Raw mixed into canned?

Switching my two boys over to wet is proving to be quite expensive, as I feared it would be, and is why I held off on doing so before. I refuse to feed them the worst quality wet foods because of all the garbage they have in them. My larger cat recently had some urinary issues and the vet gave him some antibiotics. He's doing better now, but since he's having urinary issues I know he needs to be on all wet food diet ASAP and I've also been reading that grains can make urinary issues worse, which means I needed to find a grain-free food. Of course, there being two of them means I also need double the food. The best one I can afford is the basic Sheba food, but it only comes in 3oz cans so if I gave them the normal 5-6oz each a day then I need to give them 4 cans a day. They love it, especially the cuts, and I've been getting away with adding quite a bit of extra water to the food and the bug guy who has the urinary issues just laps all the liquid right up before anything else which is fantastic considering he needs it the most.

I'm wondering if there's any raw food I could buy and prepare myself then add to the wet food? I need to be able to turn the 3oz can into 5-6oz if I can without spending much more. I was reading about making a raw diet and I don't have the necessary supplies nor the extra cash to invest in the supplies, so I can't do anything fancy that would require any of those special tools. If I can't mix raw and canned, then I can't put them on a full-on wet diet and will have to supplement with dry sadly.

First off, have you tried buying online? You can often get much better deals on wet food by buying in bulk - that's what I do, and it really helps.

As to raw - yes, it's perfectly fine to mix raw and canned, though I'd be inclined to put them on separate plates to minimise wastage - raw food can't be safely left out as long as canned can, and you don't want to have to throw away food - especially on a limited budget. If you can't afford a grinder etc, your best bet is to buy pre ground raw designed to be fed as raw pet food, along with a supplement designed to balance raw meat - or check out our [thread="272287"]​[/thread]. Store bought ground meat just isn't safe for raw feeding. The cheapest option would probably be to make your own cooked cat food. That way, you CAN use store bought ground - and even cuts of meat in the reduced section. Check out the [thread="263751"]​[/thread] for balanced recipe ideas.

No matter whether you go for raw or cooked homemade, make sure to follow the recipe exactly. It's all too easy to create an unbalanced diet if you do your own thing [article="31801"][/article][article="31138"][/article]

Columbine said:

First off, have you tried buying online? You can often get much better deals on wet food by buying in bulk - that's what I do, and it really helps.

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Thanks for the info.

Yes, I have tried online. I have auto-ship set up with Amazon for the Sheba in fact. Sadly, even though online is cheaper, that's the best I can afford. Hopefully with all the hours I'm getting this coming month I'll be able to just get double canned and not have to worry about trying to add raw in.

I do worry if I separate out raw or give them too much raw that they won't eat it. I bought them some of the Purely Fancy Feast trays for a treat once and they were very hesitant to eat the beef/chicken flavor and the chicken-only flavor they wouldn't eat at all. They love the Sheba chicken and turkey though, so the FF just wasn't appealing for whatever reason.

I get chicken hindquarters for 59 cents a pound, sometimes 39 cents, put them in the pressure cooker till it falls off the bone and then strip it from the bones into bite sized pieces. I do ten pounds at a time, the size it comes in and it lasts for weeks.You can give them some of the broth it makes too. I freeze it in smaller packages. I have never had a cat turn it down. I know it's not raw, but it is pure meat, safe to eat because you know whats in it, and you could add whatever you need to according to what you want in it. It's very affordable and nice to keep around for a sick or picky cat. 

I don't have a pressure cooker sadly, nor a blender, and as I mentioned in my OP, I don't have the cash to throw at such machines right now.

I saw in one of the threads linked above that some people cook chicken and beef in the oven and it works out for them, as well as lightly scrambling eggs. Could I do that and be fine or do I need to make the entire recipe they used the beef/chicken/egg in?

I make food for our cats by cooking boneless meat in the toaster oven, covered tightly and with some water, then adding EZcomplete supplement. That works very well and our cats love the food. Whether you decide to make raw food or cooked, I couldn't agree more with @Columbine about the importance of supplementation. I settled on EZcomplete because it truly is easy and I feel comfortable with all the ingredients.

If I mix the chicken with the Sheba canned food, do I still need to add supplements? I fear they won't eat plain chicken by itself because of the above issue I mentioned with the Fancy Feast I tried. It's possible I could get then to eat it if I could make some sort of gravy to put in it, I think that's why they like the Sheba so much.

ShadowGX said:

 
If I mix the chicken with the Sheba canned food, do I still need to add supplements? I fear they won't eat plain chicken by itself because of the above issue I mentioned with the Fancy Feast I tried. It's possible I could get then to eat it if I could make some sort of gravy to put in it, I think that's why they like the Sheba so much.

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If you're only feeding very small amounts of chicken it's okay to mix in without supplements. But if you're feeding chicken regularly and it's a significant part of the diet -- the usual figure I've seen is 10% or more -- the chicken should be supplemented. In your case, it sounds like you want to double the amount of food in a can: if that's the case, you would definitely need to add supplements to the meat.

EZcomplete does make a sort of gravy: as with any food, not all cats like it, though ours love it. There are lots of pre-mix supplements available and I'm sure most of them make some sort of gravy.