Four months into RAW....question about fatty meats

[txcatmom]

Hi.  Since August we've been adding raw into our cats' diets.  Three of our four are eating 50% raw, 50% grain free canned.  One (Lucy, stomatitis kitty) is eating 100% raw.  I just traveled for a week and my husband did great feeding the kitties raw! 

  However, if we ever travel together I worry that they would need to eat canned so I am hesitant to do away with canned entirely.  (Yes, in an ideal world we'd find a pet sitter who would do raw, but I'm not totally sure we can.  They went to a well researched pet hotel last time.)

Anyhow, I just placed my latest order with Hare Today (love that place) and had a question about fat.

Do normal sized cats need to eat fattier meats like pork?  She specifically mentions in her description of some meats that they contain more fat and are good for "not so easy keepers" (cats who need help gaining or keeping weight.)  NONE of mine fit that description.  (They are also not fat, though one had some weight creep on recently.  We are monitoring mealtime more closely so she can't eat other cats' leftovers and she is slowly loosing the weight.) 

Mine have had pork in their rotation, but I didn't order any this time.  (I've read here and discussed with you all how it really is safe, but I'm not sure I can fight those nagging doubts....and why bother if they don't need that much fat anyways.)  I tend to feel better about them eating smaller animals that they could kill themselves anyways (like fowl and rabbit.) 

Would a diet of things like turkey, chicken and rabbit be unbalanced or not contain enough fat?  (Assuming they are ordered from Hare Today, meat with organs and bones.) 

This time I ordered a little Mutton (doesn't fit my small animal preference) and Duck to try too.  She mentioned that the mutton is higher in fat and I'd think the duck would be but she didn't say that. 

Any thought about whether my kitties will get enough fat without the pork?

 

[mschauer]

There is no reason at all to feed pork if you would rather not. Raw feeders don't feed it for the fat. We feed it cuz our kitties love it!

There is plenty of fat in other meats. 

 

[txcatmom]

We feed it cuz our kitties love it!

Well, yeah....mine love it too. 

  But, I just worry I am "depriving" them of fat if I stick with things like chicken and rabbit (which they also love.) 

 

[mschauer]

Well, like I said, other meats have plenty of fat. Chicken is pretty fatty. Lots of folks don't feed pork.

 

[ritz]

I fed frankenprey but the same would apply to ground:

Rabbit is very low in fat.  Ritz loves rabbit--or maybe she just wants to eat more and more of it because it i so low in fat.  So when I fed rabbit, I also feed (same meal) something a little higher in fat, like beef or pork (excess fat trimmed).

Chicken can be low in fat, especially chicken breast.  So again I would feed it with something with a little bit of fat.  Or feed chicken breast + chicken thigh.

I ordered Duck pieces from HT, and it contained a LOT of fat and (heavy) bone.  Ritz loved it though.  So next time I might order ground duck (no organs, bone) and mix it with something like rabbit to balance out the fat content.

Ritz needs to lose some weight, but feels more satiated (and bugs me less!) with a little more fat and a little less protein.

 

[mschauer]

I suppose if you are feeding exceptionally lean meats you might want to add some fatty pieces. But it certainly doesn't have to be pork.

 

[txcatmom]

I would think the HT chicken isn't too low fat since they ground up the whole chicken.  But, I might keep throwing in some higher fat meats here or there just to make sure they get enough, since I hope to keep rabbit as a staple in their rotation.  Maybe they will like the mutton as an occasional higher fat meat. 

 

[ldg]

Chicken with skin is just about one of the highest fat content proteins there is. I just put together a quick analysis based on the USDA Nutrient Database information. Here's what it looks like: (If it turns up small, you can click on it and it will enlarge).

Macronutrient Content of Proteins.JPG

• ldg
• Dec 7, 2012

The issue with pork isn't a high fat content. It is a high saturated fat content.

...and wild rabbit is lean; farm raised rabbit is not.


The macronutrient content of a cat's natural diet (on a dry matter basis) is 62.7% protein, 22.8% fat, 11.8% ash, and 2.8% carbs. (Plantinga et. al 2011)

 

[ldg]

Added wild rabbit, for comparison.

Macronutrient Content of Proteins w wild rabbit.JP

• ldg
• Dec 7, 2012

 

[txcatmom]

Thanks, LDG. That was really helpful.   Since Chicken is a favorite here, it looks like I don't have to worry about them getting enough fat (if HT is including the skin.) 

This might be a stupid question, but does this description of the Hare Today ground chicken sound like the skin is included in their ground chicken.....

  Fine ground chicken, this is the entire dressed bird including the offal [heart, gizzards, liver] USDA inspected, all natural.

This food is low in Sodium. It is also a good source of Niacin, and a very good source of Protein.

I think the skin must be included??  Is that what "dressed" means? 

 

[ldg]

I believe that dressed means the stomach, small intestine and colon have been removed (and feathers). But I'd call Tracy at Hare Today to make sure.

I ordered whole quail, and they came like that. Skin, yes, feathers no, and that part of the GI tract removed.

 

[txcatmom]

I e-mailed Tracy at Hare Today.  The ground chicken does include the skin.  No worries about them getting enough fat with this knowledge. 

 

[ldg]

Yep, as mschauer said, no NEED to feed pork.

 

[txcatmom]

Thanks, I just didn't want to deprive my babies of the fat they need. 

  I'm so glad I have you guys to field these questions.

 

[ritz]

You can always weigh the cats, too, to make sure they're gaining the weight they should/shouldn't be.  Baby scales are sufficient.  Check some threads for recommendations.