want to make the jump from boneless

As I've been researching researching researching AGAIN, I find many places to buy whole carcass ground or bone in ground.

How is someone supposed to know what the CA ratio is if it's not listed on the sellers website? Primal is the only one I found that lists it. Does that mean it's really not that important & I shouldn't be concerned about it?

My goal is to get a few different ground meats & then get chunks to mix in - chicken, turkey, venison.

I can't find chunks for these so I would just get ground with bone/organs - pheasant, goose, duck.

Another thing I want to do is get whole quail, rabbit, cavies & mouse. Since the cats are eating the whole animal, I would assume it doesn't need to be supplemented.

Any help would be much appreciated

CA is important. If it's not listed on a web site, I call the manufacturer, if it's a commercial raw company, and ask for the DMB, dry matter basis for those #'s. If it's from a source like eg Hare Today, they usually have the bone content for many of their meat with bones, many of them high, at least their poultry meats and hence those would need to be diluted, which, btw, is why I ordered whole carcass ground mouse and ground quail, just today actually. The bone % is within reasonable range.

If you do whole prey, no you don't need to supplement. Ground whole carcass, yes, you wld need to add the supplements.

Bravo basics, My Pet Carnivore, rabbits4u, Hare Today all don't list it. They all sell raw meat with bone & no CA, now, isn't that a little worry some? That's the point I don't get, I don't understand why they don't list it if it's that important!

Oh hello! I just put 2 & 2 together & saw your post on FB. I posted in both places because hardly anyone responds in one place & I wanted to know what people thought.

HT only lists meat, bone, organs as far as I can see, that's a whole nother story, I'm not there yet. If I can work past the CA then I can move forward.

Ok so my first step is contacting all these companies. Thanks!

msserena said:

 
Bravo basics, My Pet Carnivore, rabbits4u, Hare Today all don't list it. They all sell raw meat with bone & no CA, now, isn't that a little worry some? That's the point I don't get, I don't understand why they don't list it if it's that important!

Oh hello! I just put 2 & 2 together & saw your post on FB. I posted in both places because hardly anyone responds in one place & I wanted to know what people thought.

HT only lists meat, bone, organs as far as I can see, that's a whole nother story, I'm not there yet. If I can work past the CA then I can move forward.

Ok so my first step is contacting all these companies. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hey there,

Oh what a coincidence.

Actually, Bravo does have the calcium / phos for the basic blends, for e.g., here's the PDF for turkey: 

http://www.bravorawdiet.com/nutritionals/BA_RD_Turkey_Nutritional12_21_14.pdf

So then just to figure out the CA. BB rabbit, by the way, is through the roof - calcium is very high.

Also: (see paragraph, "Calculating the calcium ....")

http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...n-and-how-to-use-them-in-a-raw-fed-cats-diet/

Also, this may be helpful:

I know some here are very concerned about the calcium/phosphorus content, and for cats with renal failure that is certainly very important.

I've decided NOT to be concerned about it.  Cats in the wild eat a variety of prey, none of which come with Ca labels.  In general I think we as a society have become obsessed with food labeling, and I just don't think it's that helpful except in rare instances like the need for taurine supplementation in ground food.

What I am concerned with is balancing bone content to the neighborhood of 10%, to keep my cats' stool looking healthy, and feeding a variety of proteins which I expect will balance out any potential issues.  My rotation includes chicken, turkey, venison, pork, duck, rabbit, goat and occasionally also pheasant or cavies.  The whole animal grinds all have a high bone content, so I "cut" these with added meats, including things like gizzards and hearts, plus liver in about the right proportion.

My cats have eaten this way for three years now and are wonderfully healthy.  That's already a far more extensive feeding trial than anything the AAFCO mandates for commercial cat foods.  Same goes for the raw feeding community experience in general, although it's possible there is a "reporting bias", as in you don't hear about the cats who didn't do well.  I do trust Dr. Lisa Pierson's experience with her own cats though (10+ years), and her cats have the disadvantage of having been fed only three proteins.