How much does your Cat/Kitten eat?

tsstss7

I currently give my kitty 2 100g pouches a day plus a hand full of dry food and I must admit I am new to all this so was amazed at how much she eats. I tried her on raw salmon at christmas but she wasn't interested so I'm not sure if I can get her to eat raw food - is there a trick to it or do I just have a fussy kitty?

MrsE_2

I feed mine dry Royal Canin kitten (but they are over 1 now!).

They eat a lot, George is a beast, got a sort of pitbull shape for a cat, huge head & neck, really chunky.

Fire_Fox

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I agree with FF that if you are feding food4cats raw and Bozita then your cats are probably getting the best possible diet...and do not need the addition of dry. They will be eating more right now as growing kittens but overall the high protein diet will be more satisfying for them than carbohydrate based food.

Do look into the cat nutrition sites and read up on what constitutes a truly 'complete' diet for cats. I think they will advise addition of salmon oil and Vitamin E when serving the raw ( although food4cats does grind the whole carcass I don't think they add supplements )
You may also wish to add the odd egg...raw yolk but cooked white...and perhaps an occasional treat of chicken hearts for extra taurine.
Of course by feeding the Bozita you will be covering more of these requirements and I do really think we are talking about perfecting an already fantastic diet.

Agreed! :T

My Food4Cats order has arrived this morning so and Noah helped me unpack, selecting a chicken heart, some lamb breast (really fatty, yuck), and pork tongue for his dinner! :cool: I'm not a fan of supplementing with my human clients as it's combinations of nutrients that are important, so prefer to give Noah omega-3 as part of real fish, which is controversial as cats shouldn't eat too much fish ...

tsstss7 wrote: »

I currently give my kitty 2 100g pouches a day plus a hand full of dry food and I must admit I am new to all this so was amazed at how much she eats. I tried her on raw salmon at christmas but she wasn't interested so I'm not sure if I can get her to eat raw food - is there a trick to it or do I just have a fussy kitty?

Fish is not something that is usually fed raw, and it isn't a normal part of a cat's diet nor a complete food (calcium and B vits) so it's not an area I would focus on. IIRC there is something about salmon that means it shouldn't be fed raw so maybe kitty knows best!

I would start by trying a tiny bit of raw chicken or mince when you are cooking and see if she is interested, not all cats realise it is real food if they haven't ever experienced raw! Others seem to have the instinct for it. Some raw feeders just mix a tiny bit of raw into the normal food and increase the raw/ decrease the cooked every few days. Someone on this board apparently tied a piece of string to a raw skinless chicken wing and pulled it round the floor so the cats could 'hunt', but that would make a mess ...

Fire_Fox

cyberbob wrote: »

I was looking at food4cats site as doing some investigation into diets. I can't find anywhere saying where the meat is sourced. Without this background its very difficult to decide the quality of the meat (if its poor quality it won't be any better than tinned food) . Anyone know any information or got any links?

I am sure we have had this conversation before! The Food4Cats rabbit is wild, I would imagine the rest is caged meat at those prices. There is no scientific evidence that intensively farmed meat is less nutritious than organic or free range meat, tho there may be a higher fat content on the animal as a whole.

The purpose of a raw diet is to supply your pet with enzymes and proteins in a form that is biologically appropriate, not denatured by the heat process. There is no tinned food or kibble that can offer those benefits. If you are interested in raw feeding whilst maintain your ethics then perhaps your butcher will be able to order in what you need?

cyberbob

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I am sure we have had this conversation before! The Food4Cats rabbit is wild, I would imagine the rest is caged meat at those prices. There is no scientific evidence that intensively farmed meat is less nutritious than organic or free range meat, tho there may be a higher fat content on the animal as a whole.

The purpose of a raw diet is to supply your pet with enzymes and proteins in a form that is biologically appropriate, not denatured by the heat process. There is no tinned food or kibble that can offer those benefits. If you are interested in raw feeding whilst maintain your ethics then perhaps your butcher will be able to order in what you need?

No we have not had this conversation before so no need to get mardi. I have only ever mentioned peoples addiction to chicken wings from unknown sources.

Actually there is evidence that intensively farmed meat is lower nutrional quality I will look out the studies for you.

I always find it quite strange that people will complain about companies like Iams (who are actually pretty transparent) but when it comes to raw diets people do not seem to care about the ethics of the meat they source,

I am investigating raw diets for one of my cats who is having problems with present diets which is why I asked the question. I was hoping that those of you already using companies like food4cats may have done some research so I thought it was a reasonable question. Obviously I have hit a nerve asking about your feeding practices

Fire_Fox

cyberbob wrote: »

No we have not had this conversation before so no need to get mardi. I have only ever mentioned peoples addiction to chicken wings from unknown sources.

Actually there is evidence that intensively farmed meat is lower nutrional quality I will look out the studies for you.

I always find it quite strange that people will complain about companies like Iams (who are actually pretty transparent) but when it comes to raw diets people do not seem to care about the ethics of the meat they source,

I am investigating raw diets for one of my cats who is having problems with present diets which is why I asked the question. I was hoping that those of you already using companies like food4cats may have done some research so I thought it was a reasonable question. Obviously I have hit a nerve asking about your feeding practices

Perhaps we could have an adult debate instead of little asides? I answered your question to the best of my ability and the only smilie I used was the one. Please do post links to the studies, I will read with interest.

I don't believe people don't care about the ethics of raw pet meat. This issue has been discussed both here and on Purrs forum many times; I can think of several raw feeders who insist on ethically sourced meat, and several others who cannot afford to. With kibble there is such a wide selection on the market that it is not difficult to eliminate the four main players without increasing your spend. :cool:

To my mind at least ethics are a wider issue than just animal welfare. Eliminating much of the processing and packing stages from food reduces their 'carbon footprint'. Feeding a biologically appropriate diet may reduce the need for veterinary treatment which, I hope, means you aren't obliged to patronise the drug companies who animal test by law.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.600-how-green-is-your-pet.html

As regards chicken wings, free range or organic portions are not widely available - there are few Sainsburys north of the Watford Gap and few traditional butchers in cities. Don't forget many are attracted to the Moneysavingexpert forums as they are on a strict budget, I am far from the only one on benefits or residing in an area of food poverty!

Claire_Bear

tsstss7 wrote: »

I currently give my kitty 2 100g pouches a day plus a hand full of dry food and I must admit I am new to all this so was amazed at how much she eats. I tried her on raw salmon at christmas but she wasn't interested so I'm not sure if I can get her to eat raw food - is there a trick to it or do I just have a fussy kitty?

I'm having the same problem at the moment, I want to start feeding raw but I've had mixed results with my cat, she didn't like chicken wings or prawns, ate a little bit of turkey reluctantly but didn't seem too keen, but she likes things like tuna and pilchards from a tin. She's a rescue cat who's about 3 or 4 years old though so I think she's probably been fed commercial food all her life and not experienced anything like a full chicken wing How old is your cat?

If you feed stuff like Whiskas, I'd maybe slowly build up feeding higher meat content foods like Feline Fayre so she gets used to it, a sudden dramatic change in diet can cause upset tummies so it's probably best to do it gradually. Maybe try a few little pieces of raw if you're cooking to see what she likes, it might just be that she didn't like the salmon but would enjoy chicken or prawns. I'm considering getting the £10 trial pack from food4cats when I get paid next week, and seeing what Pepsi thinks, if she doesn't like any of it though I don't want to be stuck with loads of strange rabbit sausages in my freezer :eek:

rita-rabbit

You could buy some sheeps heart going cheap in the supermarket & try that first - will be only about £1 or so (esp if you go when things are going out of date).

I only tried raw recently with my two - aged approx 10 & 8 yrs old. The live catcher was keener but the other is quite greedy & so made sure she didn't miss out on food!

Wickedkitten

rita-rabbit wrote: »

You could buy some sheeps heart going cheap in the supermarket & try that first - will be only about £1 or so (esp if you go when things are going out of date).

I only tried raw recently with my two - aged approx 10 & 8 yrs old. The live catcher was keener but the other is quite greedy & so made sure she didn't miss out on food!

Even at Waitrose you can normally get frozen lambs hearts for a pound. Ours love em.