Hi,

My cat, KokoNut, just came back from the vet where he had been hospitalized due to cistytis - a very bad blocked and infected bladder. The condition was life threatening and at some points it looked like he might not make it without surgery which would "turn him into a girl" and give him bladder control problems for life.

Fortunately, the vet finally managed to get him out of the emergency stage. He is back at home, extremely happy, peeing normally, and taking some final recovery prescriptions.

Once that is over, I want to put him and my other cat, Nutmeg, onto a raw food diet. Especially Koko, since he has a genetic condition which makes him more prone to blockage.

Here is where I get lost - what IS the best raw food diet for cats? How do I ensure I give them the right amounts of everything and don't miss something vital, or overdo a certain type of ingredient?

Getting them to eat raw meat is not a problem, they love it, and they don't like cooked meat.

Also, due to what I read about cystitis on earthclinic.org, I am giving Koko lots of Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. I have been marinating raw chicken in it, and giving him chunks. He loves it.

But for a long-term solution, I am lost.

I also can not afford to spend a lot a lot of money on this. I already have a $533 bill for the vet. I had purchased Wellness catfood for them, in advance, so now have over 12 pounds of it sitting on the shelf, which I will probably use to feed Nutmeg till it is used up. Maybe I will start mixing it with water though.

And I don't have a lot of time. I usually am in the office from morning till 8 to 10 pm. Though there are other family members at home. No one has an hour a day to prepare anything complicated, but if there were something we could prepare or semi-prepare in advance ...

I am thinking, what about a combination of chicken, chicken livers, chicken hearts, and chicken gizzards. And then what else - so that I make sure I am not missing something important. What about bone matter to chew on? What other meats should they eat, or not eat?

What about marinating the meat in the vinegar, so as to help ensure the cystitis doesn't come back? I suspect Nutmeg may have a similar but less serious situation.

And in summary, is there an overall diet plan I can find and simply follow, so I don't have to do so much guess work?