Diet

Variations

Whole Chicken Version

You can start with a whole chicken as purchased from a store or butcher. This would be a dressed chicken without head, feet, entrails or feathers. Remove the neck and the backbone to reduce the bone content a bit. You will need a grinder capable of grinding the larger bones in the carcass. If a packet of organs is included, then add them to the grind.

 

Turkey Version

Use turkey thighs if you can. Don't use only turkey necks or wings as the bone to meat ratio and thus the calcium to phosphorus ratio would be off. You can start with a whole turkey; just keep the percentage of bone, by weight, at around 7 to 10%. You can use chicken livers and hearts if you can't get adequate quantities of turkey liver/hearts. Follow the rest of the recipe as shown.

 

Duck, Pheasant, Quail or Cornish Hen

Use the same recipe as above when grinding a whole, dressed bird. Again, it's okay to use chicken hearts and liver. If you have them, include the organs that came with the bird in the total weight of liver and heart.

 

Rabbit

A kitty favorite! Follow the instructions above if you are using a dressed rabbit, i.e. no head, entrails, fur, feet, etc., or if using rabbit parts.

 

Fish

Fish as the basis of a raw diet is not recommended. Avoid top-of-the-food-chain fish such as tuna altogether as they are much more likely to be contaminated with PCBs or heavy metals than short-lived fish lower on the food chain. Feeding water-packed sardines once a week can provide extra omega fatty acids. For variety, you can also occasionally add a can of wild-caught salmon to the ground recipe.

 

Pre-Ground Frozen Meats

This means pre-ground, unsupplemented meat/bone/organ grinds specifically intended for use as a raw pet food, not grocery-store boneless ground meat. Thaw the meat in the fridge. You can add the supplements as soon as it's thawed enough to mix; it doesn't have to be completely thawed. It's okay to re-freeze after mixing; since the meat was originally frozen immediately after grinding, it didn't sit around growing bacteria. Using pre-ground is a real time saver. Just add in the slurry mixture and portion out, and then freeze. There is approximately 5.8 pounds of meat in the chicken thigh recipe, including the meat, bone, and organs. If you are supplementing a five pound tube of meat/bone/organ grind, you will need to reduce the supplements by 15%. Or, you can increase the total amount of meat to 5.8 pounds by adding some chunked meat.

 

Using Meat without Bone

Some people want to use a recipe that does not include bone. We highly recommend that you grind your own from whole cuts of meat or purchase boneless ground meats specifically made for raw feeding pets.

You might ask, "Why can't I just get ground meat from the grocery store?" Ground meat from a grocery store has the potential to have higher levels of pathogens. When meat is ground it greatly increases the surface area where bacteria can multiply. It also spreads any bacteria present on the outside of the meat throughout the mix. Meat ground for human consumption is often not handled with the same care as meat used for raw diets. Commercial raw diet makers maintain very high standards and the meat is immediately frozen after grinding to keep bacteria from multiplying. Grocery store ground meat is intended to be thoroughly cooked. In fact, they are counting on the fact that you will cook it. We are not saying that all grocery ground meat is bad, just that the potential for trouble is higher. Keep in mind that raw meat itself is not dangerous, fresh meat is pretty much pathogen-free. Pathogens can get introduced onto the meat – and are only on the outside of the cut – during slaughter and handling.

Please note: Raw bone is more than just a calcium source. Using a calcium supplement is inferior to using real bone. We strongly recommend using the recipe with real bone for long-term raw feeding.

If you are using boneless meat, you will need to add a calcium source, since meat contains very little. You will want to add about 1000 to 1200 mg of calcium per pound of meat. The three basic ways to add calcium are: bone meal powder, MCHA (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite) or eggshell powder. Because bone meal powder and MCHA also contain phosphorus and can throw off the calcium to phosphorus ratios, which are important, we recommend using eggshell powder.

Eggshells are usually about 97% calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is 40% elemental calcium, which is what we measure. One teaspoon of eggshell powder contains about 1800 to 2200 mg of elemental calcium. You should add about ½ teaspoon per one pound of meat and organs. Eggshell calcium has the advantage that it is very low in phosphorus, so it can be added in amounts that will balance the phosphorus content of the meat. It also avoids the use of bovine bone and concerns about lead, mercury and prions.

