Frankenprey to whole prey?

[junieplus2]

Hello all! I am new to this forum! I just brought home 2 8wk old kittens. I have been feeding them frankenprey model raw. Sawyer (the smaller more dominant boy) has been eating a lot! He will eat chunks and small bones. Sunny (the bigger more submissive boy) eats less, about half the amount of his brother. I have to cut his food up into small chunks and he will not eat bones. I also have to sit with him to make sure he eats something. I feed them seperatley because Sawyer growls and swipes at Sunny.

When should I switch them to whole prey? How should I do it? What would a menu look like? Thank you!

 

[ritz]

There are some threads that discuss feeding whole prey. Out of curosity, why do you want to switch them from frankenprey to whole prey? Not a lot of people feed whole prey--nothing wrong with it, but it tends to be more expensive unless you can raise your own rabbits/quail/chickens than commercial raw or whole prey raw/frankenprey. And some of us (like me!) get queasy thinking about it...
Ritz loved a whole chicken head, but had no idea what to do with a chicken foot.
I'd be tempted to get the cats comfortable eating Frankenprey before trying whole prey. Meanwhile, you could always buy one backage of whole mice/pinkies from (for example), Petco/PetSmart and see what your cat will do with it.
"Cat Person" feeds whole prey. Maybe she'll chime in.

 

[junieplus2]

Thank you! I want to feed whole prey so they have the most acurate natural diet. I was thinking of raising my own mice and rabbits. I have 2 dogs on a raw diet as well. Other than the expense, I think it may be easier to toss a whole feeder to them rather than weighing all the meat and keeping a schedule. Do I still need to give a variety of meat? I will go buy a couple pinkies on Thursday and see if they like it..

 

[goingpostal]

Yes it's still recommended to feed a variety, at least 3-4 different proteins.  My cat won't eat most whole prey but my ferrets love it, adults should be the majority of the diet but some variety is good.  For my ferrets I feed a different prey each day, they get quail, rats, mice, guinea pigs and I just got some whole prey chickens as well, they get frankenprey the rest of the week, another 10+ protein sources rotated through so they get a lot of variety.  I would try at least to do vastly different species ie rabbit, mice, quail, beef.  But ultimately it will depend what your cat will eat, they can be hard to convince sometimes what is best for them!  My kitty eats mice but more than 3-4 in a day and she will toss her cookies and a hairball.  But she can eat 2 a day, everyday, with no problem.  If you are raising rabbits, I find pinks are well accepted. 

 

[junieplus2]

Thank you. So the kittens can eat a pinkie rabbit as one meal and a mouse as the other? What woould a menu look like?q

 

[goingpostal]

Well for example a cat who need 5 oz a day you could do 5-6 adult mice one day, 1-2 medium rats another, a 6-8 week old quail or a couple 3-4 week old ones, if you get into using chickens/rabbits you'd just have to chop into day sized portions, freeze the rest and feed over the following weeks.  Pinkies would be more of a treat but are mostly organ so they can be a good way to get those into a picky cat, I wouldn't feed more than 1-2 a week. 

You don't really have to weigh meals anyways, I don't anymore, just eyeball it, feed less if your cat is fat and more if they are getting lean.  We rotate in and out of proteins depending on what is available.