I am hopefully getting a cat (or two) in a few weeks, and I’ve been reading about raw food diets for cats. It seems like a great idea but I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford it. Is it expensive to keep cats on a raw food diet? Also, is it necessary to shop at a butcher, or is supermarket meat okay for cats?

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Why do so many people have cats that are 7-15 years old or older that have been eating store brands (Friskies, Purina, etc.) for years? Before this ‘health food’ kick for cats started.

The recall was a fluke (it was terrible, but it could have happened to any product in any food). BUT even then, the store-bought brands, like Friskies, weren’t affected. The diets in common brands were developd by scientists, and have been improved over the years. If all the food on the shelves were bad for your cat’s diet, they wouldn’t all still be there.

Sure, it’s good to watch the food that your cat eats, but buying all this high dollar ’specialty’ cat with ‘nothing’ in them I think will cause more problems in the end because the ‘fillers’ and so-called junk they put in the food is also needed as part of their diet.

I know alot of people won’t agree, but my cats have always eaten Friskies, and I’ve never had one sick from a poor diet.
Iams used to farm out their testing to other companies but because of the cruelty, they started doing their own in-house safe testing on animals.

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ok i dont trust commercial cat food at all.
nobody regulates it really.

its complete garbage.

i want to start my cat on the raw food diet, but all the research i do i dont understand it all sounds like "blah blah blah" with alot of words i cant define.

so is there like a "raw food diet for dummies?"
and where can i find the supplements for thet cats at?
and what the heck is a grinder?

im dumb, i need i explained to me like you would have to explain it to a 4 year old.

and were can i find really fast recipes?
do you realize thats what they would eat in the wild?

you feed your cat crap!
it will probably end up with a liver damage

so you know how much ash and fillers are in cat food, do your research.
the cat food companys slide buy with the minimal nutrients in it.
Also please dont awsner my question if you have no idea of the benifits of the raw food diet.

this is manly for people who are feeding there cats that.

So please refrain from anwsering my question if you are not educated in this topic

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I was wondering about the benefits and deficits of a raw food diet for my cat, considering that in nature cats would eat raw meat. I am aware of the risks for parasites and I know that livestock and dogs eat certain plants that rid them of stomach parasites, particularly clover because it contains tannins. I also know that cranberries contain tannins and have recently been added to many commercial cat foods, but because cats are carnivores I am unsure to whether or not they would be able to digest the fruit. Also, this website has a recipe for raw cat food and I was wondering if it is correct: www.wikihow.com/Make-Raw-Cat-Food . I would inform my veterinarian of this decision before I enacted it but just was curious.

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Aaaalright. I’ve posted a billion times about my cat Jezebel who was throwing up.. we took her to the vet… then she was throwing up green bile… then she seemed better….

So. I’m trying really hard to find the source – the vet didn’t feel any obstructions and I’m hoping not to get an x-ray (I’m in college… I don’t exactly have money – I’d have to borrow, steal, or beg to pay for that).

Anyways, I have a clip-on toilet cleaner in my bathroom. I keep my toilet lid down at all times because my cats sleep in there and the box says to keep animals away from it. Sometime last week.. or possibly this week… I can’t remember, my mom cleaned out the litter box before I was awake and I guess used my toilet too because the lid was up (Even though she knows to keep them down since she has a clip-on in her bathroom too).

I’m wondering if this is what is ailing Jeze – because she was super affectionate this morning, not lethargic at all. I let them out of the bathroom around 5 this morning while I was studying and she spent all morning curled up with me – and even did her kneading routine where she kneads the bed, purrs, and stares at me with loving eyes and yells at me if I stop petting her. She really seemed better! She sniffed her food, still didn’t want to eat, but she didn’t throw up when she smelled it. And she was able to keep water down.

DIDN’T THROW UP ALL DAY, which is why I didn’t take her back to the vet.

Then… our handyman came over to stick a kitty-door in our kitchen door, leading to the garage so I can get that litter box out of my bathroom….
I was gone for a few hours, came home, greeted the cats, and within 5 minutes of being home Jeze puked all over the floor. This stuff smells worse than diarrhea… I didn’t know something so nasty could come out of that beautiful face.
I went into the bathroom and saw that the handyman had put the toilet seat up (both parts of it, ick) ! I was infuriated… not at him, just at the situation.

