[Remy2012]

I am beginning the raw food diet for my 5 month old Siberian Forest cat. I use some commercial balanced diet (mostly NV duck bites and stella & chewy's chicken and salmon freeze dried) as well as ground chicken hearts/gizzards/thigh meat, turkey... with the Earth Animal "raw complete" supplement.
I will soon try lamb, beef, venison when the pocketbook allows. I have two questions....

I fed Remy a wild caught in water, no salt sardine last night... he LOVED it. How often can I do this? I fed it as a snack.

Also, how often do I need to feed him a chicken wing to ensure dental health? Or does anyone have another suggestion? Isn't this necessary along with the complete diets to ensure good tooth health?

I guess that was more than two questions... any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
-Ellen

 

[Ritzpg]

Don't know about the sardine, though cats do need it for Omega 3.
Regarding bones, try a smaller bone, like from a cornish hen, rabbit or quail. (If you're near an Amish farmer's market, they sometimes sell rabbit.) Also, some commercial raw brands have a higher content in bone than others--I believe NV or Primal is one. So be careful you don't feed too much bone.

 

[hoofmaiden]

I really caution people against mixing methods. It is much safer, IMO, to feed prey model raw (real bone-in meat, plain meat, organs) than to feed the commercial "raw" diets and then add in real raw food. Ditto canned plus raw. You are unbalancing the diet and it's going to be hard to fix that.

If you simply will not feed real raw entirely but you want to feed SOME real raw, I would make sure that each real raw meal contains EVERYTHING the cat needs--80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ, half of which must be liver. I would choose quail or cornish hen as the bone-in meat, not chicken, which has bones too large for cats. Give 1/4 of a quail, a small chunk of boneless meat, and a small piece of liver.

Sardines are fine but only occasionally. Too much fish can lead to urinary tract problems.

 

[yingying]

I think a sardine once a while as treat is fine, but shouldn't be fed too frequent. Fish is not nutrientally complete for cats and is quite addictive. I guess you don't want Remy to reject other food and only want sardine. And contrary to common thought, cats are not good at picking out every fish bone. So you may want to watch him when he eats fish, in case a fish bone stucks in his throat.

As of dental health, I believe the best way is daily toothbrushing. I've trained my cats with that after they changed their baby teeth, and now the everyday brushing routine takes merely one minute for each cat I still give them chicken wing, but mainly for excercising their jaw and adding bone in their diet. If Remy absolutely reject toothbrushing, then any food that he has to chew and tear (e.g., beef heart, turkey gizzard, big chunk of meat) serves the purpose. I just found chicken wing the best way and easiest to find in grocery store

 

[Remy2012]

Thanks AC for your tips!
Unfortunately about a week or so ago Remy started throwing up all his raw food. so I went with Wysong epigen kibble free fed and Raw foods fed 2 or 3 times a day... foods like Hounds & gatos and addictiion. I think right now this is the way to go. This coming Friday he gets neutered... so I wanted to be on a diet he is eating! I may re-visit raw later on.
Thanks!

 

[Remy2012]

sorry I meant to say canned food 2 or 3 times a day!