Do you feed raw diet?

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Jenn & Baxter

Jenn & Baxter

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Are you feeding your cat a raw diet? I would love to hear the process you use, the meat & supplements you use. The risk & benefits. The grinder & any other information you would love to share with me.

I am considering on switching Baxter (14 yrs, DX Nov 12) to raw diet. Baxters (Himilyan) coat is a mess I know FD is a part of that. Plus, I am tired of rushing to the pet store to try this & that canned food to just return it 5 days later. I question alot of ingredents that are in the food & the nutrition. I don't want Baxter on grains or gulten. My vet has told me no to raw diet, but he recommends SD/MD.
I have read Dr. Lisa receipe. The food grinder is what is holding me back ($$).

Thank you.
 
Hello mommma & Baxter,
Yes, we do the raw diet from Dr. Lisa.... I did get lucky enough and my boss bought the grinder for me.... Tasin from One stop Jerky shop... I purchased the sanitiser and brushes for cleaning and the spray oil for maintenance. Total cost was under 200.00.

The BEST investment ever. I also searched the craigslist and found someone selling tons of babyfood jars....Washed up and store w/ lids on in the empty plastic litter containers. I bought 4 oz jars and the larger ones too.

We started out cooking - almost done 1/2 the batch and other semi cooked and just grinding and mixing the two together, no vitamins because I am still feeding canned during the transition. Now we are up to 3# with vitamins mixed (purchased from iherb) per lisas recommendation. I still cook chicken leg parts about 10 min per side, throw into cold bowl of water, then back in fridge til next day.

We have added some quail, one semi cooked and one raw from fridge. We have also added a turkey leg: one raw & semi cooked. The last grinding I did, I double batched and made aprox 6 lbs., then I put into small jars about 3.5 oz per jar, into the freezer and take out what I need (3 jars at a time), pop in fridge to thaw... If mommy forgets to take out of freezer, we will put jar into some warm water to thaw and serve. I usually put 1/2 the jar onto the saucer, mix with a bit of warm water.

I am still serving canned food as well, so I am not going thru that much at one time, however, I have increased the raw and decreased the canned. The girls were not to sure about it at first. I would use some tuna water or ground up frz dried chicken or lamb and sprinkle on top. Now, just add warm water and serve. Something else I did at first with the vitamins was to mix the recipe with 1/2 of what it called for (still serving canned) so that they would get used to the taste w/ vitamin.

I put out a serving in the am while getting ready for work.... I leave it for them and when I get home, whatever might be left on the plate, goes in the trash and we redo as soon as I walk thru the door. Then if there is any left before I go to bed, I pick it up and put down more.

I might be a little over protective, but I never use the same saucer or utensil after touching the raw foods. All gets washed w/ plenty of soap & water. I also use bleach based cleaner when I finish grinding: sink & facuet handles, fridge handles - anything I think I could have possibly touched. Also purchase some disposable gloves to use while grinding.

I found a place that sold chicken hearts, bought 3 containers, brought them home and separated into the proper size amounts for 3 lb recipes. I also add about 4 oz of gizzards and of course the livers.... All frozen before hand into the proper size amounts.

This process is taking less and less time as I get used to doing it....I am all on my own here so it does take some time...but well well worth it... I pick a friday nite, semi cook my chicken and next day: grind which doesnt take that long at all: that machine is absolutely wonderful. The most time for this process for me is cutting the chicken up - cutting cold is hard for me - but probably cut too much before going into the grinder. Grinder is fast fast fast! Then I set the baby jar on top of the digital scale and add til it reaches approx. 3.5 oz. Slap on the lid and carry off to the freezer out in garage! done and ready for feeding for a while....

The only problem I am having is the chunky part of this recipe... my girls - especially Bean - do not like chunks of any kind! We are working on that part?? Any Ideas??

I am feeding 2 of my 3 girls this and have for quite a while. My Sugar Bean looks GREAT!! She weighted almost 12-13 lbs before dx, lost to 8 and stayed there for a long time. Well, now that she has been on raw, she has gained to over 10!!! and she has muscled up sooo much, looks like a different baby... and she is short hair baby, but her coat is unbelieveble... Ittle Sista (Civvie) has been eating raw since she walked thru our door at 6 wks old, and she is sooo soft (longer hair girl), that she looks almost wet.... lots of friends comment on the way my girls have changed :razz:

Sorry for such a long post, but I am a firm believer in raw! excellent way to go! ;-)
 
Thank you for your reply. When did you start the raw diet? I know every cat is different, but how long was it before you started to see the benefits? Was your cat already OTJ when you started the raw diet?
Did you ever look on eBay for a grinder? I wasn't sure if that would be a place for me to look or what I needed to look out for?

Thank you for your time sending me your reply.
 
