I'm really thinking about raw

[mewlittle]

okay lately I been thinking about feeding raw for my cats and dogs my problem is no grinder no freazer space and no storage bowls and don't know were to get the vitamins suppliments if need to and cost wise and don't know were to get the raw meat i'll figure all that out on my own but can any one give me some basic info on raw diet and a basic raw diet recipe? not to complicated please and a basic feeding chart Thanks.

 

[ldg]

Well, if you keep it to 15% or less of their total diet, you don't need to worry about balancing it. Is that something you're maybe interested in? If so, just buy meat on sale and feed it to your fur kids. You can also offer them some chicken or beef liver (some of my cats don't tolerate raw liver well, especially beef), green tripe, gizzards, hearts....

If you want to feed prey model raw, with as many animals as you have, you'll definitely need freezer space, and that's the place to start. I suggest looking on craigslist in your area for chest freezers. See what size you can fit, and whether or not you can afford the prices at which they're offered.

I bought one that fits probably... 100 pounds or so of meat for $35. My 8 cats eat about 60 pounds of food a month.

Without a grinder, what you're interested in is Prey Model Raw, also known as frankenprey. This site is a good resource: http://www.catcentric.org

 

[mewlittle]

Well, if you keep it to 15% or less of their total diet, you don't need to worry about balancing it. Is that something you're maybe interested in? If so, just buy meat on sale and feed it to your fur kids. You can also offer them some chicken or beef liver (some of my cats don't tolerate raw liver well, especially beef), green tripe, gizzards, hearts....

If you want to feed prey model raw, with as many animals as you have, you'll definitely need freezer space, and that's the place to start. I suggest looking on craigslist in your area for chest freezers. See what size you can fit, and whether or not you can afford the prices at which they're offered.

I bought one that fits probably... 100 pounds or so of meat for $35. My 8 cats eat about 60 pounds of food a month.

Without a grinder, what you're interested in is Prey Model Raw, also known as frankenprey. This site is a good resource: http://www.catcentric.org

well I wanted to stop dry but keep the wet maybe feed 5.5 oz of wet can a aday and I don't know %

 

[ldg]

Well, if you went 100% wet food, assuming you have adult cats that would be eating about one 5.5 ounce can a day, that's 13 cans of food a day, for a total of 71.5 ounces (about 4.5 pounds). So 15% of that is about 11 ounces. So you could provide 11 ounces of raw meat/gizzards/heart, occasionally some organs a day, and then you'd only be feeding basically 11 cans of food, not 13. You may find they don't need as much canned though, if they're eating some raw.

If you want to look at it in terms of meals, if you're feeding 3 meals a day, feeding 15% of their diet raw works out to 3 meals a week. Beyond that, and you'd need to worry about making the raw meals balanced nutritionally.

When feeding only canned, my 8 cats ate 8 cans a day, which is a total of 2 3/4 pounds of canned food a day. On raw only, they eat 2 pounds of food a day.

FYI, to give you an idea of how much organ would be appropriate, when feeding only prey model raw, the guideline is 80% meat, about 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ (like kidney, spleen, pancreas). Hearts and gizzards are muscle meats, not organ meats. So if you include some liver, it should be a small amount relative to how much meat you feed them.