Raw food diet - Cat

Author
Discussion

dojo

Original Poster:

741 posts

134 months

Sunday 7th December 2014
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So want to move my kitten (7 months old) across to a raw food diet.

Currently he is just on decent pouchs and have been giving him a chicken wing for the past week as a evening snack which he absolutely loves and eats pretty much most of including the bone (except the ball joint) I was going to try and source some chicken, neck, feet & ribs to mix it up a bit for him too

Where do people buy their meat from, do you buy all ready ground with the liver and bone in and what do you add in the way of supplements?

I was looking at websites where you can buy frozen mixes like the one below, has anyone got any experience with this sort of thing?

https://www.kiezebrink.co.uk/category/72-kiezebrin...

Thanks in advance

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Monday 8th December 2014
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Where in the country are you? Places like They Love It do chicken minces etc and there are a few places who will deliver but only to certain areas. We have a local raw food supplier who will do pheasant mince, we get beef chunks from a butcher, they get lamb mince and so on. We also get ox heart and liver which they love.

Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.

paolow

3,208 posts

257 months

Monday 8th December 2014
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Cats CRAP? Did they think that through?

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Monday 8th December 2014
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paolow said:
Cats CRAP? Did they think that through?
Indeed the delicious irony that it isn't raw food that is crap eh? There is a dog group of the same name, also dedicated to raw feeding.

dojo

Original Poster:

741 posts

134 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
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Jasandjules said:
Where in the country are you? Places like They Love It do chicken minces etc and there are a few places who will deliver but only to certain areas. We have a local raw food supplier who will do pheasant mince, we get beef chunks from a butcher, they get lamb mince and so on. We also get ox heart and liver which they love.

Are you on facebook? If so there is a group called Cats Completely Raw and Proud which I think has lists of suppliers.
Thanks, I'll look into it. I'm near Guildford.
I've seen you post on a lot of nutrition
threads.. Do you add supplements into the food you feed your cat/dog??

Hilts

4,383 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
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Why do want to feed to your cat raw food?

Amused2death

2,491 posts

195 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
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Hilts said:
Why do want to feed to your cat raw food?
Cats have yet to master the art of cooking in the wild biggrin

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Tuesday 9th December 2014
quotequote all
Hilts said:
Why do want to feed to your cat raw food?
Because they want the best most natural food for it. Food that is least likely to cause health problems.

OP, no we don't supplement the food, we used to use ACV and Coconut Oil, herbs and bits and bobs, but frankly they seem happier without it. Just normal food (they do get heart and liver at least once a week).

Swervin_Mervin

4,429 posts

237 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
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What do you add for texture? I know that might sound daft, but in the wild they've be crunching down bones and all sorts. Must affect their teeth eating just wet food, no?

jmsgld

1,010 posts

175 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
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Cats have very specific nutritional requirements, far more so than dogs, it's not as simple as saying it's an obligate carnivore lets feed it chicken wings.

Some poor dogs are pronounced vegetarian by their well meaning but incompetent owners and manage to survive. Feed dog food to a cat and you will likely end up with health problems due to nutrient deficiency. Some poor puppies are fed just meat and end up with horrible limb deformities...

A forest cat's diet would be made up of everything from insects and invertebrates to small birds and mammals, all with differing levels of trace minerals etc. A hunting forest cat can adjust it's diet to meet it's requirements, a pet cat must eat what it's given. There is a distinct possibility that you will not get the balance quite right, which could lead to the very same medical problems that you are trying to avoid.

Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.

Feeding a nutritionally correct raw food only diet to a cat is certainly possible but would require a tremendous amount of research and effort to get it completely correct. Zoo's employ people full time to do this, and they mostly get it about right.

The way chicken is processed in this country leads to the majority of it being contaminated by things like Campy and Salmonella, unlikely (though possible) to cause the cat / dog any harm, but what comes out the other end will potentially pose a risk to humans, especially kids so be careful.

On the other hand chicken wings are great at keeping their teeth clean! The easiest thing would be to base the diet on a decent quality commercial food and then add in bits like chicken wings, mice etc.

