So I adopted my 2 foster kittens who were being fed Friskies and kitten chow, that's what the rescue told me to feed. But now that they are mine things are going to change. I do not know if I just want to go to a better wet can or if I want to feed raw. I feel like raw is best but so confusing. It seems that if I do find raw diet in my area then one brand is not enough I need a few brands to feed? Are there any recipes to make my own and then what supplements do I need? I am so confused about this and want to do what's best for my babies, thanks for any help.
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So Confused
- Thread starter pnp26
- Start Date
Hi!
Welcome to TCS, and welcome to the raw forums!
Wonderful that you are looking for either canned or raw for your kittens - giving him the best from the beginning will give them the best chance for a healthier and longer life
We all have been in your position.... And the good news is, we all have made it through the other side :bigthumb:
Raw is a wonderful diet and while it does feel overwhelming in the beginning, it is not that complicated - really.... It does take learning, but once you do, you fall into a routine and it is just part of life - today I can say I would not do it any other way - It is really the best diet, the one with the most health benefits that I have ever experienced for sure.
A lot of us started with commercial diets while we learned about raw; some are still feeding commercial, and some, like myself, are feeding home made.
Regardless of ground or chunks, the basic "Recipe", or guidelines you want to follow, is 80% muscle meat, 10% bones 5% liver, 5% other secreting organ (such as kidneys, pancreas, spleen, etc.)
You can then customize this, for example - I don't feed bones, I supplement my diet with Calcium instead. If your cat doesn't eat fresh liver, you can resort to freeze-dry liver.... Thing of that nature.
There is an awesome place you can buy ground raw, called Hare today - they have EXCELLENT variety, and the shipping is very affordable too - here is the link: https://www.hare-today.com/index.php?cPath=21
You want to buy the 1lb meat/bone/organ FINE GROUND. Then you also need to buy this supplement from them: https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=290
It is very easy to prepare - you just dethaw the meat, mix the supplement in, and refreeze in meal size ziplock baggies.
There is a bunch of information on this thread too, for you to read: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread
Do they eat any wet food at the moment? Have you tried?
Please, feel free to ask any questions - we will be right here to help you out - it is not as hard as one might think - I promise!
Welcome to TCS, and welcome to the raw forums!
Wonderful that you are looking for either canned or raw for your kittens - giving him the best from the beginning will give them the best chance for a healthier and longer life
We all have been in your position.... And the good news is, we all have made it through the other side :bigthumb:
Raw is a wonderful diet and while it does feel overwhelming in the beginning, it is not that complicated - really.... It does take learning, but once you do, you fall into a routine and it is just part of life - today I can say I would not do it any other way - It is really the best diet, the one with the most health benefits that I have ever experienced for sure.
A lot of us started with commercial diets while we learned about raw; some are still feeding commercial, and some, like myself, are feeding home made.
Regardless of ground or chunks, the basic "Recipe", or guidelines you want to follow, is 80% muscle meat, 10% bones 5% liver, 5% other secreting organ (such as kidneys, pancreas, spleen, etc.)
You can then customize this, for example - I don't feed bones, I supplement my diet with Calcium instead. If your cat doesn't eat fresh liver, you can resort to freeze-dry liver.... Thing of that nature.
There is an awesome place you can buy ground raw, called Hare today - they have EXCELLENT variety, and the shipping is very affordable too - here is the link: https://www.hare-today.com/index.php?cPath=21
You want to buy the 1lb meat/bone/organ FINE GROUND. Then you also need to buy this supplement from them: https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=290
It is very easy to prepare - you just dethaw the meat, mix the supplement in, and refreeze in meal size ziplock baggies.
There is a bunch of information on this thread too, for you to read: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread
Do they eat any wet food at the moment? Have you tried?
Please, feel free to ask any questions - we will be right here to help you out - it is not as hard as one might think - I promise!
Boy do we ALL know that feeling! It's overwhelming at first.
What you may want to consider is feeding them canned and some raw. It doesn't need to be all or nothing. I suspect you'll find as you get comfortable feeding raw that you'll want to take more control over their diet. Not everyone makes their own as there are so many commercial choices available now (if you can afford shipping), but just like with canned, once you start examining the ingredients, you find yourself thinking... why am I feeding them that?
I started feeding my cats raw with Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw. :nod: I had very limited freezer space, I feed 8 cats, and that's what was available to me locally. Just like with ANY food, it's a good idea to rotate brands IF YOU CAN. When feeding raw, it is important to rotate protein sources, as each has a different nutrient profile. But even when I fed canned, I rotated not just the proteins, but the brands. Each formula is different, the sourcing is different, the processing is different, so IMO there's value to providing a variety to ensure your kitties get all they need.
