Hello,
For several reasons, I have decided to put my cats on a raw meat diet. I own two adult (4 year old) spayed girls. Until now, they were mostly on kibble, but at least one of them absolutely loves raw meat and always gets a bit when I am cooking for myself.
The problem is, I am on a budget. I'm a PhD student living on a scientific grant, most of which is sadly spent on rent since I need a place big enough for two quite active kitties to run around.
I am considering three options:
1. buying meat from the grocery store and making my own mix - Probably the best solution, but meat here (Germany) is quite pricey. Also probably very messy in my small kitchen and I'm worried I wouldn't formulate the food properly.
2. buying premade BARF from this website: (https://www.zoobedarf-hitzegrad.de/katze/barf/gefluegel/) In German, unfortunately. The prices for the complete raw food are quite reasonable at 5 €/kg for chicken and 6 €/kg for duck. I have read that a cat should be fed roughly 2-4% of its ideal body weight in raw food, which results in about 135 grams per day for a 4.5 kg cat. That would cost me around 40 € per month for both cats, which is reasonable I think. I am however worried about the suitability of the food, since I don't know exactly what is in there!
3. buying a different meats from the same website, without supplements and making the mix myself: This is I think the cheapest option. The company sells all sorts of frozen meat intended for pets, as well as complete supplements (CarniZoo). I thought about buying a mix of minced chicken carcasses, livers, beef mix and minced 1-day-old chicks + the supplements. Does this sound like a good mix? It would be a bit messy, and I would have to thaw the meats, mix and portion them and then refreeze them though.
The website seems to have good reviews and the people there are quite helpful and reply to my questions, but ofc they are a bit biased when I ask them how good their food is
Any suggestions from someone wiser than me? Maybe a fourth option? I'd like a good cost:simplicity:healthiness ratio. Would a diet consisting of supplemented minced chicken carcasses be ok? What about whole day old chicks? The company recommends mice, but those are out of my budget...
Cheers!
For several reasons, I have decided to put my cats on a raw meat diet. I own two adult (4 year old) spayed girls. Until now, they were mostly on kibble, but at least one of them absolutely loves raw meat and always gets a bit when I am cooking for myself.
The problem is, I am on a budget. I'm a PhD student living on a scientific grant, most of which is sadly spent on rent since I need a place big enough for two quite active kitties to run around.
I am considering three options:
1. buying meat from the grocery store and making my own mix - Probably the best solution, but meat here (Germany) is quite pricey. Also probably very messy in my small kitchen and I'm worried I wouldn't formulate the food properly.
2. buying premade BARF from this website: (https://www.zoobedarf-hitzegrad.de/katze/barf/gefluegel/) In German, unfortunately. The prices for the complete raw food are quite reasonable at 5 €/kg for chicken and 6 €/kg for duck. I have read that a cat should be fed roughly 2-4% of its ideal body weight in raw food, which results in about 135 grams per day for a 4.5 kg cat. That would cost me around 40 € per month for both cats, which is reasonable I think. I am however worried about the suitability of the food, since I don't know exactly what is in there!
3. buying a different meats from the same website, without supplements and making the mix myself: This is I think the cheapest option. The company sells all sorts of frozen meat intended for pets, as well as complete supplements (CarniZoo). I thought about buying a mix of minced chicken carcasses, livers, beef mix and minced 1-day-old chicks + the supplements. Does this sound like a good mix? It would be a bit messy, and I would have to thaw the meats, mix and portion them and then refreeze them though.
The website seems to have good reviews and the people there are quite helpful and reply to my questions, but ofc they are a bit biased when I ask them how good their food is
Any suggestions from someone wiser than me? Maybe a fourth option? I'd like a good cost:simplicity:healthiness ratio. Would a diet consisting of supplemented minced chicken carcasses be ok? What about whole day old chicks? The company recommends mice, but those are out of my budget...
Cheers!