Half raw diet and best store bought foods for a (slightly fussy) cat with sensitive stomach?

[jezzers]

Newbie to the cat site here

, i'm looking for recommendations for kibble and canned food for my 6 (turning 7 this year) year old abyssinian cat.

I've spent the last few weeks researching raw diet for cats, best dry and canned foods etc, and the brands that always come up are the ones that are not very easily accessible for  me, I live in south australia and only really have access to brands like Nutro, Royal canin, hills science diet and the nasty foods like whiskas and friskies. 

Some people have recommended nutro but when i went to the pet store to buy it the ingredients weren't very appealing to me, same goes for royal canin and hill science, they all seemed to have rice and other grains. I do have access to applaws, which i like the ingredients list of and is 50% meat protein as far as i know, but they dont sell them in big bags and it works out to be more expensive than other 'premium' cat kibbles and is just a hassle to go out and buy so often. 

so long ramble aside, she currently eats vip fussy cat grain free beef and kangaroo with sweet potato, and i believe it has 36% meat protein (does not contain by-products or grains, but does contain sweet potato and some fruits that are not necessary but not harmful at the same time), gourmet delight canned food, and raw food, such as beef mince, chicken necks/wings, chicken innards (liver and heart) and also raw eggs once or twice a week, she also gets raw salmon once in a while as a treat. 

i feed her raw food - small handful of beef mince or chicken breast, one chicken neck or wing and either a couple of chicken hearts or a bit of liver in the mornings before i go out to school (7:30 am), and when i come home at night (Around 5:00 pm), she gets either a small can of gourmet delight canned food or 1/4 of a cup of vip fussy cat. 

she does occasionally throw up her kibble or canned food (ate it too fast?

), but never raw. 

as much as i would love to feed her an all raw diet/frankenprey, i'm worried that i won't get the proportions right and won't be able to afford it week to week. 

thanks for reading all of my ramblings, and any suggestions for kibble or canned food is welcome, and any insight to this half-raw diet would also be greatly appreciated. 

 

[peaches08]

If she's doing fine on raw, I'd feed all raw.  At a bare minimum ditch the kibble, period.

it's not that hard to balance a raw diet, especially since your kitty is already eating bone and organs.  Check out the raw forum stickies for help on Frankenprey feeding and menus.

 

[vball91]

Hi and welcome to TCS! I am not really familiar with what's available in Australia, so I am going to tag @tammyp who is an Australian member who also feeds raw.

I think it's fine to feed half raw, but I do agree with Ritz to ditch the kibble if you can. If you're going to feed half raw, you need to ensure that the proportions are correct, so going 100% isn't going to be any different. Cost though is another story. I know meat is expensive there.

 

[raintyger]

I second the recommendation to get rid of the kibble. If you're feeding homemade raw it should be cheaper than a wet food diet.

However, if you are still interested in canned food, Ziwipeak is an excellent brand made in New Zealand.

 

[raintyger]

I know meat is expensive there.

I hadn't considered the pricing of meats outside the U.S., so I defer to vball91 and retract what I said about cost being less than wet food. Sorry, not familiar with Australian economy!

 

[jezzers]

I'll probably try all raw for a few weeks and compare the cost differences, she doesn't eat that much food so it should be do-able 

. 

should i get a supplement of some sort to sprinkle on top? Also, she gets a little less than one teaspoon of organic virgin coconut oil everyday, which i normally have to mix into her canned food, is it okay to mix it in with raw mince?

 I hadn't considered the pricing of meats outside the U.S., so I defer to vball91 and retract what I said about cost being less than wet food. Sorry, not familiar with Australian economy!

raw actually might still cost less than wet, especially if i shop wisely. 

 Hi and welcome to TCS!

thank you! i've been stalking this site for so long, it's about time that i joined 

 
If she's doing fine on raw, I'd feed all raw.  At a bare minimum ditch the kibble, period.

it's not that hard to balance a raw diet, especially since your kitty is already eating bone and organs.  Check out the raw forum stickies for help on Frankenprey feeding and menus.

think i will switch her to raw, fingers crossed it all works out 

, some meats are hard to get your hands on here, like rabbit, is it okay to only feed more common meats like chicken, beef, pork and lamb? She used to be a breeding cat, and her breeder gave her chicken necks regularly for her teeth, so lucky for me, she's taken on nicely to the juicy squishy livers (shudder)

thanks for all the help everyone, i think she's going to be very happy on a raw diet 

