question for raw feeders RE: meat types

i know that there are a few raw feeders here, and i was hoping for some advice. i have one cat who is not at all fond of raw chicken. when i was feeding a premade raw she would happily eat beef flavor but she would snub the chicken (kitties! ) i have been making my own catfood out of chicken and two of my cats are happily eating it, but my chicken hater is still snubbing. the thing is, most of the recipes that i have come across are chicken based... i have found a few involving rabbit and i have some bunnies on order, but i want to have a backup plan in case she does not like the bunnies, either. i feed my dogs raw and i have access to all different kinds of meat... my dogs eat chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb, goat. does anyone know of, or has anyone fed, a non-chicken based homemade raw diet to their cat? if so, would you care to share your recipe? thanks!

Mix some different flavorings in with the chicken. Chicken is used as the basis of most raw foods because it is relatively cheap compared to things like beef and lamb. You can feed your cats almost any kind of meat without a problem. Beef will not hurt them, nor will lamb or goat or ostrich

Before giving up on the chicken, though, try this. Get some canned mackerel and mix the water from the can in with the chicken. The mackerel can go to your dogs or your other cats. That might get your picky cat going on the chicken...then just reduce the amount of 'flavoring' you add until they're eating nothing but the chicken. You don't even have to reduce the flavor if you don't want. Dissolved beef boullion cubes work well too.

I would be really careful with a raw food diet and here is why-

http://www.thecatsite.com/Cats/Cat_H...almonella.html

Originally Posted by Ravyn

Mix some different flavorings in with the chicken. Chicken is used as the basis of most raw foods because it is relatively cheap compared to things like beef and lamb. You can feed your cats almost any kind of meat without a problem. Beef will not hurt them, nor will lamb or goat or ostrich

Before giving up on the chicken, though, try this. Get some canned mackerel and mix the water from the can in with the chicken. The mackerel can go to your dogs or your other cats. That might get your picky cat going on the chicken...then just reduce the amount of 'flavoring' you add until they're eating nothing but the chicken. You don't even have to reduce the flavor if you don't want. Dissolved beef boullion cubes work well too.

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thanks for the tips. i am still working on getting her to eat the chicken, and i have tried squeezing a fishoil cap over the food with no luck. i did get her to try some of the raw food by putting a few tiny bites on top of a pile of her favorite canned. tuesday is mackerel day for the dogs at my house, i'll try some of the juice from the mackerel then. chicken is cheap in the stores, but since i buy my meat in bulk for the dogs other meats are not any more expensive for me... maybe i'll try to duplicate my current recipe using lean lamb or emu.

Originally Posted by hissy

I would be really careful with a raw food diet and here is why-

http://www.thecatsite.com/Cats/Cat_H...almonella.html

Click to expand...

hissy, thank you but i dont mean for this thread to be a raw debate. i have been feeding my dogs raw successfully for a long time now, and the cats on a premade raw as well. my vet is also aware of this and fully supports me. i feed only properly stored organic meats and i take all necessary precautions. are you aware that salmonella can also be found in commercial dry catfoods? i agree that an improperly prepared raw diet can be dangerous, but please, i am not trying to argue the benefits or risks of a raw diet...if i was i would have started a thread about such. i believe that the risks of feeding raw are far outweighed by th benefits of feeding a species appropriate diet. i tried to make it clear in my first post that i am not a novice to raw feeding but it is possible that i did not make myself clear enough. i would like to hear answers to my actual question but i appreciate your concern.

I don't like feeding beef because a cat does not normally catch and consume a cow in the wild. I can't comment on other types of meat though because I feed chicken thighs mostly. I notice my cats like it a lot better if I squeeze a couple of fish oil capsules into the recipies. Also the adult cats would not touch it at first I had to trick them by mixing it in with thier canned and then slowly decreasing the canned untill there was only ckicken meat.

You can try to mix it with a very little raw egg yolk, my raw diet recipe includes raw egg yolk and he loves it, worth a try.

I use a powdered product that you mix with the raw meat that has everything in it already. I usually use ground turkey, and chicken breast cut into bit-size pieces, but sometimes I order "specialty" meats like duck and ostrich online since I can't get them around here.

Here is what I use: http://www.felineinstincts.com/
It also has ground bone in there but you can get it w/o it if you feed whole carcasses.

Here are some raw food resources for anyone with questions.
http://cats.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/rawfooddiet.htm
http://www.catnutrition.org/MainLettertoVets.htm
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/bybrawdiets.htm

thanks for all the replies! bengalbabe, i am working on the gradual thing, and i have already succeded with one of my hesitant cats. i feel like i am hitting a brick wall with this chicken thing, though. my recipe includes fish oil as well. also egg yolk like hunter mentioned.

purr, i checked out the supp. you give and i think that most of the things in it i add seperately... is there something about this blend that makes it more palatable to a cat? thanks for the links, will check them out right now.

No, I don't think so. The liver powder can be sprinkled on top to get cats to try raw food though.

Just want to share the recipe i use for my cat, i only use rabbit with bones i order from raw food company, he loves it.
http://www.catfood.catnutrition.org/CatFoodRecipe.pdf