Hi!
I have a three month old kitten. Long story short, my mom found her and she was very sick (respiratory infection, roundworms, coccidia, and ear mites.) I took her to the vet, and now everything is resolved except the coccidia, which we are on the second round of treatment for. I have been feeding her a rotation of canned foods, including Fancy Feast Classics, Nature's Variety Instinct and Pride, and Tiki Cat. My plan was to stick with that until I could move and buy a chest freezer to stock up and switch to prey model raw. However, I recently found little bits of plastic in a can of Nature's Variety Instinct, and after trying several times to contact the company without a response, I just don't think I can trust commercial pet foods anymore. Even if all of the ingredients seem fine, I have no way of knowing what is actually in the food I am feeding her, and I don't like that at all.
I have been researching raw diets, and have decided that prey model raw is the style that would work the best for me, and I hope, for my kitten as well (she really likes the chunkier foods, plus she gets PureBites chicken treats and loves them.) But despite all my research, I still have some questions.
1. I cannot seem to source secreting organs anywhere! I thought it would be easy, because I live in a rural area, but most places around here will sell me a whole cow or pig, but not just organs
. I did find beef and chicken livers, plus chicken hearts and gizzards at the local grocery store though. Would it be okay to feed without the secreting organ portion for a little while (I plan on moving in about 2 months to give a time frame.) Otherwise, is there another way that I can add in what would be missing without this?
2. I understand that with the proper ratio of meat/bones/organs PMR is supposed to cover all of the nutritional requirements; however, I have also seen people supplementing certain things, like iodine, to make these diets closer to the commercial guidelines. If you're not supplementing, and not, for example, feeding thyroid, where is the iodine coming from? Are there things that should be supplemented? It also seems like it is difficult to supplement these nutrients in small enough amounts, and I was wondering if anyone who does this could give me a little more information on how they manage that.
3. My third point isn't so much a question, but a problem I may encounter feeding a growing kitten. It seems like her food intake increases every week, and I know this will taper off when she gets older, but I have been thinking about how I would deal with this if I am preparing food in advance to freeze it. If necessary I could try to feed a bit of canned food if it doesn't seem like she is getting enough.
That covers everything I can think of right now. Thank you for reading
I have a three month old kitten. Long story short, my mom found her and she was very sick (respiratory infection, roundworms, coccidia, and ear mites.) I took her to the vet, and now everything is resolved except the coccidia, which we are on the second round of treatment for. I have been feeding her a rotation of canned foods, including Fancy Feast Classics, Nature's Variety Instinct and Pride, and Tiki Cat. My plan was to stick with that until I could move and buy a chest freezer to stock up and switch to prey model raw. However, I recently found little bits of plastic in a can of Nature's Variety Instinct, and after trying several times to contact the company without a response, I just don't think I can trust commercial pet foods anymore. Even if all of the ingredients seem fine, I have no way of knowing what is actually in the food I am feeding her, and I don't like that at all.
I have been researching raw diets, and have decided that prey model raw is the style that would work the best for me, and I hope, for my kitten as well (she really likes the chunkier foods, plus she gets PureBites chicken treats and loves them.) But despite all my research, I still have some questions.
1. I cannot seem to source secreting organs anywhere! I thought it would be easy, because I live in a rural area, but most places around here will sell me a whole cow or pig, but not just organs
2. I understand that with the proper ratio of meat/bones/organs PMR is supposed to cover all of the nutritional requirements; however, I have also seen people supplementing certain things, like iodine, to make these diets closer to the commercial guidelines. If you're not supplementing, and not, for example, feeding thyroid, where is the iodine coming from? Are there things that should be supplemented? It also seems like it is difficult to supplement these nutrients in small enough amounts, and I was wondering if anyone who does this could give me a little more information on how they manage that.
3. My third point isn't so much a question, but a problem I may encounter feeding a growing kitten. It seems like her food intake increases every week, and I know this will taper off when she gets older, but I have been thinking about how I would deal with this if I am preparing food in advance to freeze it. If necessary I could try to feed a bit of canned food if it doesn't seem like she is getting enough.
That covers everything I can think of right now. Thank you for reading