I personally got my grinder on ebay. Some here also use the Northern Industrial #12 grinder. Never had any problems with mine. I lucked up on a seller that bought up a store liquidation and got a $150 grinder for only $52 at the time. I also use Dr. Lisa's recipe and get my supplements from iherb.com. The biggest changes I saw was in fur quality (softer and deeper colors) and their personalities really came out. Definitely worth it in my opinion.
 
Hello Baxers mommabean,

I started with raw foods using the primal brand and natures variety raw and rad cat.... They seemed to be ok with trying this as treats, around sept....
Then got my grinder in Oct. Just adding a bit at a time with canned feedings... Has worked like a champ... Was not for sure at first, but turned out to be the best thing I could have done for my girls. I have 3, but Civvie Slappy will have no part in it... sorry, but she doesnt look as healthy as the other 2 either... momma is gonna keep trying tho. I would think it took about 4-6 wks before I noticed a big difference, but we are still feeding canned too. Not a total transition yet. I am hoping 100% within 2-3 months from now.

Bean was OTJ in May but still did not seem be be gaining weight, she looked much better but just not the best she could be. Mommabean still very worried that even though she was not still loosing, she really was not gaining any either.

I tried ebay and craigslist for this brand of grinder, and could not find one. I went on several websites for raw cat fuds reipes, and this grinder was highly recommended. I really did not want to try another brand if I could keep from it. Some were a bit cheaper but after reading the reviews, decided I would not go with a different kind. I spent many days/weeks searching on both to see if someone posted??? I found one or two on ebay only to find out it was the same company I was looking at in the first place and selling for the same price.

Good luck & definately not a problem sending a reply, all my pleasure!
:mrgreen:
 
I purchased the Natures Variety lamb yesterday. I didn't mix it with other food, I just gave it to him with 2 tbsp warm water. I gave him about 1/2 can. He ate pretty well. This morning he didn't eat as much. Tonight is about the same. I think it's high in fat. Well that's what the foods list says. The fat is what I think drove his #s up. I was feeding BBW Duck. After the Merrick beef. I think I will start researching some grinders. My husbands says no, the vet says no. I say yes.

Thank you!
 
lol ~ friends think I am crazy - ok, most of them until they see what it has done... then they just comment on how good they look. I calmly drop 'yeppers, cuz of the raw'. and let it go.

My vet and I agree to disagree and that is all we discuss about it.

It took my girls a while to get used to it as well, go for it once then pick at it the next day???? kitties will be kitties. I just kept setting it down along side the canned food bowls, tablespoon or so at a time until I noticed it was disappearing as fast as the canned. :o
 
a couple of things to point out..

1. raw doesn't work if someone in the house has a compromised immune system
2. not all cats will eat it
3. not all commercially prepared raw diets are equal; if you make, do Dr Lisa's recipe
4. if you have small children you may want to reconsider as salmonella can be shed by the cats.
5. raw diets can be very beneficial

Mine won't eat it, and I have small children so my vet's evidence against it persuaded me not to.
 
Jenn,

There are 2 commercial raw brands that Dr. Lisa suggests - Feline's Pride and Natures's Variety. You might try those first to make sure Baxter will eat it before you invest in all the equipment?
 
Hi Sue,

Good suggestion but better yet is just to buy a chicken thigh and offer them some plain meat - raw or cooked...or semi-cooked and play around with that first.

FP is very expensive (shipping will kill you....) and some cats don't like NV Medallions...whereas they *will* eat a more stripped down/homemade food.

When I started making cat food, I just fooled around with plain meat first.
 
Someone told me once that I should never give my cats or dogs raw meat b/c they can get worms from eating raw meat? Is this not true?

I am actually thinking of switching to homemade cat food using Dr. Lisa's recipe, I would like to put everybody on it, but I have to weigh the costs against what I am feeding now. Tink (FD), Tawny (FD) and Rocket (overweight) get canned; most of the others get dry (it's a budget thing). One website I looked at compared the costs of homemade raw to canned food and raw was substantially cheaper per pound than canned; I was wondering if raw was also cheaper than dry (not taking into consideration the possible costs of vetting and health issues due to a dry diet). Will the ferals eat it?

Anybody have any thoughts on this?
 
Dr. Lisa, Thank you so much for taking your time to post on my thread. I can only imagine how busy you are & for you to post suggestions, how to introduce raw diet really means a lot to me. I will purchase some chicken thighs right after the holiday. I am going to try & I am not one to give up easy.

@Sue on wed I started to feed Baxter Natures Variety. I purchased the lamb & rabbit. I fed the lamb for only one day because I think it has a lot of fat in it. I just started feeding Baxter rabbit. It takes him a little while to eat it all. He seems to like it so far.

@dd My vet told me no to raw diet because the possibility of parasites. Think about at all the cat food, dog food & treats that get recalled. If you make your own you know what you are putting in it & how fresh it is. You don't have to trust a huge company in the middle of no mans land to mass produce the food, can it, ship it & have it sit on the shelf until you purchase it. How fresh could it be & what is really in it that stuff?

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
 
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