 

 

[peaches08]

It is ideal for cats to get a wide variety of meats.  Mine only get a few different kinds of meats due to my finances (I'm a nursing student).  My cats are still healthy and happy, and I'm doing the best I can until my finances are better.  I always say that it could be worse; they could be on one flavor of dry.  They eat mainly chicken, some pork and some Cornish hen.  Turkey is enhanced in my stores, and Gadget inhales beef then vomits.  Rabbit and duck aren't available in my stores (except marinated) and I can't afford lamb.  I'll use beef again soon, right now I haven't had time with all the hairball yacking.  They get water packed canned sardines occasionally and egg yolks regularly.  So my cats aren't bad off or anything.  Thankfully they'll eat just about any meat I put in front of them.

Definitely check out the menus in the raw feeding forum stickies.  I think that's right up your alley!

 

[raintyger]

think i will switch her to raw, fingers crossed it all works out 

, some meats are hard to get your hands on here, like rabbit, is it okay to only feed more common meats like chicken, beef, pork and lamb? She used to be a breeding cat, and her breeder gave her chicken necks regularly for her teeth, so lucky for me, she's taken on nicely to the juicy squishy livers (shudder)

Do you have ethnic markets in Australia? I live and work next to Asian and Mexican markets. Just through the Asian market I can get rabbit, goose, quail, pheasant, and venison. The Mexican mart will make fresh kills (as in slaughtered that day, and if you're there at the right time, slaughtered and packed up for you while you wait) of chicken or pidgeon.

I didn't get too far into raw feeding, so I could be wrong, but I think you want a variety of meats to alleviate food boredom, prevent pickiness, and prevent food allergies from forming. So it shouldn't matter how common the meat is, but that you have enough variety.

 

[jezzers]

 Definitely check out the menus in the raw feeding forum stickies.  I think that's right up your alley!

i've found one that i think i would be able to get the ingredients for 

 thanks for your help!

 
Do you have ethnic markets in Australia? I live and work next to Asian and Mexican markets. Just through the Asian market I can get rabbit, goose, quail, pheasant, and venison. The Mexican mart will make fresh kills (as in slaughtered that day, and if you're there at the right time, slaughtered and packed up for you while you wait) of chicken or pidgeon.

I didn't get too far into raw feeding, so I could be wrong, but I think you want a variety of meats to alleviate food boredom, prevent pickiness, and prevent food allergies from forming. So it shouldn't matter how common the meat is, but that you have enough variety.

hmm, i should be able to get duck, venison and quail from the asian markets, dont think i've ever seen rabbit or pheasant though! i'll just keep all the meats on rotation so she doesn't get picky 

 

[raintyger]

If you have Asian markets, you might want to consider quail eggs. I did some research on them last year and found that compared to a regular egg, it had some advantages:

--Convenient kitty size. No leftovers.

--Higher proportion of yolk to egg white. Yolk contains the nutrients like choline.

--Less prone to salmonella.

PLUS, the most important advantage: They look pretty!!!

 

[peaches08]

PLUS, the most important advantage: They look pretty!!!

LOLOL!

 

[jezzers]

 
If you have Asian markets, you might want to consider quail eggs. I did some research on them last year and found that compared to a regular egg, it had some advantages:

--Convenient kitty size. No leftovers.

--Higher proportion of yolk to egg white. Yolk contains the nutrients like choline.

--Less prone to salmonella.

PLUS, the most important advantage: They look pretty!!! 

oooh yes i will have to look into quail eggs, although i do buy my eggs from a friend who gets them from her pet chickens, the yolks are bright orange 

. i usually have trouble getting Jezebel to eat her eggs - raw or cooked, so i put in a few drops of the juice from a can of tuna in springwater and i've never seen her eat anything so fast! 

 As you get more comfortable and do more research, you'll feel more comfortable incorporating different meats.  Bone or eggshells for calcium, heart for taurine, liver, secreting organs...start with a recipe then ask Frankenprey feeders about stuff you come across.

i only give her chicken necks and wings, scared that anything bigger would hurt her teeth (although i did find that one of her back teeth was chipped, is this anything to worry about?! she has no problem eating and i didnt notice until i did a thorough check), she already eats hearts and livers too 

 what a good girl.