Raw Feeding For Kitten

[Bella1999]

My boy is about 9 or 10 weeks old now and I want to start giving him some raw food. I was wondering which meats are good to start with while he is young. The other day I was preparing some fresh pork for the dogs and he had a small sliver the dogs left on the floor. The next day he had an upset stomach. I've already started giving him fresh raw eggs mixed with his wet food and his stomach is fine with that. Will chicken or beef be a good start for him? And at what age is best to give him some raw bones. Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I'm sorry you haven't gotten a response!

In case you're not familiar, regarding the eggs, the yolk doesn't have to be cooked, but the white must be cooked. Some people cook the white and then make a slurry with the raw yolk, several times a week. I'm not sure about daily...?

Hopefully a raw feeder member has a chance to reply for you.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi again! MargoLane @sabrinah would you have comments for the OP? Thanks much!

 

[Azazel]

Hi there- chicken is a good meat to start with, but you have to make sure you are feeding complete meals. Just feeding chicken parts alone won’t give your kitten the essential nutrients he needs and may lead to malnutrition. There are some complete supplemental powders that you can add to meat such as EZ complete, or you can follow a reputable recipe such as the ones on catinfo.org or feline-nutrition.org. There is also lots of commercial raw food that you can buy that is prepared with all of the right nutrients. Make sure the food is labelled as being a complete meal. Some brands are Rad Cat and Primal.

Make sure you do food changes very slowly with a kitten, they have sensitive tummies.

 

[MargoLane]

I've never had a kitten so I've never fed them raw meat, but if you're worried about causing upset tummy I think there a two different routes you could go! Sounds like your kitty already wants to eat raw, so you're miles ahead already. Now you just have to find a brand/protein that you and your pal like.

Just my thoughts!
Option 1: Since you're preparing meat for your dogs, you could try giving small pieces of different proteins as a snack and see what works for your cats tummy. This doesn't replace meals, because as A Azazel mentioned above, they aren't a complete diet. Once you find out which proteins agree, you can buy a commercial version or make a complete diet following the accepted recipes.

Option 2: You can buy a really palatable commercial raw, like the freeze-dried Primal, and start slowly mixing small amounts into canned food. Like, start really small, and take a few weeks to transition over. Then, once your kitten is older, so you can start experimenting with different types of raw.

Personally, I would wait until they're older for bones. It's fairly easy to cause constipation by feeding too much bone, and I would think in a kitten, it could be even worse. Plus, feeding bones is already a fairly messy procedure for some cats...imagine a kitten, tearing all over the house and furniture with a raw bone?

 

[orange&white]

Chicken is a good starter protein, but like MargoLane suggested testing different proteins is a good idea. Anything that does not upset him tummy should be fine.

I trapped an abandoned feral kitten last summer who was only around 5 weeks old, but eating solid food. I offered him a kitten milk replacement slurry, canned food, kitten kibble, and the raw mix my cats eat. He went for the raw food and wouldn't touch anything else after that. (I kept him a few weeks until he was old enough for the shelter to neuter and adopt.) My mixes have "smashed" chicken bones, so I'd say that your kitten should be old enough for bones. You might want smaller "starter" bones like wings or ribs, and/or you may need to smash them a bit.