Okay, all this to say… if the chemicals from the cleaner is what’s ailing my kitty is there something I can do (other than getting rid of the stupid clip thing) to help her – besides another vet visit (that’s obvious, i hate when that’s the only advice people give).

This could totally not even be it, but I’m considering anything at all right now.

Thank you :-)
More home-made tummy-help suggestions would be appreciated – as soon as this monsoon stops outside I’m going to try to find the oils someone was talking about and possibly the yogurt, though she won’t even eat the hairball medicine she loves…
… that’s what I said – BESIDES removing the cleaner. I’ve already done that.
Kia – thanks. I’ll try that. I reeeeeally hope this is it – it’s a lot harder watching an animal suffer than suffering through it yourself!!

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I can manage to do the raw diet (it is more time consuming though, measuring all the muscle meat, bone content and organ content) but I like doing it because I know it’s healthy. Then there’s EVO/Wellness canned food that I am also considering. I can’t make up my mind. Both of my cats love either or. Which one should I do?

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So, I’ve been feeding raw food to my cats lately. 2 of them absolutely love it and the other 3 just smell it and walk away. Is there anything that I can add to it to make it smell more appetizing to them?

I buy the food frozen from a very reliable store near my home. I want to get them used to the raw diet before I start making it myself.

Thanks
Ocimom- I do let it thaw out and make sure that it is completely defrosted before I give it to them. I also stick it in the microwave for about 15 seconds to take the chill out of it!
Natalie, I know what needs to be in the raw food.. thanks though.

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I would like to start my 5 month old pitt-bull mix on a raw food diet. Does anyone have a recipe or know of a web-site that they know is good? I googled and came up with tons of sites but I hate using just any recipe, I’d rather use something that others have tried! also most raw food diets are a basic recipe, is there any changes that need to be made because Max is a puppy?
I would like to do an all raw diet, I found one for my cats that I will be starting in the next few weeks: www.catinfo.org that is raw chicken legs ground up with some added supplements. would this recipe work for dogs too? thanks for your help!

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Ok so I’ve decided I want to try my cat on the raw food diet…I’ve been on the internet looking at all different sites and am a little confussed. I’ve seen on some sites the BARF diet which says its best to leave the bones and grind them up too then I’ve been to other and they said not to put the bones in and use a supplement powder…So which one is better or are they pretty much the same??
What do you give to your cats??
Also if you are feeding your cats a raw diet what sort of grinder do you have and does it grind bones??
I think that’s all I’m confussed with at the moment…thanks :-)

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So it’s official. Price per pound, it’s way cheaper to go the raw food diet than buying the quality dry cat food. So that’s what we’re doing.

My cats already eat it as a treat, but they make a HUGE mess dragging it around. How can I keep things clean and easy to pick up?

And I have four of them, one of them has aggression issues and another guards his food (canned and raw, dry he doesn’t care). Besides feeding them in different rooms, how can I keep all 4 happily eating their own?

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I want to switch my cats over to a BARF diet, after about three months consideration and research, but I can’t afford a grinder at the moment. I have everything else available to me, but grinders are expensive. I would like to buy premade food from a pet supply store but I haven’t been able to find any myself.
I live in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada which is about 15 minutes away from Houlton, Maine, USA.

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I have two wonderful cats, one is just over a year old, the other is seven years old. I am ready to start feeding them a raw food diet, but after having them both on strictly kibble diet all of their life, I am unsure as to what I should start them on. I have had people recommend chicken necks and wings, but I was wondering if anything else would be good. I would like to stay mostly in one protein source, at least at first.

Any ideas?
Lol! when I said I would like to stay in one protien source I ment until they had gotten the hang of a raw diet. So maybe for a week or two.

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I just got a 7 week old kitten and started him on the regular cat chow. But after visiting a pet food store was persuaded into trying a Raw food diet simular the the BARF diet. He seems to like it but I am conserned about feeding my kitten raw meat! They told me at the pet store that grains were bad for cats because they weren't able to diggest them. I'm very confused can anyone shed some light?

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I am planning to switch my cats to a raw food diet. one of my cats has severe allergies (32 of them to be exact). I have done some extensive reading about the raw diet and it says to add healthy power to each meal. There are many ingredients in this mixture, one of which is yeast. My cat is allergic to yeast so I cannot include this in the mixture. Is there something else I can use that has the same nutritional value? Or is it ok to simply omit it from the recipe without causing any kind of nutritional deficiency?

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