Intro!

[Name9335]

Hello All,

Just wanted to introduce myself and my one year old furbaby Storm. Found this site a couple of days ago and have been lurking ever since.

I adopted my first ever cat about two months ago (I grew up in a dog family). I first started her off on a "natural" grain free kibble. After much research, I realized that was not the healthiest for my kitty, so I switched to a wet food (Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Fowl Ball recipie). After a few weeks of that and agonizing over going raw, I made the decision to take the leap. I am a busy full time nurse, so when I found the Feline Instincts powder, where you just mix in the powder with ground chicken thighs and water and portion it out, I knew I could do it. She LOVES it, didn't really even have to transition her. She took right to it. This will continue to be her main source of raw as that is the easiest for me, but I am also looking for different items to feed her to mix things up on occasion. I am looking at mypetcarnivore as they do have a monthly drop site in my town. They have the whole mixes that I am thinking i could give her a serving of those from time to time to switch things up (minus the powder as they have the bones). Also chicken wings. Any other ideas? I don't have much for meat markets where I live so not sure where to source meat other than the grocery store or the petcarnivore site. Looking forward to joining the conversation with all of you!

 

[Name9335]

Well, I just realized that the only time available for pickup in my town is when I work So the only other option is to ship, which is quite expensive, but I guess if I only do it occasionally.....

 

[margd]

and I am no help at all when it comes to feeding raw food but do want to welcome you to TCS. Hopefully, someone will come by soon who can answer your question but in the meantime, I just want to tell you I'm glad you joined. You'll find a wealth of information available here as well as a caring and friendly community.

Since Storm is your first cat, perhaps this article will be of some help:

First-time Cat Owner's Guide

Please consider introducing Storm and yourself in our New Cats on the Block forum. You'll be sure to get a warm welcome there. And please post photos of Storm! We can never have too many photos around here!

 

[Tobermory]

Welcome! I know what you mean about the decision to feed raw. I read and read about it for months before I began last December. I was so worried about getting it wrong. I feed a combination of different kinds to my girls. Maybe something here will work for you.

1. Homemade with chicken or turkey using Dr. Lisa Pierson’s recipe at www.catinfo.org. She’s a vet specializing in feline nutrition and several members here at TCS use her recipe. I bought a grinder for the meat and add the individual supplements she recommends. The downside is that it’s time consuming and you need freezer space.
2. Same as above but instead of adding individual supplements, I sometimes use supplement premixes: EZ Complete (www.foodfurlife.com) which has calcium in it or Alnutrin (www.knowwhatyoufeed.com) which comes either with calcium or without if your grind already has bone. Alnutrin requires the addition of liver. EZ Complete doesn’t.
3. Commercial raw, either frozen or freeze-dried. I’ve used Rad Cat, Primal and Small Batch in frozen and Stella & Chewy’s and Northwest Naturals in freeze-dried. So easy just to thaw the amount you need and serve or to add water to the freeze-dried! They’re complete meals.
4. Small Batch also has frozen grinds they call “blends” that are single meat proteins with bones and organs in an 80/10/10 ratio. I add my own supplements to make a complete meal.
5. I’ve also ordered ground rabbit from Hare Today, a supplier of fresh meat for raw feeders, and added my own supplements. They have an amazing selection of proteins and even though it ships to me across the US, it arrives still frozen. I only order from them in the colder months though. Also, you have to be aware of the ratios of what you order so you can balance it to get the 80/10/10 mix. And you need freezer space to make the cost worth it.

The advantage of #3, #4 and #5 is that I can give the cats meats I wouldn’t normally be able to buy like rabbit, duck, or venison. And #3 is obviously the easiest by far!

Hope this helps.

 

[lisahe]

Welcome! I know what you mean about the decision to feed raw. I read and read about it for months before I began last December. I was so worried about getting it wrong. I feed a combination of different kinds to my girls. Maybe something here will work for you.

1. Homemade with chicken or turkey using Dr. Lisa Pierson’s recipe at www.catinfo.org. She’s a vet specializing in feline nutrition and several members here at TCS use her recipe. I bought a grinder for the meat and add the individual supplements she recommends. The downside is that it’s time consuming and you need freezer space.
2. Same as above but instead of adding individual supplements, I sometimes use supplement premixes: EZ Complete (www.foodfurlife.com) which has calcium in it or Alnutrin (www.knowwhatyoufeed.com) which comes either with calcium or without if your grind already has bone. Alnutrin requires the addition of liver. EZ Complete doesn’t.
3. Commercial raw, either frozen or freeze-dried. I’ve used Rad Cat, Primal and Small Batch in frozen and Stella & Chewy’s and Northwest Naturals in freeze-dried. So easy just to thaw the amount you need and serve or to add water to the freeze-dried! They’re complete meals.

I'll build on what Tobermorey says...

Although I fed raw food -- Rad Cat, a frozen food -- to our previous cat when she was in her last months and even made her a batch of Dr. Pierson's partially cooked food, I was more concerned about how/what to feed to the cats we adopted after Brooksie died. I knew I'd feed them only low-carb wet foods and wanted to feed them raw food. Of course that's complicated since there are lots of ways to feed raw and I have almost genetic concerns about bacterial contamination because my mother's a retired dietitian and I grew up with lots of rules and advice on handling raw meat! Beyond all that, my work tends to take over my life so I need easy.

We've worked into a daily routine of two meals of freeze-dried raw food (combo of Primal, Northwest Naturals, Feline Natural), one snack of frozen raw food (Rad Cat, Oma's Pride), one meal of homecooked (EZ Complete supplement, for use with muscle meat only), and one meal of canned. This works out well for the cats because they demand variety and everything's low-carb. It works out well for the humans because the preparation is minimal (just the EZ Complete food and portioning the frozen food) and everything's easy for my husband to feed when I travel. I do think about making Dr. Pierson's recipe again, though: I only got to feed one meal of it to our sick cat but froze the rest, which the new cats absolutely loved.

Cats can have very definite preferences so it's worth trying as many things as you think might be convenient for you. Our cats, for example, love Primal freeze-dried but will barely eat the frozen versions of the same food. And they love Rad Cat chicken and turkey but will barely touch the pork! I guess what I'm saying is that you can't assume anything since cats are, after all, cats! Good luck! And have fun with Storm.