Raw food

[Gillian Harvey]

Yep, I feed raw, mine have chicken, turkey, beef, sometimes rabbit, also heart, liver and kidney. Sometimes I feed whole parts, for instance a bone-in chicken breast with some liver, sometimes I feed meats minced with the bone, so perhaps minced bone-in rabbit, with some heart. Other times I feed minced/chunked meats without bone - just the supermarket stuff (although I try to buy organic if I can afford it!) and add bonemeal. I also feed mice and day old chicks, every now and then and chicken wings for their teeth. The catnutrion site MM posted is good, and theres also this one if you want to feed whole parts http://www.rawfedcats.org/ and http://www.catinfo.org/ is good too. You can also get supplements that you just add to raw chunked/minced meat that makes the meal balanced, something like http://www.felinefuture.com/ that you can get in the UK now - takes the guesswork out of it.

Elsa, my 20 yr old, was 18 when I started them on raw diet, and she loves it, so they're never too old  . I made the change very slowly, from completely dry, to wet food (natures menu) and then gradually introduced raw, over several weeks.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Jaffa loves raw meat and goes mad for it.  Mosi is less sure - he likes the taste but can only cope with small pieces.  I've not gone beyond giving them raw meat (usually chicken or beef) on it's own as a snack, although I did buy a premade raw food for them once (they ate it but weren't overly impressed).  You do need to research it properly if it's being fed as a meal so that you get the right balance of meat, organ, bone etc.  But it's a good start to give them small pieces of raw meat and see how they like that.  There is a supplement called feline instincts ? which you can add to muscle and organ meat to make a complete meal I think, and there are recipes you can use to make sure you get it right.  Gillian (ambercats) feeds raw to her cats so maybe she'll be around later and can give you some advice (or pm her).  I was holding back on going raw due to a problem Jaffa had with vomiting but he seems to be over that now so I might have a go, but I wouldn't feed only raw as I need them to eat commercial food too, eg when they go into a cattery.

[Desley (booktigger)]

The best thing to do, after reading, is to buy some raw meat and see what they think - I bought chicken, heart, liver and kidney (although couldnt deal with the kidney in the end!!), and just gave them all a few small chunks of each, to see what they thought - it went down best with my (at the time) eldest, who was toothless, the girls were fussy, one day they would, one day they wouldn't. I bagged up 3 chunks of each per cat in freezer bags, and just pulled out one each morning for their supper. I am not brave enough to completely do raw, so they get things like NAtures Menu and HiLife instead.

[blackcat]

I stand corrected - thanks Millie's mum.   But I still wouldn't make the change without consulting my vet ...

[Millys Mum]

A raw diet includes bone and offal aswell as muscle, this provides all neccessary vitamins. A natural diet for a cat would be rabbits, rodents and small birds so its relatively easy to replicate this.

Gwen, you have to introduce it gradually and they soon learn to use their jaws for what nature intended, not swallowing stodgey "meat" and kibbles of grain without chewing!

Chicken wings have calcium in them so have a use other than teeth cleaning.

[Gwen]

This is a good site http://www.catnutrition.org/home.html i havent taken the plunge of feeding 100% raw so use higher meat content wet aswell.
I think its beneficial to health, Lolas teeth no longer have tartar on them since having chicken wings to munch on.
Its better than wet food because it has no grain derivatives, sugar or dodgy preservatives.

Theres a couple of books iv read, Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale and The Barf Diet for Cats & Dogs by Ian Billinghurst. The first is a big read!

http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/

I'd be worried sick that my cats would choke on the bone lol

[blackcat]

Raw meat alone is not a sufficient diet for a cat. If you look at what they go for when they kill a mouse or bird (sorry this is going to get gross) they aim for the intestines. It is only then that they turn to the meatier bits. This means that their diet is composed principally of the food of their prey, grain, grass, etc that a herbivore eats. If you want to make sure your cat has a balanced diet then you need to ensure that whatever you are feeding it is providing it with the proper balance of vegetable and meat matter. The only way you can ensure this is to have you vet refer you to an animal dietition, or feed commercial feeds of the right quality. Sorry to be so discouraging, but it is essential your kitty has a proper diet, and just feeding it raw meat is not going to give it that. Raw chicken wings are encouraged as they help clean the teeth, not for their dietary merit.

[Millys Mum]

This is a good site http://www.catnutrition.org/home.html i havent taken the plunge of feeding 100% raw so use higher meat content wet aswell.
I think its beneficial to health, Lolas teeth no longer have tartar on them since having chicken wings to munch on.
Its better than wet food because it has no grain derivatives, sugar or dodgy preservatives.

Theres a couple of books iv read, Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale and The Barf Diet for Cats & Dogs by Ian Billinghurst. The first is a big read!

http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/

[Gwen]

Ok I'll put my hands up and say I have never,ever in my life tried this with my cats or dogs,the idea of raw meat so does not appeal to me and I have no idea how to do about it with my animals.

I have a 17 and 10 year old cat,would this be beneficial to them now (bare in mind Ging only has two teeth left).

How do I go about it and what kind of stuff do you feed if you feed raw to your cats(obviously I know its uncooked chicken,beef etc) but how much of it and is it better than wet food for them?

Sorry but I am clueless on this subject