Kittens starting raw

I have 3 five week Olds and I gave them chicken for the first time tonight. All three took to it immediately! I will continue the dry food but eventually completely cut it out.

Thats great news! Kittens are usually very easy to transition to raw, as their concept of what constitutes food isn't yet fixed.

Just be sure to use a complete and balanced commercial raw diet, or to rigidly stick to a balanced recipie. You can find some more information about raw feeding below:-
[article="32321"]Raw Feeding For Cats The Ingredients  [/article][article="31714"]Raw Feeding Cats Types Of Raw Diets Feeding Options  [/article][article="31997"]Preparing Raw Cat Food At Home Tools Of The Trade  [/article][article="31673"]Feeding Raw To Cats Safety Concerns  [/article]

My kitten arrived at our home at 8 weeks. He was a dry addict and I had to persuade him to eat a little raw chicken and salmon using floristore. I did this for about 2 months. THEN, I found freeze dried chicken and lamb, raw from Feline Natural based in New Zealand. It has zero carbs in terms of added veggies..just chicken, lamb and green lipped muscle. This was a godsend as it looks like dry, though slightly wet after preparation and he took to it immediately. Right now he's five months and is totally off dry eating freeze dried raw chicken and lamb and also eats commercially frozen lamb, chicken&salmon and venison. Freeze dried raw is a great transition to eventually giving raw in my opinion and better on the kitty's stomach as mixing dry and raw is not recommended unless there is a 12 hour interval between feeding each.

I wouldn't get too concerned about feeding raw and kibble during a transition phase. It sounds like the switch will be easy for you anyway. Its far better to feed kibble and raw for a slow transition than to suddenly shock their systems with an abrupt change.
[article="31138"]Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food Canned Raw Or Homemade  [/article]

I looked up feeding kibble and raw and it was not recommended as it can interfere with the cats digestion. That said, we did mostly dry for 2 months and a little raw. I was getting worried though because no matter how hard I tried, our little guy was addicted to dry. So decided to take the plunge and took away his dry and replaced it with freeze dried and he's doing fine. It was a hard decision since he needs to eat, eat, eat, but in the end it worked out.
5 months old and eating raw!!!

BellaLuna777 said:

 
I looked up feeding kibble and raw and it was not recommended as it can interfere with the cats digestion. That said, we did mostly dry for 2 months and a little raw. I was getting worried though because no matter how hard I tried, our little guy was addicted to dry. So decided to take the plunge and took away his dry and replaced it with freeze dried and he's doing fine. It was a hard decision since he needs to eat, eat, eat, but in the end it worked out.

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@jenvanornum   is in a different situation to the one you were in. It sounds like her three will transition easily (often the case with very young kittens, as I explained above).

I agree that a mix of kibble and raw isn't great long term, but it's fine in the context of a transition 

Good to know if we ever get anymore kittens. His stools we only slightly softer during the mixing phase, but far from getting the runs.................................

Yep chin, ajah, and tofu are loving the chicken. I plan to introduce some Organ meat maybe tonight, or tomorrow.

you might either think about getting a complete commercially prepared frozen raw diet as those come with the necessary supplements already added or buying additional supplements to add to the raw you are starting to give your kitties

I mixed heart and liver with the thigh meat today, they ate it right up.

Should I mix Organ meat into their everyday portions? Or is this just a every few days thing?

Thats fantastic news  Please start using a balanced raw diet for them now - its especially important for kittens to get the optimum quantities of all  nutrients needed for growth.

liver and heart have taurine and that is a good thing for your kitties.....they need other stuff like calcium which can be in the form of ground bone which is in the commercially frozen chicken and turkey we give our kitties. They add other stuff like vitamin E and Salmon oil etc.

Remember to use meat that has less fats. Or cut out the fats. If not they are going to have runnier stools

I also make eggshell to substitute for bone yet. I'm scared she can't eat bones yet. Substituting soon

if the bones are ground up well enough, it should be OK. That said, every now and then even our adult kitties have a bloody stool most probably from a bone coming out their rear end. We try to pick the bigger ones out. Eggshell sounds like a good idea. 

If it's blood it shouldn't be due to bones. Perhaps due to eating liver

nessakhoo said:

Remember to use meat that has less fats. Or cut out the fats. If not they are going to have runnier stools

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Cats need some fat in their diet - its important not to remove all of it. Again, I say ​use a balanced recipe!

I feed raw and kibble. I don't feed it at the same time, though. Its usually spaced out by a few hours and none of mine have had any issues. I'm not really convinced there is any hardcore proof that raw and kibble are bad together. I have a range of cats from 4 month old kittens to a 12.5 year old guy. They are eating high quality kibble Orijen and a some air dried ziwipeak. 

I'm going to grind some egg shells up until they can chew on bones. I've decided I don't want to do ground meat. I've been chopping it up & am working toward bigger and bigger pieces until they can handle bone. They have had chicken thigh, liver, heart and quail eggs. I'm going to try and find some chicken heads for the eyes and brains.