Raw food diet - Cat
Discussion
So want to move my kitten (7 months old) across to a raw food diet.
Currently he is just on decent pouchs and have been giving him a chicken wing for the past week as a evening snack which he absolutely loves and eats pretty much most of including the bone (except the ball joint) I was going to try and source some chicken, neck, feet & ribs to mix it up a bit for him too
Where do people buy their meat from, do you buy all ready ground with the liver and bone in and what do you add in the way of supplements?
I was looking at websites where you can buy frozen mixes like the one below, has anyone got any experience with this sort of thing?
https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/category/72-kiezebrin...
Thanks in advance
Currently he is just on decent pouchs and have been giving him a chicken wing for the past week as a evening snack which he absolutely loves and eats pretty much most of including the bone (except the ball joint) I was going to try and source some chicken, neck, feet & ribs to mix it up a bit for him too
Where do people buy their meat from, do you buy all ready ground with the liver and bone in and what do you add in the way of supplements?
I was looking at websites where you can buy frozen mixes like the one below, has anyone got any experience with this sort of thing?
https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/category/72-kiezebrin...
Thanks in advance
Where in the country are you? Places like They Love It do chicken minces etc and there are a few places who will deliver but only to certain areas. We have a local raw food supplier who will do pheasant mince, we get beef chunks from a butcher, they get lamb mince and so on. We also get ox heart and liver which they love.
Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.
Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.
Jasandjules said:
Where in the country are you? Places like They Love It do chicken minces etc and there are a few places who will deliver but only to certain areas. We have a local raw food supplier who will do pheasant mince, we get beef chunks from a butcher, they get lamb mince and so on. We also get ox heart and liver which they love.
Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.
Thanks, I'll look into it. I'm near Guildford. Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.
I've seen you post on a lot of nutrition
threads.. Do you add supplements into the food you feed your cat/dog??
Hilts said:
Why do want to feed to your cat raw food?
Because they want the best most natural food for it. Food that is least likely to cause health problems.OP, no we don't supplement the food, we used to use ACV and Coconut Oil, herbs and bits and bobs, but frankly they seem happier without it. Just normal food (they do get heart and liver at least once a week).
Cats have very specific nutritional requirements, far more so than dogs, it's not as simple as saying it's an obligate carnivore lets feed it chicken wings.
Some poor dogs are pronounced vegetarian by their well meaning but incompetent owners and manage to survive. Feed dog food to a cat and you will likely end up with health problems due to nutrient deficiency. Some poor puppies are fed just meat and end up with horrible limb deformities...
A forest cat's diet would be made up of everything from insects and invertebrates to small birds and mammals, all with differing levels of trace minerals etc. A hunting forest cat can adjust it's diet to meet it's requirements, a pet cat must eat what it's given. There is a distinct possibility that you will not get the balance quite right, which could lead to the very same medical problems that you are trying to avoid.
Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.
Feeding a nutritionally correct raw food only diet to a cat is certainly possible but would require a tremendous amount of research and effort to get it completely correct. Zoo's employ people full time to do this, and they mostly get it about right.
The way chicken is processed in this country leads to the majority of it being contaminated by things like Campy and Salmonella, unlikely (though possible) to cause the cat / dog any harm, but what comes out the other end will potentially pose a risk to humans, especially kids so be careful.
On the other hand chicken wings are great at keeping their teeth clean! The easiest thing would be to base the diet on a decent quality commercial food and then add in bits like chicken wings, mice etc.
My 2 cents.
Some poor dogs are pronounced vegetarian by their well meaning but incompetent owners and manage to survive. Feed dog food to a cat and you will likely end up with health problems due to nutrient deficiency. Some poor puppies are fed just meat and end up with horrible limb deformities...
A forest cat's diet would be made up of everything from insects and invertebrates to small birds and mammals, all with differing levels of trace minerals etc. A hunting forest cat can adjust it's diet to meet it's requirements, a pet cat must eat what it's given. There is a distinct possibility that you will not get the balance quite right, which could lead to the very same medical problems that you are trying to avoid.
Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.
Feeding a nutritionally correct raw food only diet to a cat is certainly possible but would require a tremendous amount of research and effort to get it completely correct. Zoo's employ people full time to do this, and they mostly get it about right.
The way chicken is processed in this country leads to the majority of it being contaminated by things like Campy and Salmonella, unlikely (though possible) to cause the cat / dog any harm, but what comes out the other end will potentially pose a risk to humans, especially kids so be careful.
On the other hand chicken wings are great at keeping their teeth clean! The easiest thing would be to base the diet on a decent quality commercial food and then add in bits like chicken wings, mice etc.
My 2 cents.
jmsgld said:
Cats have very specific nutritional requirements, far more so than dogs, it's not as simple as saying it's an obligate carnivore lets feed it chicken wings.
Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.
In the original post I posted a link to a site where you can buy frozen, rabbit, veal, lamb, chicken which is a mixture of organs, bone and meat and was wondering what supplements people added to these types of diets (fish oil, taurine etc) the wings are only as an additional snack. Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.
Surely this has to be better than brand X cat food that contains 4% meat, is full of cereal to bulk it out and has the majority of the protein coming from vegetable extracts?
Absolutely I agree that the chicken in this country has questionable processes but must be better than boxes of cat biscuits sat in warm trucks, warehouses, kitchen cupboards which can only be a haven for bacteria.
Re texture question, I've never seen a cat work as hard and chew as much in meal as when he eats a chicken wing/drum stick, he hardly even chews the biscuits and they're so brittle I doubt they do anything for his teeth.
http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/Cat-Food...
Job done.
I get all my dog food from them. He's healthy, and loves it. We've recommended it to people, and their dogs love it too.
Jasandjules said:
Hilts said:
So you're saying that 'cat food' is more likely to cause health problems?
I am saying that processed c**p is worse for cats and more likely to cause kidney and all sorts of other problems, than raw meat and bones - the things they have eaten for thousands of years, yes.Empirical or otherwise.
Just for the record I have no stance on this either way and not looking for an argument. My last cat lived to 19 on Purina (processed crap?) dry food. I think this a good age.
Hilts said:
And your/veterinary evidence is?
It depends on which vet. There are those who support raw feeding (ones I would say who are in it for the welfare of the animals) and those who say it is baaaad.. Same as raw meat and bones for dogs. But I don't need the evidence of any vet to know anything about health - vets don't get as much nutritional training as I've had.... Not to mention simple intelligence would suggest natural food is better than processed food. A bit like if you lived off takeaways, how well would you be, compared to if you have a nice varied diet?
But this here is likely to be unbiased right? http://vna.hillsvet.com/
And if you really want to see, just ask those who raw feed how much more improved their pets are now, coat, teeth, vitality...
HotJambalaya said:
Funny you should mention this, we stumbled across it yesterday. Bought a kilo to see how it goes... Doesnt work out much more than buying it in separate. Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff