want to try raw

[smoothnobody]

have a few questions. 80/10/10 seems to be the most popular but i see 80/10/5/5 frequently. which one should i do? i'm thinking i like 80/10/5/5 cause that gives me 2 different organs.

gizzard and heart would be part of the 80% right?

about the bone. some people say bone is the best cause it has other minerals besides calcium. others say it's high in phosphorous and can cause constipation. some say egg shells are acceptable substitutes. others say no cause they are lacking the other minerals. thoughts?

on average, how much bone is in a chicken leg? i was thinking something like a chicken leg + equal weight in heart + equal weight in gizzard or something like that for my 80%. how would i figure out the ratio?

some of these companies that sell 80/10/10 grinds say they are a complete meal. others say the require supplements like alnutrin for taurine. others say they recommend it. i understand the importance of taurine but if feeding muscle and organs especially heart which i hear contains the most taurine why do some places say add more? i'm assuming too much is better than too little but if balanced properly supplements should not be necessary right?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Here are some resources to get things started for you if you aren't already familiar with these;
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.

Raw Feeding Resources

Sources of Calcium
Warning: Never feed cooked bones, even if ground; these can splinter and harm your cats.

Most home-cooked recipes will include either bone meal, calcium carbonate, or eggshell.
If you want to create your own diet using real bone, this thread describes a method that does not require a grinder, just a pressure cooker and food processor: Bone Question, Dr. Pierson's ground recipe

If you want to use a source of bone other than bone meal, there is a freeze-dried bone option. It is called Microcrystalline Calcium Hydroxyapatite (MCHA). In the U.S., there is only one supplement available that has no other ingredients (this might be out of date regarding whether there are others available since this was written). It is manufactured by NOW, and is called just "NOW calcium hydroxyapatite." Note that MCHA costs considerably more to use than bone meal or eggshell powder.

How to balance meat (and organ) for just the calcium component of the diet using eggshell or MCHA: Using eggshell or MCHA (calcium hydroxyapatite) to balance meat or meat & organs

 

[Tobermory]

The thing about the 10% bone is that it can cause constipation in some cats. Neither of my cats can handle 10% bone. If you do go with that amount, keep an eye out for possible constipation.

 

[smoothnobody]

i cut all the meat off a chicken leg and got 4.5oz meat and 1.8oz bone. this is my current ratio. does it look ok?

1 leg = 4.5oz meat + 1.8oz bone
7.5oz heart
7.5oz gizzard
1oz liver
1oz kidney or spleen

 

[furmonster mom]

Your total weight is 23.3 oz

Your meat (incl heart & gizzard) is 19.5 oz, which is about 83:6%
Your bone is 1.8 oz, which is about 7.7%
Liver and kidney each at 1 oz is about 4.3% each.

The percentages are pretty close, though personally I feel the heart and gizzards are a bit much. I would cut those back a bit and replace with chicken breast.

Are you considering this as a batch to be divided out?

 

[smoothnobody]

this is just what i bought from the market for my first round. my original ratio had too much bone so was trying to get that down by adding heart and gizzard. this would last about 5 days. how about this for my next batch?

1 chicken leg = 4.5oz meat + 1.8oz bone
5oz pork or beef
5oz chicken heart
5oz chicken gizzard
1.2oz pork liver
1.2oz pork kidney

 

[smoothnobody]

also, the reason for trying this is she may have IBD. i've read on a few sites that the probiotics in plain unsweetened kefir may help. since this mix would last 5 days i was thinking of adding 5 tablespoons. thoughts?

 

[smoothnobody]

where do you guys buy your meat? i had to drive 40 minutes to an oriental market. i looked at a few sites that deliver. they are obviously more expensive. was hoping maybe you guys knew a reputable site that wasn't too much more for delivery. do you think the local market or online would provide a better product? i hear human grade is best. but i also see some of these online companies advertise no hormone antibiotics or enhancements. which is something i don't think you get when buying from the grocery store.

 

[Tobermory]

I buy my meat at one of two local butcher shops, both of which have fresh, local high quality meat. (They know me now. Crazy person who makes food for her cats. ) I grind it myself, but I don’t use bone. I use eggshells for calcium. I follow the recipe at catinfo.org (feline-nutrition.org is basically the same) and add the supplements they recommend.

I would think that online sites are going to charge a fair amount for delivery since meat needs to be frozen and packed well to stay that way during transit. I’ve ordered from Hare Today in the past and even though it’s on the other side of the country, the meat arrived still mostly frozen.

