Best Wet Food For Cats

cazscoob

thanks for the advice i had never heard of the raw diet until now! what about cooked meat then does this make the cat smell? can i feed her cooked chicken and fish and have the same affect or does it have to be raw? just asking as i have a little girl who delights in eating cat food lol! must have something to do with her beautiful long shiny hair as all the others were bald until they hit 2 PMSL!
sorry for all the questions! as i said she is my first kitten and i am still learning although she rules the roost here and it feels like she has always been here:D

cazscoob

sorry to take over the thread but another thought! i can get my hands on venison, rabbit and pheasant on a regular basis would this be any good for the raw/cooked diet? or would it be too rich for her?

Fire_Fox

cazscoob wrote: »

thanks for the advice i had never heard of the raw diet until now! what about cooked meat then does this make the cat smell? can i feed her cooked chicken and fish and have the same affect or does it have to be raw? just asking as i have a little girl who delights in eating cat food lol! must have something to do with her beautiful long shiny hair as all the others were bald until they hit 2 PMSL!
sorry for all the questions! as i said she is my first kitten and i am still learning although she rules the roost here and it feels like she has always been here:D

Raw feeders believe raw is better for the digestion as it contains all the natural enzymes whereas heat denatures (changes/ destroys) the enzymes and proteins in the meat. But many cat slaves successfully feed both raw and cooked meat in the diet so it's something you might want to experiment with? Whatever you choose the diet needs to be balanced, you can't just give meat there needs to be bone, fat and offal too.

I would not want to leave raw meat down for long for hygeine reasons, so your little girl will be safe if you just feed small amounts of raw to the kitten rather than free feeding as you might with dry biscuits. Whenever I give Noah half a chicken wing he doesn't leave til it's all gone anyway, just purrs away ... some cats even growl! :eek:

It's not recommended to feed just fish (raw or cooked) to cats too often as it isn't a complete source of nutrients. Tinned fish intended for humans can also be pretty high in salt or vegetable oil which aren't good for a kitten, so ideally just stick to fish cat food or the occasional portion of steamed fresh fish as a treat only. Some fish are not safe to feed raw at all.

cazscoob wrote: »

sorry to take over the thread but another thought! i can get my hands on venison, rabbit and pheasant on a regular basis would this be any good for the raw/cooked diet? or would it be too rich for her?

:T Not too rich, cats would naturally eat a diet high in meat and fat plus rabbit and pheasant would be potential prey to a good hunter! In fact some game is quite low in fat so you may need to add a little extra if you were raw feeding full time. If you can get a whole rabbit or pheasant with all it's organs that would be perfect to butcher and feed to your kitten over time. BUT don't forget to change the diet slowly to avoid tummy upsets.

Although cats need to eat bone for minerals NEVER feed cooked bone as this can splinter. This makes a homemade cooked diet very difficult to get balanced, really you are best off feeding high quality commercial pet foods IMO.

You should do plenty of research before you start any new diet for your kitten:
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.catnutrition.org/index.php
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2-HhToJ_8

Apricot

Don't ever give a cat (or dog) cooked bones though, they become brittle when cooked and can splinter in the animals throat.

cazscoob

thank you for all the info im off to read up but i think it sounds like a great idea and it will probably save me a fortune being able to get a lot of it free!!

paddypaws101

I think if you can source wild rabbit and pheasant AND your cat will eat it then it will be getting the best diet possible. Rabbit is extremely low in fat and will often cause constipation ( as can the change to whole prey in fact ) so this is why many raw fooders will supplement with a few drops of salmon oil when serving each meal. Slippery elm and soaked flax seeds also provide perfect lubrication for a meaty diet.
You have a very lucky cat!
Keep us posted.

Oh one other point....although regular cooked bones should NOT be fed, I have seen that it is possible to pressure cook bones long enough so that they soften and can then eaily be ground up in a food processor. Whilst this will provide calcium, presumably the cooking process will destroy various minerals and vitamins....keep the cooking broth to add to feed.
http://www.holisticat.com/cooked.html

cazscoob

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I think if you can source wild rabbit and pheasant AND your cat will eat it then it will be getting the best diet possible. Rabbit is extremely low in fat and will often cause constipation ( as can the change to whole prey in fact ) so this is why many raw fooders will supplement with a few drops of salmon oil when serving each meal. Slippery elm and soaked flax seeds also provide perfect lubrication for a meaty diet.
You have a very lucky cat!
Keep us posted.

I have read about adding in the oil etc to the food, would i have to add extra vitamins too or would the raw meat and bones plus oil/flax seed etc be enough? i have found someone with a grinder so i think i am going to read some more and give it a go! need to find out how much she should eat per day and how often this shouold be increased etc. would you add the offal into the mix aswell?

Petal_3

I may be wrong - please research - but I'm sure I read somewhere that if you are planning to feed wild animals/game etc to your pets - it should be frozen to -20 for 7 days to kill off any parasites.

I would look it up but I'm s'posed to be working :eek:

cazscoob

thanks petal i will look into that, i have read up and have lots of notes now lol! i am now trying to source vitamin e, vit b complex, taurine band multigland immoplex? everythings else i have to hand and will be experimenting tom.
can i ask if any of your vets have had a go at you about raw feeding as i have seen a few posts about the vets being unhappy? or would i just not tell them

spike7451

Petal wrote: »

I may be wrong - please research - but I'm sure I read somewhere that if you are planning to feed wild animals/game etc to your pets - it should be frozen to -20 for 7 days to kill off any parasites.

I would look it up but I'm s'posed to be working :eek:

My dad used to feed our gundogs game that was left over from a brace of Pheasant,Partridge ect & it never seemed to harm them.