Hi all

Been reading through lots of threads and links re raw feeding. I bought a sample pack from food4cats and have started feeding mine on it. I have to say I'm completely bamboozled (!!) by all the conflicting thoughts on wet/dry/raw but have decided to cut out the dry (although I still have loads of Applaws and JWB)!

I understand that you should be careful about when you feed raw and when you feel wet commercial?

Are there some very basic rules that I should follow?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

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Owned by 1 x Maine Coon Cross (13yrs Male), 1 x Pixie Bob kitten (male), 2 x Norwegian Forest kittens (both males)

There are apparently - though I wasn't aware of them until recently - comercial food is digested more quickly (4 hours ish) while raw takes up to 12 hours to be digested - so feed the commercial in the morning and then the raw after 4 hours and you should be fine. Having said that - if a cat hunts and eats 'natural' raw (i.e a mouse) and then comes inside to eat commercial food what then? So I am personally of the opinion it can't be too bad to just feed what you have when you have it, sometimes mine turn their noses up at raw or wet and I end up giving them the other. I've tried to stick to a routine - wet in the morning (for those being fussy) and then raw later on, but often I find I don't stick to it - the intent is to go onto 90% raw if I ever get my act together enough to defrost it at the right time! and when Minnii decides she likes it enough to eat every day!

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http://finesthourbirmans.webs.com

Phew! You sound just like me! I spent ages agonising over cat food in P@h yesterday. Kitten food or just plain adult food? Which is the best? I walked out without anything in the end!

I did buy some Feline Fayre from Asda - adult food and gave it to the kittens. I then worried I was doing the right thing! Who would think it was so hard to look after some li'l ones?

~x~

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Owned by 1 x Maine Coon Cross (13yrs Male), 1 x Pixie Bob kitten (male), 2 x Norwegian Forest kittens (both males)

I've had dry food down constantly for the kittens, plus they've been getting their raw.... and also some canned food to get them used to whatever their new owners will end up feeding them. There's been no rebellion in the litter tray department and they seem very content and happy to have whatever's going, so I can't see a problem with raw & commercial together.

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Sue, Merlin & Cuba
Dog moves in mysterious ways. Be at peace, Patrick.
I've been described as a lighthouse in a bog - brilliant, but useless.

I've been reading up quite a lot on this recently and it does get really confusing. Some people even recommend that you don't use minced meat as the cats need to chew!

I think you have to work out what works for your cats, for instance some of ours will not touch wet food or raw. I'm trying to get them off dry completely but it's a difficult process as you can't just starve them. I'm trying to get them on wet food first and will then start mixing in some raw (minced!).

Some of ours have been eating raw, diced and minced beef, pork, chicken, lamb and rabbit for a few weeks now and their coats are amazing so it does seem to work. Mind you I did read somewhere, can't remember where, that they aren't supposed to have pork?

I always make sure to give them some wet food still and I also give them suppliments of rice bran, lycine and taurine.

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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.

Hmmm.....

The breeder that I got the Pixie Bob thinks that raw chicken is not a good idea because of the salmonella issue

The Pixie actually took a packet of meat out of the polystyrene box yesterday even though it did have the lid on! They all enjoyed the rabbit but were then looking round for more!

~x~

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Owned by 1 x Maine Coon Cross (13yrs Male), 1 x Pixie Bob kitten (male), 2 x Norwegian Forest kittens (both males)

CAts have stroger enzymes in their guts to deal with things like salmonella - otherwise they would all die from eating birds!

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http://finesthourbirmans.webs.com

I don't know about feeding cats raw, but I have been feeding my dogs a 100% raw diet for a while now. I chose not to feed any commercial foods at all, the reason I changed to raw was I was not happy with the ingredients in commercial, so there would be no point feeding half and half if you see what I mean. From all I have read, raw and commercial should not be fed together as the different digestion rates can make the animal uncomfortable. I've known people that do do it, and their animals have been ok, but how do you know if they are feeling overfull and uncomfortable? Like if you have a big roast and you feel like you've over done it? I think it's similar to that.
It may not do any major damage, but I'd avoid it myself

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I was thinking that as I'm new to this that commercial food would have the necessary extras (taurine etc) so I could be sure that they were getting what they needed. Also, when on holiday and people are coming in to feed it's less faff for them.

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Owned by 1 x Maine Coon Cross (13yrs Male), 1 x Pixie Bob kitten (male), 2 x Norwegian Forest kittens (both males)

I know what you mean but you only have to see (or hear!) these 6 kittens bombing around and wrecking the place - doubt they'd do that if they were feeling uncomfortable. They're a bunch of nutters!

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Sue, Merlin & Cuba
Dog moves in mysterious ways. Be at peace, Patrick.
I've been described as a lighthouse in a bog - brilliant, but useless.