Hi

I have been looking at the Food-4-Cats website as I am considering feeding my kittens a raw meat diet. I am not sure if I have worked the costings out right but reading it up on a Feline Nutrition webiste that was posted as a link on here it states that most cats will need 140g of meat per day. The cost of 1kg of raw chicken mince from Food-4-Cats is £1.10 so I have worked it out that I will need 2kg per week which is only going to cost £2.20 per week for the two cats. Obviously they won't eat this much to start but I am trying to work out the true cost once they are fully grown. The delivery charge is a bit steep at £6 but was thinking of ordering two weeks worth which means it will cost £5.20 per week for the food plus delivery. The cost of decent wet food pouches is around £5.00 so if I have worked my sums out right I will definately be trying the raw diet. What I would now like to find out is if the company is reliable so would be grateful for any feedback.

Thanks
Sharon
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RIP Ted and Dusty. Miss you!!

Sharon

I have not used this company but the thing that you have to remember with raw feeding is that you cannot simply give them chicken and expect it to be their whole diet.

Cats need many different vitamins and nutrients and in order to provide this they need a variety of meats, muscle, organs and even the bone.

I was also hoping to get my cats onto a raw diet but after reading more information about it have decided not to.

Don't get me wrong I think it's fantastic and much better for the cat but it also has to be done correctly and too many things could go wrong.

I personally feel safer giving them a high end food with a decent meat content knowing that everything they need is contained in it.

I've been looking into the Food4Cats site (and sister site Food4Dogs) and been quite impressed. Their minced meats do contain organ meat and bone as well, in the right proportions. The Taster Packs are £10 inc delivery, so that's a good place to start - everything's delivered in polystyrene insulating icebox thingys, and if I wanted to fill my freezer, £6 delivery charge is reasonable, I'd pay the same or more to have 15kg dry food delivered. You can also pay them via PayPal.

Will report back... so far, so inclined towards them.

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I think some folk on another forum have used these and they have had no problem.

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Kaz

For kittens, joy is for the asking and smiles are for the giving

I've used them and they're very good. I had a problem with the last delivery but that was caused by the courier not reading the instructions and the lady sorted it out straight away. Their food is good value.

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http://www.elmstarbengals.co.uk



Our darling Foxy is now at Rainbow Bridge. R.I.P. little one, you'll always be loved.

Thanks guys. I have since found a website that has a couple of recipes which shows you how to make homemade raw food. It is basically whole chicken, carcuss and all, the livers, it gives you the right quanities of oils, and shows that it contains the necessary vitamins. After reading on this website how important it is to ensure that cheap cuts of meat are not used and that the muscle and heart/liver is included I thought I would price this up to compare the cost of buying the meat from Food-4-Cats. I have however e-mailed them to ask for them to confirm what cuts of meat are used and whether they contain the bones, and whether they add the heart and liver,or a supplement of Taurine if not

Thought I'd post the recipe if you are interested or even for those of you who make their own to advise whether they would use this recipe.

Thanks again
Sharon
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■Do not cut corners by using only chicken legs, or - heaven forbid - just chicken backs and necks to make this recipe. Use the whole, “dressed” bird (chicken can be substituted by other edible birds) and don’t cut anything away, like skin or fat. The chicken meat itself will contain little fat, and the visible fat is important as a source of essential fatty acids. Of course, don’t use a bird with guts, feathers, head, and legs.
■You don’t need to add Vitamin Bs or E, because these are naturally occurring in both the raw egg yolk and raw liver.
■Do not add whole egg, but only the egg yolk. Egg white contains an enzyme which will make the essential B Vitamin Biotin unavailable to your cat.
■Instead of Kelp, we add “Half Salt” or “Light Salt” to this recipe, which is readily available at your grocery store. It is a mixture of iodized sodium chloride and potassium chloride. It is easy to overdose iodine when using kelp on a small scale as in the do-it-yourself recipe.
■Add 1 can of salmon, sardines, or mackerel packed in water as a source of Omega 3 fatty acids, instead of 4000mg Salmon Oil or an Omega 3 fish oil, if you wish.
■Although chicken – especially the dark meat of chicken legs contain Taurine, it is advisable to obtain Taurine (available as L-Taurine) from your health food store to assure optimal levels of this essential amino acid in this recipe. If available, you can add 400g of chicken hearts, but take ½ chicken breast away. In that case, you do not have to add supplemental Taurine.
■Cats do not need fiber. There is no need to add Psyllium husk or any other source of soluble or insoluble fiber to this recipe.
■This recipe has a naturally pleasing texture and does not require the addition of water.
■If your store bought chicken contains the heart, liver, gizzard, and neck in the body cavity, remove these from the little bag and simply grind into the recipe

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RIP Ted and Dusty. Miss you!!

I have just received my first delivery yesterday. I wanted the diced rabbit because my source at the farmers market has dried up.

I ordered 4 packs of rabbit (4kg) and 1kg of diced oxheart. It came in one of those polystyrene boxes and was wrapped in black plastic with instructions if out in very large type in a clear plastic 'envelope' and of course my address.

It did come mostly frozen - some of the meat chunks were semi frozen and it was leaking through the polystyreen, but the black plastic did not let the liquid out.

I did not see it as a problem as I would have rebagged anyway - just decanted on to trays and re-froze. Remember it s my cats who are going to eat it.....

Otherwise quite impressed - came when it said it would and packaging OK. Nice big chunks of different sizes.

I don't feed exclusively raw. I do a combo of high quality wet and raw chunks for those that want it. I have found the bone in the rabbit and chicken 'cleans' my female's teeth and helps keep the gingavitis at bay (she is prone).

Brilliant thanks for that!

Didn't think about the cleaning teeth part lol!!

Sharon
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RIP Ted and Dusty. Miss you!!

I buy from Food 4 Cats - I'm always very impressed with the packaging and service etc. The mince varieties are all properly balanced with meat, organs and bones so you don't need to add anything else to them. The boneless chunks can be used together with organ meats and bonemeal (or another form of calcium) to balance them, and the bone in chunks can be mixed with organ meats to balance them.

Mine all love the ox cheek mince variety, plus they would absolutely kill for the pork tongue chunks LOL!

The recipe on catinfo.org makingcatfood is a good recipe Sharon.

Thank you, I'll have a nosey at that one!

Going on holiday on Sunday and then bring kittens home the day after we are back so got a reason to be excited about coming home!

Sharon
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RIP Ted and Dusty. Miss you!!