Mixing raw and dry food

[amandamariec]

Hello all!

I have a question hopefully someone can help me with, since the info on the internet is contradictory.

Does anyone feed their cat any high protein dry food and also give them raw food?

I used to feed my cat what I thought was good cat food (mostly Wellness brand products), but I now think they have far too much carbs.

So, I switched my cat to raw and timed feeding. This was after him being able to munch on bowl of dry food throughout the day for the past 6 years. It's been 6 months of just raw and he just will not stop freaking out about wanting food. I haven't had a good night sleep in ages because of it.

I love him so much and he deserves the best but I'm trying to get pregnant and need to think about my health too. Bad sleep isn't an option anymore.

I was looking into high protein dry foods and came across a brand called Young Again that looks good. Their website says that you should free feed your cat, which does make sense to me, especially for domesticated cats that don't go outside (we live in a city) and can't hunt. It's like my cat is so stressed out thinking he's never going to eat again.

Anyway, the internet seems to tell me not to mix raw food and dry food. Would it really be that bad if I left out Young Again dry food and gave my cat a little bit of Rad Cat at night?

Any advice at all would be SO appreciated!

Also, if anyone has any experience with Young Again dry food and has any insight into that food, that'd be great! The website makes A LOT of claims.

 

[amandamariec]

Sorry, all! Didn't mean to post this twice!

 

[Columbine]

:hi: Sorry you haven't had a reply sooner - sometimes threads do get missed as we're such an active community!

Free feeding really isn't ideal, especially if kibble is the primary food source. Even the best kibbles are starchier than wet or raw food, and this can lead a cat to overeat. Simply put, cats are obligate carnivores, and kibble just isn't as satisfying for them so they are more likely to overeat. Additionally, all kibbles - especially the high protein/grain free ones - are very calorie dense, making weight gain likely. This doesn't even address the fact that cats, being desert creatures, have evolved to get around 80% of their fluid intake from their food. This has resulted in them having a very low thirst drive and, left to their own devices, simply won't drink enough to compensate for the dryness of kibble.

I'm not say kibble is evil or bad per say - just that it really isn't ideal for it to be the primary food source.

How many times a day are you feeding him currently? And what time is his last feed at night and his first feed in the morning? Feeding him just before bed can really help give you a good night's sleep, especially if you give him a simulated hunt with interactive play first.

Imo, you'd do better to feed timed meals in the day - at LEAST two, but more is often easier for a free fed cat to adjust to , especially at first. Think 'mouse sized meals'. Timed feeders can be a wonderful tool if you're out at work all day. For overnight, you could leave a little kibble out if it's really necessary, but it's not great to feed kibble and raw close together. Have you considered leaving a little (dry) freeze dried raw out for snacking on overnight? Many raw feeders do this in preference to using kibble [article="31129"][/article][article="31138"][/article][article="30756"][/article][article="0"][/article][article="32656"][/article][article="32827"][/article][article="33461"][/article]