Can I use other meat in a raw chicken recipe?

[Maggiez]

This is my first time making food for my cats. In the past year I've been feeding them commercial raw plus canned, and some freeze dried raw. But lately I was disappointed with the raw food I got - very expensive and some of the bags are spoiled. I want to start to make food so I can control the ingredients, giving my cats better quality meat, and lower the cost.

I just purchased the meat grinder and vitamins, and plan to follow Dr Pierson's recipe using chicken and rabbit, bone, liver, egg, and added supplement.
However, I also wish to feed my cats other types of meat such as beef, venison, lamb and pork, which they love.
So far I haven't found recipes specifically designed for these cuts. Can I use Dr Pierson's recipe, and swap out the chicken meat with a different type of meat and organ, while maintaining using chicken bones, egg, and the supplement that she used in a chicken recipe? The grinder I got can only ground soft bones, so I plan to stick with poultry and rabbit bones. But I'm worried that different type of meat has totally different nutrition composition, so a chicken recipe might not work for beef or pork.
Also, I saw the recipe on catnutrition.org recommend using chicken liver and heart if possible, but not beef. If I'm cooking with beef, would you recommend keep using chicken liver instead of beef liver?

I'm still very new to homemade food but I'm very excited. I've given my cats both cooked and raw meat as a snack, and they loved them so much. Can't wait to switch to 100% homemade.

 

[Meowmee]

This is my first time making food for my cats. In the past year I've been feeding them commercial raw plus canned, and some freeze dried raw. But lately I was disappointed with the raw food I got - very expensive and some of the bags are spoiled. I want to start to make food so I can control the ingredients, giving my cats better quality meat, and lower the cost.

I just purchased the meat grinder and vitamins, and plan to follow Dr Pierson's recipe using chicken and rabbit, bone, liver, egg, and added supplement.
However, I also wish to feed my cats other types of meat such as beef, venison, lamb and pork, which they love.
So far I haven't found recipes specifically designed for these cuts. Can I use Dr Pierson's recipe, and swap out the chicken meat with a different type of meat and organ, while maintaining using chicken bones, egg, and the supplement that she used in a chicken recipe? The grinder I got can only ground soft bones, so I plan to stick with poultry and rabbit bones. But I'm worried that different type of meat has totally different nutrition composition, so a chicken recipe might not work for beef or pork.
Also, I saw the recipe on catnutrition.org recommend using chicken liver and heart if possible, but not beef. If I'm cooking with beef, would you recommend keep using chicken liver instead of beef liver?

I'm still very new to homemade food but I'm very excited. I've given my cats both cooked and raw meat as a snack, and they loved them so much. Can't wait to switch to 100% homemade.

I think you can. Others who do raw will help. I do home cooked with chicken, chicken liver and supplements from knowwhatyoufeed.com
The whole grinder stuff etc. was way too much for me to manage. With know what you feed you can either cook or use raw meat. The supplements vary according to whether you have bone or not etc. They can help you select the right one.

 

[Tobermory]

I use Dr. Pierson’s recipe and have for four years, except I do substitute eggshell calcium for the bone. All of mine have trouble with constipation so I stopped using bone. I rotate chicken, turkey (their favorite), and pork, all using her recipe. I tried rabbit, but they didn’t like it!

 

[Maggiez]

I use Dr. Pierson’s recipe and have for four years, except I do substitute eggshell calcium for the bone. All of mine have trouble with constipation so I stopped using bone. I rotate chicken, turkey (their favorite), and pork, all using her recipe. I tried rabbit, but they didn’t like it!

It’s really good to hear that I can use different meat in her recipe. I plan to make some beef and lamb this weekend.
I actually have the opposite issue - after starting feeding homemade raw this week (I half baked the chicken this time because it’s supermarket meat), my girl pen pen started to have soft poop. She’s been on commercial raw and never had issues. The day I made the food, I gave her homemade food and large pieces of raw chicken, plus she chucked down a small piece of raw chicken neck with bones. I left it out for them to chew on and clean their teeth, but surprised she ate a whole piece lol the day after she had the poop that showed on Dr Pierson’s website, firm oderless and lighter in color. But the 3 following days when she mostly homemade, she started to have darker poop that’s soft and partially runny, which is very surprising.
My grey cat Ash love the homemade and ate a lot. His poop has been improved and normal. Which makes me think the food should be good and not spoiled.
I do still give pen pen some commercial freezer dried and a bit canned, because for some reason she doesn’t like the homemade food after I mixed in the vitamins. She always loved all the cooked and raw meat I gave her for snacks. Not sure which part of her diet is causing the soft poop now.
I’m having trouble to get my black cat Loki to eat the homemade. He’s eat a bit homemade after I add some canned or freezer dried on top. But most his food is still canned and freeze dried.
I will try out different meat next week and hopefully they will eat some more…

 

[Nice Loki]

I’m having trouble to get my black cat Loki to eat the homemade.

Lol I have a Loki too, mine is a ginger boy.

Just a thought, have you tried Loki on cooked or partially cooked homemade?
Don't cook the meat with the supplements, add them once the meat has cooled or the heat will destroy the vitamins.

 

[Meowmee]

It’s really good to hear that I can use different meat in her recipe. I plan to make some beef and lamb this weekend.
I actually have the opposite issue - after starting feeding homemade raw this week (I half baked the chicken this time because it’s supermarket meat), my girl pen pen started to have soft poop. She’s been on commercial raw and never had issues. The day I made the food, I gave her homemade food and large pieces of raw chicken, plus she chucked down a small piece of raw chicken neck with bones. I left it out for them to chew on and clean their teeth, but surprised she ate a whole piece lol the day after she had the poop that showed on Dr Pierson’s website, firm oderless and lighter in color. But the 3 following days when she mostly homemade, she started to have darker poop that’s soft and partially runny, which is very surprising.
My grey cat Ash love the homemade and ate a lot. His poop has been improved and normal. Which makes me think the food should be good and not spoiled.
I do still give pen pen some commercial freezer dried and a bit canned, because for some reason she doesn’t like the homemade food after I mixed in the vitamins. She always loved all the cooked and raw meat I gave her for snacks. Not sure which part of her diet is causing the soft poop now.
I’m having trouble to get my black cat Loki to eat the homemade. He’s eat a bit homemade after I add some canned or freezer dried on top. But most his food is still canned and freeze dried.
I will try out different meat next week and hopefully they will eat some more…

Try adding it in slowly and try cooking or partially cooking as suggested. My guys eat it cooked, I haven’t tried raw or partially cooked with them.

 

[Maggiez]

So far all of my cats have been eating the raw homemade with little issue.
I still need to trick Loki to eat it with some benito flake topping. Sometimes I use a little canned or freezer dried topping to get him stared. But it's funny that once he "found" the food, he actually really like the homemade raw and left the canned at the end. Cats are funny!

 

[Meowmee]

So far all of my cats have been eating the raw homemade with little issue.
I still need to trick Loki to eat it with some benito flake topping. Sometimes I use a little canned or freezer dried topping to get him stared. But it's funny that once he "found" the food, he actually really like the homemade raw and left the canned at the end. Cats are funny!

That is great! I may eventually try raw with mine too, I am not sure yet due to all of their sensitive tummy issues. However I think it would be easier maybe then cooking it. But with the raw I have to worry about storage and freezing it and stuff like that which I didn’t like in the past.