My 2 cents.









dojo

Original Poster:

741 posts

134 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
quotequote all
jmsgld said:
Cats have very specific nutritional requirements, far more so than dogs, it's not as simple as saying it's an obligate carnivore lets feed it chicken wings.

Are commercial cat foods perfect? No, they are however the result of a great deal of research into the nutritional requirements of pet cats, and try their best to answer both the pet cat's, and the owner's needs.
In the original post I posted a link to a site where you can buy frozen, rabbit, veal, lamb, chicken which is a mixture of organs, bone and meat and was wondering what supplements people added to these types of diets (fish oil, taurine etc) the wings are only as an additional snack.

Surely this has to be better than brand X cat food that contains 4% meat, is full of cereal to bulk it out and has the majority of the protein coming from vegetable extracts?

Absolutely I agree that the chicken in this country has questionable processes but must be better than boxes of cat biscuits sat in warm trucks, warehouses, kitchen cupboards which can only be a haven for bacteria.

Re texture question, I've never seen a cat work as hard and chew as much in meal as when he eats a chicken wing/drum stick, he hardly even chews the biscuits and they're so brittle I doubt they do anything for his teeth.

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Wednesday 10th December 2014
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Just make sure you use good quality chicken for the bones. Intensive farmed chicken has virtually no calcium in it's bones so will not provide enough calcium in the diet even if fed every day.

There are commercial foods out there with much much higher than 4% meat content.

HotJambalaya

2,023 posts

179 months

Friday 12th December 2014
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http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/Cat-Food...

Job done.

I get all my dog food from them. He's healthy, and loves it. We've recommended it to people, and their dogs love it too.

Hilts

4,383 posts

281 months

Friday 12th December 2014
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Jasandjules said:
Hilts said:
Why do want to feed to your cat raw food?
Food that is least likely to cause health problems.
Not sure why I was talking like Yoda in this post. biggrin

So you're saying that 'cat food' is more likely to cause health problems?

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Friday 12th December 2014
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Hilts said:
So you're saying that 'cat food' is more likely to cause health problems?
I am saying that processed c**p is worse for cats and more likely to cause kidney and all sorts of other problems, than raw meat and bones - the things they have eaten for thousands of years, yes.





Hilts

4,383 posts

281 months

Friday 12th December 2014
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Jasandjules said:
Hilts said:
So you're saying that 'cat food' is more likely to cause health problems?
I am saying that processed c**p is worse for cats and more likely to cause kidney and all sorts of other problems, than raw meat and bones - the things they have eaten for thousands of years, yes.
And your/veterinary evidence is?

Empirical or otherwise.

Just for the record I have no stance on this either way and not looking for an argument. My last cat lived to 19 on Purina (processed crap?) dry food. I think this a good age.

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
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Hilts said:
And your/veterinary evidence is?
It depends on which vet. There are those who support raw feeding (ones I would say who are in it for the welfare of the animals) and those who say it is baaaad.. Same as raw meat and bones for dogs.

But I don't need the evidence of any vet to know anything about health - vets don't get as much nutritional training as I've had.... Not to mention simple intelligence would suggest natural food is better than processed food. A bit like if you lived off takeaways, how well would you be, compared to if you have a nice varied diet?

But this here is likely to be unbiased right? http://vna.hillsvet.com/

And if you really want to see, just ask those who raw feed how much more improved their pets are now, coat, teeth, vitality...

dojo

Original Poster:

741 posts

134 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
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HotJambalaya said:
Funny you should mention this, we stumbled across it yesterday. Bought a kilo to see how it goes... Doesnt work out much more than buying it in separate.



Saleen836

11,061 posts

208 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
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Animonda Carny is very good and close to 100% all meat, Mrs Saleen feeds her two on it and they can't get enough!

trails

3,624 posts

148 months

Monday 15th December 2014
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Jasandjules said:
And if you really want to see, just ask those who raw feed how much more improved their pets are now, coat, teeth, vitality...
This smile

Stools are different too; far less toxic in my experience...logical if better quality stuff is going in the front end I guess.