[ronss]

i have gave my cats this-
1. turkey and strip beef, cut up in small pieces
2. chicken hearts
3. chicken liver

i seem to have a problem with the bone part, how to give it to them,,,,i accidently put a fryed chicken leg bone out, thought it was raw, and one of them ate about a 1/4 of it, down to the bone marrow, the large end...

when i put a raw chicken leg out, they will not touch it...

i thought i would give my cats one meal a day of raw, the other 2 with earthborn chicken and wellness chicken and turkey...i have no problem with earthborn chicken,,,its real chicken...but the wellness...you just don,t know how good it is...

 

[LakotaWolf]

Wellness is a fantastic brand, as far as canned foods go. ;p Plus, it's grain-free! It's what I fed my cat before switching over to raw.

I wouldn't start with leg bones for raw-fed diet - try a chicken wing or ribs, or a chicken neck. These are much smaller bones and the cats may feel more confident tackling them.

Personally, I feed my cat commercial ground raw (Feline's Pride) which has the bone meal already ground up in it. She doesn't get the benefits of chowing down on real bones, but I can't switch her over to a "frankenprey" diet yet.

BTW, Earthborn canned food is super LOW in calories, so keep in mind that your cats may not be meeting their daily caloric needs if fed Earthborn.

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners/switchingcats.php - advice for switching cats over to raw

 

[ronss]

wow...didn,t know that about earthborn...but my cats are not loosing weight....my siamese if 14 pds, and still there on earthborn....

yesterday my black bombaly ate all the raw i sat out...didn,t know she could eat that much.....my siamese,,i have to put a bit of earthborn by the raw, and he then will take a chunk of turkey...he is slow switching to raw....i am not going to completely switch,,,was just try to get my cost down

 

[ronss]

IMO most chicken bone is too big for cats. Try quail (Asian groceries often have them very cheap) or Cornish game hen (tiny chickens). 1/2 quail or 1/4 Cornish hen is a meal for a cat. Cut up a bit for newbies to bone.

thanks ,,,will do

the earthborn is $1.69 for 5oz,,,and it seems like my cat wants to eat 3 cans a day...$5 a day,,that is more than i spend on myself ..

 

[Alpaca]

I second the quail. Also the bones are pretty easy to handle for an average 10lb house cat. I pay about $8CDN for 6 of them.

Your cats eats 3 x 5 oz of canned food a day?? My largest cat is roughly 9-10lbs and he eats 2.6oz (a bit more than 1/2 a can) for breakfast. Then 1.7oz raw for dinner and 0.7oz raw for night snack. Then again, it depends on how big your cats are and what their activity level is like.

 

[ronss]

I second the quail. Also the bones are pretty easy to handle for an average 10lb house cat. I pay about $8CDN for 6 of them.

Your cats eats 3 x 5 oz of canned food a day?? My largest cat is roughly 9-10lbs and he eats 2.6oz (a bit more than 1/2 a can) for breakfast. Then 1.7oz raw for dinner and 0.7oz raw for night snack. Then again, it depends on how big your cats are and what their activity level is like.

thats what my bombay female eats a day, but my male siamese, 14lb..is a pig...not sure why, but he will eat 3-5.0z cans a day of earthborn chicken canned....thats about what the directions says for that size..

 

[Alpaca]

Ah the directions always lie. I never go by that. They always say more cuz if your cat eats more, more $$ for them!

If raw, it's usually 2-3% of their body weight. If commercial, then I go by calories. 20-25 calories per pound of body weight. Of course that's a rough guideline to get started. You watch and tweak as you go. It can depend on activity level, metabolism rate etc etc. The best way is to look at them from the top down. They should have a small waist/indentation.

Bear in mind, any sudden changes like reducing food should be done slowly and gradually.