Posted this in dog health too but know some of you don't go over there so thought I'd post it here too.

Ok, so Benny is being ever so fussy as usual and basically gone off his food I've been thinking of starting raw feeding for both the dog and cats but really need some more info on it. I know cats have different ratios and you can't really feed the same to dogs and cats as cats need extra taurine etc.

So my questions are:

What is the easiest/cheapest way to feed raw to them both? I am hoping to feed mainly minces I think but with some bone-in meals too?

How much does it cost you on average to feed raw, per day/week/whatever is easiest for you to work out? Also, do you find it cheaper than feeding them on kibble/wet food?

Do you buy the same things for the dogs and cats but supplement the cats so they get the right ratios?

Are any of you able to give a typical menu of what you feed both your dogs and cats?

How do you cope when you go away and have to leave the pets in kennels/cattery or with family/friends?



Sorry this is so confusing - I'm just looking for the easiest way to feed it to both the dog and cats but obviously with them all getting the correct ratios etc. I think the easiest way for me would be to have a sample menu I could work from

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Okay - I do this the easiest way not the cheapest way - I buy both my dog raw and cat raw from NI. The dog food cost £2.35 for 1kg and she gets 500g a day plus a chicken quarter from tescos a couple of times a week. No messing around no hassle it's complete and easy. SO for a week it costs about £8 to feed her. The cats get NI too (those that will eat it) it costs £2 for 450g and lasts between 2 and 4 days depending who's eating it - but for clarities sake lets do it per cat - that's 50p a day - or £3:50 a week plus a chicken wing per cat.

So for my lot one 17kg dog and 2 cats - it must cost me £15 a week.

It's definitely not cheaper than dry, and maybe about the same as wet.

When I put them in kennels/ cattery I take their food with me and give precise instructions to them - any kennel/ cattery not willing to feed my animals what they eat isn't going to get my custom (not that I've had any problems), and it would be the same with friends and family/

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Disclaimer: I am not a raw feeder, I'm pretty new to the idea myself, my advice may be crap and I'm quite happy to be corrected!

Having had a cursory glance around on the Raw Feeding For Dogs thread, it looks as though the ratios are more or less identical for cats and dogs. On that basis it looks like it'd be pretty easy to make large batches of meals at once and freeze them, then when it comes to feeding throw in any relevant additional supplements as appropriate. At least, that makes sense to me!

It also looks like the popular companies for raw cat minces (specifically NI and Darlings) stock dog minces as their primary product, so ordering them together didn't ought to be too much of an issue.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will p*ss on your computer.

The Story So Far:
Spock (2010-2011), who began our love affair with kitties but whose grasp on the green cross code was sadly lacking.
Icarus (2011-...?), who loves noses more than anything else.
Mildred (2010-...?), who sings to the birds.

The twisted brainwrong of a one-off man mental.

I'm heading in this direction myself, and I just got this book:

Pet Cookbook | Recipes for Dogs and Cats

Having a recipe makes for a great safety net. It's also available on Amazon. I imagine the complete predone raw diets is a lot easier, but if you wanted to save money and had a reliable cheap source of meats (and that seems to be more the case over there than here--butchers are a dying breed at least on the east coast), this book is a huge help.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

That book is £102 on amazon

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I feed a mix of whole prey and prey model to my cats and it averages 35p per day per cat. They are full grown cats between 4 – 6kg and are pretty active, they eat about 4% of body weight per day. I don’t use any supplements but feed occasional oily fish for omega 3. To ensure adequate taurine feed active muscle meats to the cats: legs and hearts supply plenty, if you want to you can sprinkle taurine powder on their food, they can’t od as its water soluble so they pee it out. Feed as many protein sources as possible to mimic their wild hunting.

Cost wise I can only imagine that this is considerably cheaper than any pre-prepared food, I’ve never had or so far needed a dental for any of the cats. Litter costs are also dramatically reduced. The risks and cost of medical treatment for urinary and renal problems that may be linked to feeding prepared food are in my opinion negated.
I could happily spend more per week giving more whole prey ideally mice and more organic grass fed meats from larger animals but funds don’t currently allow. I could also spend less than this if I cut out some of the more expensive meats I use.

A somewhat hidden cost is a good freezer, but it is well worth the investment, I survived with one from freecycle for a good long time but recently invested in a new chest freezer, this means I can save more money by super bulk buying and as it is A rated for energy, the running costs are much cheaper so it will pay for itself pretty soon. If you go for whole meats you can negotiate with butchers and markets to get a much better price, you can even go wholesale. Linking up with other raw feeders can also cut the cost as it increases buying capacity.


The main difference between dogs and cats is the way they hunt, most cats hunt alone and very opportunistically, they consume all of what they catch, so ideally should be fed whole small critters, mice, rats, small rabbits, birds, insects etc. Dogs as I understand it are more flexible as they evolved to hunt in pack and so the ‘meal’ would be divided between them, this gives more flexibility and you can aim for balance over time, they can do well on a more limited range of protein sources but ideally would want as much variety as a cat and certainly if a dog caught small prey such as a rabbit or such am sure he would eat it himself and would be getting the correct whole prey ratios.

So you can pretty much feed to the cats what you feed to the dogs, feed bone in meats suitable to the size of the animal following the prey ratios of 80% meat, maximum 10% bone, maximum 5% liver and 5% other organ. Have you read the raw feeding sticky thread at the top of the board? Very helpful and will give info about using prepared minces.

As I don’t have a dog I can’t give ‘real’ menu advice but a friend with cats and a medium size dog feeds them the same ‘meats’ from the market / supermarket, it’s the bone in meals that are different so whole quails for the cats and whole (well oven ready) chickens for the dog, or bigger bone in for the dog if its cheaply available like goat or lamb, ribs, leg etc. Anything on sale, BOGOF or end of day reduced at the supermarket.
If you can get whole rabbit that generally does for both (depending on the size of your dog), if its big rabbit some of the bones will be too big for cats but you can help them out with bashing them up with a hammer, I divvy up the organs so that they get an equal share. A digital scale can be useful for the cats if you feed whole meats and organs.

Sorry I’m not helping much with the minces, I’ve got very limited experience, I’ve occasionally given mince from the supermarket, the cats are very disappointed, I have seen some of the prepared pet minces in pet shops and I did get some lamb as it was cheaper per kg than lamb meat but was horrified at the smell and the contamination from the plastic, needless to say the cats wouldn’t touch it and I can get most whole meat cheaper.

The other big difference is the transition process, some cats take to it really quick others can take weeks, months or longer to fully transition, you cannot starve a cat into switching and might have to mix old food with new, there are lots of tricks, the cats must eat every day.

No idea if this helps but there is a ton of info in the sticky thread including about the minces.

Holy poop! I didn't check amazon.co.uk. It's only about $17USD from amazon.com. They will ship internationally, but I'm not sure how much it would be. If it's terribly expensive, I'd be happy to order for you and have it shipped (flat rate international postage has gone way down lately--the postal service is in trouble so they've dropped package prices to compete with FedEx and UPS).

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

I am feeding my 2 monsters NI raw mince,Animonda,Grau,Applaws and Shumy.
They mainly get the raw throughout the day with the wet rotated to whatever they fancy
Never seen cats look so good with shiny coats,gleaming eyes,etc