# Raw fed cats?



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I'm thinking of switching my parents cats to raw, I think it'll actually be cheaper then feeding grain free canned since I have a lot of chicken and turkey and I can also find some other meats since they have several asian markets in the area. I've been using this website as a guide. 
Making Raw Cat Food for Do-It-Yourselfers

Questions to those who feed it ground raw to their kitties:

1) Do you use all the supplements listed? taurine, fish oil, eggs, vitamin e, B complex, lite salt, psyllium husk powder. 

2) What protein sources do you use besides chicken, turkey and rabbit? can I use beef heart instead of chicken heart for taurine? 

3) Do you add any type of green mix like ground seaweed (dulse or kelp)? 

4) Any tips for converting canned food junkie to raw? (surprisingly the kibble junkie cat loves raw chicken, so it shouldnt be an issue). 

5) What grinder do you use? 

Any other tips or ideas are appreciated. 

I think raw would be great for them because one of the cats needs to lose weight and it would help to get the carbs out of the system by cutting out kibble. I definitely need to get the older cat checked out in case she has thyroid issues since iodine supplement could cause more harm then good. 

Thanks!


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

Why don't you feed them just like the dog? I think it would better/easier in the long run. I think the only thing I did differently with my cat from my dogs was adjust the ratios of what type of meat they got and cut it into smaller chunks. I made sure the cat got more heart and more fish than the dogs did.

Kbug


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I find that the ground cat foods actually piss me off a little. There is no need to do the grinding....and then add all the supps because of why???

Both my girls are raw fed as, as is my Mum's super picky (wouldn't eat a new bag of kibble if it looked or smelled different then the last bag!:wacko

They get mostly red meats(pork, duck, rabbit, heart of turkey, beef for my girls but Boots can't handle it) along with bones from chicken, rabbits, Cornish game hen, turkey(my girls clean off what they want, gnaw on some of the bones and such) and then they also get whole fish. 

We hack it up to the size that our cats need, my girls get one pound split and it ends up being between 1"-3" chunks, they can strip whole carcasses too if I give them the chance. Boots still gets his hacked up pretty small, but he will gnaw on a turkey wing 1-2x per week....and he is our picky picky boy, so we don't want to push it!!LOL

Boots does get salmon oil just like my Mum's dogs....but my girls have never needed it...always had enough fish to feed them:wink:

Nothing else added to their diet, all 3 are long haired and only Boots gets professionally groomed and all 3 have amazing hair/skin. 

For the transistion we used a mix of fresh frozen and canned(in h2o, lowest sodium possible) fish, canned was sardine, fresh was what ever we could get, trout, salmon, sardines, smelt, what ever. 
They all 3 did great with the move over(Ducki was 1, Pidgin 2-and I had just gotten her, and Boots was 6.)


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

> Why don't you feed them just like the dog? I think it would better/easier in the long run. I think the only thing I did differently with my cat from my dogs was adjust the ratios of what type of meat they got and cut it into smaller chunks. I made sure the cat got more heart and more fish than the dogs did.
> 
> Kbug


They are not my cats (my parents) and live 2.5 hours away. Theres no way my mom would be making the food herself, its hard enough to get my parents to give arthritis supplements to one of the cats and I'm pretty much in charge of their diet and health. My plan is to make a large ground batch and portion out, that way that can just thaw and serve. 
I'll try to see what meat I can get over there, since they have more sources then I do, I've tried giving them salmon oil before and they would not touch it, so I ordered some anchovy/sardine oil.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> They are not my cats (my parents) and live 2.5 hours away. Theres no way my mom would be making the food herself, its hard enough to get my parents to give arthritis supplements to one of the cats and I'm pretty much in charge of their diet and health. My plan is to make a large ground batch and portion out, that way that can just thaw and serve.
> I'll try to see what meat I can get over there, since they have more sources then I do, I've tried giving them salmon oil before and they would not touch it, so I ordered some anchovy/sardine oil.


My Mum has done this with her kitty.....she is staying about 4 hours away from him, and my sister won't prep his food, only feed it to him. So my Mum just prepped up 4 weeks worth of food for him, portioned it out into 3-4 day batches and froze it. She just hacked it up like normal, my sister will add a squirt of oil every other day and Boots will be a happy, happy, (spoiled) boy even without our Mummy around!Lol


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> They are not my cats (my parents) and live 2.5 hours away. Theres no way my mom would be making the food herself, its hard enough to get my parents to give arthritis supplements to one of the cats and I'm pretty much in charge of their diet and health. My plan is to make a large ground batch and portion out, that way that can just thaw and serve.
> I'll try to see what meat I can get over there, since they have more sources then I do, I've tried giving them salmon oil before and they would not touch it, so I ordered some anchovy/sardine oil.


I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but two things.....

