which organ meats are good to be added to my kitten's meal?

[cge2809]

Hi everyone!

I guess many people make raw food for their cats.

my cat is only 12weeks, when I rescued her, she was on iams.

Im not feeding her dry at all now, but not raw yet. I want to start with canned food only

and introduce raw food when she gets little order..

I want to add some organ meats to her meal.

I know chicken heart, liver is good, what else can I feed my cat?

I heard beef organs are not really good, is it true?

the reason why I want to add organ meat is because of taurine.

if I add those organ meat to her meal, do I still have to add taurie extra?

( I will probably boil it and serve)

if I have to, how much to feed ?

im also thinking to add bone meal powder.

need some advices from you guys,

thanks!

 

[mschauer]

There is no need to add taurine to a commerical food like Iams. It already has all the taurine she needs.

 

[cprcheetah]

Boiling the organs will deplete a lot of the nutrients in them, they are best served raw.  If your kitten is not on a raw food diet, the organs can be quite rich and can cause an upset to their system (diarrhea).  Organs in raw feeding have to be introduced very slowly.  Taurine is naturally found in hearts as well as dark meats such as chicken thighs etc.  Here is a good link about taurine found in raw food: http://pets.thenest.com/taurine-content-raw-food-cats-11297.html  As mentioned above Iams already has taurine added, so unless your cat has a heart problem you shouldn't need to add extra taurine. 

 

[peaches08]

I'm going to assume that you're asking about organ meats not as a supplement to Iams but as a way to transition to raw? If so, I agree with cprcheetah that organ meats are rich and may be too much too soon. How about trying little snacks once or twice a week of plain raw meat? Not a lot, just cut a few dice-sized pieces of whatever you're going to cook and eat. If she takes to it, we'll help you transition into balanced raw.

 

[ritz]

I agree with the above posters.  And I congratulate you for feeding more canned, less dry.

And, by the way, heart is not considered an organ when feeding raw; it is considered a protein/meat.  There is nothing wrong with beef organs.  Some people feed only what a cat would eat were the cat in the wild; a cat would hunt down a rabbit but probably not a cow.  I personally think it's fine to feed your cat what ever meat/protein she'll eat; Ritz loves quail as much as venison.  I often give her beef kidney as a secreting organ.  Variety helps a cat from getting bored with food.

Also, there is no need to add bone meal if you're feeding canned food.  And if/when you do decide to use bone meal powder in place of bones/egg shells, it is important to know the source of the bone meal. And no need to cook the organs, unless you're doing home-cooked cat food (as opposed to raw/frankenprey).

If you haven't already, I suggest you read  some of the stickies/links in the beginning of the raw & home-cooked cat food forum.  Do be alarmed at all the articles, just start reading the basics, like the article Raw Feeding for Cats.  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/raw-feeding-for-cats and different ways of feeding raw http://www.thecatsite.com/a/raw-feeding-for-cats

 

[burm guy]

In terms of what you can feed your cat, basically there are many organs that you can add that would benefit her - liver, kidney, hearts, pancreas - even brain if you can find it. Mine get beef liver, chicken liver, beef heart, chicken heart. I can't find more exotic stuff where I am at the moment.  As mentioned by the other posters, start her off slowly. Nothing wrong with a kitten eating raw food only (it's great in fact), but you gotta get the amounts of organ vs muscle meat correct. Too much liver, for instance, can supply her with too much of the fat-soluble vitamins. Perhaps work off one of the recipes on the site that includes organs, then make a small amount, and freeze it into tiny portions. Each day introduce a little bit to the kitten