[donnamatrix]

As you know, I'm new to cat companionship, and am still finding my feet. At the moment Yuki eats Nature's Menu pouches, HiLife pouches and Lily's Kitchen, with the occasional treat of cooked chicken and fish.

I'm intrigued by the raw diet, and would like to know more. I'd appreciate any advice, general guidance and links to useful resources.

I know that obviously cats eat raw in the wild, so it would be good for Yuki. My other motivation is that it would give me greater control of the provenance of the animals whose meat I'm buying. I'm vegan and animal welfare is very important to me, and while I don't like handling meat at all I'd rather do it if I could buy from local farms who practice high welfare rearing, as opposed to buying pouches that have come from goodness knows where. Some people have said how cheap the raw diet is, but I'm not sure that's apply in my case given that I'm going to be buying the highest welfare meat possible. I'll need to look into the cost effectiveness once I've learned a bit more about the best meats to feed, what amounts I'll need, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[cookiemom]

Bearing in mind that cats are quite happy to eat the stuff that most humans are not so interested in, you can get ethical raised farmed meat at good cost often from source these days.

If you can provide a varied diet with lots of wild or pastured meats then personally I don't use supplements in that situation.

Depending on your budget you could feed a single kitty from £1 a week to whatever maximum sum you are prepared to spend. Don't forget the hidden savings on cat litter, dental treatment, protection from diabetes by not using cans and pouches containing pba, long term kidney protection etc etc.

I'm also a non meat eater, I find it helps to think from the cats needs and perspective when buying and prepping meat, you want fresh as possible.

I did feed a lot of whole prey items initially, I found this easier for myself as there is no cutting up and the meals are 'complete' so this helped while I got to grips with portioning but I have found it virtually impossible to source ethical whole prey, there is wild sourced whole prey but of course there can be issues as well with this, there are more ethical hunters around now though.

This is a great resource for the hows, whys, wheres and whats of feeding prey model raw:

Practical Guide

 

[donnamatrix]

Bearing in mind that cats are quite happy to eat the stuff that most humans are not so interested in, you can get ethical raised farmed meat at good cost often from source these days.

If you can provide a varied diet with lots of wild or pastured meats then personally I don't use supplements in that situation.

Depending on your budget you could feed a single kitty from £1 a week to whatever maximum sum you are prepared to spend. Don't forget the hidden savings on cat litter, dental treatment, protection from diabetes by not using cans and pouches containing pba, long term kidney protection etc etc.

I'm also a non meat eater, I find it helps to think from the cats needs and perspective when buying and prepping meat, you want fresh as possible.

I did feed a lot of whole prey items initially, I found this easier for myself as there is no cutting up and the meals are 'complete' so this helped while I got to grips with portioning but I have found it virtually impossible to source ethical whole prey, there is wild sourced whole prey but of course there can be issues as well with this, there are more ethical hunters around now though.

This is a great resource for the hows, whys, wheres and whats of feeding prey model raw:

Practical Guide

Thanks for that link, it's really helpful! I don't think I could handle the whole prey thing - that's beyond the line my veganicity will allow me to cross

I think I'll start by giving her the occasional raw meal of mince, chicken and liver.

 

[cookiemom]

Don't give her a whole meal of liver liver should be no more than 5% of the diet.

Whole prey feeding is not for everyone but there is the consideration that mouse or rabbit or quail is a more natural protein source than beef or pork or chicken, this can be an important factor for kittys dealing with inflammatory responses to food.

I should add for those not aware that 'whole prey' are already dead and frozen when purchased.

 

[donnamatrix]

Don't give her a whole meal of liver liver should be no more than 5% of the diet.

Whole prey feeding is not for everyone but there is the consideration that mouse or rabbit or quail is a more natural protein source than beef or pork or chicken, this can be an important factor for kittys dealing with inflammatory responses to food.

I should add for those not aware that 'whole prey' are already dead and frozen when purchased.

