Minerals and vitamins when raw feeding a kitten

[Smarl]

Hi!

So straight to the point: when feeding raw food to a kitten, what is the right way to give them supplements: based on the kitten's actual weight or based on excepted adult weight? There's a two different opinions in my local raw feeding fb-group, so it's interesting to know what people in TCS will think about this.

My kittens (two females around 12 to 14 weeks and a 5 months old male) are eating mostly raw food, with some complementary wet food. They are not too keen on any complete wet food I've served them, but will eat almmot all the raw food in a seconds. One of the kitties doesn't eat kibbles at all, and two other ones might have some if they really are starving (and of course they are literally not starving, but you got the point) so they really need to have some extra vitamins and minerals. I've calculated the amount based on their weight, but now I'm actually unsure should I estimate the adult weight, and go on with that. And just to be clear, they are having raw just as much they want, I'm only unsure if the amount of vitamins etc is correct for them.

Especially those two females are concerning me, since they were pretty malnourished when came to us. They're both around 1.5kg so the weight is fine now, but I'm worried they might lack some nutrients due to their first months nutrition and possible untreated parasitic infection. Thanks for your help!

 

[LTS3]

What kind of raw diet are you feeding? From a recipe (can you share which one)? A commercially available raw diet?

Kittens are always hungry and need a lot of food for growth so it's fine include a complete balanced kitten canned food in the diet if you aren't home all day to provide raw meals. Dry food isn't needed and supposedly feeding both raw and dry food can upset tummies. What country are you in?

My cats have eaten a commercially available raw diet since they were kittens. I did not supplement with canned food or any type of supplement. There are no kitten specific commercial raw diets, at least in the US. Both cats have grown up just fine.

 

[Smarl]

Thanks for answering! I forgot to mention that we're based in Finland.

I'm not sure what is commercial raw food diet? Is it something you can buy from a store, with all the nutrients added? We have something like that, but those foods are quite expensive and there's not a lot of options.

My kittens will eat chicken/pork/beef/game(?) hearts, fillets and minced, liver and fish plus additional multivitamin, zink, omegas and iodine. I don't really go with any recepies or use blender, just cut big pieces a little smaller and easier to chew. They also like complementary canned tuna and chicken.

And I'd love to feed them complete canned food (with all the nutrients), but they are picky and would not eat most of them! That's why the raw diet, with some complementary wet food. I already know the vitamins I need to give them, but the right amount is a bit mysterious. Maybe I'll check a recipe online and calculate amount based on that?

 

[LTS3]

Yes, a commercial raw diet is something you can buy at a pet store like canned and dry cat food. I don't know what brands might be available in Finland / Europe. I know ZooPlus is a popular European pet supply web site. Maybe browse there to see what brands are available? It may only be freeze dried raw since it's easier to ship than frozen raw.

I would follow a reputable raw recipe to be sure the kittens are getting plenty of nutrients. This one is popular: Making Cat Food Most raw recipes are for all ages so there's nothing special you need to add for kittens. You could give a gel supplement like Nutri-cal to the kittens daily for an extra dose of nutrients.

Do you have a calcium source in your recipe? Raw bones or ground eggshell or something?

 

[furmonster mom]

It sounds like you are feeding what we call prey model style (as opposed to ground). I used to feed that style, so I understand how tricky it can be to figure out the proper percentages.

Ground is a bit easier in the respect that you can make a large batch with proper percentages, then dole it out as needed.

The general rule of thumb would be to let kittens eat as much as they want. But with prey model, that’s tricky.

If it were me, I’d probably figure percentages based on their weight + 4oz. You will need to weigh them every so often, as they grow, to keep up. There will come a point, probably at 8-9 months where you will even it out, because that’s about where they hit their young adult weight. Then you can settle the percentages more consistently.

As for the vitamins and mineral supplements, that’s really a personal call based on what you’re feeding. It sounds like you have a pretty good variety going on, maybe play with that a bit more. I feed my furmonsters bone in chicken, pork, beef, lamb, pk/bf kidney, pk/bf heart, pork melt, pork brains, eggs, and whatever else I see at the cultural markets that might serve as treats.