Question for raw feeders

I know some don't agree with raw feeding, but this is for those who do

I've been trying to work raw into my kitties diet for some time now, with not much luck (partly my fault, I've been inconsistant in my efforts). They won't touch the pre-made complete raw diets unless mixed with so much wet food you can hardly tell it's there. Pretty much the only thing they'll eat is REAL meat. They're currently getting a wet food diet, and I'm comfortable with this, but I know I could be doing better for them. Since I'll be feeding them meat, (and it can't be ground up either... they're so fussy!) what's the proper balance of organ/muscle/bone? I want to make sure they're getting everything they need, in proper levels. I went out today and bought beef, chicken organs, and chicken necks, and I'm looking to bag it all in "meal" sizes in the freezer, so I can just defrost and serve

Also, would it be okay to feed one wet meal and one raw meal in a day? I don't know how ready I am to switch them over completley. I know some feed raw and kibble, but you won't find kibble in my house other than for the strays.

OOH! And how do you convince kitties to eat their veggies? lol I know they need SOME carbs in their diet, but mine are difficult little buggers. Anything non-meaty and they walk away. Help? lol

Thanks so much

This is my recipe. This is very calorie rich stuff, so dont be suprised if you kitties eat less than before. I puree the hearts and liver in a regular blender, works just fine. This is not complete, so I had Wysong Call of the Wild as recommended on the label, 1tsp per 3oz of meat. I store the meat in small 4oz plastic containers. I dont add the Wysong stuff into the whole mix. Instead, everytime I feed them I just manualy mix in the proper amount into their food.

Mine were somewhat fussy in the beginning, so I mixed in Kitty Kaviar for the the first 3 weeks. Slowly I mixed in less and less Kitty Kaviar and soon they were eating just fine.

Im think the raw food has been good to my cats. One of them i adoted may 30. He was the runt of the litter, just 1.8lbs at 9 weeks and the poor guy was fixed at just 1lb. Now he is actually bigger than an average kitty his age. He is 6.1 lbs at 5.25 months.

This breaks down to 60% protein, 35% fat and 5% carbs, which also come from the meat. You dont have to add bones, as the wysong product contains enough calcium from various sources.

I would mix in the wet food. First much more wet than raw, and slowly go the other way. Then go to completely raw. Be sure to buy organic meats.


Recipe:

42oz ground chicken thigh (skinless)
8oz chicken liver
8 egg yolks
34oz chicken heart



I spread the ground chicken in a large pan, pour in the heart/lover/egg yolk mix, and manualy mix everything together with my hands.

oh, cats do NOT need any carbs in their diet. Not even some. If I could magicaly take the carbs out of the meat I would. You need to get this myth of out your head as soon as possible. Humans need their veggies, cats do not. They wysong product actually contains plant matter, so they are getting some additional carbs from that. And, you also shouldnt defrost anything. 24 hours before the next days first meal put the amount needed into the fridge from the freezer. When the next day rolls around, place the portion under warm running water for 15-20minutes so it warms up. Do not use microwave.

one more thing, squeeze one omega-3 gel cap into their meals once a day or once every other day.

Thanks catguy! I don't know how well that will work for them, as it seems they turn their noses up at their food if it's ground up. Pate style wet food is fine, but ground up raw they just don't like. I'll probably be able to convince them with LOTS of time and patience.

I'm picking up a bottle of omega 3 tomorrow, I've been wanting to add that to their diet for some time as well, it's just so good for them in general

And don't worry, when I said defrosting, I never meant in the microwave! I wouldn't microwave anything for the kitties! I freeze all of my own meat and put it in the fridge to thaw as I need it... I suppose I should have said thaw instead of defrost! Sorry bout that!

I'm really hoping this will do Buddy some serious good. He's got so many little problems going on, that I just want him to be BETTER! I'm tired of rushing in to the vet every month for another test/treatment that doesn't show/do anything. I'm hoping to fix the problems from the inside out *fingers crossed*

catguy gives good advice. i follow a similair recipe, but i grind whole chicken thighs with bones so i dont need a supp. with calcium like the wysong. cats dont need vegetables and most of them know it, lol the only real concern with a veggie free diet is that kitty may need a little bit of added fiber when transitioning to the raw diet... so i did add certain ground veggies when i first started introducing raw food. i believe that some people use psyllium as a fiber source, but i dont know all of the details of this.
i have been doing organic chicken, but i have some rabbits on order that i plan to grind whole (perfect prey model diet, a whole bunny!) i add a little bit of extra taurine and sometimes a TINY squirt of vitamin E when i serve the food to make up for that which is lost in freezing.

if your kitty will eat RMB's, try chicken ribs. when i cut chicken for my dogs, i always cut out the teeny tiny rack of chicken ribs and give one to each of my raw boys. they love them!

i started with one raw meal a day and the rest canned and went from there.

also, you mentioned that you tried premades with no luck, but have you looked into the Bravo products? they are veggie and suppliment free, just meat bone and organ, and some picky pets eat them when they wont touch other premades.