Check with the store - they may be able to order things in even if you don't see them there. Nature's Variety is common; Bravo Balanced Blends should be easy as Bravo is based on the East Coast; Primal seems to have good nationwide distribution, as does Vital Essentials. For a quick overview of most of the commercial raw foods available, here's a link to a spreadsheet (and each manufacturer is a hyperlink, so you can go to the site to see if there's a distributor listed for your area): http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Commercial-Raw-Product-Overview-Initial.pdf
The profiles and ingredients of the foods are also listed. I preferred foods that limited the "other stuff" (the not meat/bones/organs) to 5% or less.
There are a number of ways to start with raw. The easiest is to just snip off a bit of whatever you're making for dinner (assuming you're not vegetarian or vegan) and offer that bite-sized meat treat to your kitties and see if they recognize it as food. :lol3: Some go bonkers for it right away.
Being in New York, you have an easy alternative to commercially available raw food. http://www.hare-today.com. Tracy provides ALL kinds of stuff. There are many, many protein choices if you want to try whole ground animals. She sells a supplement on the site, Alnutrin (for meat/bones/organs). I buy the two pound packages. When the arrive, I dethaw them one at a time in a large bowl of cold water. It takes about one to one-and-a-half hours. Then just plop it into a bowl, add the alnutrin and the little bit of water as per directions, mix well, and portion up into baggies and refreeze. Very easy! (The shipping is the most reasonable out there for raw: it adds about $1 per pound to the order once you're ordering to stock up on things and not just trying things out).
You can also just start feeding them meat. There's a supplement you can purchase - it takes only 1/2 a teaspoon to make 1.5 ounces of JUST meat balanced and complete. It's Wysong's Call of the Wild supplement. http://www.wysong.net/products/cotw-dog-cat-supplement.php I use it for one of my cats, because he doesn't like ground, and he doesn't like organs. Some don't like the CoTW because it uses the synthetic vitamin K (menadione). But again - it's an easy way to start, and you can branch out from there. You can also use it at individual meat meals, while feeding some commercial raw and/or canned.
One thing you WILL need, feeding raw, is a kitchen scale. Those are discussed here, if you don't already have one: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248078/food-scale-recommendations-please
If you do decide to feed some canned foods, look for those that are high in protein, grain free, and low in carbohydrates. When I was feeding canned, I avoided soy of any kind at all costs, I looked for foods that had limited ingredient lists, and tried to avoid too many veggies and things. I also WANTED to avoid carrageenan, but didn't manage that one completely. I used Nature's Variety Instinct cans, Ziwipeak, Before Grain, um... EVO (but I've since learned it is REALLY high fat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but just be aware of it)... and if I were still feeding canned, I'd probably have By Nature 95% stuff in the rotation.
FYI, I feed a customized version of prey model raw. :lol3: A number of TCS members are doing this now, actually. Prey model raw is pretty easy, actually. The guideline is 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% "other secreting organ." It's a little confusing at first, because most people feed hearts and gizzards, and we think of those as organs - but they don't secrete anything, they're muscle, so they fall into the "meat" category when meal planning. :nod: Hearts cats seem to universally love, and they're packed with taurine, so make a great addition to the diet. PMR seems a little difficult at first, because you have to know how much food your cats are eating to calculate how much of what to feed at each meal. I decided to go boneless for a lot of reasons. I use eggshell powder for the calcium. I also use freeze-dried bone (NOT bone meal). I would use the freeze-dried bone meal for all of them, all the time, but it's just too expensive for me. So I alternate weekly between eggshell and the freeze dried bone (it's called calcium hydroxyapatite, or MCHA). But yours are kittens, so they shouldn't have any trouble learning to chomp bones. If you wanted to go this route, just start with chicken ribs, they're small and very pliable. :nod:
When I started feeding PMR, I just fed meat and the calcium supplement at first. This is NOT balanced - they need those organs. But nutritional deficiencies take time to develop, and it wasn't long before I incorporated liver and kidney into their diet. My cats are all older: four of my 8 are 10, and the youngest is probably 5 or 6 now (he was "3 or 4" when we rescued him, and that was in 2010). My cancer kitty doesn't like organs, and I tried to get him to eat them - but decided not to push it. So I use Call of the Wild supplement for him. One of my boys just cannot keep fresh liver down, so I use freeze dried liver instead. Another one can't keep kidney down. So as so many commercial raw foods don't use two organs, they just use extra liver, I just double up on the liver for him.
Sorry for the rambing! I hope I didn't confuse things further. :lol3: Feel free to ask away. In the meantime, you may find helpful information in the Raw Resources thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread
What you may want to consider is feeding them canned and some raw. It doesn't need to be all or nothing. I suspect you'll find as you get comfortable feeding raw that you'll want to take more control over their diet. Not everyone makes their own as there are so many commercial choices available now (if you can afford shipping), but just like with canned, once you start examining the ingredients, you find yourself thinking... why am I feeding them that?
I started feeding my cats raw with Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw. :nod: I had very limited freezer space, I feed 8 cats, and that's what was available to me locally. Just like with ANY food, it's a good idea to rotate brands IF YOU CAN. When feeding raw, it is important to rotate protein sources, as each has a different nutrient profile. But even when I fed canned, I rotated not just the proteins, but the brands. Each formula is different, the sourcing is different, the processing is different, so IMO there's value to providing a variety to ensure your kitties get all they need.
