Home made raw cat food

paddypaws101

I have been dipping my toe into the world of raw food for cats for a couple of months now, with varying success. Getting a new kitten has finally prompted me into buying a meat grinder and going into full scale production.

I am using http://direct.tesco.com/search/default.aspx?search=kenwood+meat+grinder&confirm.x=59&confirm.y=12 and so far have found it handles chicken wings, thighs and drumsticks without a pause.
Shopping around various supermarkets I can get a good supply of chicken, beef/ox/pig/chicken hearts, various livers, kidneys etc

Ok, purists will say ground food is no good for dental benefit....but I will also feed chicken wings/necks a few times a week, and the minced food is much easier to deal with and dish up.

Anyone have any comments??

morg_monster

ooh well done you! I'd love to do this but no space in the freezer and no room for another kitchen machine! Also really we don't have the time to do a fully raw diet let along making it ourselves.

our cats get raw chicken, beef, and some beef heart (their fave) a few times a week (the max you can do without having to worry about it being balanced). Usually if we are having meat dinner we get an extra portion out for them! They love it but they struggle with chicken wings, they don't seem to be able to get the meat off the bones and get frustrated as they love the meat, so i end up snipping bits of meat off for them, not very efficient and they don't get the dental advantages either! One of the cats has blunt canines (vet says from either a fall or a kick to the face :-( hope the former!) so I wonder if that makes it harder for her.

Also they drag the wings around the place when trying to eat, so either they have it out on the patio or I have to wash the kitchen floor (try to ignore when they drag it on the carpet...)

Their best ever treat at the moment though is warm freshly roasted chicken... one of our favourite summer meals is delia's chicken, tarragon and grape salad so they are getting quite a lot of scraps, lucky kitties!

paddypaws101

I also lack huge amounts of freezer space which is why I have not gone for the pre-made minces from Darlings etc.
The grinder is actually quite neat, and light enough to be put away in cupboards easily ( it is lighter than my juicer! ) It takes literally minutes to romp through a tray of chicken wings or thighs, no pre-chopping at all, and I just bung the parts in the dishwasher to clean.
I too was fed up with hunks of bloodied meat being dragged hither and thither....this way they eat it right out of the bowl and I know they are getting a mix of all the necessary parts plus the all important bone. A few supplements added and hey presto!
Honestly it is all much easier than I expected.

sashybo

Hi paddypaws, I've been feeding my cats raw for over a year now and used to use the minced food from food4cats. When they shut the business we really weren't sure what to do but have ended up trying out different meats with the cats ourselves.

We feed them chicken legs and thighs, heart (usually lamb), kidney (ox and lamb), liver (chicken, pig and lamb) and chunks of muscle meat like chicken, pork and turkey. I have found it a bit more difficult to find things like heart and kidneys as a lot of places don't sell them. They also have sardines occasionally as Sainsburys do them in spring water and sometimes prawns as a treat. Turkey thigh is actually a recent meat that we discovered they really enjoy.

I don't mince their food, I usually just chop it up, although sometimes I do use the food processor as two of my cats are older and had lots of teeth taken out before we got them. They actually do very well despite only having a few teeth each - sometimes they do need my younger cat (who has all his teeth) to break things down for them a bit though.

What kind of supplements do you add? As I said, we've only been doing our own food for them for a couple of months now and sometimes I worry that I've not giving them everything they need.

We also have problems with them dragging everything over our (cream) carpet. Apparently it tastes better with carpet fibres. _pale_ We have an open plan kitchen/living room so no way to stop them either.

Kimberley

I don't tend to grind our pets raw food up because it is better for them to be able to chew it themselves. Have you ever seen a Lion or Tiger in the wild having it's dinner minced? You can also get ready minced raw food from the petshop or online called Prize choice. I also give ours chicken wings and day old frozen chicks that you can buy online for their teeth and so that they still get their Taurine that they need. Also when feeding raw food ensure that you worm them every 3 months.

sharnad

mine used to love fresh fish but as my uncle was a fishmonger there was an everready free supply

paddypaws101

I did buy some of those blocks of frozen mince from PAH....it looks and smells nothing like real meat to me...and the cats did not like it.
I know that chunks of meat and bone are better for their teeth than mince, so will give wings or chicken ribs on occasion for this purpose, but I too was fed up with bloodied lumps of meat being dragged all over the house. Mince is eaten out of the bowl!
I am using a recipe which adds Fish oil, B vitamins, Vit E,taurine, egg yolk as well as a mixture of hearts and organ meat.
I do not plan on going 100% raw, the oldies would not go for it, but for now I am happy with the mix of raw and wet food.

sashybo

The Prize choice mince is awful imo - I agree it doesn't even look like meat. Our cats really didn't like it either, horrible stuff and wouldn't buy it again.

Petal_3

Prize Choice = Yuk!

Re. feeding chunks and not minces - I would happily do that if mine wouldn't pick and choose which chunks they would/wouldn't eat! I can't ensure they're each getting the right balance if some are leaving some bits that will be eaten by the others.....iyswim.

x

Kimberley

Price choice is real meat, you can even see the grizzle inside and if it goes off you can tell by the smell. Not all cats like it, mine all love it. I get most of my meat grinded by our Butcher though. Prizechoice as a treat.

robert_harper_2000

Just don't think the Prize Choice is high quality meat. What is a good website for raw diet receipes?