Help For A Newbie...

[Saf]

Hi, I got a couple of new kittens a few weeks ago and decided to feed them a raw food diet from the beginning after seeing the destruction caused by commercial cat food, particularly dry food, to my last two (and first two) cats, Anna and Lucia, who passed away of CKD aged just 10 and 9. My new kittens, Sawyer and Freckles, immediately took to raw food, which was a big relief. For various reasons, the option of doing everything home made isn't realistic. I'm in the UK and have been getting their food from a company called Natural Instincts and I've been impressed by the quality of their products. However, they have a limited selection of balanced foods, but I'd like to get some of the other "pure" meats they sell, which aren't balanced. I've ordered some Felani Complete powder to add to the pure meats but what I'm confused about is that won't the different meats have different levels of nutrients to begin with so how can a universal powder turn the meat into a truly balanced diet? Isn't there a danger of ending up with too much of one thing and not enough of another?

 

[LTS3]

There are other raw options in the UK besides Natural Instincts. Here is a list: Raw food in UK? Any tips or experience? It looks like Nature's Menu is popular and has a decent variety of complete diets.

Good question about how a pre-mix can turn any meat into a complete diet Meat from different animals do have different nutrient compositions.

 

[orange&white]

Different meats do have different vitamin/mineral composition, but probably not significant enough to worry. I would just try to rotate as many meat proteins through the diet as possible. You are then averaging out any differences. A good supplement powder should never push you over the maximum daily allowance, regardless of meat.

I make raw homemade and add the same supplements per pound of meat regardless of which type of protein I'm using as a "base" meat.

 

[Columbine]

My understanding is that there is safe range for vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. I imagine that products like Fellini Complete are designed to make sure that there is enough of each nutrient for the finished food to be a balanced meal, regardless of the meat used. Sure, some meats will be higher or lower in certain nutrients than others, but each made up batch will have enough of everything whilst still being in the safe range.

Look at human multivitamins - some have 200% or 300% of the RDA of certain nutrients, but are still absolutely safe to take. Logically, the same will hold true for our kitties when it comes to these premixes So long as you follow the pack instructions, it'll be just fine

 

[Columbine]

This is my list of UK raw food suppliers (also in the thread LTS3 linked to):-

Zooplus Pet Supplies at zooplus Online Pet Shop, Pet Food & Pet Accessories.
Fellini Complete premix supplement;
Pure raw minced meats in the Dog Food section (designed to be supplemented before feeding), so it looks like they'd be suitable for cats too, with a premixe or for use in a balanced homemade recipe.

Nature’s Menu - www.naturesmenu.co.uk
Most widely available. Complete raw meals, pre ground meats (bone in), raw meaty bones,
freeze dried complete food sold as ‘Country Hunter Freeze Dried treats” (I have spoken to the
company, and they confirmed that these are a complete diet once rehydrated). Great starter
food as the meals come in small nuggets for easy defrosting.
Also available from Pets at Home stores and from Amazon UK

Natural Instinct - www.naturalinstinct.com
Complete meals, plain ground meats, raw meaty bones

Kiezebrink - www.kiezebrink.co.uk
Huge range of pre ground meats and supplies for PMR feeding. Also have their own range of
complete meals.

Purrform - www.purrform.co.uk
Complete meals (100% meat) and PMR supplies. Another good starter brand, as the
meal are available in 70g pouches as well as 450g tubs.

Nutriment - www.nutriment.co.uk
Complete meals and plain ground meats (listed under dog food)

Raw to go - www.rawtogo.co.uk
Huge range of plain minces, chunks and PMR supplies.

Barf-Rawfood - www.barf-rawfood.co.uk
Plain minces, complete meals and raw meaty bones.

 

[Saf]

My understanding is that there is safe range for vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. I imagine that products like Fellini Complete are designed to make sure that there is enough of each nutrient for the finished food to be a balanced meal, regardless of the meat used. Sure, some meats will be higher or lower in certain nutrients than others, but each made up batch will have enough of everything whilst still being in the safe range.

Look at human multivitamins - some have 200% or 300% of the RDA of certain nutrients, but are still absolutely safe to take. Logically, the same will hold true for our kitties when it comes to these premixes So long as you follow the pack instructions, it'll be just fine

Has anyone gonna down the road of buying each supplement separately? The issue I have is that one of the pure meat products I'd like to get (green tripe) has a dma phosphorus level of 0.77 - which I'd be happy to supplement as it's on the low side, the kind of levels in renal diets. But another, 100% chicken has a dma phosphorus of 1.87, which is a nice range and I wouldn't want it added to it, and actually the balanced chicken they sell has a slightly lower dma of phosphorus. But if I don't add the powder I won't get the essential vitamins they need either.

 

[orange&white]

I use Vitamins E, B-Complex, Taurine, Lite Salt, Egg yolks, and Omega-3 in the amounts from the recipe at feline-nutrition.org.