Check with the store - they may be able to order things in even if you don't see them there. Nature's Variety is common; Bravo Balanced Blends should be easy as Bravo is based on the East Coast; Primal seems to have good nationwide distribution, as does Vital Essentials. For a quick overview of most of the commercial raw foods available, here's a link to a spreadsheet (and each manufacturer is a hyperlink, so you can go to the site to see if there's a distributor listed for your area): http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Commercial-Raw-Product-Overview-Initial.pdfThe profiles and ingredients of the foods are also listed. I preferred foods that limited the "other stuff" (the not meat/bones/organs) to 5% or less.
There are a number of ways to start with raw. The easiest is to just snip off a bit of whatever you're making for dinner (assuming you're not vegetarian or vegan) and offer that bite-sized meat treat to your kitties and see if they recognize it as food. :lol3: Some go bonkers for it right away.
Being in New York, you have an easy alternative to commercially available raw food. http://www.hare-today.com. Tracy provides ALL kinds of stuff. There are many, many protein choices if you want to try whole ground animals. She sells a supplement on the site, Alnutrin (for meat/bones/organs). I buy the two pound packages. When the arrive, I dethaw them one at a time in a large bowl of cold water. It takes about one to one-and-a-half hours. Then just plop it into a bowl, add the alnutrin and the little bit of water as per directions, mix well, and portion up into baggies and refreeze. Very easy! (The shipping is the most reasonable out there for raw: it adds about $1 per pound to the order once you're ordering to stock up on things and not just trying things out).
You can also just start feeding them meat. There's a supplement you can purchase - it takes only 1/2 a teaspoon to make 1.5 ounces of JUST meat balanced and complete. It's Wysong's Call of the Wild supplement. http://www.wysong.net/products/cotw-dog-cat-supplement.php I use it for one of my cats, because he doesn't like ground, and he doesn't like organs. Some don't like the CoTW because it uses the synthetic vitamin K (menadione). But again - it's an easy way to start, and you can branch out from there. You can also use it at individual meat meals, while feeding some commercial raw and/or canned.
One thing you WILL need, feeding raw, is a kitchen scale. Those are discussed here, if you don't already have one: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248078/food-scale-recommendations-please
If you do decide to feed some canned foods, look for those that are high in protein, grain free, and low in carbohydrates. When I was feeding canned, I avoided soy of any kind at all costs, I looked for foods that had limited ingredient lists, and tried to avoid too many veggies and things. I also WANTED to avoid carrageenan, but didn't manage that one completely. I used Nature's Variety Instinct cans, Ziwipeak, Before Grain, um... EVO (but I've since learned it is REALLY high fat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but just be aware of it)... and if I were still feeding canned, I'd probably have By Nature 95% stuff in the rotation.
FYI, I feed a customized version of prey model raw. :lol3: A number of TCS members are doing this now, actually. Prey model raw is pretty easy, actually. The guideline is 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% "other secreting organ." It's a little confusing at first, because most people feed hearts and gizzards, and we think of those as organs - but they don't secrete anything, they're muscle, so they fall into the "meat" category when meal planning. :nod: Hearts cats seem to universally love, and they're packed with taurine, so make a great addition to the diet. PMR seems a little difficult at first, because you have to know how much food your cats are eating to calculate how much of what to feed at each meal. I decided to go boneless for a lot of reasons. I use eggshell powder for the calcium. I also use freeze-dried bone (NOT bone meal). I would use the freeze-dried bone meal for all of them, all the time, but it's just too expensive for me. So I alternate weekly between eggshell and the freeze dried bone (it's called calcium hydroxyapatite, or MCHA). But yours are kittens, so they shouldn't have any trouble learning to chomp bones.
If you wanted to go this route, just start with chicken ribs, they're small and very pliable. :nod:When I started feeding PMR, I just fed meat and the calcium supplement at first. This is NOT balanced - they need those organs. But nutritional deficiencies take time to develop, and it wasn't long before I incorporated liver and kidney into their diet. My cats are all older: four of my 8 are 10, and the youngest is probably 5 or 6 now (he was "3 or 4" when we rescued him, and that was in 2010). My cancer kitty doesn't like organs, and I tried to get him to eat them - but decided not to push it. So I use Call of the Wild supplement for him. One of my boys just cannot keep fresh liver down, so I use freeze dried liver instead. Another one can't keep kidney down. So as so many commercial raw foods don't use two organs, they just use extra liver, I just double up on the liver for him.
Sorry for the rambing! I hope I didn't confuse things further. :lol3: Feel free to ask away. In the meantime, you may find helpful information in the Raw Resources thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread
:lol3: I think I might have repeated most of what Carolina said - only she said it much more succinctly. :anon: :lol3:
