Reading this will answer a lot of your questions.

http://www.catforum.com/forum/38-he...m/38-health-nutrition/75458-info-links-why-canned-better-than-all-dry-diet.html

Specific questions about raw should be posted in the Raw Food Diet section.

 

Your kitten should easily take to the canned food, the adult may not quite so easily. If she eats the wet well when you give it to her as a treat then it won't be a problem. Some kibble eaters turn up their noses at wet or just pick at it a little. With cats you can't take the attitude of they will eat it when they get hungry enough. They won't and they can get very sick from not eating.

As far as chunky style with the higher end foods I know Wellness makes some now. Tiki cat has some that are chicken only instead of the fish ones and I think they are chunky style.

I don't know much about raw. I am going to try a cooked meat diet as soon as I get the premix. I know the raw feeders say that cats can handle the pathogens in raw meat but some of those bugs aren't in freshly killed prey. I got a mix for raw and am just going to used cooked meat instead.

 

Patchesmaid, if the mix is designed to be used with raw meat it won't be a complete diet with cooked meat. There are recipes out there for cooked diets, try talking to a holistic vet. The raw mix is not going to be useful with cooked meat.

Op, I haven't fed a kibble diet in 5 years and my four are happy and healthy. Personally I feed raw and am a big fan of it, I'll never feed my four anything else. For more info on raw check out the raw subforum as Marie suggested.

There are plenty if members here who feed all canned, or mostly canned and some raw. I'm less help with that, but step one is to see if your cars will eat wet food and go from there

 

Patchesmaid, if the mix is designed to be used with raw meat it won't be a complete diet with cooked meat. There are recipes out there for cooked diets, try talking to a holistic vet. The raw mix is not going to be useful with cooked meat.

What I am doing has been approved by a vet. It's something that I have been working out for well over a month.

 

Take a look at this Canned Cat food Spreadsheets - a set on Flickr, which someone here had posted. Fussie cat had just recently came up with a range of chicken based 3oz canned and they are all shredded chicken,not pate.

I don't feed raw, mostly canned + 2tbs of kibbles for supper. I need to keep kibbles for times when I have to be away and I don't like leaving wet out for too long when I'm not home, cos I know ET won't eat w/o any prompting. I don't do raw cos he is FIV+, I just don't feel comfortable feeding an immuno compromised kitty raw. I keep up with mostly canned with 6 different brands, 8 varieties, 2 homecooked meals every 10days and I am happy and comfortable with that knowing kitty is well hydrated.

I am no longer that worried about what I am feeding him like I used to initially. I have realised there are no perfect food, not even in human food, let alone pet food, so I don't wanna get unduly worried about food anymore. A little bit of the bad with more of the so-called good food, can't do much harm. I keep to different brands from different manufacturer cos different brands have different formula and just to lessen the harm if any of the formula has problem.

 

i'm not going to argue with your vet or you, but cooking meat denatures protein to some extent and destroys vitamins even more so, depending on how long it's cooked. the reason I know this is because I've been making my own cat food for over a year and I talked to a cat nutritionist (referred to me by my vet) and read several books before I started. early on I saw pre-mixes and decided that it was better (and less expensive) to buy my own supplements individually.

it's fine to feed cooked food, that's what canned food is, as long as you get the balance of taurine and other vitamins correct. a pre-mix made for raw meat would not contain taurine because that exists in raw meat ONLY. it does not in cooked. if it's in the pre-mix, i'd be very surprised.

the pre-mix may or may not contain bone meal, vitamins A, B, D, and E, and omega-3 fatty acids.

 

Do you feel there is a significant difference in a high quality canned food and a raw diet?

Yes, very much so.

Are there any high quality canned food that come in a chunky style instead of a pate?

The ziwipeaks canned cat food.

What are some pros and cons to both canned and raw diets?

Pro Raw:
-the most efficient and nutritious way to get food into a cat
-poops have no smell
-fur is softer and more luxurious
-no fleas ever
-no heart worm ever (my dogs are on raw and have not needed flea meds or heart worm meds since. Heart worm free in central texas without a need for preventative is miracle)
-No need for dentals if feeding whole bones
-mentally stimulating
-cheaper than canned
-you control what your cat eats instead of leaving it up to some company.
-no risk of biased information like in the pet food industry because there is no money on the line. Every company out there is like, "feed our food! it is the best!" But in raw chicken is chicken, beef is beef, and pork is pork. No gimmicks, no lies.


Con Raw:
-finding the meats
-defrosting
-discussing raw diets with vets can be a real pain

Canned Pro
-easy to serve

Canned Cons
-highly processed
-no control over what goes in it
-no dental benefits
-stinky poops
-will always have carbs

Notice under raw cons I did not put risk of bacteria. The reason I put this is because their is risk with canned and dry food too. So many pets have died in the past few years because of commercial foods, that I simply do not trust them.

Do the premade raw diets have all the vitamins added in that they should or would I still have to add supplements? Specifically Natures Variety and Primal(I can get these the easiest)?

The premades you mentioned are complete, however they lack many of the benefits that real raw has. Primal also has WAY to much vegetation for my liking. Cats are obligate carnivores and should only get their nutrition from meat.

What are some tips for someone that has never fed Raw or even Canned as a primary food?

I am not sure if you really need tips for canned except to start slow as many cats can be picky. Go at their pace.

For raw, start with less rich meats first like chicken and turkey, and later go onto beef. If doing home prepared raw, start with small pieces like the end of a chicken wing or even cornish game hen.

What are the best ways to transition a cat that has only had dry to a wet or raw diet?

Start with just putting the canned or raw next to their dinner. They will start to see that it is food, and eventually try it. I know someone who did this EVERY day for over a month before the cat realized it loved raw.

Are a canned or raw diet sufficient? Is possible or practical to feed no dry at all?

They are more than sufficient. I don't think it is good to feed dry at all. Dry food has no business being fed to cats, all it does it take moisture away. I would rather feed wet friskies than dry wellness, if that puts it into perspective. My three month old kitten eats only raw, no dry food left out to keep him full. I just feed him more often. Literally 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ is all they need.

What is the best way to do rotation feeding? Because I really would like them to still have some dry.

You can rotate without doing dry. Without dry they aren't missing anything, it really is not good for them. Since I feed prey model raw I sort of have to "rotate" since you can't just feed a cat plain chicken or beef. They need to have a variety of meats to get all the nutrients. This week my cat has had beef, pork, chicken, quail, and fish. That is his rotation lol.

 

Okay, enough with the raw talk/arguments. Stick to dry food and wet food in this thread please.

 

Sorry? OP was the one asking about raw.

 

That's right, sparky, and if you scroll up, you'll see that she was asked to post those questions in the raw section.

 

I apologize, I didn't see that comment. I definitely would have stopped. No need to call me "sparky" though. That seemed a bit rude

 

Sorry, makes me a little crazy when people post on threads without reading all the other posts.

 

OP, regardless of what you decide I'd suggest doing a lot of your own reading. I'm sure you can tell there ate many varying opinions on nutrition here, and the best thing to do is educate yourself so you can decide what risks you are or aren't willing to take and what makes sense for you and your cats.