Don't worry, I know the organs should only be 10% with half of that liver :thumbsup:

 

[nightkitten]

Switching to raw was the best decision I have ever made.

1. My kittens love it
2. Their fur is so shiny and soft it is unbelievable. And they shed less
3. Their poop is tiny and does not smell. Saves me on cat litter too
4. They are full of energy
5. Even vet said they are in fabulous condition. Loads of muscle, hardly any fat
6. Their teeth are clean and will not have any plaque throughout their lives
7. I don't have to worry about their drinking habits as they get enough fluids through their diet
8. I know exactly what I am feeding them as I prepare it myself

I get my meat from the local butchers who sources the meat locally. So it is not very cheap but I know it is good quality meat and only from local farmers.

It takes me about 3 hours per month to prepare their food for a month but they are kittens and eat nearly 800 gram per day between the 2 of them. In future this will far less.

 

[cookiemom]

Excellent I'm sure she will love you to bits, young cats take to raw like ducks to the proverbial!

 

[lymorelynn]

My girls love raw (most of the time ) but I don't trust myself to get the proportions right in making it myself so I use Natural Instinct Natural Instinct - Frozen raw human-grade meat dog food, the dog breeders' choice. or Woldsway English Rabbit and Other Meats
Oh just to add, I wean my kittens onto raw too and recommend it to all new slaves :thumbsup: though the kittens get other foods too as I know that not everyone is happy to feed raw.

 

[Space Chick]

LymoreLynn - how do you get over the Taurine issue with the Woldsway food?

I feed Natural Instict to mine as it has added taurine, but the Woldsway food does have more choices and seems cheaper?

 

[Cookieandme]

I would write exactly the same as Nightkitten :thumbsup:

I started by using a premix powder, this is probably the easiest route to raw. 80grns of powder is added to 900 grms of meat (inc heart and kidney), I bought the powder with liver powder but there is a version without which you need to add liver to, also added is water and fish oil capsule.

It is a slightly more expensive route as the powder is more expensive to buy, I bought from the US, it is also available from Germany.

I still have the powder but I have also now started to use the esay raw recipe - I started a thread on my reasons.

Like NK I buy from a local butcher sourcing from local farms. Using the easy raw makes me 12 x 300grm tubs the last batch I bought cost me about £15 which is about 60p per day, less than the cost of 1 commercial pouch.

This batch used Turkey thigh which is my cheapest option but I have used a range of meat, the next batch is going to use the rabbit I bought from Woldsway, not sure yet what I am going to add probably beef or duck. This will increase the cost but I doubt any variety will cost more than £1 per day.

I made my last batch on 16th September and I will probably make a batch up this weekend.

It does take about 2 hours to make including grinding the chicken wings but if I use the premix powder it might take 45 mins but it makes less.

 

[donnamatrix]

It does take about 2 hours to make including grinding the chicken wings but if I use the premix powder it might take 45 mins but it makes less.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment I'm curious about the grinding - some of the resources I've read say not to grind because cats wouldn't grind their food in the wild. Is it just personal choice?

 

[Cookieandme]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment I'm curious about the grinding - some of the resources I've read say not to grind because cats wouldn't grind their food in the wild. Is it just personal choice?

The receipe I use either uses chicken wings and I grind them or no bones with added bonemeal, she was a little constipated with the bonemeal. I use the ground chicken wings as a "base" to make a sort of gravy all the other meat is chunked.

The alternative would be mince everything - which she doesn't like or meat pieces with bone, which she only occasionally likes. For me this is the best raw option.

 

[chillminx]

LymoreLynn - how do you get over the Taurine issue with the Woldsway food?

I feed Natural Instict to mine as it has added taurine, but the Woldsway food does have more choices and seems cheaper?

Woldsway always adds taurine to their wild bone-in rabbit mince, and they are willing to add taurine to any other minces you order if you ask them.

The only reason they don't add taurine to all the minces as a matter of course, is because many of their customers have told them they prefer to add their own supplements.