Raw Meat Vs Cooked?

[Jason2321]

I'm new to making my own catfood, I'm so fed up with the BS brands I can buy locally and pretty much don't trust ANY brand anymore

Anyhows,

I've read up and still question about one thing:

To cook or not to cook,

Raw liver or cooked liver? (I'll be going chicken and rabbit) I've read a horror story about some and now makes sure she cooks the liver, I can imagine plenty of nutritional elements getting destroyed that way

Washed off chicken or slightly cook only the outside part?


Also, a quick question, when I visit my parents and look at the wet food they give their cat it has NO mention of taurine, he gets these 100g pouches of some grocery store brand, which looks rather incomplete, how much Taurine would I add to his food per pouch of 100g?

I ordered some Catz Finefood for their cat, but I'm always looking for a better food, and I feel more sure making my own, so I'll probably get him on homemade as well; but in the meantime I wanna add some supplements to her food


Thanks for all the replies!

 

[mschauer]

To cook or not to cook,

Raw liver or cooked liver? (I'll be going chicken and rabbit) I've read a horror story about some and now makes sure she cooks the liver, I can imagine plenty of nutritional elements getting destroyed that way

Nutrients aren't destroyed by cooking. Think about it, humans eat cooked food. If nutrients were completely destroyed by cooked how would the human race have survived? Some vitamins are degraded by cooking. You can purchase a supplement mixes for both raw and cooked foods that will ensure the food is nutritionally complete.

Washed off chicken or slightly cook only the outside part?

Personally I don't think either is necessary.

Also, a quick question, when I visit my parents and look at the wet food they give their cat it has NO mention of taurine, he gets these 100g pouches of some grocery store brand, which looks rather incomplete, how much Taurine would I add to his food per pouch of 100g?

I find that very surprising unless it is a food might to be used only for occasional use and for every day feeding. What brand is it?

I ordered some Catz Finefood for their cat, but I'm always looking for a better food, and I feel more sure making my own, so I'll probably get him on homemade as well; but in the meantime I wanna add some supplements to her food!

Wait, Catz Finefood?? Are you not in the US? If so, the label on the food you are looking at may not be required to list all ingredients. It may contain taurine but the regulatory authority it is produced under may not require it to be listed on the label.

 

[Jason2321]

They have Felix Sensations Sauce at their home recently, and I can't recall seeing any mention of taurine on there

I live in Europe and I'm having a hard time to get decent branded cat food around here, I did read that Catz finefood was not all that bad so I ordered some from their German site.

I don't mind feeding the raw chicken meat at all, the liver has always been a more "nastier" organ and some feel the need to cook it all the way through and some just feed it raw, so I'm a little uncertain what route to go

Supplements are ordered going by the recipes from catinfo and catnutrition websites, so no worries there

I also have a couple different formulas from TC premix coming my to get going as well, I have a good bio store that is required by law to provide antibiotic free meat and I got chicken legs and kidneys from there, still looking around from hearts, otherwise I'll supplement that in

Thanks the reply and apologies for my English, I'm not a native speaker

 

[1 bruce 1]

I don't cook the food for the raw fed cats. Partially because I don't think they need it cooked, and partially because I'm totally lazy like that =)
Liver, if sourced from clean, healthy animals, has never been a problem here. I'd hesitate using cheap liver or liver that is from an unknown/unreliable source. Then, you could sear it a bit and portion and freeze it so it's cooked and ready to feed and take some of the drudgery out of doing so =)

 

[mschauer]

Jason2321 - Not to worry, your English is perfectly fine.

EU regulations are one that I think I remember don't require all ingredients to be listed. What I remember is if an ingredient is commonly regarded as safe it doesn't need to be listed on the label. So the foods you look at may well contain taurine ( If my memory is correct ). Does the label say something regarding nutritional completeness? There are EU regulations that specify the minimum nutrients required for pet foods sold in the EU. The requirements are very similar to the AAFCO requirements here in the US.

I agree with @1bruce1 on the liver.

 

[Jason2321]

Thank you, I feel safer using raw liver now

On the Felix Sensations it does say that it is a complete cat food, on other forums I read that many highly doubt that it is

Here are what is says on the box:

Ingredients:
Meat Selection:
Turkey: Meat and meat by-products (of which 4% turkey), vegetable protein extracts, fish and fish by-products, minerals, sugar.

Additives:
Nutritional additives:
Vitamin A (780 IE/kg), Vitamin D3 (120 IE/kg), Vitamin E (17 IE/kg), iron (28 mg/kg), iodine (0.34 mg/kg), copper (3.1 mg/kg), manganese (5.4 mg/kg), zinc (44 mg/kg).

The cat loves it though, but I feel she's not getting all her necessary daily nutrients, I wouldn't mind adding a little supplementation if necessary.


