Looking to start raw feeding

Hi All,

I will be getting another kitten in a couple of weeks time and I am looking to be feeding him (and my current cat) on raw food.

At the moment I am looking into ordering pre ground meet from here: https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home

Including:

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/108-rabbit-mix-1kg

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/126-chicken-meat-and-bone-minced-1kg

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/153-beef-mince-1kg

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/215-fat-fish-mix-1kg

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/386-quail-mix-1kg AND/OR https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/product/211-lamb-mix-1kg

I intend to use these to make a variety of different meals (not just mixing them all together) and will probably have some solid meat in the rotation for chewing purposes.

As I am new to raw feeding I am a little concerned that I could be jumping the gun a little bit and rushing into it but I am willing and ready to do more research but I was wondering if I could get any advice or pointers from anyone with more knowledge / experience than I if they see anything immediately wrong with my current plan?

I am aware that I will likely need to add some supplements (which will be mixed in with the ground meat and likely frozen into cubes). 

A question on the supplements, if I am feeding things such as the fat fish mix (which is comprised of: 40% salmon bodies, 30% whole herrings and 30% whole sardines)   would I need to include fish oil as a supplement. Also would calcium be necessary if I am feed the Chicken Meat and Bone Minced?

This website here: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Recipe recommends a variety of different supplements, including fish oil, vitamin E, B-Complex, Taurine, salt with iodine and salmon oil.

I am also probably going to be feeding heart so I believe the Taurine may not be necessary.

In any case, any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jordan

Looking into this further a thought just crossed my mind about buying pre-ground frozen meats and that is the issue of refreezing them.

I.e. I intend to buy the pre-ground meats and expect them to arrive frozen (i've not actually ordered anything yet so I can't comment on this).

I then intended to mix up some supplements etc with the ground meat and divide them into easily managed chunks for quick feeding but would want to do this in bulk and refreeze to be defrosted and fed when necessary.

(on a side note I will also probably be feeding chunked meat or meaty bones from time to time but have not yet decided my exact feeding rota).

I have read that meats defrosted in the freezer are generally okay to refreeze but I was wondering if anyone else had a little more insight on this?

Alternatively (again i've had no experience in this), would using a meat grinder to make the meat more pliable whilst frozen be a suitable method of preparing the meals (and refreezing) so that they remain mostly frozen / aren't at room temperature for a long while, or would regrinding destroy many of the nutrients / not be at all suitable?

ZeroFidelity said:

I.e. I intend to buy the pre-ground meats and expect them to arrive frozen (i've not actually ordered anything yet so I can't comment on this).

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If they don't arrive frozen you should refuse delivery of them.  If they are thawed you won't know what kind of temperatures they have been subjected to and for how long.

 
I then intended to mix up some supplements etc with the ground meat and divide them into easily managed chunks for quick feeding but would want to do this in bulk and refreeze to be defrosted and fed when necessary.

(on a side note I will also probably be feeding chunked meat or meaty bones from time to time but have not yet decided my exact feeding rota).

I have read that meats defrosted in the freezer are generally okay to refreeze but I was wondering if anyone else had a little more insight on this?

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This is common practice with raw feeders.

ZeroFidelity said:

A question on the supplements, if I am feeding things such as the fat fish mix (which is comprised of: 40% salmon bodies, 30% whole herrings and 30% whole sardines)   would I need to include fish oil as a supplement.

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The fish oil would be to add omega 3 fatty acids which are deficient in factory farm raised animals. It isn't possible to say for sure whether that fish mix would provide sufficient omega 3s to balance what is lacking in the rest of the diet. I would guess that if it made up a significant part of the diet that additional supplementation with oil would not be necessary but that is just a guess. And I don't know how much exactly would constitute a "significant" amount. I would keep it less than 25% though as a diet higher in fish than that would require additional vitamin K supplementation.

  Also would calcium be necessary if I am feed the Chicken Meat and Bone Minced?

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That product description says it is chicken backs. According to the USDA database chicken backs are 44% bone. We typically try to keep the bone content to between about 7-10% to avoid the risk of constipation. I would mix that chicken with enough boneless meat to get the bone percentage down to something more acceptable. 

One of the other products you link to is whole quail. The USDA database has quail at 10% bone so you might not need to dilute the bone in it. Some people have found though that they need less than 10% to prevent constipation.

Here's an online calculator to help you figure out how much boneless meat to add:

www.rawcalc.org

 
This website here: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Recipe recommends a variety of different supplements, including fish oil, vitamin E, B-Complex, Taurine, salt with iodine and salmon oil.

I am also probably going to be feeding heart so I believe the Taurine may not be necessary.

In any case, any advice would be appreciated!

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Heart is a great source of taurine but we don't know for sure how much it provides . I feed heart but still add taurine just in case what is in the heart isn't enough.

Thank you for the feedback,

I am currently researching more into this so that I can develop an appropriate feeding plan,  I now know that Taurine is water soluble so it can't really be overfed so should be fine feeding heart and supplement in that regard but still got a good bit more to look into!

Thanks.