Easy tiger.... It looks like Kiskasiberians was just pointing out a few facts.

Ditto the comment above - i think its easy to misconstrue someones 'tone' on here and i dont think Karen meant anything except to point out factual information. It is, after all, important to get facts correct when giving out advice - especially on the subject of raw feeding/cats diet etc....

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I appreciate all of that. I'm simply passing on advice I've been given. Ironically some of which I had been given by Karen as one of her customers.

I'm all for being corrected if what I'm saying is wrong but there is always a nice way to put things and I don't think that was it.

On the subject of Science Plan I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion but the fact that every vet I have ever been to crows about the quality and health benefits of Science Plan must mean something.

I dont think vets are that qualified in nutrion as such tho - my vet admitted to me that its a very small part of their training and not something they know much about and they are asked to promote brands (ie sell them in their surgeries) and mine sells, funnily enough, Sciene Plan at the moment too. They get a commission on what they sell too which is worth bearing in mind when you're vet is selling you a certain brand of food.

I'm not saying its rubbish food, at all, but am saying i looked into what to feed my cats and think raw is by far the best choice for my two due to certain probs they've had. But thats not to say i wouldnt give them science plan - they've had it, just didnt agree with them when they were little!

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Unfortunately, as the Twins pointed out, most vets training in nutrition is provided by the major petfood manufacturers with a vested interest in pushing their products. But you just need to look at the ingredients of Science Plan to see it isnt a great food for cats, to much reliance on cereals/grains not enough on real meat.

I thought it was fine... She said 'wrong I'm afraid' How else was she supposed to put it? A not nice way to put it would be NO YOUR WRONG!! I think you read it wrong because you were being defensive about being corrected/wrong.

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A meow massages the heart.

Ladies you seem to have a lot of experience with raw feeding. Would you mind telling me what sort of portions of raw meat and bone you feed your cats per day?

I have a neutered female who is 16 months, about 6.5kg and dwarfs my male cat. She has a very large appetite and I'm struggling to know how much to give her.

I'm using mince and hearts off the food4cats website (twice per day) which has improved her temperament and coat dramatically. I also have a stock of whole rabbit and she loves gnawing on whole legs. I'm just unsure of portion size and how to split the amount of mince v's raw on the bone. She's a complete glutton and would eat all day if I let her.

Feeding raw especially quantities is not a black art as many people will lead you to believe.

All the guidlines say between 2 and 3% of their average adult body weight per day (2% older or less active cats, 2.5% normal cats 3% skinny or mad all day cats). So a 6.5kg cat (assuming that this is the breed average) would need between 130 and 195 grams per day. However, I tend to just feed them a good sized portion twice a day, if they seem hungry I will feed them more especially in winter when they are using up more calories in the cold. The only good guide is your own eye, if they seem to be on the heavey size just reduce the food by 20g - 30g per day, if they on the light side increase it especially for foods that they realley enjoy.

Of this approximatly 10% should be bone, 5 - 10% offal (kidney, liver, spleen, heart is classed as meat) and 80 - 85% meat. These aren't per day proportions as they can be averaged out over a couple of weeks.

Given that a chicken wing is 40% bone 100g of chicken wings (2 of our 2 joint wings) will provide 40g of bone. Based on your cats weight it would need between 13 and 20g of bone per day. So a chicken wing every other day would be more than sufficient.

Whole Wild rabbit is about 15% bone when the head, fur and insides are removed.

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Karen

www.kiskasiberians.co.uk - The home of Hypoallergenic Siberian Cats


www.rawfed.com - Information on Raw Feeding

Hi Karen, I just wanted to ask you... How much taurine does raw food lose from being frozen?

I bought lots of raw food at once and didn't prepare it all straight away, I froze it then defrosted it in the fridge and then bagged a couple of weeks worth, I froze the rest and then defrosted it weeks later to bag some more. I still have a lot left frozen. I'm using mainly beef heart, chicken thighs/wings and chicken gizzards atm for meat. I'm so worried that I'm going to damage my cats by them not getting enough taurine...

Could you reassure me, please? Or should I get some taurine powder?

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A meow massages the heart.

If you are feeding beef heart, chicken thighs and gizzards your cat wil be getting enough Taurine. Freezing depletes taurine between 10 and 20%. Chicken breast does not contain enough Taurine when it is fresh but all the others do even after freezing

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Karen

www.kiskasiberians.co.uk - The home of Hypoallergenic Siberian Cats


www.rawfed.com - Information on Raw Feeding