raw - cheapest way

[Foxyspook]

If I want to feed my cats raw without huge amounts of mincing and expense, can I just buy the Natures Menu free flow mince and then add a supplement such as Fellini with taurine etc? The specialist cat minces with the supplements added are all very expensive.

And, when I take the cats to a cattery, are there any tinned foods that are basically raw pure meat, so that I don't have to change their diet?

Anyone?

We feed our cats 2\3 strays and 1 housecat raw sometimes. We buy medium priced turkey pieces or beef and just give it them, cut up bit ,not minced, (it's good for them to chew). I made a lightly cooked turkey stew with blended green beans yesterday , they all love it!!

Thanks, and do you just buy turkey or beef or something at Iceland or somewhere equally cheap? The reason I am doing it is because both my cats seem unutterly intolerant of all cereal based foods I have tried, and are great when just given chicken. I realise chicken on its own does not contain essential nutrients, so I am going to buy a supplement.

Natures Menu minced meats are supposed to be for dogs. I wondered if this was only because they were insufficient on their own for cats?

Interestingly cats are intolerant to chicken, pork AND cereals which is why we buy them turkey, lamb or beef. (the house cat has had a leg off because of a cancerous growth on her hip, luckily she was free of cancer anywhere else in her body) we want to keep her clear of more cancer (I researched it) by feeding her those specific foods.

There are expensive brilliant pouches and dried food by James Wellbeloved which we keep as an occasional treat. I reckon if you give them meat on the bone you're giving them all the vitamins they could possibly need esp. raw. Because it's what they eat in nature isn't it. They eat grass in the garden of course. The vet recommended green beans for our overweight recently neutered male stray! We buy from our local supermarket. Not iceland (we're in Fr, 50% of the time!). You can get cheap beef for animals here.

Thanks. I will try turkey. I have tried JW dry and wet and doesn't work for these two. Also all the dry food for sensitive cats.

No I agree, I noticed that there is corn in JW' s dry food which didn't please me. It's so interesting, when Millie, our housecat, has something that doesn't agree with her, her eyes start to run so I stop the particular food immediately.

What really annoys me is the food that the vets sell is never both chicken or cereal free, it's like they don't want the animals to be healthy .

Let alone the ready made tins which hardly ever list the full ingredients, it's always "meat and meat products" . Even in the fish ones!!!!

You could join an FB group for more info and tips. There's one called CRAP! (cats raw and proud) and in sure there are others. Sorry, don't know how to link with phone.

we feed a quite a lot raw. he likes lamb hearts. I buy the whole from the fresh meat section in the supermarket (cheap)and just half them. he does the rest. it's a cat after all

other than that also some cheap beef, lamb liver and kidney (sparingly). he won't touch raw poultry though.

you shouldn't not feed minced meat. apparently it kills off the taurine.

Innards are definitely the way to go for cheap raw food. Chicken hearts, for example, are a good natural source of taurine so don't need supplementing. Raw chicken necks are cheap too, they have the bonus of being good for the teeth.

My cats are not raw fed as neither of them will touch it but we raw fed our dog and the cheapest way we found was raiding the reduced bit in the supermarket at 3:30 on a Sunday just before they shut and chopping and freezing everything in bulk. Offal is always really cheap in there I'm guessing they overestimate how many people like Offal as there is always loads!

Watching for tips

We use the natures menu nuggets at the moment and bulk them out with good quality biscuits. She loves them!!

thanks. I wasn't planning on getting the nutritional mix exact - because I thought you had to do a lot of grinding for that, So am going to get a supplement. And is there any reason to feed bland cereals like rice?

The way to get them 'into' raw meat is to cut it in longish thin pieces. Also it's best to give it at room temperature. They seem to love chewing it as if it's a mouse! They all love turkey.

We experimented with our semi ferals; the oldest one was limping badly and there was nothing noticeably wrong so we cut cereals out of his food and he got better almost immediately, also he looked better.

Their behaviour is strange when they eat them too.

Can you feed them a mix of raw and pouches? Harry has Natures Menu pouches and I want to try him on their raw at some point. I don't want to stop him having the pouches as he goes away with us sometimes and we won't have a freezer.

I don't know if it'll work though as he's list all four fangs (twelve teeth in total) so I don't know if he'll manage raw!

Yes I do, they like change.