Looking for a little guidance on feeding my cat.

terpy · Oct 10, 2016

Hey everyone, first post here but i've done a bit of reading on the site in the past. I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything right.

So basically I'm currently feeding my kitten (about 4 months old) 1/4 cup of Primal raw cat food (rabbit this time, but I plan on alternating every bag. My cat is not picky whatsoever, she'll eat anything in front of her) twice a day, so 1/2 a cup a day. I'm on a college budget so I have to try and spread the raw food out as best as I can. I feed the raw at breakfast and dinner time, and in the middle of the day I give her dry Orijen food (I usually eyeball it, probably a bit more than 1/4). Throughout the day I'll give her little chunks of meat (chicken and beef right now), sometimes with bone in them. I've given her a couple separated bones to play with too, she seems to chew on them for a bit and treat it like a toy.

I just want to make sure that I'm not over/under feeding her. I'm not sure how much she weighs since I don't have a scale, but I'd assume somewhere between 5-15 ounces (i'm horrible with judging weights). I can barely feel her ribs but she doesn't seem crazily overweight.

Thanks guys!

terpy · Oct 10, 2016

Also, I cant find a way to edit the thread, but how long would you guys say its safe to keep raw meat in the fridge? In regards to the chicken/beef I feed her as a treat.

paiger8 · Oct 11, 2016

Heads up, you should never feed kittens incomplete food (plain chicken and beef) even if it's only a portion of their diet. Adult cats can usually eat a little incomplete food and be fine, but kittens are growing and any unbalanced food can lead to issues - bone and spinal problems, and even death. They're growing so fast, they need nutritionally complete food to help them grow. You can mix the plain boneless meat with a supplement (such as EZ Complete) to make it a complete food.

And the general rule of thumb is to let a kitten eat as much as they want. You can't really overfeed a kitten. They might look a little tubby, and then go through a growth spurt and be slender again.

Is she eating everything you put in front of her or leaving some on the plate? Is she meowing and begging for more?

Also great job feeding your cat raw! I could have never afforded it in college - I'm super impressed!

terpy · Oct 11, 2016

Paiger8 said:
Heads up, you should never feed kittens incomplete food (plain chicken and beef) even if it's only a portion of their diet. Adult cats can usually eat a little incomplete food and be fine, but kittens are growing and any unbalanced food can lead to issues - bone and spinal problems, and even death. They're growing so fast, they need nutritionally complete food to help them grow. You can mix the plain boneless meat with a supplement (such as EZ Complete) to make it a complete food.

And the general rule of thumb is to let a kitten eat as much as they want. You can't really overfeed a kitten. They might look a little tubby, and then go through a growth spurt and be slender again.

Is she eating everything you put in front of her or leaving some on the plate? Is she meowing and begging for more?

Also great job feeding your cat raw! I could have never afforded it in college - I'm super impressed!

Whats the difference between feeding them raw and "incomplete food"? Sorry i'm a little confused on what you mean there. As long as she's being fed a complete diet, why would the extra few chunks make a difference? I feed her the premade raw formulas like stella & chewys, primal, etc. as her main source of food (with some dry orijen kibble in the middle of the day, I am on a budget after all) and just toss her a piece of meat once or twice a day, you're saying I should cut out giving her the chunks of meat?

And she eats everything I put in front of her fairly quickly and meows in the mornings for her food, thats what makes me think maybe I'm feeding her a tad too little. But since you said it's hard to over do it, i'll make sure I keep her bowl full more often.

Thank you for the reply, by the way!

paiger8 · Oct 11, 2016

Straight raw meat, eg. chicken breast isn't complete on it's own. When a cat eats a rabbit or another raw animal in the wild, they're eating organs, meat, some bones, and all the vitamins and minerals absorbed from that animal. They don't just eat the "meat" part of the animal. To make a raw food complete, you need to add supplements to it. (The one exception is Prey Model Raw - where you feed different parts of the animal including organs on a schedule.)

You can either supplement by adding a premix to boneless (like Alnutrin or EZ Complete) or by supplementing yourself either with bone-in or boneless. For example, my raw recipes included boneless muscle meat, hearts, livers, egg yolk, egg shell (or bones if using bone-in meats) for calcium, fish oil, taurine, vitamin B complex, vitamin E, and lite salt. I use this recipe. It's still raw food - you just need to add things to make it nutritionally complete for a cat.

You can get away with feeding an adult cat a few chunks (less than 10% of diet) of "incomplete" food since they're all grown up, but kittens are using all their food calories and nutrients for growing. Their bones and organs are growing and if they don't have all those important nutrients in ALL of their food, they can have development issues. Think of all the issues malnourished people have in developing countries (blindness, brittle bones, spinal problems) because they're not getting important vitamins and minerals. Similar can happen to growing kittens.

