Raw diet?

[carbn8]

Iv been interested in putting my cat on a raw diet for while, now I think its my best option. Yesterday I came home to very un pleasant cat, I noticed he was having trouble urinating. After an emergency vet visit and an over night stay, I found out that he had a blocked urethra. They vet told me that a change in diet could be a way to keep this from happening again. We discussed changing him to a raw diet, And we both thought that was the best way to go for now. so my question is to anyone that feed a raw diet to there cats, what animal parts do you use, and do you supplement with anything, vitamin, oils, or greens?
Thanks for any input!

[sorraia]

First - Congratulations on finding a vet who is supportive of raw diets! Many are not. Many are trained the old school way, where processed kibble foods are the way to go, especially the ones they sell in their veterinary offices.

Any way -
I DO feed my cats (and dogs) a raw diet. I currently have two cats on a raw diet, and had three until a couple years ago when my elderly cat (at least 18 years old) had to be put to sleep (due to renal failure, which we managed for at least a year on a raw diet - she had been switched to raw at around 12 years of age, after living her life on kibble). My cats are thriving. They are around 10 years old, and you wouldn't know it by looking at them. They are in good condition, and they run and play like kittens. They actually have a ritual every day of running around the house like crazy hell demons, chasing each other and wrestling. They've been on a raw diet for more than 6 years, and the only reason my vet doesn't pressure me to change is because their annual blood work is always perfect and their body condition is always perfect.

Cats are obligate carnivores. While they can digest some plant material, their bodies are not as efficient in doing so as for meat. If they are provided with a balanced meat diet, there is no need to add any plant matter. My cats do not get plant matter. They also do not get added supplements. I follow what is called the "prey model diet". I actually started them on whole prey, then switched to prey model out of convenience. Prey model involves putting together different parts of the animal to mimic a whole prey item, often affectionately called "frankenprey". Due to cost and availability, the majority of their diet is chicken, but sometimes includes other animals, like beef, pork, turkey, and quail. Approximately 5-10% of their diet is organ (does not include heart or gizzards, those count as "meat"), 5-10% bone (my cats will eat the small bones in cornish game hens and the smaller softer bones, like ribs, on full size chicken), and the rest is made up of "meat" (mostly muscle, but also includes connective tissues, some fat, skin, etc). They don't necessarily need to receive organ and bone in every meal, but the overall composition of their diet should be 5-10% of each of those, and the rest falls in that "meat" category. When feeding organ, a good portion of it is liver, the rest is made up of spleen, kidney, reproductive organs, stomach/green tripe, and anything else that's available. I also like to add some heart to their "meat" portion periodically, because it offers a different composition of different nutrients than other parts of the animal.

That's the basic run down. There are other diet options, but this is what I follow.

[carbn8]

I am VERY lucky to have the vet I do. thank you for the input, the more I read about raw diets the more excited I get about it. My boy is just over a year old, and healthy other than the urinary issue. Thankfully he is home now and we can start making sure he is getting the best I can provide. Please keep the advice coming, particularly any tips on switching over from kibble.

[sorraia]

Start small at first. I put my cats on canned first, the bigger meatier chunks the better instead of the paste stuff. then mixed small chunks of meat in it, gradually mixing bigger chunks. Once they were taking decent size chunks ,I started decreasing the amount of canned gradually. Once they were off canned and only eating meaty chunks, I again increased the size of chunks, until eventually they were eating whole raw pieces. My oldest cat was the easiest to convert, my boy was the hardest. Patience is key. Some cats are harder to convince than others, and it is Ok to go backwards in the process before going forward again. It won't ruin them in any way. Just make sure he eats enough food every day. Cats can have a hard time skipping meals.

[carbn8]

Thank you again! I did exactly that, some wet food and some small chunk of meat. he inhaled it and then took a nice long nap, lol. I think he is gonna be easier to change over than I thought.

[Mike41793]

Contact satomi325 if she doesn't comment here. She feeds raw to her dogs and ferrets. If you use the search function, I'm pretty sure she even started a thread on it.

[GoingPostal]

If he's willing to eat raw meat already that's a great sign. Some cats are super picky. All I did to switch mine was offer her some of my ferrets raw and figured out what she would eat and what she wouldn't so for several months she got raw some days, canned some days, once I got her eating several proteins and organ meat I dropped the canned. She had no problem with chunks and bones right off the bat and she was at least 13 when I switched her in 2010, had put her on canned a couple years prior after years on kibble. My girl is picky, will not touch or pukes back up most hooved animals but any poultry she loves, chicken, goose, duck, grouse, if it's got wings she'll eat it and she gets rabbit and mice as well. I don't supplement or add oils/veggies/etc. It seems like a lot of cat raw feeders do ground, I find it way messier and my cat doesn't like it much either, I use a little to get variety into her but generally feed chunked meat.