Raw cat...where to begin???

[TreeStar]

I've been meaning to begin transitioning one of my cats to a raw diet, but am having trouble getting started. I've checked out some forums and raw pet food distributors but am left feeling a little lost. Looking at one website, the cost of getting just a sample size amount of cat food would cost $23 before shipping, so I'm inclined to prepare the food myself by purchasing the meat locally.

I would love some advice about where to start from you wonderful raw pet owners! Do you worry about salmonella at all? Do you buy frozen meat or fresh? Is a grinder really necessary, or are they primarily for grinding the bones and such?

[oceanluv]

I started my cat on the ground raw chickenfood. it was very expensive, but he loved it. I didn't think I could handle dealing with the raw meat, etc. long story short. I now just buy chicken parts, ask the butcher to chop them up into smaller pieces, (breast with ribs in about 4-6 pieces) they always ask what are you going to make, lol. the legs I get are the little drumsticks, and they chop those up for me too. as for grinding the bones, once your cat is used to the raw meat, he/she will chew them up with out any problems. he loves the livers the best. I seperate the meats into smaller portions, and freeze them in the disposable ziplock containers. enough for 1 or 2 days in a container. I don't worry about salmonella , etc. their digestions are made to handle all kinds of yucky things. of course, I wash my hands, and make sure I don't use any containers, plates, etc. that have been used for his food for mine. (I'm just funny that way) good luck. Bubba is healthy, happy and has a very shiny coat.

[oceanluv]

forgot to mention... he also gets an egg yolk sprinkled w/ dulse flakes once a week. it's recommended to also give them salmon oil capsules-just pierce them and put the oil on the food. sometimes I will buy stew beef chunks, he likes that. I remember a lot of posts on this subject, so maybe look under the banana search?

[Colin]

My cat Princess was 17 when she got sick and I found out about raw on the Internet and in Vancouver there were quite a few pet stores that sold frozen raw cat food. She immediately took to it and recovered very well. I wish I had known about this when she was young. Same with all my previous pets. Anyways she lived well for 2 more years on the raw. Although the last few months of her life I made my own raw food which contained fewer bones which she no longer liked.
There are quite a number of raw food pet groups online.
Here is where I was getting my raw food. Maybe Tucson has similar companies that sell raw cat food. Or make your own.
http://www.amorepetfoods.com/

http://www.simplynaturalrawpet.com/h...d_for_cats.asp

http://www.reddogdeli.com/

[somelikeitraw]

A google search of raw cat food recipes returned this.

I'm glad you posted. I have been thinking about transitioning the cat friends I have now to raw. I had an old cat two years ago and when she was not doing well, raw cat food saved her life and gave her 3 more years of fun and frolicking. I would rather save money and make it at home this time though.

[somelikeitraw]

The first link I clicked on was wonderful! Click here to check it out. A DVM wrote it and has wonderful links throughout. What she says makes sense. To me anyway.