Need a bit of clarification please. :)

[sixradcats]

Hi all, my name is Krystal and I'm new to the forum here.  I did post a quick intro with pictures in New Cats on the Block. 

I am a bit unclear on some things, as I'm learning about raw and how to feed it, how to start feeding it, etc...  I hope to find my answers here.  (Searching didn't get me quite the clarity of answer I'm looking for.)

A bit of background info:

I currently have six cats (between ages 9 mos to 5 yrs).

My cats were formerly on Instinct dry food (and canned a few times a month) up until a few months ago.  I currently feed Taste of the Wild dry cat food and occasionally some canned mixed (I can't always afford this consistently right now).

I am on a very tight income because I lost my job three months ago and have not been able to collect or land another job (though hopefully that's changing within the next week!). 

Ideally I would like to at least start giving my cats some raw meat/bones in addition to their regular meals (they are fed 2x a day, measured amounts).  If not every day because it might be cost prohibitive to me, then maybe 2-3x a week.  Ex: Morning feeding, mid-day some raw, evening feeding.

I have read it is NOT okay to feed raw with a dry diet.  What I'm not sure of is if this means AT ALL or if I can still do it as I stated above and not risk making them sick from it. 

I would start with small chunks of whole meat like chicken breast, and ideally eventually like to give them some bone-in once they've got the hang of gnawing (though my boy Loki has this skill already, even if it only seems to apply to fake-gnawing our fingers! lol). 

The reason I'd like to start now with *at least* some, if possible, is because I want to start being more proactive with their dental care.  I know how important good dental health is for them, and since brushing goes over like a lead balloon in this house (though they'll all let me open their mouths and pull their lips back so I can see even as far back as the molars! lol) I'm worried.  Especially with my Smudge being almost five now. 

So, would it be okay to give them some raw now as almost a sort of "treat" mid-day (not as much as a meal, but maybe one or two 1" cubes) each?  Or should I just wait until I can possibly afford to do a full switch to raw? 

Thank you for reading my small novel and any and all help is appreciated!!!

 

[vball91]

You can feed raw as healthy treats. As long as the raw is less than 15% of their total diet, then you don't need to worry about it being properly balanced or nutritionally complete. So if you feed 21 meals a week, 3 of them could be raw.

As for feeding dry and raw, there are members here, including myself, who fed both raw and dry during the transition. I fed them as separate meals, but there are some who fed both raw and dry in the same meal without issues. One caveat is that we all used high protein low carb dry foods.

 

[sixradcats]

Okay, thank you!  Here's another question...if it doesn't list on the food the carb percentage, how...do I know? LOL

I can tell you that the TotW I've been feeding is 42% protein, and this is the main ingredients list (of things that are not supplements added like B1s and such).

Ingredients List:
Chicken meal, peas, sweet potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), pea protein, potato protein, roasted venison, smoked salmon, natural flavor, ocean fish meal, DL-methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries

Protein: 42% Minimum, Fat: 18% Minimum
Calcium: 1.9%, as-fed; Phosphorus: 1.2%, as-fed
Calories: 3,745 kcal/kg (390 kcal/cup) Calculated Metabolizable Energy

 

[otto]

Use this form for determining carb percentage (dry matter)

http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

 

[oneandahalfcats]

Use this form for determining carb percentage (dry matter)

http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

This looks like a very useful tool. Thanks for sharing Otto.

 

[sixradcats]

Thank you Otto!  I'd found another conversion site but it wanted numbers in a different way (per feeding and not GA) and I got frustrated! lol