Making raw food without a grinder

david sms

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I'm new to making homemade catfood so I don't have a grinder. I'm thinking of trying the recipe at http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood. But I'm a bit confused on how to add the boneless chicken / chicken liver without a grinder to the mix. After whisking the raw egg yolks and supplements together, can I just cut up the grocery store raw chicken thighs and liver into small pieces with the cooked egg whites, stir them into the supplement mixture with a spoon, and feed it like that, as small pieces, rather than ground?  Or do I need to put the meat in a blender and get it closer to ground meat before mixing it with the other ingredients? And I don't have a food scale so about how many level tablespoons of this mixture would be equal to 5.5 oz? 
 

red top rescue

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Yes, further down in the recipe she explains that she didn't start with a grinder or the supplements at all.

"When I decided to start making cat food, I did not buy a grinder and all of the supplements right away.  I just simply bought a chicken thigh and a chicken breast (some cats may like dark meat more than white or vice versa), thoroughly rinsed the meat with water, and cut it up into small pieces (the size of a pea or a bit larger) to see if my cats would eat raw meat.  A couple of cats went for it right away and a couple of them just walked away.  Ok....that was a start.

(Most cats will like thigh meat better than breast meat because thigh meat has a higher fat content and fat increases palatability.)

I then mixed in a few of these small pieces with their canned food to get them used to the taste and texture of just plain meat.  I also cooked some of the pieces to see how that went over.  If your cat likes it cooked, you can then cook it less and less to get them used to eating raw or semi-cooked meat."

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As for the 5.5 ounces, that's the size of your standard cat food can, so if you have some of that, use the empty cans to measure.  She does suggest mixing the homemade food with their regular food so hopefully you have cans around.
 
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missmimz

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 And I don't have a food scale so about how many level tablespoons of this mixture would be equal to 5.5 oz? 
You really need a food scale to make food in this way. It's not appropriate to eyeball amounts or rely on spoon measurements, you need to know the weight of the meat as well as each supplement. You might want to look at feeding commercial raw first if you can't buy a scale. 
 

LTS3

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Maybe you can buy ground meat that has organ and / or liver included? Can you buy from an online source like Hare-Today.com? Sometimes independent pet stores sell chub / rolls of ground meat for pet food use. You do have to read the label as some are just boneless organless meat while others are basically ground up bones with very little meat.

If not, then just chop the meat and organs as finely as you can with a knife. Some cats like to have a bit of texture in their food instead of a smooth paste.
 
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