1. Cats, especially older cats that are over weight, can be hard to transition. While I understand why you want to switch them, they are your parent's cats and if your parents are not going to spend the time and energy on it then I think it is better that the cats stay on the diet they are currently on. There have been several stories on here since I started coming about people who have switched their obese cats diets and the cats inadvertently went into fatty liver because they lost weight too fast. If your parents are the type of pet owners that are unmotivated to even give something as simple as an arthritis pill then I don't see how they'll be motivated to safely transition such cat, let alone stick with it long enough to transition even a semi-resistant healthy cat to raw. 

2. It isn't any different to thaw out a bag of chicken wings/ribs or a bag filled with diced up boneless meat to throw into a bowl than a gound and pre-measured portion. Especially if you are the one cutting it up and packaging. 

It really sounds like to me that this is your parade and your parents are just humoring you. Its all very good intentions but since YOU are not the one doing the day in and day out care I think you need to take more of a backseat on this. 

Kbug


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## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

Before switching have them eat an all canned diet. I never had transistion issues doing it that way. 

I follow Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

I use chicken necks, I have used back and turkey. I have a grinder it works well for my cats, not all have teeth and not all learned to eat wings ect. 

Questions to those who feed it ground raw to their kitties:

1) Do you use all the supplements listed? taurine, fish oil, eggs, vitamin e, B complex, lite salt, psyllium husk powder. 
I do not add supplemental except for fish oil. I have a cat who pukes when I add anything. 

2) What protein sources do you use besides chicken, turkey and rabbit? can I use beef heart instead of chicken heart for taurine? 
I use all kinds of heart. Cow, lamb, pork also kidney and liver

3) Do you add any type of green mix like ground seaweed (dulse or kelp)? Nope but i like to grow cat grass. 

4) Any tips for converting canned food junkie to raw? (surprisingly the kibble junkie cat loves raw chicken, so it shouldnt be an issue). 

5) What grinder do you use? 
Tyson older unit. It's on the site Listed., Watch for fakes or newer ones not as good.

Any other tips or ideas are appreciated.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I also should add, that my Mum figured that she would have to grind for Boots....but he wouldn't touch it, did eat it when she minced it....so she just made it larger and larger so now he gets chunks that are more like the size of a large thumb. I was told by someone(I can't remember who or I would thank them) that cats tend to like long thin chunks, like fingers/Fries....sure enough, all 3 of them transitioned really well with that!:wink:


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

> I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but two things.....
> 
> 1. Cats, especially older cats that are over weight, can be hard to transition. While I understand why you want to switch them, they are your parent's cats and if your parents are not going to spend the time and energy on it then I think it is better that the cats stay on the diet they are currently on. There have been several stories on here since I started coming about people who have switched their obese cats diets and the cats inadvertently went into fatty liver because they lost weight too fast. If your parents are the type of pet owners that are unmotivated to even give something as simple as an arthritis pill then I don't see how they'll be motivated to safely transition such cat, let alone stick with it long enough to transition even a semi-resistant healthy cat to raw.
> 
> ...


Well, the older cat, shes 16, is actually underweight if anything and I think getting her to eat more nutritious food will improve her health since she has joint and dental issues stemming from being fed low quality food and being overweight when she was younger. The younger one is the chubby one, and she loves raw and my mom often gives her chicken in addition to canned/dry they eat. Since I'll be going there for a week, I will try to transition them slowly, I'm sure that if I explain my logic to my mom as far as improving Chloe's senior years as well as saving money of food, she will at least try to keep feeding the pre-ground mix if I make it easy for her to do so. 
I've tried giving them bone in meats before and they wouldnt touch it, so pre-ground is a lot easier not just for me, but for the cats to transition to and my parents to stick with the regime. 

I'm not trying to be argumentative and I appreciate your concern, but I feel like I have a better insight into the situation, and its worth a shot, if it doesent work, they can stay on their current food.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

> I also should add, that my Mum figured that she would have to grind for Boots....but he wouldn't touch it, did eat it when she minced it....so she just made it larger and larger so now he gets chunks that are more like the size of a large thumb. I was told by someone(I can't remember who or I would thank them) that cats tend to like long thin chunks, like fingers/Fries....sure enough, all 3 of them transitioned really well with that!


I guess thats something else to consider, they love tuna and canned salmon, so I'll try mixing that in with the raw and see if they'll take to it.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> I guess thats something else to consider, they love tuna and canned salmon, so I'll try mixing that in with the raw and see if they'll take to it.


That's what we did, well we used sardines as Boots wont touch any other canned fish!lol

But he still wouldn't touch ground....thankfully their dog ate it just fine, so it wasn't a waste...but I would suggest knowing if they like it before grinding a bunch!Lol


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

I must say that none of my cats are eating 100% raw. So far I have two of my kitties (Rocky and Princess) off of dry food completely. Rocky is on one meal of raw food (prey model raw, he happily eats nice chunks of meat, still have to shatter bone for him) a day with the other two meals being canned food. I've just started sneaking in some raw food in Princesses canned. I grind the meat/organ and break the bone up as finely as I can. I don't feel the need to buy a grinder when I won't be using it eventually. Third kitty (Penny) is a picky little thing. She'll lap up the gravy/juice part of the canned food (mush type stuff) and walks away from the rest. I cannot get her to eat canned yet. Let alone raw. 

