Raw vs Cooked meat

I would like to know which one is better for my cat. Currently we feed him dry food, but that should end soon; we're only doing this because with the rest of his expenses (we adopted him less than a month ago), wet food seems a little expensive. But once we start feeding him wet food, how should I feed him?

I heard you shouldn't feed them canned food but I've also heard many stories of them being perfectly fine, so I'd like to know the answer to that, too.

And if you cook the food, how should you prepare it?

This is my first pet so I'm a little new to all this.

Canned food is perfectly fine to feed - like all commercially made things some are better than others, and we all have our own preferences and views on exactly what we want to feed our cats. Some of these are defined by the cat (sensitivities to ingredients, flavour preferences etc), and some are our own opinions based on our own knowledge and views.

Home cooking is fine, but you have to be sure to strictly adhere to a balanced recipe. You'll find lots of them here [thread="263751"]​[/thread].

Raw feeding is the most controversial. Many people believe its the best diet you can feed, but just as many are against it. I personally feed a part commercial raw and part canned diet to one cat, and a mostly canned with a little rx kibble to my other cat. The semi feral gets mostly kibble (her preference) with a little wet. So, you see I manage to cover most versions single handed :lol3:

If you do go raw, food hygiene and meat freshness are a BIG priority. Commercial raw is the easiest, but a lot of people like to know exactly what they're feeding so make their own. As with home cooked food, a BALANCED recipe is non negotiable. You'll find lots of help in the Raw & Home Cooked Forum (http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-home-cooked-cat-food). You can even look at Prey Model Raw if you want a real challenge!

Here are a few articles to start you off. There are loads more in our Articles section.
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MrCloverTheCat said:

 
I would like to know which one is better for my cat. Currently we feed him dry food, but that should end soon; we're only doing this because with the rest of his expenses (we adopted him less than a month ago), wet food seems a little expensive. But once we start feeding him wet food, how should I feed him?

I heard you shouldn't feed them canned food but I've also heard many stories of them being perfectly fine, so I'd like to know the answer to that, too.

And if you cook the food, how should you prepare it?

This is my first pet so I'm a little new to all this.

Click to expand...

Canned food doesn't have to be expenesive. There are ways to keep costs down such as buying large size cans instead of the tiny 3 oz ones, buying by the case, and buying a decent inexpensive brand such as Friskies. You don't need to feed the expensive high end premium brands. Some people feed mostly inexpensive brands and occasionally rotate in a higher end brand for variety.

Raw is better than cooked, IMO. Cooking destroys some nutrients in meat.

Please see these articles on raw and home cooked diets:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263955/helpful-resources-raw-home-cooked-cat-food-forum

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

It's important to feed a balanced diet. Feeding just meat, whether cooked or raw, with nothing else is not a complete balance diet and nutritional deficiencies will result, maybe not right away but after a prolonged period of time on the unbalanced diet. There are different ways to make a raw or home cooked diet balanced, as described in further details in the links above.

One easy way to do a home cooked diet is to cook bonelss skinless meat (chopped or ground)  in a pot with some water (no oil, spices, etc), cool to room temperature, and then add in a pre-mix such as Ustew. Portion out the food into serving sizes, place a few meals in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.

Congratulations on adopting your cat, @MrCloverTheCat!

Columbine said:

Canned food is perfectly fine to feed - like all commercially made things some are better than others, and we all have our own preferences and views on exactly what we want to feed our cats. Some of these are defined by the cat (sensitivities to ingredients, flavour preferences etc), and some are our own opinions based on our own knowledge and views.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more with what Columbine writes here about cat foods. Our vet is very much in favor of feeding canned foods instead of dry foods -- because cats need lots of meat proteins -- but it can take some time to try feeding various foods to a cat and determine preferences. It took us a few months to wean our cats off dry food (they loved it) and get them on a rotation of canned foods they'll consistently eat. Realizing one cat is sensitive to potato cut a lot of foods out of contention!

If you haven't already done it, you might might want to check with your local pet food stores to see if they have any coupons or other deals for people who've newly adopted pets. We got a coupon booklet at Petco when we adopted our cats in late 2013: it was a good way to get a discount on certain foods and supplies. Some independent stores offer free samples, too.

Have fun with your new cat!