Can only eat raw meat, nothing else

I have a 12 year old male cat that started getting the food allergy symptoms diarrhea, scratching, the whole nine yards . Read about this happening and others have suggested a limited cat food diet. Tried them all even the hypoallergenic version which almost killed him, tried all the grain free cat food brands and still the same symptoms. As soon as i put him on an all raw meat diet symptoms cleared up. However this is getting expensive, is there any other solution? Do they make an all meat cat food?

You are feeding a balanced raw diet with meat/bone/organs and possibly some supplements?  Are you buying the pre-ground mixes?

I find that feeding raw is about the same cost as a medium-quality processed cat food diet, but I make their food from scratch and stock up on meat when it's on sale.  The two cats cost less than a dollar a day each with a rotation of chicken, pork and beef.

What are you feeding?

Mix between beef, fish, and pork with the fat cut out. The only supplement i give him is a once a day vitamin i purchased off amazon.

Orange&White said:

 
You are feeding a balanced raw diet with meat/bone/organs and possibly some supplements?  Are you buying the pre-ground mixes?

I find that feeding raw is about the same cost as a medium-quality processed cat food diet, but I make their food from scratch and stock up on meat when it's on sale.  The two cats cost less than a dollar a day each with a rotation of chicken, pork and beef.

What are you feeding?

Click to expand...

Mix between beef, fish, and pork with the fat cut out. The only supplement i give him is a once a day vitamin i purchased off amazon.

There are many brands of commerical raw food for cats that you can buy at pet stores. Maybe not chain pet stores like Petco and Petsmart but at independent pet stores. Rad Cat is a popular brand that is all meat and is a complete  balanced diet.

There are some canned cats foods that are  just meat but they are not complete balanced diets because they lack vitamins and minerals. They are only a treat-type food.

dissturbbed said:

 
Mix between beef, fish, and pork with the fat cut out. The only supplement i give him is a once a day vitamin i purchased off amazon.

Click to expand...

What you are feeding is not a balanced diet for your cat. What is the name of the supplement you are giving? Many are not meant to make a raw diet complete.

A raw diet is great for cats with food allergies and sensitivities but it must be done correctly to avoid nutritional deficiencies which can result in health problems. See these for more info:

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

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

The easiest way to do a raw diet correclty is to use a pre-mix such as EZComplete or Alnutrin or TC Feline. You basically mix boneless raw met of your choice with the pre-mix and some water. The pre-mix contains all of the vitamins and minerals a cat needs.

We need to know what type of vitamin you're using.  From what you have said, it doesn't sound like the cat's diet is balanced.

Here is an example of an inexpensive, balanced homemade raw diet.  The cat needs the right proportion of meat/bone/organs, plus a few inexpensive supplements:

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4.5 pounds (about 2 kg) chicken thighs with bone. Remove about 20 to 25% of the bone from the total amount of meat used. For example, if you use ten thighs, then take out the bone from two of them. This keeps the calcium/phosphorus ratio correct. Remove the skin from half of the thighs. If your cats are chubby you can remove all of the skin before weighing it. Don't remove the fat from the meat. Weigh the meat after you have removed these skin and bone amounts. You should purchase about 5 pounds (about 2.3 kg) to start with.

7 ounces (200 grams) raw chicken liver

14 ounces (400 grams) raw chicken heart. If you can't source chicken heart, then substitute with 4000 mg Taurine. If you do omit raw heart, remember to make up the missing 14 ounces of heart with additional chicken thigh meat.

8 ounces (.24 liter) water. Use bottled spring water, not tap water which can have too many chemicals.

4 raw egg yolks

2000 mg Taurine. This is in addition to the taurine you may have added if you didn't use hearts. Taurine is water soluble so you don't have to worry about your cat getting too much.

4000 mg wild salmon or wild caught small fish oil

200 mg Vitamin B Complex



200 IU Vitamin E

1 ½ teaspoons (8.4 grams) Lite Iodized Salt

4 teaspoons (8 grams) Psyllium Husk Powder (optional)

Source:
Read more at http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers
Follow us on Twitter: @FelineNutrition

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You can cut the meat in large chunks, or grind all the ingredients.  You'll need a grinder for the thigh bones, or you can crush/chop the bones to small pieces with some good kitchen shears or a meat cleaver.  The cat must eat the raw bones, or you will need to substitute a calcium/mineral supplement.

A "from scratch" recipe like this is the least expensive way to feed your cat raw. 

If you find it to be too much trouble, then you should purchase one of the vitamin supplements recommended by LTS3 which you can just mix into boneless meat, but that will be much more expensive.

Thanks for the info, will definitely do some research.