Goat Or Lamb? Very Occasional Raw Fish?

[silverpersian]

I feed lamb, beef, turkey, rabbit, and cornish hen. One of my cats is allergic to chicken, so that is not an option.

I would like to try goat. I understand that it is lower in fat and calories than lamb. Would I have to do anything other than increasing the amount I feed? One of our cats does not have an "off button" for eating, so we feed scheduled meals in fixed amounts.

Am I being too cautious? It would be easier for the cat sitter to have a single amount to feed, so if the difference isn't worth fretting over, I would rather not.

My second question is about raw, frozen sardines. I give each cat half of one every 2-3 weeks. Is such a small amount problematic? I am aware of the issues with using raw fish as a main protein.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

 

[Ardina]

How does your cat tolerate Cornish hens but not chickens? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Cornish hens a type of chicken?

In terms of feeding the goat, you could probably feed the same amount you normally do. Beef and lamb are a lot fattier than rabbit or turkey, but I assume you feed the same amount without taking that into consideration. Since you rotate proteins, you'll balance the fat intake over time.

 

[abby2932]

Both of my cats love goat and it is in my "vacation rotation" (Goat and Llama). Basically, I prepare goat or llama for my cat sitter to feed when I'm out of town. I use the same amount that I do when I feed rabbit, turkey and pork, which is their normal rotation of food when I'm home.

 

[orange&white]

Cornish hens are a hybrid breed of chicken which are slaughtered younger than other poultry chicken breeds. Both breed and age of slaughter make them "small chickens".

I agree with Ardina. Since you are rotating so many types of proteins, the fat content and calories balance out over time (unless you are feeding each protein for many weeks before rotating to the next protein). I usually rotate 3-4 different proteins over a 4-6 week period.

 

[orange&white]

I will add that I'm still feeding my growing kitten as much food as she wants to eat. When I have a lean meat in rotation, she eats more. She eats the least amount of food when I have a beef mix. For a while, I assumed that she didn't care as much for beef, but I think she is actually self-regulating her own calories, and beef is very fatty.

 

[silverpersian]

Thank you very much for the responses. Our vet recommended the Cornish hen. He said he had seen a few cats who were sensitive to chicken big could tolerate Cornish hen.

The chicken sensitivity is a sure thing. At first our cat scratched all the fur off his ears, due to my ignorance of the need for rotating proteins. We eliminated all chicken, then very gradually reintroduced it as part of a rotation. Our cat ended up with feline acne. Our vet recommended that we eliminate the chicken. We did, and the acne was gone. He has had Cornish hen throughout.

 

[silverpersian]

Any thoughts on the occasional raw sardine? They are from mypetcarnivore.

 

[orange&white]

An occasional raw sardine is all right. I usually buy tinned fish (sardines, salmon, mackerel) and give my cats 3 oz per week (1.5 oz each). A while back, I purchased a couple of whole fresh sardines instead of tins. They were large: about 6-8 ounces each. I did steam the one I fed them to deactivate the thiaminase, and mixed it into their raw mix for the week, but cooking was probably unnecessary since fish is such a small part of their diet. Both cats got constipated after about 4 days on the sardine mix, so the dog got the other fresh sardine. The cats went back to tins.

 

[maggiedemi]

Is fish constipating?

 

[orange&white]

It shouldn't be, but both my cats got constipated on exactly the same day for several days after I added that whole sardine to their mix. It was about twice the number of ounces of fish they usually eat, and sardines are very high in calcium. Not exactly sure the fish was to blame, but I'm not doing it again.