You're feeding her amazingly well by the way. Especially for a college budget. This isn't meant to be critical. I just want your kitten to grow big and strong.

terpy · Oct 11, 2016

Paiger8 said:
Straight raw meat, eg. chicken breast isn't complete on it's own. When a cat eats a rabbit or another raw animal in the wild, they're eating organs, meat, some bones, and all the vitamins and minerals absorbed from that animal. They don't just eat the "meat" part of the animal. To make a raw food complete, you need to add supplements to it. (The one exception is Prey Model Raw - where you feed different parts of the animal including organs on a schedule.)

You can either supplement by adding a premix to boneless (like Alnutrin or EZ Complete) or by supplementing yourself either with bone-in or boneless. For example, my raw recipes included boneless muscle meat, hearts, livers, egg yolk, egg shell (or bones if using bone-in meats) for calcium, fish oil, taurine, vitamin B complex, vitamin E, and lite salt. I use this recipe. It's still raw food - you just need to add things to make it nutritionally complete for a cat.

You can get away with feeding an adult cat a few chunks (less than 10% of diet) of "incomplete" food since they're all grown up, but kittens are using all their food calories and nutrients for growing. Their bones and organs are growing and if they don't have all those important nutrients in ALL of their food, they can have development issues. Think of all the issues malnourished people have in developing countries (blindness, brittle bones, spinal problems) because they're not getting important vitamins and minerals. Similar can happen to growing kittens.

You're feeding her amazingly well by the way. Especially for a college budget. This isn't meant to be critical. I just want your kitten to grow big and strong.

Thank you so much for all of the information!

One day I would like to transition to a homemade recipe, but for now without a meat grinder/access to quality meat (i have a good shop nearby but they really only have steak and chicken, no organs or anything). I've done a little research on the premixes and was considering getting a few samples, so I'll probably give that a shot as well, and will cut out the chunks until I do and stick with the premade raw + some dry. I've looked into the wholesale suppliers of grounded meats (like wholefoods4pets or something similar) that sell the meat with bones and everything, would combining this with one of the premixes be sufficient? If so, would that ultimately be cheaper than buying the premade raw? (I just got a 1lb bag today for about $12) Again, I appreciate all the help! I just couldn't stomach all the random ingredients in the canned foods I was getting her, I feel a lot more in control of what shes eating now!

mrsgreenjeens · Oct 11, 2016

Have you seen THIS thread? It discusses the supplements mentioned above, plus everything pretty much from A - Z about raw feeding. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

paiger8 · Oct 11, 2016

terpy said:
Thank you so much for all of the information!

One day I would like to transition to a homemade recipe, but for now without a meat grinder/access to quality meat (i have a good shop nearby but they really only have steak and chicken, no organs or anything). I've done a little research on the premixes and was considering getting a few samples, so I'll probably give that a shot as well, and will cut out the chunks until I do and stick with the premade raw + some dry. I've looked into the wholesale suppliers of grounded meats (like wholefoods4pets or something similar) that sell the meat with bones and everything, would combining this with one of the premixes be sufficient? If so, would that ultimately be cheaper than buying the premade raw? (I just got a 1lb bag today for about $12) Again, I appreciate all the help! I just couldn't stomach all the random ingredients in the canned foods I was getting her, I feel a lot more in control of what shes eating now!

Most premixes are meant to be added to boneless meat because they already have calcium (to make up for the bone) in them. Too much calcium causes constipation. You can do bone in mixes and supplement yourself with vitamins. The recipe link I listed has a recipe for both bone in and boneless. My only issue with bone-in mixes, (and the reason I didn't choose a bone in recipe) is that you have to worry about the bone to muscle meat ratio. Like chickens are extra boney compared to other animals, so if you get a whole ground chicken, you needed to add extra boneless meat in there to balance out the bone so it's the correct ratio. I wasn't super comfortable with that, so I went with boneless and add ground eggshell to make up for the bone.

I order boneless pre-ground meat from Hare Today. If you have access to some freezer space, it's actually pretty cost effective. I don't have room in my kitchen for a grinder. For my 2 cats (both eat 4 oz a day) it's $56 per month (or $28 per cat) as long as I order in bulk. Kittens eat more than full grown cats since they're actively growing, so yours would be higher than the $28 per month while she's still a kitten. Chicken, Turkey, and Beef are the most cost effective, but they also have a ton of different meats, plus organs. It's a site specifically for raw feeding pets. It's honestly super easy to make surprisingly. The only thing I really had to do was grind some eggshell (food processor) and also run the liver and heart through a 3 cup food processor. No grinder required.

It was basically throw everything in a giant bowl and mix, then split into portions and freeze. I would recommend a deep freeze or at least a large side by side fridge/freezer. The top 3 shelves of my side by side are cat food right now. lol

If you do a premix, most members rave about EZ Complete, and you can just mix it in ground (or chunked) boneless meat, add water and serve.

LTS3 · Oct 11, 2016

Yes as long as you use the correct pre-mix for the type of meat you have. Some pre-mixes are only for boneless organ less meats. Others are for meat with bone and organs.

Indepedent pet stores often have chubs of raw meat for pet food use. You can look into that and it may be cheaper than buying online and paying for shipping and ice packs and everything. Bravo, Primal, and Blue Ridge are a few brands you can find in stores.