Wow I learned alot...

Thank you so much avacado I really appreciate the advice.

I was wondering which bones are "safest" for kitties, so I appreciate your reccomendation on chicken ribs. They've had necks and wings, but I didn't know what else is appropriate.

The one premade raw diet I like best (the company is pretty local and small, and I have a lot of faith in them), has both complete mixes and ones without veggies. I havn't tried the ones without veggies, because they didn't come in sample sizes and I didn't want to buy a lot and not be able to use it. (It's not like other food that you can just donate to the shelter...)

I agree they don't need veggies but if your worried give them a pot of wheatgrass to eat if they feel like it.
If your worried about having a balance of oragan meats/bone and muscle meat just buy a whole chicken. Cut up what you can and grind the rest. Use the whole chicken, skin/bones/giblets and all. Nature provides just the right balance. A little capsule of vit E/fish oil will help to preserve the meat too.

so if this is hyjacking...

Do you all tear the meat or cut into similiar shape and size pieces/// My Zoey hates canned an dI am trying to get her to raw from dry...

My other two are up to a raw day a week

well Sharky, most people grind the meat up (and mix everything together). Mine won't touch ground up raw food (but they like wet food... go figure!) So I'm trying to find a way to work everything out in whole meat chunks (the beef I bought is the stewing beef chunks, I'm thinking things around that size would be best for my two, but we'll have to see!)

I grind the bones, mince the liver and heart and chunk cut the muscle meat. You don't have to worry about getting all the pieces the same size the cats don't care if your slighly off *grin*

I use a product that has bones and organs already in it. Then I add it to muscle meat. I either use ground, or I cut it into small, bite-size pieces.

i am just wondering why dont you guys feed it kibbles?

Originally Posted by fwan

i am just wondering why dont you guys feed it kibbles?

Click to expand...

fwan, some people believe that fresh whole foods are better for cats than processed foods like kibble or canned catfood. the raw diet is meant to more closely replicate the natural diet of a cat.

My cats are fat! (perhaps they have poor body images)
The first 4 years they ate dry food. Over the past 1.5yr, I feed them dry/wet. It took me about 4 month to move them over to 100% wet. They are very finicky about their wet food.

Over the past week, I've been switching them from 100% to RAW. Both cats took to the raw immediately and no upset stomaches. The cat which picks at her food is now eating about twice as much. While it's still early to notice any remarkable improvements, they are much more excited about meal time and their poop smell is very weak. They also don't poop as much as well. If you give it time, I belive RAW is the way to go. Yeah, it's a pain processing all the food but it's so rewarding knowing that my cats are finally eating the best I can give them.

osmg

Raw is getting more and more at my house ... now to find a supplement since me and griding bone aint going to happen..I will always have some kibble to much on.. cause I cant feed ten times a day..but the older cat doesnt throw up on canned and raw.. my homemade cooking is going raw...

Any help on livers they love them and well the smell gags me...

Use food grade bone meal instead of bone if you don't want to grind bone. You can get bone meal at healthfood store. Go easy on the liver as it has a lot of vit. A and can cause toxicity. You need some liver though.
Chicken livers have no smell (as far as i can tell) but they are slimy and gross to touch. Get some rubber surgical gloves if you don't like to touch them like me.

Mine won't thouch anything gound or minced either, I just cut the meat bite sized with scissors. If your cats don't like to chew bones, powdered eggshell (without the inner skin) is a good alternative, I think an approximately appropriate amount is 1tsp eggshell powder per 1kg meat. I serve organs like liver, 1 cooked egg per cat and ,unorthodoxly, cooked fish once a week. In addition the cats can supplement fiber by themselves eating oat sprouts.

Thank you maybe I will get chn livers today.... I have been doing one beef liver per week since Zoey likes beef... chn well try...