Also I have a 6 - 7 week old kitten I rescued while she was trying to cross a highway when she was barely 3 weeks old. She had her necessary vet visits, bottle fed and onto raw food and drinking water now.

Would there be special needs for young kittens or would the "typical" raw food recipes with supplementation enough for her? Maybe extra calcium?

Thanks again for all the replies, it's greatly appreciated, I'm glad I found a place where people are highly concerned about their pet's health!

 

[Jason2321]

Kitten is not on raw food, but wet food, my bad!

 

[mschauer]

Nutritional additives:
Vitamin A (780 IE/kg), Vitamin D3 (120 IE/kg), Vitamin E (17 IE/kg), iron (28 mg/kg), iodine (0.34 mg/kg), copper (3.1 mg/kg), manganese (5.4 mg/kg), zinc (44 mg/kg).

Wow! That is bizarre! Almost all those values are below the FEDIAF (The European Pet Food Industry Federation Nutritional Guidelines For Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs 2014) minimum requirements for a cat food to be labelled as nutritionally complete. How can they get away with selling it in the EU as a complete food????

The FEDIAF values are: Vitamin A (3333 IE/kg), Vitamin D3 (250 IE/kg), Vitamin E (38 IE/kg), iron (80 mg/kg), iodine (0.5 mg/kg), copper (5 mg/kg), manganese (5 mg/kg), zinc (75 mg/kg).

Kitten's require a little more of some nutrients. If you are using a premix I would contact them and ask if it is suitable for kittens. There's a good chance it is.

 

[CurlyEmy]

I'm new to making my own catfood, I'm so fed up with the BS brands I can buy locally and pretty much don't trust ANY brand anymore

Anyhows,

I've read up and still question about one thing:

To cook or not to cook,

Raw liver or cooked liver? (I'll be going chicken and rabbit) I've read a horror story about some and now makes sure she cooks the liver, I can imagine plenty of nutritional elements getting destroyed that way

Washed off chicken or slightly cook only the outside part?


Also, a quick question, when I visit my parents and look at the wet food they give their cat it has NO mention of taurine, he gets these 100g pouches of some grocery store brand, which looks rather incomplete, how much Taurine would I add to his food per pouch of 100g?

I ordered some Catz Finefood for their cat, but I'm always looking for a better food, and I feel more sure making my own, so I'll probably get him on homemade as well; but in the meantime I wanna add some supplements to her food


Thanks for all the replies!

I give my kitten raw meat. They’re carnivores so their digestive tract is shorter and extremely acidic. It kills any bacteria. His dad is 13 and extremely healthy, fed raw his whole life. Just make sure you buy meat that was frozen at the source. I buy omas pride rabbit and then Trader Joe’s chicken which was freezed at the source as well.. prevents any possible contamination.

 

[Jason2321]

Yeah, my parents' cat has changed a bit the past months when I occasionally visit, so I figured I'd take a look at his food and his stool. I told my parents to stop giving dry food since she had small crystals in her pee, talked to our local vet about it as well. I'll be taking her in for a blood test and possibly a urine test.
She also drinks a lot of water when I was there, I'm on the lookout for bladder / kidney stuff as well as diabetes.

Anyhow, I'm in Europe so our stores are a bit different, I can buy packs of bio chicken meat and liver that is air sealed, but it's not frozen, I might ask if they have frozen ones from the source as well.

I'll be making raw food for my kitten and my parent's cat, that way I'm sure they're both getting all the nutrients they so much need without the added unnecessary ingredients often found in commercial brands.

I thank you all for taking the time to comment on my post, I feel a whole lot more confident in making the right raw food and it's to have a place to turn to with questions!

Thanks!

 

[CurlyEmy]

Yeah, my parents' cat has changed a bit the past months when I occasionally visit, so I figured I'd take a look at his food and his stool. I told my parents to stop giving dry food since she had small crystals in her pee, talked to our local vet about it as well. I'll be taking her in for a blood test and possibly a urine test.
She also drinks a lot of water when I was there, I'm on the lookout for bladder / kidney stuff as well as diabetes.

Anyhow, I'm in Europe so our stores are a bit different, I can buy packs of bio chicken meat and liver that is air sealed, but it's not frozen, I might ask if they have frozen ones from the source as well.

I'll be making raw food for my kitten and my parent's cat, that way I'm sure they're both getting all the nutrients they so much need without the added unnecessary ingredients often found in commercial brands.

I thank you all for taking the time to comment on my post, I feel a whole lot more confident in making the right raw food and it's to have a place to turn to with questions!

Thanks!

If you can’t source frozen meat, ask the grocery store when shipments of meat arrive and that way you know it’s fresh!