrin (which you can use with cooked or raw).

I don't worry about "organic", I get most of my meat from Costco, the Mexican market, and the Asian market.

As for starting with cooked vs. raw, I'd say do what makes you comfortable.  My own thoughts are that feeding raw is actually easier once you wrap your head around it.   

I routinely buy meat at the local grocery store, in the "clearance" section, often at 30 to 50% off list price. Ritz doesn't know the difference.
I also don't worry about 'organic' unless of course it is 50% off. Then I might splurge.
Second the idea about BARF--look under dog sites for this. It is more common for dogs than cats.
When the local farmers market is open (April through end of December) I sometimes buy "unusual" organs from one of the vendors; he is use to my inquiries by now. "Scored" a turkey head for $2. (Ritz loved chicken head, so I'll see if she likes turkey heads.)

Thanks for the info everyone. It is good to know I don't have to get the best organic meat to go raw. I had noticed in a few of the articles I had read that they recommended at least partially cooking the non-organic meat, but if most people don't I'm sure it is ok. I am currently leaning more towards a cooked food (to start at least) for a few reasons though:

1. My one cat probably has IBD with mainly vomiting (no clear diagnosis yet) and I have seen it mentioned that totally raw be more of a problem for them than an already healthy cat.

2. I am a little concerned about hygiene with the way the cats currently make such a mess eating the canned food.

3. There are people in the household with chronic health problems taking immunosuppressant drugs.

4. I don't want to hear I told you so from my vet who cautioned against if I end up making someone sick! She did say if I really wanted to try it to get one the pressure treated commercial kinds to be safer.

I will have to do some more hunting to find out what the proper supplements are for cooking food. It seems like most of the sites and articles are mainly focused on raw.

Thanks again for the info and if I need to order meat for raw I will be sure to check out the BARF groups. I had forgotten about them.

We have a cooked food resources thread. It has links to complete and balanced recipes, and links to supplements you can buy: some, like U-stew balance just meat, and I know many IBD kitties doing very well with it. Alnutrin is a very high quality supplement that balances meat and liver, and can be used with raw or cooked.

If you are posting from a phone, just switch to the desktop view to see the resource threads at the top of this forum.

I have been considering transitioning L&S to raw but am unsure about it not because I don't know that it's the best thing for them (I do, it is) it's because I'm afraid I'll screw it up and they will get sick. The amount of money I spend on high quality canned is scary but they are happy and healthy and that's what is important. 

Back to going raw, I tried commercial raw on them (Nature's Variety) and they did not like it at all. I gave it to them on its own and mixed with canned food they like. They turned their noses up at it and walked out of the kitchen in a huff. I think they were offended by it as if they were saying, "do you really expect ME to eat THAT?" 

I don't have a meat grinder either but have wondered if the butcher at my local grocery store would grind up some bone in skin on chicken breast for me straight out of the package. Does the breast have enough bone in it that I wouldn't need to add supplements?

LDG said:

Alnutrin is a very high quality supplement that balances meat and liver, and can be used with raw or cooked.

Click to expand...

Does this mean that Alnutrin adds to meat and liver to make it more balanced?

Kat- you would have to add supplements regardless of bone content. there are several different things cats need such as taurine. I am not sure what your butcher would do. I order ground meats from Hare Today. If you order in bulk it is a good deal. When I started raw by cats also hated Natures Variety. It also seemed like the few times I bought it it was freezer burned. I then switched to buying the Primal Chubs of Chicken, Turkey and lamb, These are not complete diets so I added Alnutrin. My cats loved it. A few weeks ago I started ordering from Hare today. I will continue to order from them for things like rabbit and quail. I have decided to use my food processor to make batches of chicken and turkey. Obviously my food processor won't grind bone so I will use Alnutrin with calcium and Alnutrin for meat with bone.

If you don't want to make your food Primal is pretty good ( says my cats).

Cats need more than meat and bone; they need the appropriate amount (partly based on their ideal weight) of liver and a secreting organ like kidney.
Chicken fat is, well, fatty; and I'm guessing the bone in the chicken breast would be too much unless your cat is HUGE.
Check out some of the many, wonderful articles on this forum for some more information.

I've been reading through all the cooked food resources threads and there is a lot of information there. I looked at several of the different premixes ok for cooked meat: Alnutrin, U-Stew, and Balance IT.  The Balance IT seems way more expensive per day than the other two. The U-Stew seems to require a lot more than the Alnutrin for the same amount of meat? One had enzymes, another had psyllium, kelp, etc. It is hard to compare them. Is it also cheaper to just make up your own supplement blend once you know exactly what you need? All the discussion of how different organs and cooking methods change things was a bit much for a newbie to process.

I guess to start I don't even need to add any supplements if I am just trying to see if they will eat it, as long as it doesn't make up too much of their diet. I already know they will eat baked chicken thighs because we have given them small amounts before.

I had thought that using our pressure cooker would retain the most nutrients as no fluid would be lost, but I saw in one post that it was the least palatable way for their cats at least. I have never cooked organs before so I don't know what is best for them. I had thought I would just get a few packages of chicken parts, keep them in the freezer, and experiment with different methods and combos.

I think I do have to be careful about fat content. Kitty had the worst diarrhea and vomiting ever not long ago, coming out of both ends at the same time for a few days. We think it was brought on by her getting into the fat reservoir of an electric griddler while it was cooling off before getting emptied and washed. It was closed and we thought she was just smelling it, not realizing there was an opening on the back big enough for her to dip her paw into and lick it off. Little bugger has more interest in stealing food than anything I bought or prepared for her. She also likes to steal salad greens and cooked spaghetti noodles. She fishes those out of the sink after they fall through the colander, then goes running around the house with her "prize" swinging from her mouth and her brothers trying to grab it.