Hi again (can you tell us your name please so we know what to call you and your partner)
What a beautiful cat Chilli is! I have owned Burmese before and they are wonderful cats.
Here is the information on the raw food diet.
I follow the frankenprey diet which is the closest to what they would eat in the wild.
Like this
http://www.rawfedcats.org/nature.htm.
Others follow a diet similar to the one advocated by vet Lisa Pierson, like this
https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/
Here is another link
http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.html
I used to follow the one like Lisa Pierson's diet when I was feeding Sheba but since I have had Harry I am following the Frankenprey diet and love it. I started feeding Harry the Frankenprey diet when I got him when he was 6 months old. If you start feeding them bone when they are young they are more likely to eat it, although I have to say Sheba loved a bone too but because she had early kidney disease I couldn't give her much bone because of the phosphorus.
If you follow the Lisa Pierson diet you need to add all the supplements she has listed, to ensure you have a balanced diet. I think that is what freaked out most vets...the thought they are not getting a balanced diet.
With the Frankenprey diet, because you are feeding the organs etc, and giving egg (for vitamins) and fish (for the omega 3) some of the supplements are not necessary. One that you must give is taurine even though much of the raw diet has quite a bit of taurine in it, especially the chicken hearts. Cooking the meat destroys much of the taurine.
So what you need to give is:
*80% muscle meat (such as chicken thighs and legs, kangaroo meat, chicken hearts, chicken giblets, beef heart, beef, lamb, turkey, pork). If you give turkey make sure it is 100% turkey with no additives. I will only buy it on the bone then I know it is OK. Harry doesn't eat the turkey bone but tears the meat off the bone which is fantastic for his teeth.
Heart is considered muscle meat not organ meat. I also buy grass fed beef mince from WW as it (as well as the kangaroo is high in Omega 3). Minced meat has less taurine in it as once it is minced, a greater surface is exposed to the air, so just keep that in mind and don't feed too much minced meat. Having said that, I feed probably a portion of it every second day because of the omega 3 benefit.
*10% edible bone (such as chicken necks, chicken wings, chicken carcasses). If your cats won't eat bone then you will have to find a substitute.. this is not negotiable! They need bone for calcium. It might take a while for them to get used to eating bone. Try giving it first thing in the morning when they are hungry. Always supervise them when eating bone. Eating bones is fantastic for their oral health. Harry has beautiful teeth and and no bad breath at all.
*10% organ meat of which
5% is liver ( such as chicken or lambs liver). Don't give more than this as too much can be toxic but a small amount is essential.
5% of other organ meat ( I use lambs kidneys)
I only buy human grade meat, usually from Wollies and feed it all raw except the liver which I just drop in boiling water to seal it. It can be fed raw though.
I buy trays of chicken hearts, giblets, and liver from WW.
I use a small kitchen weighing machine to weigh the food.....it doesn't take long and you soon get used to guessing the correct weight. I stick to the same amount every day as I don't want Harry to get overweight and he loves his food.
When I get home I cut it up into 40 gram portions and freeze it on trays, then when frozen I transfer to plastic bags and keep in freezer. With the chicken hearts I lay them on a tray and freeze them as above.
With the liver and kidney I cut up into small portions ...for the liver I do about 8 grams and the kidney about 10 grams give or take a gram.
Depending on Chilli's weight you can work out how much you want to feed him a day. How much does he weigh?
*** however, while he is unregulated he is going to be starving so you can feed extra. The reason he is so hungry is because his body is not absorbing all the nutrients from the food because of his high blood sugars. Once he gets down to more normal numbers you will find he is not as hungry....hopefully! And he is still a kitten so growing so needs more food than an older cat.
Apart from the above food.
I also give Harry a raw egg yoke once a week for vitamins. Don't give raw egg white as it stops the absorption if some vitamin Bs. But you can give cooked egg white safely. If he won't eat an egg yoke on its own, try mixing small amounts in the food over the period of a day.
I also give him canned sardines once a week and he has the cooked skin from the salmon we eat, which he loves. This is for the omega 3.
It is important you give all that I have listed above to ensure a balanced diet.
*Important. Put a pinch of taurine on the food each day. Excess is just excreted in the kidney so you can't give too much.
https://au.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-T...VzxwrCh1rawC9EAQYASABEgKEafD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Some people feed the diet so it balances out over a week.
I find it easier to give all the portions every day eg
I give Harry 150 grams a day and I feed him 4 times a day. He weighs 5kgm
So one day I might give him 40grams kangaroo, 40 grams pork, 40 grams beef and his liver and kidney portion and maybe 3 hearts.
Another day I will substitute one of the meat portions with a chicken wing or neck. I get the portions out the night before and put into a container for the next day.
I feed him bone 3 or 4 times a week.
Then I give a raw egg yoke each Saturday and the sardines every Sunday.
My daughter also feeds her cat raw but she puts all the food in daily portions when she brings it home from the supermarket. Then she just has to pull out one bag a day. Do what ever works for you.
Put the taurine on when you feed as it can be destroyed somewhat in the freezer.
Hope this makes sense.
Ask any question you like about it. Am very happy to help in any way I can. We were all where you are at the moment and understand the steep learning curve
