commercial (felix) or raw (meat and bones)?

[Gillian Harvey]

Ah, interesting, because TC Instincts is 'supposed' to make a balanced diet when mixed with meat.

Yes, I use Natural Instincts and its balanced, it has added taurine. Wth Worldsway rabbit, you would probably need to add taurine, because, although there is plenty of taurine in all meats - the processing (i.e. mincing) can deplete it, but you shouldnt need to add anything else if its the 'whole' minced rabbit.

[Mitramonday]

P.S. Just looked at the Woldsway site - no mention there of the supplements like Taurine (etc etc) that you have to add if making raw food from scratch (if you know what I mean?!) - plenty of good reviews from cat mums, but are they using the minced rabbit mix (with bone etc) on its own, or are they adding the supplements?

[Mitramonday]

Would be interested to know which supplement you used as it sounds likely it actually didnt have the right nutrients to make a balanced raw diet, which could have led to the hair loss. Interested to know which meats you used too.  . Suppose it could just have been coincidence - how long did you feed him the raw mix?

Hi Gillian! My sketchy memory is being put to the test here    The supplement was TC Instincts off the internet and, (if I remember) came in a small white tub of stuff that I added to the raw ingredients in certain prescribed quantities...I have a feeling that I was suspicious of the liver as, initially I hadn't introduced it and Percy wasn't that keen on it when I did? I think I was probably feeding him the raw mix for 3 or 4 weeks?  My interest in raw feeding has, however, been re-ignited by another post on here (Home-Made Cat foods) - I'm looking at the Natural Instincts one which would, presumably, rule out any human error - but am concerned by the post that there is a minimum order of 5kg (I'm no good at visualising that and may find there's no room for my food in the freezer?!)  I'm going to look at the Woldsway one as well......

[Gillian Harvey]

Would be interested to know which supplement you used as it sounds likely it actually didnt have the right nutrients to make a balanced raw diet, which could have led to the hair loss. Interested to know which meats you used too.  . Suppose it could just have been coincidence - how long did you feed him the raw mix?

[Mitramonday]

I, too, read about the 'wonders' of raw feeding compared to Felix/MacDonalds so set about changing Percy to raw (which I prepared myself, but using a supplement for all the nutrients they need).  He took to it straight away, loved it, couldn't get enough of it, so I made a large batch which I froze in 2-portion size bags.  Then................Percy started to go bald!!!  Just little patches - on his tail, on the top of his head, on his tummy......I took him to the vet (but was too 'chicken'    to tell them he was on a raw diet) and they were baffled.  They did skin scrapes (for mites etc.), ruled out fighting (because of the lack of scabs/scratches & the locations of the baldness) and didn't know where else to go with it.  Well, I came home and experimented with changing him back to Felix/MacDonalds and - you guessed it - all his hair grew back and he's never lost it again.  Now, I'm not saying that every cat would have this reaction (obviously they don't, otherwise there would be no raw feeders out there) - but something about it obviously didn't suit Percy.   However, I do occasionally give him raw chicken wings for his teeth (biscuits crunch down before they 'hit' the tartar at the top of the teeth) which he loves.
I would like to think I could feed him better quality food - but he's a Felix man through and through I'm afraid!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Mine wont touch raw and what ever you think of the food, you need to feed what the cats will eat and also what agrees with them.

[Gillian Harvey]

I feed mine both raw and commercial. I buy the ready prepared raw from Natural Instincts http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/Cat-Food . They also get chicken wings for their teeth.

I changed mine over to raw about 5 or 6 yrs ago, at the time they were only eating dry (never again!!) and so I first changed them slowly over to wet, and then slowly again, started introducing raw, just a tsp or so with each wet meal , gradually increasing the amount, until they were eating all raw. So now, some meals will be ordinary wet tinned, and some will be raw. 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I feed occasional raw (not as often as I'd like).  I started by giving small pieces of raw meat that I was cooking just to see if they liked it.  It went down like a house on fire so now they get chicken wings regularly (at least Jaffa does - Mosi doesn't like to have to chew so I end up cutting little pieces of raw meat off for him!) and occasionally I make a raw meal out of meat, offal and a supplement or sometimes without the supplement as it is only occasional so not a worry if not nutritionally balanced.

Perhaps try that to see how they take to raw.   Despite eating commercial tinned and dry food for years, Jaffa took to it like a duck to water.  Mosi is less keen but he will eat small pieces of raw meat as a snack.

There is some good info about feeding in general here, including how to make food and how to transition cats from commercial food to raw feeding

http://www.catinfo.org/

Also some links in this thread to ready made raw foods that are a good starting point if feeding raw as you don't need to worry about getting the right nutritional balance

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,38840.0.html

[Jiji]

I don't feed raw myself, but I think try them with chicken wings or mince along with the macdonalds to see how they get on may be a first step. I think there are raw feeders or part raw feeders on the forum and hopefully they will be along to give you more advice 

[cats granny]

My lot have been eating Felix ''As Good As It Looks'' for a number of years, I have never really thought of the nutrirtional value of these commercial foods until recently. Looking on the internet and reading about it has made me think that I'm  giving them the equivalent of a MacDonalds each feed time, how do I make the transition from commercial to raw, any suggestions please. Billy and Bailey enjoy the odd take away, and have the left overs rotting in the garden,