Cheaply Switching to Raw

[xcourtney3]

I'm thinking about incorporating some raw into my kitties' diet. Mainly because my male cat has FLUTD. I know they will eat the raw patties by Nature's Variety, so it would have to be something ground up. My problem is that I lost my job and my husband is disabled, so we're living off a disability check to pay the bills and don't have a whole lot left over. So, how can I incorporate raw without spending a lot of money? Any other raw advice welcome.

 

[mschauer]

Making your own raw food will ceratainly save you money over buying commercial. You have to be prepared to put some time and effort into it though

Here are a couple of very good sites with deatiled information on making raw cat food:

http://catinfo.org

http://www.catnutrition.org/

My FLUTD kitty was my major motivation for switching to raw. She has been crystal free for about 3 years now.

Let us know how it goes and if you have any more questions!

 

[goingpostal]

Well personally I would try to get them to eat bones, whole lot better for them but if you ask on craigslist or freecycle or even check rummage sales you can probably find a cheap grinder and ask your butcher about getting meat by the case, meat is $$$ where I live but I can get chicken parts in 30# cases for .69 a pound. You'd need a freezer, I bought a used one locally and got a free one off a relative. Buying in bulk is the way to go though. Depends on where you live but I can get meat from trappers or leftovers from hunters for free as well.

 

[auntie crazy]

Hiya, Xcourtney3!

As Mschauer said, buying fresh, whole meats, organs and bone-in meals is far cheaper than any commercially-prepared raw food can be.

Grinding the ingredients and adding supplements, which is what cat info and cat nutrition suggest, is very time consuming and will cost you more for supplements than feeding frankenprey. Frankenprey, conversely, will be less expensive and take less time - but you will have to learn how to balance the ingredients and commit to feeding them as needed. It isn't difficult, but it is very important to do it right.

You can get a good feel for what frankenprey entails on the TCS thread, Natural Diet Information Resources or you could go to CatCentric.org's raw feeding page for an expanded version of that information.

If you're not interested or able to home-prepare your kitty's raw foods, I think your best bet would be to shop around the local stores, see who has the best prices and sales. You can also ask specialty pet store owner's if they'd be willing to give you a discount if you buy in bulk (I used to get 10% every time I asked.)

Good luck! It's absolutely awesome that you're switching your furbabies onto a fresh, raw diet.

AC