Raw food?

[Millys Mum]

Im just a suspicious person 
You could break a wing into 3 and let toby work his way up in size  as you see that he is capable of eating safely you'll feel happier

[melysion]

Hi guys - thanks for all your responses. 

Milys Mum - I don't think the lady is touting for business as such as she wont be making any money. She is just after enough orders to get this discount (which everyone involved would benefit from). I could always be wrong of course

I tried the Instincts once Ambercat and Toby would not touch it. Which is a shame because it looks like a good product. He is a really picky eater at times - drives me nuts.

I'll look out for the calcium carbonate. How much do you think I ought to put in?

I wish I had more courage to just give Toby a raw chicken wing and let him eat it without me holding it  He loves raw chicken.

[Team Svartalfheims]

I'll have to get some of that Instincts powder at some point to try as my 'Team' when they have raw meat just have the mince/chunks on it's own as a treat (unless it's mice and chicks) but Minxy Moo goes absolutely mental for raw meat and has done from a very young age so no doubt she'd love it if I made a 'complete' raw food for her to have alongside her dry food 

[Gillian Harvey]

Yeh, my lot gave the NM raw the thumbs down! yet they will eat any raw meat normally.

Was it bonemeal you mixed with his meat Mel? Must admit I'm surprised he didnt take to that, mine will try and stick their noses in the tub of bonemeal! and they love it mixed in with meat - in fact somedays when I'm not feeding raw and they're looking at their canned/pouch offering with distaste - if I sprinkle a bit of bonemeal on the top - thats it, heads down and they finish the lot LOL!  - but what I'd do if he didnt like it being added, just give him his meat without anything in, then next time, add tiniest amount of bonemeal and gradually increase the amount - as you don't need much anyway. Another good trick is pour a little of homemade stock from the roast dinner on Sunday over his meat.

You could try a different form of calcium in his meat, like ground up eggshells (which is calcium carbonate) or you can just buy calcium carbonate - pretty much tasteless. You could also try a supplement called Instincts - and again I'd do the same, and not add the full amount first off and gradually increase it. Adding Instincts makes it a completely balanced meal. You can get it here http://www.realpetfood.co.uk/

Having said all that, unless you are going to feed ONLY raw, then its not really so important to make sure each raw meat meal is a completely balanced one - because if your'e feeding other 'complete' foods then he will be getting a balanced diet anyway.

[Millys Mum]

I wouldnt touch the co op arrangement, i never trust people that have to tout for business on free ad sites 

My cats were the same as susannes, hated the mush that you got once it had defrosted 

The natures menu pouches on the otherhand get a big paws up.

You could PM gillian about raw feeding as she does this for her gang.

PAH also sell the pouches, often they are offer and i go and buy 200 

[melysion]

Ah - i didn't know I could get it from Pets at home. Perhaps I should just try one bag first and see what Toby thinks.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Pets at Home sell Natures menu raw food suitable for cats.  I've tried it with my 2 and it didnt' go down to well (although they love raw meat in general).  When thawed it was mushy and not like fresh minced meat and I think they didn't like the texture.

[melysion]

I saw an ad on freecycle today. The poster was offering free delivery of frozen (raw) and cooked dog foods from natures:menu. The deal is this - a number of people club together to buy the food (for delivery you need to spend at least £50) the food is delivered to this ladys house (she lives about ten minutes walk away from me). You then collect the food from her house paying for your portion of the food, but not the delivery charge. Her motivation for this I think is that as you order a certain amount of food per year you are placed on a tariff that gives you a discount. The more food you buy per year, the greater the discount is the following year. Everyone in the 'co-op' benefits from the discount of course. Why she isn't splitting the delivery charge I do not know.

Anyway, as its dog food why do I care?

Well - natures:menu doesn't just do dog food. Toby eats the cat food pouches (in fact he had one this evening) and a lot of the frozen raw food is suitable for cats as well as dogs (as confirmed by natures:menu when I wrote and asked them ages ago - sadly I couldn't then find a pet shop that sold it). Bone is ground up with the meat so I have no calcium worries. All I'd do is add some powdered taurine and probiotics.

I asked the lady if - despite having a cat rather than a dog - if I could join and she said yes

I've tried giving Toby raw food with all sorts of supplements in the past and it hasn't worked because - although he likes the meat - he wont eat it with the supplements (unless it is just taurine and probiotics - I guess he cant taste them). I tried giving him ground bone that I brought separately for the calcium with the meat but he wouldn't eat that .. sigh - so raw food has been a infrequent treat. He had a chicken wing once - but i was so concerned he might try to swallow it whole I kept a tight hold of it while he was chewing. It really wasn't a major success.

But this stuff looks good - particularly the nuggets. Have a look at the food and tell me what you think.

http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/products/frozen/
and
http://www.prizechoice.co.uk/

Of course I can also order the pouches more cheaply too Very Happy I wouldn't give Toby just raw meat because I still would be a little concerned about nutrition - but this looks like a good option. He does like his raw meat, very much so.