The independent pet store may also be able to special order foods for you. Primal frozen raw is available in 3 lb bags.

terpy said:
So basically I'm currently feeding my kitten (about 4 months old)

I'm not sure how much she weighs since I don't have a scale, but I'd assume somewhere between 5-15 ounces (i'm horrible with judging weights).

A 4 month old kitten should not weigh between 5 and 15 ounces

A 4 week old kitten maybe but not a 4 month old. I hope you mean pounds. although no 4 month old kitten would ever weigh 15 pounds.

terpy · Oct 11, 2016

Paiger8 said:
Most premixes are meant to be added to boneless meat because they already have calcium (to make up for the bone) in them. Too much calcium causes constipation. You can do bone in mixes and supplement yourself with vitamins. The recipe link I listed has a recipe for both bone in and boneless. My only issue with bone-in mixes, (and the reason I didn't choose a bone in recipe) is that you have to worry about the bone to muscle meat ratio. Like chickens are extra boney compared to other animals, so if you get a whole ground chicken, you needed to add extra boneless meat in there to balance out the bone so it's the correct ratio. I wasn't super comfortable with that, so I went with boneless and add ground eggshell to make up for the bone.

I order boneless pre-ground meat from Hare Today. If you have access to some freezer space, it's actually pretty cost effective. I don't have room in my kitchen for a grinder. For my 2 cats (both eat 4 oz a day) it's $56 per month (or $28 per cat) as long as I order in bulk. Kittens eat more than full grown cats since they're actively growing, so yours would be higher than the $28 per month while she's still a kitten. Chicken, Turkey, and Beef are the most cost effective, but they also have a ton of different meats, plus organs. It's a site specifically for raw feeding pets. It's honestly super easy to make surprisingly. The only thing I really had to do was grind some eggshell (food processor) and also run the liver and heart through a 3 cup food processor. No grinder required. It was basically throw everything in a giant bowl and mix, then split into portions and freeze. I would recommend a deep freeze or at least a large side by side fridge/freezer. The top 3 shelves of my side by side are cat food right now. lol

If you do a premix, most members rave about EZ Complete, and you can just mix it in ground (or chunked) boneless meat, add water and serve.

Thank you so much for all the help! I'm going to check out that website and do some cost analysis to figure out what my best option is. $28 a month (or a little more in my case) is definitely not bad and doable. I'll see if EZ Complete has sample sizes and give them a try. Just out of curiosity, have you noticed an uptick in your power bill since getting a deep freezer or whatever you use? I've checked out craigslist in the past for some but am worried it will just end up adding to my monthly costs. My freezer is already pretty full though...so it'd be nice

Also, one last thing, I was reading about giving them probiotics to help with digestion and such, and found what seems to be a good one from people this site (Acidophilus & Bifidus Double Strength, 10 Billion Active Cells), would you recommend trying this?

LTS3 said:
A 4 month old kitten should not weigh between 5 and 15 ounces

A 4 week old kitten maybe but not a 4 month old. I hope you mean pounds. although no 4 month old kitten would ever weigh 15 pounds.

LOL! Yeah, I meant pounds. I'd assume maybe like 5-7 or so is reasonable? I was still half asleep when I typed that up earlier and wasn't able to edit it. 15 is probably a tad bit high lol, like I said, I'm pitiful when it comes to judging weight. I just read that the general rule of thumb is about a pound per month so she's probably just a bit over that. Also, thank you for the help!

msserena · Oct 11, 2016

I fed all my kittens plain raw meat, just a few pieces for each of them & not everyday, not even once a week. I wanted them to get used to chewing it. Once in a while is fine, just don't make it part of a daily routine without supplementation.

Sounds like you're doing fine otherwise!

paiger8 · Oct 13, 2016

terpy said:
Thank you so much for all the help! I'm going to check out that website and do some cost analysis to figure out what my best option is. $28 a month (or a little more in my case) is definitely not bad and doable. I'll see if EZ Complete has sample sizes and give them a try. Just out of curiosity, have you noticed an uptick in your power bill since getting a deep freezer or whatever you use? I've checked out craigslist in the past for some but am worried it will just end up adding to my monthly costs. My freezer is already pretty full though...so it'd be nice

Also, one last thing, I was reading about giving them probiotics to help with digestion and such, and found what seems to be a good one from people this site (Acidophilus & Bifidus Double Strength, 10 Billion Active Cells), would you recommend trying this?

Oops, sorry I am just seeing this.

I don't have a deep freeze. I live alone (and don't keep a ton of food on hand) so I have room in my normal (side by side) freezer for cat food. My freezer is about 1/2 people food, 1/2 cat food. I'm planning on getting a small deep freeze soon though, so I can store cat food in there, and only keep a weeks worth in my normal kitchen freezer at a time.

Probiotics are awesome for cats (and people!) I know raw feeders are always recommended to feed a daily probiotic to cats. I use this one. It has both of those in it, plus Saccharomyces boulardii, which is recommended for cats with digestive issues.

Looking for a little guidance on feeding my cat.

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