Thinking of trying raw

[calvin&i]

I have heard great things about raw feeding and while was at a chain petstore over the weekend that we usually tend to avoid, saw NV raw in their freezer. One of the reasons I was not considering raw till now is because I do not have the expertise, confidence or the time to prepare. NV, though expensive, looked like a good enough option to me. Right now my kitties are getting 2 meals of wet, 1 snacks of wet and 1 of dry. They are getting 6.5 oz-7.5 oz wet and 1/8-1/6 cup dry) I do have a feeling that I am overfeeding them since Calvin definitely looks chubby and Hobbes consistently is putting on weight. We know of Hobbes' wt since he's been to the vet many times recently and the vet wants to see him gaining wt. They are 9 months old.

So my plan would be to replace 1 meal of about 3 oz with raw. I do have a vested interest in this. I will be out of the country for 6 weeks this summer and DH has a busy schedule. We bought these timed feeders that have an ice pack for wet food. I was thinking of putting frozen raw in them and letting them thaw slowly (will adjust the thaw time through trial and error, I guess). Does this seem like a doable plan?

 

[furryfriends50]

That, to me, sounds like a good plan.

However, it is not a good idea to be feeding dry food within 12 hours before you feed raw. Reason being the digestion rate: dry digests very slowly but raw is much more easily digestable so it digests fast. That's part of the reason that cats can easily handle raw meat - it goes through fast - not giving time for bacterial growth. But get the raw stuck behind dry and that could end up causing problems.

 

[calvin&i]

That's a great tip - had no idea. I will have to think about it some more and then come up with another plan. Thanks so much.