Switching from ground to Prey Model Raw

So I have decided to switch my kitties from ground over to Prey Model Raw (chunks).  I have a few questions.  With my dogs I balance weekly, how often should I balance it for my cats?  Do I need to balance every meal, weekly?  Do I need to add additional supplements?  I know I do with the catinfo recipe, but if I am feeding the chunks do I need to supplement? 

Oh YAY!

You can balance weekly, most do. CatCentric has great resources for you: a calculator to help determine meat/bone/organ amounts needed to balance (though it calculates off 10% bone, and most cats do best with 7% to 8%); a sample menu is instructive... these are on the left-hand side. I don't know if you consider them supplements, but I consider egg yolk and a source of omega 3s critical, as the diet is otherwise light in vitamin D and choline. I also include 500mg of salmon oil, to get the D up.

http://catcentric.org/

Thank you.  I've been searching and found a few calculators, one that does 6% bone, but it's an excel so I can modify that if needed.  I am really nervous about this, I don't know why, as I've fed prey model raw to my dogs for 4 years.  I think it's the whole taurine thing as right now I add the supplement to their ground mix (catinfo.org recipe) and I worry that I won't supply enough in the diet.  2 of my kitties on raw have heart issues, one has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the other one is waiting an ultrasound to determine what's going on with hers.  So I am sort of freaking out about the taurine.  I read that growing kittens shouldn't have just eggshells for calcium as they need the phosphorus in the bones which has me upset as that's what I've fed to Mouse who was raised on raw.  So now I'm worried I've messed her up for life.  I have another kitten Raven who is 4 months old now who I am raising on raw so hopefully the switch I will get it right.  I tend to worry about things a lot more than a normal person lol.

The warning about eggshell vs bone applies to puppies. A growing puppy does not get enough phos if eggshell is used. That is not true for the needs of growing kittens, whose requirements are different than dogs.

As to the taurine, are hearts going to be a part of the diet? Feed them 3, 4 times a week and work in some dark meats like shoulder or thigh, and your kitties will be fine. But if you want the additional insurance, because it is water soluble, just supplement it. Add 250mg once a day. It's just an amino acid, they likely won't even notice it on the food. It'll stick to the meat, and they'll eat it.

Thank you.  I am still trying to find sources for heart but do plan on including it in their diet.  I had a bunch of beef heart a friend gave me but I am out of it now.  I also have to find chicken liver as Munchie can't tolerate any other protein (barfs the second he eats it), and Walmart quit carrying it on me. 

I understand!  One of my cats is suspected of showing early signs of HCM so I'm pretty careful about supplementing also.

You could try keeping them on ground food for a few meals a week, to which you can add supplements like taurine, fish oil and eggs.  I feed ground for that reason and also for the increased meat variety (especially rabbit), and the ability to feed whole animal grinds which I think provide nutrients that you can't get from pure frankenprey.  I've also recently started to "spike" the ground food with extra organ meats for additional simplicity (and less "yuk" factor...I love my cats but not the smell of fresh kidney).  This might help with the cat who has trouble tolerating liver.  That lets me just feed meat chunks for the rest of the meals, plus occasional chicken necks/ribs.

If you check your local groceries you'll likely find one with a "pet food" section in the meat aisle, with chicken livers, gizzards and hearts at minimum.  Try Asian markets too.  If all else fails, you can order the offal meats online.  If you're in the eastern US, both Hare Today and My Pet Carnivore are great sources.

I am super stoked now, I found chicken liver again, and it was on sale so you better believe I bought a bunch of it so I will have it in stock for my Munchie boy   He can't tolerate other proteins.  Well my kids are handling the chunks with ease which makes me very happy.  I am concerned about the taurine especially with my 2 heart kitties so I am still going to supplement, from what I have read any excesses will just be passed through their system without harm.  The chicken I feed is mostly the boneless thighs so that should be a good source of taurine.  I'm also feeding beef and pork at the moment with hopes to increase a variety of other meats.   My two younger girls are in love with the chunks.  My question however is do I need to keep supplementing the boneless meals with the eggshells for calcium if they are going to be getting the bone in meals a couple times a week now?  I do have a kitten who is 5 months old who will be eating so I want to make sure she gets the right amount of calcium for her developing bones.