Raw food for cats

twiglet66

Hi,

I know that there are other threads about raw feeding and I have read them, think I am going to take the plunge. I have 3 cats and 2 kittens, the Bengal kittens are my main reason for changing to raw as normal cat food just doesn't seem to work for them.

At the moment I am looking at Nutriment and Natural Instinct, quite like the look of the starter pack you can get with Nutriment as with the free postage seems a reasonable deal.

A few questions

I have read that if you want to divide the frozen meat into smaller portions to let it partly defrost then divide up and refreeze, I thought it was a bit dodgy to refreeze after partially thawing?

I would like to occasionally still feed normal wet food to the cats, mainly in case I forget to get the raw out of the freezer or run out just want another option of food, is it ok to feed both?

Lastly the nutriment says its for Adult cats, does anyone know if its ok for kittens? I have emailed them but not heard back yet.

Hope that makes sense

Thank you xx

MallyGirl

I have certainly let the blocks defrost slightly and then sliced through with a serrated knife - bread knife seems to work well here. It will also be fine in the fridge for a day if you defrost too much.

GwylimT

Companies just market food as kitten to make more money.

I defrost it just a bit to hack it up, admittedly sometimes with a hammer and chissel in the garden, but as you have five cats you could defrost the whole block and feed it until it runs out.

The most convenient ready made raw is natures menu as you simply remove how many nuggets you want, if they freeze together just give it a big whack.

You can also feed whole prey such as mice and chicks.

What wet brands do you typically feed?

twiglet66

GwylimT wrote: »

Companies just market food as kitten to make more money.

I defrost it just a bit to hack it up, admittedly sometimes with a hammer and chissel in the garden, but as you have five cats you could defrost the whole block and feed it until it runs out.

The most convenient ready made raw is natures menu as you simply remove how many nuggets you want, if they freeze together just give it a big whack.

You can also feed whole prey such as mice and chicks.

What wet brands do you typically feed?

Thank you. I did look into natures menu but read a few reviews about it being a bit soggy so put me off it slightly.

Kittens are currently on Smilla kitten food, only one I have found so far that is ok with their tummies

I did read about giving chicken wings as well

GwylimT

All raw food is fairly soggy, it is just minced meat and bones after all, if they are on smilla you may want to transition them to a higher protein food first as going from 40-90% meat protein is a huge jump, expect some nice soft poo on your journey!

Something like natures menu, applaws pate, bozita or om nom nom would be good.

twiglet66

GwylimT wrote: »

All raw food is fairly soggy, it is just minced meat and bones after all, if they are on smilla you may want to transition them to a higher protein food first as going from 40-90% meat protein is a huge jump, expect some nice soft poo on your journey!

Something like natures menu, applaws pate, bozita or om nom nom would be good.

Thank you
The poo's can't be any softer than they have been having recently, at least I hope not! Lol I am hoping that the raw meat actually sorts that problem out.

GwylimT

The joys of a kittens bowels! Are they on anything like fortiflora? It aids in firming stools as it increases gut flora. If they have soft poo make sure they are emptying their anal glands or they may need emptying at the vets, often when they are full you see a black dot at eight and two o'clock on their anus.

Raw does often clear up toilet issues, the bone should also help with loose stools once their bodies have settled.

twiglet66

I do have some fortiflora ready to use with the raw food. Will check their anal glands, actually might make my husband do that job :rotfl:

mrshughes86

My cat has been eating raw for the last 3 years, and I've recently started feeding her the Nature's Menu raw cat food. It comes in little chunks which makes it easy to spilt up to keep some frozen, and defrost the rest.