You can purchase eggshell calcium or make your own. If you buy it, make sure it is pure eggshells with nothing else added. To make your own, follow these steps:

Remove any egg white from the shells but leave the membrane as it contains valuable nutrients. Dry them by baking at 300°F for 10 minutes. Grind them in a clean coffee grinder or food processor. Wait for 10 minutes before opening the grinder to let the powder settle and avoid a cloud of powder coming out. One large egg will make about one teaspoon of powder. Store the powder in an air-tight glass jar.

Make the following adjustments to the recipe when using boneless meat:

Use 3 pounds raw muscle meat (boneless chicken or turkey thigh meat with half of the skin removed, or boneless rabbit) instead of the 4.4 pounds chicken thighs with bone. Add in 2¼ teaspoons eggshell powder (this recipe contains about 4.5 pounds of meat/organs/yolks).

Follow the rest of the recipe as it is, including adding the hearts, liver, raw egg yolks, water and supplements.

 

Serving

Ideally, cats want their food at "mouse body" temperature. The best way to accomplish this is to put thawed or partially thawed food in a Ziploc-type baggie. Squeeze as much air out as you can and then place the baggie in a bowl of warm water for five minutes or so. This warms it up without cooking it. It's best not to microwave it, since this does cook it. To serve, cut off the corner of the baggie with scissors and pour or squeeze it onto their plate. Serving the food cold can cause stomach upset, and your cat may throw it up.

Cats usually prefer to eat off a plate, rather than a bowl. For feeding raw food, glass or metal is preferred because they won't get bacteria-harboring scratches the way plastic will. A low sided Pyrex baking dish or pie plate works great; they are heavy enough not to move around as the cat eats and they usually come with covers for refrigerating leftovers. Some people like to use paper plates for easier clean up.

 

How Much to Feed

Generally, for adult cats you should feed 2 to 4% of ideal body weight per day. For example: for a 10 pound cat at 3%, this would work out to 4.8 ounces a day. When starting out feeding a raw diet, try the middle percentage of 3% and monitor your cat closely to see if she gains or loses weight, then adjust the amount you feed up or down accordingly. Cats will vary in how much they will want to eat in a day; one day they're ravenous and the next they're leaving food on the plate. This is normal. Feed at regular mealtimes; twice a day is fine, but you can do it in three or four meals if you want. Kittens can require twice as much food per pound of body weight as adult cats, as they are growing, not just maintaining their weight. Kittens should also be fed at least every four to six hours.

Calculate how much to feed your adult cat using our handy How Much to Feed Calculator/How Much to Feed Calculator Metric.

If your cat is overweight, try feeding the amount they would need for their ideal weight, not the weight they are now. They will then lose weight slowly down to their ideal.

Get a good scale to keep accurate track of your cats' weights, even if they are not overweight. Health-O-Meter makes a good baby scale that works well for cats. It features a very useful averaging function that will get an accurate weight even on a squirming cat, and a zero-out function that allows you to get a weight even if you have to wrap the cat in a towel or put her in a carrier to weigh her.

 

Feeding a Raw Diet is Easy

Making your own cat food is easy. Once you do it a few times, it gets even easier. Most people end up feeding a combination of homemade, commercially made raw diets and whole meats. This is actually preferred, variety is important, both in the types of meat and the different recipes. This variety helps to even out the nutrients provided. Including whole meat chunks, both with and without small bones and as big as your cats will tackle, is also recommended.

Once you have made the raw diet yourself, you will gain a better understanding of how commercial raw foods are made, as the process is nearly identical. Take a look at "A Visit to a Raw Food Company" for a peek at how one manufacturer does it. Raw foods are very different from processed, cooked foods and much simpler to put together.

And, yes, it's okay if kitty wants to lick the bowl.

 

Margaret Gates is the founder of the Feline Nutrition Foundation. Contributors to the recipe formulation and this article include Feline Nutrition Advisory Board members Marta Kaspar of Alternative Nutrition and Mimi Stein of the Furry Foodie line of raw pet food products.