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Nutritional need beside raw meat diet?

5K views 24 replies 6 participants last post by  DeafDogs&Cat 
#1 ·
I like switched my cat to raw diet after encountering advocacy from several medical sources .

She feel happier and had sharper fangs to me. Do cats need anything else?

Anyone else feed raw diet?
 
#2 ·
how to get cat to eat healthy supplements?

I like got from some vet sources that stuff such as mushroom, pumpkins and so on were good for cat. But the problem is how do you get them to get them. My cat have only been receptive to raw meat and some biting on bones.
 
#4 ·
raw chicken and chicken bones. i found the bones cracked open somewhat so i take it she been biting them, but this hasn't been consistent though perhaps. some days the bones outside the bowl and other days inside.

i can't really tell whether she bit the bones or not if they inside. but i been leaving a few bones with her anyways like 2-3 days a week . but she hasn't really eaten the bones so far i think. are cats suppose to eat the bones or just biting's good enough?

what to make of this?
 
#5 ·
Ok, what you are doing isn't a raw food diet.

It sounds like your kitty is chomping down chunks of meat like a pro, so with a few crucial changes you'll be on the right path.

I feed what's called a franken-prey model; you could also do prey-model raw. There are challenges to both options.

Franken-prey follows these general guidelines:
80% meat - muscle meats like we would eat, but also includes heart, and tongue. preferably in chunks and not ground.
10% edible bone - if she's trying to chew the bone you're half-way there on this one. You just need to feed bones that are appropriate to her size. Chicken ribs, necks, and wings, pork riblets, quail, cornish game hen bones, ect. The size of the bones you're offering needs to come down far enough that she can safely chew them.
5% liver - this is extremely important. The actual amount ends up being one chicken liver, or so per week, but it's crucial!
5% other organ - kidney, liver, pancreas, ect. An organ that secrets.

The other big change you need to make is to feed her animals other than chicken. A large part of feeding a complete raw food diet is feeding a wide variety of meats. In one month my guys might have: chicken, duck, turkey, pork, beef, moose, elk, fish, alpaca, llama, rabbit, and more. You NEED that sort of variety in order for your cat to get the vitamins and nutrients she needs.

Do some reading around on this sub forum, and you'll get a much better idea of what you need to feed in order for a raw diet to be complete. It feels overwhelming at first, we've all been there, but it is worth it.

No veggies are needed, btw. It just isn't important for cats.
 
#7 ·
The way I see it there are a few choices (regardless of where you live...although it is 'worse' as far as prevalence of GMOs if you're in the US):

-Feed 'normal' cat food, which you can be darn sure is not only NOT GMO free, but was in fact made with the cheapest possible ingredients. Even if you feed a good brand, they'll still be in there.

-Feed raw meat, which is at least species appropriate, and make peace with the fact that you, and your pets, are stuck with GMOs.

-Go 'whole hog', so to speak, and hunt (or raise without GMO exposure, which is far from easy no matter where you live) all the meat that you feed to yourself, your family, and your pets.

If I win the lottery I'll move out to the middle of no where, and set up a nice little self-sufficient, as GMO-free as possible, farm. Until then...I'll do the best I can with what I've been given. In this case that means feeding an all raw diet and understanding that both I and my pets can't completely escape GMOs with the way the world is right now.

...and work for change. *shrugs*

That being said, if you have the resources to by whole organic (including guts, head, ect) meat for your cat GO FOR IT! I'd do it if I could.
 
#8 · (Edited)
actually i been able to source organic chicken and surprisingly it's not really expensive for this product anyways. but yea some organic like 2x price of regular. :razz: and yea, a lot of grocers don't even offer organic meat so i get your point there.

i still have one or two more places to check so...

:cat
 
#11 ·
Organic meat is safer, but not if that's all you're feeding.

A good comparison would be you eating only organic carrots. Sure, its healthy and better for you than non-organic carrots....but its not a nutritionally complete diet and eventually you'll turn orange.

You NEED to feed more than one protein. It's simply not an option to feed only one thing, it will result in health issues for sure - as compared to health issues maybe waaaay in the future from GMO animals.
 
#15 ·
Mine likes fish, however it's not good for them for more than the occasional treat. Make sure the fish is frozen for a couple of weeks if feeding raw, to get rid of parasites. My cat gets chicken, turkey, rabbit, duck and venison, however he only gets raw about half the time, he gets canned too.
 
#16 ·
When feeding a raw diet, you MUST feed at least three food sources, fish not being one of them. By feeding different types of animals, your cat gets different levels of nutrients and vitamins from each animal. Feeding only one animal protein can lead to deficiencies in health. An allergy could also develop.

I would try some plain chicken warmed up in a plastic baggie placed in warm water. Never microwave.

Organic meat is better than non organic meat, but if you are worried about having to feed non organic meat, don't, because they probably aren't doing organic meat in commercial food.
 
#17 ·
hmm.. ok. nice ideas, i keep them in mind. i should note that can and plastic each have their issues so people have to decide what they comfortable and not comfortable with...

and by the way, why against microwave, you don't use it for yourself either??

now i see why people said this can get expensive.:razz:
 
#19 ·
This is a VERY Good Point!
People who have grown up with 'Micros'
probably don't even give it a thought! :D
 
#21 ·
As' Lilasmom' said, Its about the bones cooking as well, cooked bones become brittle, and brittle bones and kitties aren't a good match...bones can break and get stuck in their mouths, throat or anywhere lower in digestive tract...
 
#24 · (Edited)
actually i encountered a new problem. my cat been eating raw meat for a sometime now and been receptive. then recently, she started not eating raw. so i was forced to revert to dry kibbles for fear of health problem associated with not eating.

i want to hear about other people's experiences going from kibble to raw meat. even though my cat accepted raw before. she was never as enticed to that as kibbles.

kibbles always sent her running. with raw meat, it was like, "hmmm.. it's ok" :-|

and i noticed kibble had this unqiue smell and an allure attached to it. is there something i can do to raw meat that create a similar appeal to encourage kitty to like it more.


as human i like food with flavor and spiced. i know human and cats are different species. but is there something that can be tried to flavor up the meat to making it tastier to cat?

open to ideas about this matter.
 
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