Ideal Raw Food Diet for Cats?

[megantucker]

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?

[somelikeitraw]

I feel your pain! I, too, started researching this and got very overwhelmed. I ended up buying raw cat food from a nearby mom & pop pet store. It was Halshan's whole ground chicken with veggies. This is a stand by go to item for us. I can not afford to feed it all of the time, we have one tame cat and two feral cats. I give it to them on occasion and for special occasions and if I see that they have any issues going on. They all hunt and eat what they catch so I know they are getting some raw food, lol!

Halshan's was frozen, so I think you could do up a large batch and then defrost as needed.

I bought a book on the subject of raw cat food and it really started to seem just too complicated for me. I do not want to grind my own chickens, nor does any of my local butchers. The book suggests buying whole chicken and asking your butcher to grind it up for you saying they will have no problem with this. They do. In fact, one told me it wasn't legal for them to grind it, they get it in already ground. I'm not sure I believe this but I do believe that they don't want contamination issues and to grind one chicken and then have to clean up again probably isn't very cost effective for them.

I am going to go google mail order raw cat food and see if I can find any less expensive options. I know I have seem raw pet food recipes online, but none seemed to cover everything the book mentioned needed covering.

[oceanluv]

. I buy meat from the grocery store. I don't grind it or make recipes. they get chicken breasts with and without bones,thighs, liver and hearts, stew beef, pork occasionally. there is a formula found on that site that tells you the % of meat to bones to organs needed per weight of your cat. It is not as complicated as it seems at first. good luck


http://www.catforum.com/viewforum.php?f=30 is a good place to look

[Kilico]

I have been told that raw cats require a balance of meat, bone and organ matter, in about the proportions you'd find in their typical wild-caught meal, the mouse. I think your ideas are pretty well right on target, except that it will be good to add chicken necks and other raw bones for the cat to chew on so as to maintain strong teeth. These are cheap.

[dairine2003]

Hi everyone! My first post!

I have two cats - one 15 yrs and one 6 yrs. They are both now eating raw. I chose to go with a manufactured food (Nature's Variety) just so that I would be sure that they were getting the correct nutrients. In order to entice them, I would warm up 1T of chicken broth and pour that on top of the meat nuggets. They are eating just fine. :)

In fact, my 15 yr old has gained a pound after dropping from 14 lbs to 10 lbs in 6 months. He used to be on a medicated diet for crystals in his urine. I completely stopped that and he now gets raw and BOTTLED water only. I think the bottled water is key for him because our water is really very hard where I live in the dessert. Our vet recommends that all cats drink bottled water.

My 6 yr old has suffered terribly from allergies and she was just fat! She has now dropped 2 lbs and her allergies are gone! Her eyes are clear, her coat is so soft, it's a whole new kitty.

As far as cost - they collectively eat 5 meat nuggets (5 oz) a day. There are 60 nuggets in a bag and the bags cost anywhere from $17-$25, depending on the flavor. My cats favorite is the rabbit.

S

[fastfreedom]

I don't have a cat. But I do have a dog that I feed a raw diet to. It's just a natural diet for em to eat the same way they would in the wild. Not necessary to cut and chop into bite sized pieces. They can rip and tear, that's how they were designed. I do however cut whatever I'm gonna feed into a daily meal sized portion and just take what is needed out of the freezer every day and feed it. Turkey leg/turkey wing/turkey breast/whole rabbit/etc....

In the wild they eat meat from what they catch or scavange. And typically their fiber and veggies come in fermented form from the GI tract of what they have caught.

Here's a good site I found last night while I was up and couldn't sleep. http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners.php


Personally I would sell that cat food you bought. Craigslist, classifieds, ebay, someone you know, take it back to the store and get your money back, etc...

Animals are the same when it comes to diet and diesease. Get em back to their raw natural diet and they become healthy.

[christinajade]

Nice post fastfreedom! I totally agree.

[k8sl8]

I don't have a cat. But I do have a dog that I feed a raw diet to. It's just a natural diet for em to eat the same way they would in the wild. Not necessary to cut and chop into bite sized pieces. They can rip and tear, that's how they were designed. I do however cut whatever I'm gonna feed into a daily meal sized portion and just take what is needed out of the freezer every day and feed it. Turkey leg/turkey wing/turkey breast/whole rabbit/etc....

In the wild they eat meat from what they catch or scavange. And typically their fiber and veggies come in fermented form from the GI tract of what they have caught.

Here's a good site I found last night while I was up and couldn't sleep. http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners.php


Personally I would sell that cat food you bought. Craigslist, classifieds, ebay, someone you know, take it back to the store and get your money back, etc...

Animals are the same when it comes to diet and diesease. Get em back to their raw natural diet and they become healthy.

Sound advice!

[roseyonnex]

www.catnutrition.org

Save my cat from urinary problems...see my post in this section.