 

[maggie101]

where do you guys buy your meat? i had to drive 40 minutes to an oriental market. i looked at a few sites that deliver. they are obviously more expensive. was hoping maybe you guys knew a reputable site that wasn't too much more for delivery. do you think the local market or online would provide a better product? i hear human grade is best. but i also see some of these online companies advertise no hormone antibiotics or enhancements. which is something i don't think you get when buying from the grocery store.

Maybe I'm being too cautious but I would think buying online would be more risky for possible containments from the shipping, meat can be kept in the freezer for months

 

[furmonster mom]

Okay, just to give you something to compare,
my 10 lb chicken blend is
7 lbs whole chicken fryer (I cut them up myself, and end up using nearly 2 fryers; about a leg and breast left over)
Bone content average for chicken is approximately 25%; so for 7 lbs about 1.75 lb
Meat content at 75% for 7 lbs would be approximately 5.25 lb
1 lb heart
1 lb liver
1 lb egg (cooked whites + raw yolk) The egg whites are a simple, low phosphorus protein.
3 1/2 Tbsp psyllium husk (to keep things moving)

The chicken blend ends up being 62.5% meat, 17.5% bone (high), 10% liver (also high), 10% other protein.

The chicken blend is NOT perfectly balanced, so it’s important for me to compensate….

I also have pork, beef, and lamb blends that I incorporate other organs, but no bone. Since there is a lot of bone in the chicken blend, I alternate it every other day with the other blends.

Pork blend would be
8 lb pork (trimmed as much as possible)
1 lb kidney
1 lb egg
3 1/2 Tbsp psyllium husk
(80% meat, 0% bone, 10% kidney, 10% other protein)

Again, NOT perfectly balanced.
However, by alternating the blends, I get an overall balance.

My “recipes“ are pretty simplistic compared to others, but that is because I am grinding up the bone, and do not feel the need to use eggshells or other calcium supplements. This is simply my personal choice.

There are many options to choose from, so each person can work out what is best for their pets and household. Some folks really feel that every batch should be balanced, and that’s 100% awesome.

I get most of my main meats at Costco (sometimes Winco), and my organs at the Asian and Mexican markets.

When I go into pet food making mode, I make 8 ten pound batches, which is enough for 2 months for the two cats and the dog. I package it up into meal portions, vacuum pack them with my Foodsaver, and keep it in our garage freezer.

Now I realize that some folks don’t have a big freezer to accommodate that much, but I do still recommend making enough for a couple weeks at a time, if possible. Otherwise, you could burn yourself out with it.

 

[smoothnobody]

appreciate you sharing your process. i see alot of info on what to feed but don't see much on how to go about it. was nice seeing how other people do it.

 

[furmonster mom]

Before I invested in a heavy duty grinder, I used to feed the meats in carefully weighed chunks, commonly referred to as “frankenprey” style.

In order to do that, I had to determine how much to feed each individual animal by their weight, then determine the proper percentages of each “element” for each meal. It was… much more tedious. 🫤

Grinding everything up where the percentages are figured into the batch means that I just have to measure out the meals according to each animal’s weight.

 

[lisahe]

The thing about the 10% bone is that it can cause constipation in some cats. Neither of my cats can handle 10% bone. If you do go with that amount, keep an eye out for possible constipation.

One of our cats has this same issue. We feed the cats a variety of commercial raw foods (frozen and freeze-dried) plus homemade cooked food that uses egg shell calcium instead of bone. The combination seems to work for her. Though one food (Primal pork, her favorite) has higher bone, the overall bone level is well below 10%. The cats do get pumpkin and psyllium husk in some of their foods.

 

[wookie130]

I use 80/10/10 grinds from Hare Today, and just add a bit more meat (usually a chunk or two) to their bowls. I use the Alnutrin supplement (for bone-in grinds), and I also add in extra taurine to be on the safe side.

 

[furmonster mom]

I use 80/10/10 grinds from Hare Today, and just add a bit more meat (usually a chunk or two) to their bowls. I use the Alnutrin supplement (for bone-in grinds), and I also add in extra taurine to be on the safe side.

Hare Today been making their grinds for a long time, and I know a lot of raw feeders love them. The problem I have is with shipping in the summer when it hits 120° here on the regular. Also, I’d have to ship a lot to make it worth the money, and packaging that much all at once would pretty much kill my back. ‍

 

[BaileyCat]

have a few questions. 80/10/10 seems to be the most popular but i see 80/10/5/5 frequently. which one should i do? i'm thinking i like 80/10/5/5 cause that gives me 2 different organs.

The 80/10/5/5
That means 5% of the secreting organs should be liver.