Feeding Amount

[Sibguy]

Hi All, just got my new kitty and he is eating raw!. I'm feeding 4 to 5 times a day and he gobbles everything up every time is this ok? Feeding as much as he will eat?
Have not weighed him yet but he feels about 2- 3 pounds max. He is eating right now about 2 to 3 oz a day. He is 12 weeks.

 

[Sibguy]

Also, I'm leaving out his food for about 3 hrs max in the bowl is this a safe time as it comes out from the fridge cold.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

Most places recommend 30min for raw foods. As soon as it's out of the fridge it begins to warm up quickly and bacteria will begin to multiply rapidly after that. I'd go an hour max, and even that seems a little long.

 

[Sibguy]

Wow really?

 

[EmmiTemmi]

Although, if you want the FDA suggestion they say 2 hours. So you could go up to that I suppose, but with raw meats, which are fantastic nutrition sources for bacteria, it seems pretty risky.

 

[Sibguy]

I find that hard to believe. I would like to see a study or sample of that. I keep fish and it takes up to six weeks for bacteria to grow in the filter before you can add fish. I heard also in labs it takes leghty times..

 

[dhammagirl]

I've left raw food out for several hours, until kitty comes back to finish, and have had no issues. Zero. I've been doing this for a couple years now.
Only on a few occasions has a cat refused to eat some raw leftovers, so then the dog gets it.
At first, I tried to follow all the advice to dispose of food uneaten after 30 minutes, but it's just too expensive, and after all this time of leaving it out, and having zero issues, I'm inclined to say it's probably usually okay.

 

[Sibguy]

I've left raw food out for several hours, until kitty comes back to finish, and have had no issues. Zero. I've been doing this for a couple years now.
Only on a few occasions has a cat refused to eat some raw leftovers, so then the dog gets it.
At first, I tried to follow all the advice to dispose of food uneaten after 30 minutes, but it's just too expensive, and after all this time of leaving it out, and having zero issues, I'm inclined to say it's probably usually okay.

I believe you as I'm a very skeptical of all the stuff "They" say. They also do this with deadly diseases and make us believe as soon as we walk out the door we should be careful because there are deadly disease every where around us

 

[EmmiTemmi]

I believe you as I'm a very skeptical of all the stuff "They" say. They also do this with deadly diseases and make us believe as soon as we walk out the door we should be careful because there are deadly disease every where around us

I believe it's more like food service people are covering their butts. When I worked in a kitchen we had to toss stuff that was in the temperature danger zone because if someone got sick off our food it would be our fault for not having it within the safe temperature ranges. I'm sure plenty of people ignore this information. But as long as a company says 'hey don't leave the food out longer than BLANK hours' they run less of a risk of someone coming after them saying the food made them sick. The 2 hour is what science has shown, and people are free to ignore it if they want.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

Also, I was wrong. It's FSIS (through USDA), not FDA, that has that recommendation.

Danger Zone

 

[dhammagirl]

I believe it's more like food service people are covering their butts. When I worked in a kitchen we had to toss stuff that was in the temperature danger zone because if someone got sick off our food it would be our fault for not having it within the safe temperature ranges. I'm sure plenty of people ignore this information. But as long as a company says 'hey don't leave the food out longer than BLANK hours' they run less of a risk of someone coming after them saying the food made them sick. The 2 hour is what science has shown, and people are free to ignore it if they want.

Humans will likely get sick from bacteria loads that cat's digestive system can handle.
I'm not into hyper hygiene, but I am careful to clean up after handling the raw cat food, for my own health and safety.
I don't eat meat, or any animal products, so the only time I handle raw meat is for my obligate carnivores.

 

[Sibguy]

Did you know also people with a healthy stomach can ingest ecoli and not even know they did. Makes sense with the cats digestion

 

[lalagimp]

Back to the original post though, if the kitten is that young and you can keep up, I would say let kitten eat as much as they want in each sitting. I feed two of my adults raw food for the past year, and they've been on a five times per day schedule for years. We do 6 am, 9-9:30 am, 12 noon, 5 pm, and 9:30 pm. Fortunately the man cats are grown, so one guy is on 6 oz per day and the other is on 4 oz per day.

 

[orange&white]

2-3 ounces a day isn't much food. I would overfill his plate 4-5 times a day and pick up leftovers in whatever time you're comfortable doing.

I just raised a kitten on raw and adopted her at 4 months old. She was eating 6-8 ounces of raw food the first few months, before her growth rate slowed down and her appetite tapered off. Also, I brought in 5-6 weeks feral kitten who was abandoned in my yard. Even that little guy ate up to a half-pound of raw diet every day in lots of 1-2 ounce servings. (He went to a shelter for neuter and adoption as soon as he was old enough.)

The kitten I adopted refused to eat the food if it sat out too long and got a little dried out. She wanted fresh, fresh, fresh...so I picked it up usually in less than an hour. Otherwise the dog got cat food leftovers.