Raw food as an extra

[spacemonkey]

My kittens will be weaning sometime in the near future, and starting on high quality canned food. I'd like to give raw food as an extra, and I've looked at pre-made raw diets, but they are rather expensive. I'm new to all this, so excuse my ignorance () - can I just go to the grocery store and pick up meat for them? What kind and how much?

[kim]

while i do use some premade - keep in mind, that premade for a cat is VERY reasonable because you can get 1 lb of food for 3-4 bucks and have that last over a week. NOT much at all! alternatively, my dog eats 2 lbs a day and thats NOt reasonable.

i buy premade for some meals andi pay under $1/lb.

from the foodstore, things that can be bough:

ribs - pork, beef - my cat gnaws the meat off and loves them!
neck bones - pork and beef again - good gnawing potential.
i also just buy steaks, rump roasts, etc and cut off cubes for the cat occassionally for meaty meals.

(please note, for each of them, eating the bones is unlikely. MUCH too hard and large).

fish - whole fish. fed only occassionally. frankie adores whole fish.

poultry - cornish game hens, turkey, chicken - you name it. necks, wings, breasts, anything is possible. your limits are only what your cat will eat!

i feed some of all of these things - i dont get good lamb from the foodstore (and honestly, only some of my meat comes from there anyway). but the cat normally just eats a tiny bit of whatever the dog has this morning it was bone-in chicken breasts.

[Sol]

Sure you can supplement with regular raw meat. I would however mix some calcium in the meat if you server more than 50 grams a day.
If you find chicken necks, get them. The cats love them!

[22Raiynee22]

What about ground beef? would that be any good?

[kim]

ground meats from the foodstore normally have the highest bacterial loads. however, you can feed itif you feel comfortable (i have) - however, know that if you feed too much, its nowhere near balanced and you need to add calcium/bone meal.

[genEus]

All you will ever need to know:

www.catnutrition.org

You can buy all the supplements online at VitaminShoppe.com if you don't have a good vitamin store close to you.

Don't worry about the cost. Yesterday, in fact, I made a complete cost analysis for the recipe on the site given above, and an 6-oz. portion came out to be about $0.35. This is in comparison with $0.99 that a high-quality canned food like "Natural Balance" costs! And, once you sort out all the supplements and such it shouldn't take more than an hour to make a batch for a couple of weeks and freeze it! Welcome to the world of kitty health, appreciation, and energy!

[kim]

ahhh - but not everyone feeds that recipe or agrees with it but it is MUCh cheaper for me to feed raw to my cat than kibble/canned. the cost is significantlyless than what it costs my dog as well. the larger the animal, the less cost-effective it is

=kim, who is feeding a 100 lb doberman and a 7 lb DH raw.

[genEus]

Originally Posted by kim

ahhh - but not everyone feeds that recipe or agrees with it but it is MUCh cheaper for me to feed raw to my cat than kibble/canned. the cost is significantlyless than what it costs my dog as well. the larger the animal, the less cost-effective it is

=kim, who is feeding a 100 lb doberman and a 7 lb DH raw.

If you do not agree with that recipe, can you please say why?? I am very open minded and if I could get by without buying all the SEVEN supplements or substitute Kelp or Dulse (the hardest to find) with something else, I'd consider that option, so please share!

[Sol]

Originally Posted by genEus

If you do not agree with that recipe, can you please say why?? I am very open minded and if I could get by without buying all the SEVEN supplements or substitute Kelp or Dulse (the hardest to find) with something else, I'd consider that option, so please share!

My thoughts about the recpies at www.catnutrition.org are_

- It's great when it comes to showing what proportions of different meats and organs that can work

- It uses to many supplements though
- It doesn't contain veggies even though a wild cat would eat some veggies indirectly through their prey

It's both good and less good

The only supplemets I give are iodine (often by using salt substitute, but sometimes I use kelp), fish oil (the kind I use is combined with vitamin E though I don't think vitamin E is necessary to supplement with) and calcium lactate (when I don't feed bones). My cats get vitamin B-pills for treats, they've always been given that so I sometimes forget that it's actuarally a supplement.

But the recipe is definately a good start, but things like dulse, gelatine and glandular supplements are, in my opinion, not necessary.

[Bengal Cat]

Originally Posted by Sol

My thoughts about the recpies at www.catnutrition.org are_

- It's great when it comes to showing what proportions of different meats and organs that can work

- It uses to many supplements though
- It doesn't contain veggies even though a wild cat would eat some veggies indirectly through their prey

It's both good and less good

The only supplemets I give are iodine (often by using salt substitute, but sometimes I use kelp), fish oil (the kind I use is combined with vitamin E though I don't think vitamin E is necessary to supplement with) and calcium lactate (when I don't feed bones). My cats get vitamin B-pills for treats, they've always been given that so I sometimes forget that it's actuarally a supplement.

But the recipe is definately a good start, but things like dulse, gelatine and glandular supplements are, in my opinion, not necessary.

Hmmm okay I was just starting to convince myself to dive into raw diet feedings and saw that recipe as a starting point. Is it not good ? Are there better recipes ?? If so why and where can I get them ???