Ok, as started over on another thread, I have set a challenge for The Venerable Hobbs to create and post an EASY and complete raw recipe.
I think too many people worry that you have to be a scientist to put together a balanced raw diet...well WE don't need to be scientists 'cos we have Hobbs!
So...Here are the rules
All items should be available on the high st, supplements too.
Meat with bone in and skin on ( life is too short to skin meat! )
Animal sources can be mixed
I suggest a total weight of around 5lbs....but this is flexible, bearing in mind most people have limited freezer space.

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Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

Not only is life too short to skin, the skin also contains some essential fat. I never buy skinless meat when I have the option to get it with skin on. Otherwise you need to find another fat source - lamb breast is great if your cat eats lamb.

Anyhow, here is a potential "easy" recipe

1500g lamb meat --- use some lamb breast when using lean cuts, such as skinless chicken or turkey, lean cuts of beef, rabbit, etc
250g lamb heart
250g lamb kidney
1000g chicken wings with bones and skin (33.3% but remember this also includes meat)
125g of liver
17g salmon (for Vit D3)

Supplements
seaweed powder 4.4g (for iodine amongst other things but also helps with metabolism)
brewers yeast 6g (for Vit Bs and other trace elements)
Vit e drops 6 or 50g wheat germ oil (very expensive in this country) for Vit E
Salt 1.4g to substitute for the sodium loss not feeding blood
Water about 1l (this is to substitute for the loss of blood and therefore loss of moisture)

This gives you

96% energy
94% calcium
103% phosphorus
44% iron
100% iodine (seaweed)
100% Vit A
99.6% Vit D3
93% Vit E

So the calcium is lower then the phosphorus but if you added 2gs of eggshell powder to this, the ca/ph ratio would be perfectly balanced.

The iron is a little low at 44% but if you managed to get your hands on some pigs lung and substituted 50g of the kidney with lung then that brings it up to good levels. Or get your hands on some fortain. Essentially, cats would be getting this level of iron from the blood of their prey (as well as some organs such as liver) but the meat we use in this cobbled together approach has been hung and drained.


Anyhow, that is what my calculator throws up for a bone-in recipe.

Other people do it differently, perhaps they will post here too. Well, and let's not forget if you go to rawcat they will just shout you down for using supplements in the first place. They have a confidence in their supermarket meat and cobbled-together approach that I don't have. So, I choose to use them.

Each to their own I say. There isn't just one way but this is my wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Wow, Hobbs...that is fantastic....and it is NEARLY easy enough.
Without compromising, can we make this easier for Joe Bloggs our new forum member who wants to feed raw? I think he may ask some questions...
Where can I buy seaweed powder?
Holland and Barratt sells kelp is that the same thing?
Fresh salmon or tinned? cooked or raw? smoked ( nah! )
Can I use fish oil instead of the salmon?
Where do I buy eggshell powder on the high st?
Regular table salt, or sea salt, or lo-salt, or Himalayan pink salt?
Just to complicate things...how would I adapt the above if I wanted to use chicken thighs as a main meat source?

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

Oh....and 50 g of wheatgerm oil? 44 capsules of Holland and Barratt 1130mg wheat germ oil??

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

Even easier - hrrummpf

Kelp is a seaweed. The seaweed I use is similar to the stuff they sell on zooplus and contains: Jod 755 mg/kg. Don't use any form of seaweed though if you have got a cat with hyperthyroidism. If you have black cats though you will notice them getting darker as the iodine intensifies the pigments,

Salmon. You could be fresh and use it raw but then freeze it with the food you make up in advance. Kills off any bacteria. And no, not smoked and no precooked either.

Salmon oil - no, this is not a substitute for using fresh salmon. Though I forgot that in my recipes. I use about 2 capsules per 1kg of meat for the fatty acids. I add that to the food when I serve though, I don't freeze the oil.

Sadly you cannot buy eggshell powder easily in the UK. You have a hard time even getting calcium carbonate, though that is a great alternative (well they are basically the same). But you can easily make it yourself by keeping the eggshells of the eggs you use back, washing them out, getting rid of the inner membrane, storing them in the fridge and then using a grinder to powder it to a fine,well powder. You can get calcium carbonate off ebay or either from German barf shops. You could start lobying zooplus to start stocking it (their German home site contains a Barf section....)

Regular table salt will do. In the US they use iodine salt to get iodine into their cats. Or, of course, you can use the pink Himalayan salt. I actually do Just because I got it really cheap lol

I would also add taurine to the food. Particularly if I were to mince it. About 3g for the above amount.


Will post the chicken thigh recipe in a different post.

To use chicken thighs

500g lamb meat -------------------------- or any other meat
500g lamb breast
250 lamb heart ---------------------------or any other heart
250 lamb kidney----------------------------or any other kidney, brain, etc
1500g chicken thigh with bone and skin (PP does your grinder grind these???????????)


The rest remains the same (liver, salmon, supplements, water)

That gives you:

energy 88.8%
calcium 86.2%
phosphorus 106%
iron 47%
iodine 100%
Vit A 100%
Vit D3 100%
Vit E 98%

If you add 4.5g of eggshell powder/calcium carbonate then the ca/ph is balanced at 106.7% and 106.1%.

Now that's easy! ( and cheaper! )
Yes my grinder handles thighs just fine.
But can I check that 50g of wheatgerm oil?

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

Quick question on grinders. Do you have a special machine or would my Magimixx do the job?

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How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

I WANT your grinder

What about those 50g wheatgerm oil? It is expensive, I said. But if you have access to some vit e drops (those that don't contain any other things) then you could do 50/50 or 25/75. I get a 250ml bottle for 8 euro, which lasts me for about 10-15kg of meat or 50 daily rations for my two grown boys.

You might be ok to grind the meat without the bones with a magimix attachment...but I bought a Kenwood meat grinder which handles chicken legs just fine.

__________________

Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!