OK so I've decided to get my cats transitioned over to raw. I have been doing lots of research here and on other sites and have found a base recipe to use but I'm not sure if the way I modified them is right so I'd like some advice there too please.
First off I have 5 cats. Two older cats that are both showing signs of arthritis as well as being kind of overweight due to reduced activity. The three kittens are about 9 months old and are all very active and are at a healthy weight. I'm currently feeding the old cats half a cup each of dry split into 3 feedings as well as two 3oz cans of fancy feast split between the two twice per day. The kittens have free choice dry which the older cats sneak into as well plus they get fed four times a day and I split 6 cans between the three of them over those 4 feedings. I'm hoping that they'll all love the raw right away but I'm going to try introducing them to raw pieces when I feed them their canned at lunch. Then we'll go from there and let them tell me how quickly they'll accept raw.
The recipes I will be using are based off the recipe found http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers here.
I used chicken, rabbit and duck from hare-today along with tripe with spleen added for more organ meat. Since their grinds aren't at a perfect ratio and have more bone than I'd like I used mschauer's calculator for making the proper ratio and adjusted the amounts to equal the 5.8 pounds of meat, bone, organs called for in the original recipe.
I can write out the recipes if they're needed but I'm curious about the differences in the supplements in the various recipes I have found yet all say they're balanced....how is that possible if they're all so different?
One last question, would it be better to add the supplements when fed based on daily requirements or just follow the recipe?
First off I have 5 cats. Two older cats that are both showing signs of arthritis as well as being kind of overweight due to reduced activity. The three kittens are about 9 months old and are all very active and are at a healthy weight. I'm currently feeding the old cats half a cup each of dry split into 3 feedings as well as two 3oz cans of fancy feast split between the two twice per day. The kittens have free choice dry which the older cats sneak into as well plus they get fed four times a day and I split 6 cans between the three of them over those 4 feedings. I'm hoping that they'll all love the raw right away but I'm going to try introducing them to raw pieces when I feed them their canned at lunch. Then we'll go from there and let them tell me how quickly they'll accept raw.
The recipes I will be using are based off the recipe found http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers here.
I used chicken, rabbit and duck from hare-today along with tripe with spleen added for more organ meat. Since their grinds aren't at a perfect ratio and have more bone than I'd like I used mschauer's calculator for making the proper ratio and adjusted the amounts to equal the 5.8 pounds of meat, bone, organs called for in the original recipe.
I can write out the recipes if they're needed but I'm curious about the differences in the supplements in the various recipes I have found yet all say they're balanced....how is that possible if they're all so different?
One last question, would it be better to add the supplements when fed based on daily requirements or just follow the recipe?