Also PLEASE don't try using fish as a bribe. I did it and then couldn't get them off of fish for a year. Talk about frustrating. Cats can and do become addicted to fish.

*1) Do you use all the supplements listed? taurine, fish oil, eggs, vitamin e, B complex, lite salt, psyllium husk powder.*

Nope. I just do 80/10/10 ratio of meat/organ/bone ground up. I do supplement all of them with taurine and digestive enzymes. I don't see a point in adding all of that, especially because we use local/free range meats/organs/bones or from Hare Today. 

*2) What protein sources do you use besides chicken, turkey and rabbit? can I use beef heart instead of chicken heart for taurine?*

I use chicken, turkey, rabbit, duck, goose, venison, lamb, beef, occasionally bison and quail. 

Sure. Why not? 

*3) Do you add any type of green mix like ground seaweed (dulse or kelp)?*

Nope.

*4) Any tips for converting canned food junkie to raw? (surprisingly the kibble junkie cat loves raw chicken, so it shouldnt be an issue).*

Yes. Take it slowly. Very slowly. Very, very slowly. Unless of course the cat takes right to raw. In that case, congrats!! 
Try not to get frustrated. Start with mixing only 10% raw food with the canned for only ONE meal a day. Once they are _consistently_ eating all of it for several weeks, if not a couple of months, you can up it to 20% raw and so on and so forth until it's only raw food they are eating for that one meal. Then start doing the same with their other 1-2 meals until they are on only raw.

*5) What grinder do you use?* 

Don't use one.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

I've had trouble switching my cat... she tends to only want meat from a turkey leg... she'll eat all of it about 95% of the time. If I put down chicken necks, that's probably a 50/50 success rate (that might be a bit generous... prob more like 40/60 lol). Red meat - she wont touch it. Very occassionally she will eat about half the amount of canned sardines I put down for her. So I still allow her access to dry food, so she wont starve herself, coz she wont eat canned either. Problem lately is when she goes from raw to dry, she will throw up the first lot of dry. Then when she goes back later to eat more dry, she is ok. But I don't want to ONLY feed her turkey leg (aside from it being pretty expensive here, it's not good for her in terms of variety)... so I'm kind of in a lose-lose situation lol. I tried lightly frying some pork leg meat, but she didnt fall for that either... picky little b*tch lol


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## Gracelikerain (Jan 4, 2012)

I did partial raw for a bit so I can explain what I did but I certainly don't have the experience of other posters. 

Cat in question is a 1.5 year old Siamese mix who is a former alley cat. 


1) Do you use all the supplements listed? I supplemented with taurine and fish oil 

2) What protein sources do you use besides chicken, turkey and rabbit? I did chicken, beef, tons of fish, and turkey

3) Do you add any type of green mix like ground seaweed (dulse or kelp)? nope. she won't touch anything green

4) Any tips for converting canned food junkie to raw? (surprisingly the kibble junkie cat loves raw chicken, so it shouldnt be an issue). No real luck, this is where I hit a wall with mine. She was a total ground junkie and would come after me if I didn't get her bowl down soon enough. I could get her to occasionally chew on a chicken neck as more of a rec thing but she wouldn't try to bite through bone. 

5) What grinder do you use? N/A since I bought pre-ground but if I can't get her to go over to prey model I will look into a grinder to coarsely grind her bone


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Unosmom said:


> I'm thinking of switching my parents cats to raw, I think it'll actually be cheaper then feeding grain free canned since I have a lot of chicken and turkey and I can also find some other meats since they have several asian markets in the area. I've been using this website as a guide.
> Making Raw Cat Food for Do-It-Yourselfers
> 
> Questions to those who feed it ground raw to their kitties:
> ...


I have two cats, one that is almost exclusively kibble fed, and one that is entirely raw fed. 
My kibble cat just WON'T eat anything but kibble on any kind of regular basis, so... It is what it is. I got her at 3-5 years old, have had her for 2 years. My raw cat was fed raw from kitten hood and does well with it.
IF what I'm giving the dogs is completely fresh, and thawed appropriately, I just cut off chunks from their food for him. When I'm doing meat, I have a couple smaller plastic containers that I will toss all the smaller bits into, and those are cat food. I also cut whole fish into appropriate sizes. 
We don't grind, but I DO cut pieces pretty small, otherwise he drags it around playing with it forever, and raw on my carpet or furniture really grosses me out. 
I feed a bit of heart every day, so I don't feel the need to supplement him at all.
Once or twice a week he gets a "glop" of a Primal meat\bone/organ grind, because sometimes he gets loose stools from too little bone, and this has worked well for him. He will eat bone just fine, but does leave some behind and just doesn't eat enough of it on his own so when we see loose stools, the next day the primal bone inclusive grind clears it up. I don't like to make that a huge portion of his diet, but as a boney supplement, I don't mind.


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