Need A New Food Regimen For < 1 Year Old Siberian Cat

bright3n

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Hi all,

I would love some advice on what would be best to feed by 11 month old male siberian. He is fast, energetic, and loves to eat. I think he's between 11-12 lbs at the moment, and still growing. He is a healthy weight.

When I first got him, I fed him a combination of Royal Canin canned and dry kitten food. Since then I learned about the benefits of raw and transitioned him to Darwin's raw food for several months, eating about .375 lbs of their ground duck, turkey, and chicken meals daily, split into 3 meals. He's not picky about food but I want to switch him off Darwin's to something else, ideally around the same price range of about $2-3 per day. (I am a student so keeping things closer to $2 / day without losing too much nutrition is definitely a consideration for me!) I'm open to feeding a combination of canned, raw, and freeze dried raw. I've been through this forum and there are a lot of great food options, but I'm having trouble sorting out what is the best option or combination for my cat, who is still quite young, big, growing...

Also, I brush his teeth with an enzymatic toothpaste about once a week but if there are any food recommendations that will have him chewing into pieces of meat instead of just ground meat that will be great.

Please post any suggestions you may have.
 
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Columbine

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Hi, and welcome to TCS :D

It's always tricky to answer a 'best food' question. There are so many good diets out there and, honestly, there aren't enough long term scientific studies as yet to categorically prove the 'best' diet. The one thing that IS agreed on is that, ultimately, the best food for your cat is the one he will happily eat! It doesn't matter how great the food is if it doesn't get into the cat ;)

If he's doing well on the Darwin's, is there a particular reason that you want to change to something else? I'm in the UK, so I can't help much with specific brands, but the more information we have about why you want to switch, the easier it will be for others to make appropriate suggestions :)

As far as his teeth go, nothing is a substitute for brushing with a good kitty toothpaste, which is what you already do. So long as you keep doing that, I really wouldn't worry about chunks vs ground raw. By all means, though, investigate Prey model raw feeding if it's something that you think you and your boy would like. Done correctly, with due care and attention give to nutrition and, especially, food hygiene, it can be a great option.

These articles may give you some ideas:-
Homemade food for cats - consider your recipe
Raw feeding for cats - types of raw diets and feeding options
Raw feeding for cats - safety concerns
How to compate cat foods - calculate carbs on a dry matter basis
What makes the best canned cat food?
Grain free cat food - what does it mean?
What TCS members use - cat dental health
How to choose the right food for your cat
Raw recipe thread
Cooked recipe thread
 
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bright3n

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Thanks for your reply! I've gotten some packages of food from them that had spoiled before arriving, and while they have policies for replacing those, I haven't had great experiences with their customer service. I am looking for a more reliable company.

Also, the 20lb minimum shipment is pretty tough to fit in an apartment freezer, hence the interest in freeze dried.
 
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bright3n

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Oh, and having had pet rats, rabbits and birds in the past, the whole prey model is a little too much for me to handle right now :oops:
 

Columbine

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I totally understand your hesitation about PMR (especially as a long time veggie who's squeamish about handling any kind of raw meat :p ). Just to clarify, though - it does NOT (usually) mean whole prey. Most people do it with different cuts of bone-in meat, other muscle meat and secreting organs (chicken wings/wing tips, heart, liver etc). You aren't literally trying to recreate whole prey ;)

That's really bad that you've had several packages of spoiled food from Darwin's :eek: I'd definitely be looking for a new supplier too.

The issue you'll likely have with freeze-dried raw is that it is generally much more expensive than regular frozen raw. Hopefully some other members will be able to make some brand suggestions for you soon.
 

abyeb

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Columbine's suggestions are excellent ones. I would just like to add that it would probably be wise to supplement with taurine, as cats can become blind if they are taurine-deficient.
 

lalagimp

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I've always done the boys in grams and ounces. On kibble they had their food weighed in grams and on raw we use ounces: The size of an ice cube.
My boobah is 13 lbs so he gets at least 5 oz of raw. I'll be weighing him again shortly to see if he's maintaining or if it's just not enough and I'll bump him up to 5.5 oz and continue to re-evaluate.
Yours is still growing, but mine is a shrinking lard. Tom was 21 lbs. Darwin's would be the company I would try if I weren't making my own with ground rabbit and turkey, as 20lbs won't kill me. I feed the two boys together so we hit 20-22lbs per month. Once you get the supplies together: ice cube trays, steel mixing bowl, supplements and fish oil
Then the rabbit is only about $6lb and about $15 shipping on 14lbs, and turkey thighs about $2.49/lb
 

sophie1

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Let me reassure you that the days of 6-8 oz/day will pass by the time your kitty is 1.5 years old. My Siberians stabilized at around 4-5 oz/day.

A financial roundup of raw/canned feeding options would be really useful to do...maybe one day. Your goal of limiting overall cost to $5-6/pound is reasonable, and I get it about the apartment fridge. You could get to your goal of $5-6/lb by feeding a combination of freeze-dried raw (about $10/lb) and homemade using the catinfo.org recipe complete with using scissors to chunk up part of the food. This costs $2-3/lb depending on where you get poultry parts, and can be made in reasonably small batches. An alternative is Primal's 2 lb meat/bone/organ mixes that you can use instead in the recipe. A local pet store may carry these so you can buy as needed. These got me through the days when my cats were putting away 14-16 oz/day between them. Similarly, Nature Variety makes 2 and 5 lb chubs for dogs, to which you only need to add taurine as the recipe is otherwise the same as for their complete cat food. Traditional PMR could work too, but will take careful planning to minimize the use of freezer space.

One thing that might help your budget in the meantime and simultaneously entertain your adolescent ball of energy: put some dry food in a treat ball and leave it out when you go to work. Limit to something like 1/8 cup a day and only during the week. I know people are gasping at reading this, but I bet most of them never owned an 11 month old Siberian.
 

orange&white

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There is certainly a trade-off between time and money. You can bring you budget down by mixing some of your own food to feed 2-3 days a week and have lots of money left to purchase pre-mixes and freeze-dried. I also remember what it was like to go to school full-time while holding down a 24 hr/week part-time job...so you may not have time to make food just to cut costs.

The batch of food I made over the weekend that will last my growing kitten plus senior cat for seven days cost $5.25, or $1.06 per pound before supplements. I didn't keep receipts on the supplements, but spent around $20 for supplements that will last at least 6 months. Both cats eat a total of 5 to 5.25 pounds of meat per week, so that's less than $1/day for both.

Homemade in "chunks" is also very good for their jaw-strength and dental health.

Here's a break-down on last weekend's mix. The previous week was all-chicken and cost less than $4.00 for the week.

ozs, ingredient, per pound, Total cost
8 beef 1.99 $1.00
20 hearts/gizzards/kidney 1.5 $1.88
40 bnls chicken thigh 0.69 $1.73
3.6 beef liver 1.5 $0.34
7.125 bone from RMB 0.69 $0.31
0.375 meat from RMB 0.69 $0.02
79.1 Ounces meat total $1.06 $5.24
7.6 Yolks, supplements, water
86.7 Ounces packaged food
 
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