Feeding fresh meat and fish instead of wet

[DontbeaDickaboutit]

Morning All,

Just wondered your thoughts on the following. I've just got two kittens and they came to me just on wet food. The wet food stinks and looks gross. I've worked out that actually it could cost me less to feed them cheap cuts of fish and meat and combine with dry biscuits - what are your thoughts?

Also - how many times a day do you feed the cats? I was going on the basis of two meals a day of meat and dry biscuits all the time. One is quite slight so worried she's not getting enough.

Thanks All!

Hi there, my two eat a grain free dry food (left out for grazing, both came to me skinny).

My vet says wet food unnecessary, but I do have a water fountain to protect their kidneys.

That said, when little cat was poorly we gave them both boiled chicken which they liked. When he was better, I cooked the last bit of chicken and as an experiment put out a wet food pouch. They went for the pouch.

So I say do what works for you and yours. Some good deals on pouches/cans from time to time.

Also, we need kitten pictures.

Cats are tricker to feed raw than dogs as they have several amino acids a vital nutrients that you need to ensure you include equally if you over feed certain components you can get other health problems.
You need liver to get some of the amino acids, but if you feed too much liver they can get hypervitaminosis D.

These are the beauties! I'm completely smitten with them!

What's a water fountain? Mine have water out all day. It's not so much the cost of the wet food, I really think it makes the house stink as they don't even eat a pouch between them in one sitting so then it ends up sitting around and stinking the kitchen out...and then I throw it away. When I asked my vet, she said they get "everything they need from wet" so I didn't know if we needed to give them a vitamin or something if moving away from wet?

Thank you so much for your help!

Cross posts - ok, see what you mean. Lots to think about.

Which pouches are you using?

I use applaws tins for my kitten (and biscuits) and that doesn't smell anywhere near as much as the whisky pouches my parents fed their cats.

I love your cats!

Water fountain £25, filters water. Many cats drink more if it's flowing water.

Vets differ, it would definitely appear. My last vet recommended same as yours, different one again recommended mixed...

Commercial pet food is balanced...if you move to raw feeding you have to then make sure it's balanced, so there is a fair bit more to it than just giving them bits of meat or fish.

Unless you just mean moving them on to dry food with the odd bit of meat or fish as a treat.

I tried raw feeding cats because I was trialling it with my dog.

They very adamantly said that wasn't happening, but then one of mine wouldn't even eat certain types of the same brand of wet food, nevermind change foods on her.

"I really think it makes the house stink as they don't even eat a pouch between them in one sitting so then it ends up sitting around and stinking the kitchen out...and then I throw it away."

Oh and they're only babies, I'd be feeding them smaller amounts and at least 4 times a day at the moment.

What wet food are they on? Decent quality grain free wet is just meat or fish so it shouldn't smell any more than that, and you can keep the spare in the fridge. Or if you are confident about their drinking then they can just have dry - I've never felt confident about a cat's drinking but there obviously are those that drink enough! If you make your own raw food you will have to be very careful to put enough taurine in it - I felt I had neither time nor energy for the reading and calculations though I'm sure once you get into it it becomes straightforward, much as I'd quite like to raw feed.

Mine (adults) are on a mixed dry and pouches diet. They have the dry ad lib, share one pouch in the evening and have half a pouch in the morning. This means I have a half pouch left every other day which I put in the fridge and it doesn't seem to stink that out, though if you're worried about that a simple food bag clip could work.

As a pp said, as kittens they would probably be better off having half a pouch between them 4 times a day for their wet.

Archcat is on a mixture of high-quality and grain-free commercial, wet, dry., and several raw meals a week.

Having done a bit of research into raw feeding, if you feed more than 20% of a cat's diet through raw food, you will need to add supplements which supply all those extras Lone Cat mentioned. We have a jar of supplements in powder form, we just scatter it over the raw meat and mix in with tepid water. But as we're currently feeding him less than 20% raw that's not strictly necessary. The main raw food he gets right now is chicken hearts, which he loves, and they're also a good natural source of taurine. We also sometimes feed him raw chicken wings or necks because crunching bones is good for the teeth (must be raw bones, cooked are dangerous). He's also a skilled hunter so does a good self-service sideline in neighborhood mice.
My advice would be to get them used to small amounts of raw while still kittens so they don't reject it later on - eating raw does require more effort from cats in chewing their food.

Oh goodness, all great advice, thank you all so much! What I meant was keep giving them dry but fresh meat or fish every day too but can now understand that's not going to work. Think I might investigate this grain free food, one cat really likes the wet stuff.

Will also limit how much they're eating at a time - thanks again!

What brand are you feeding them? I find Whiskas/Felix/any cheap supermarket brand absolutely stinks, and makes their poos smell too.

We recently switched ours to Applaws complete grain-free biscuits, and they get the tinned food alongside that, as well as the occasional tin of tuna or chicken from the fridge my dinner plate.

They're eating the lot, licking the bowls clean and their poos smell a LOT better. Maybe consider switching to a higher quality food - preferably something grain-free as a lot of cats (and kittens) struggle to digest grains (aka fillers).

Royal Canin, Hills and Applaws have always been good for me. You just have to find what works for your cats.

That's interesting Caffiene, we give them Felix kitten stuff, that's what the breeders gave them. Where do you get the grain free stuff?

You could only give them half a pouch? Put opened pouch in fridge (wrapped tight in a bag if you think it stinks) & finish pouch off later. You get used to the smell & they will move to eating more soon, anyway.

ps: gorgeous kitties.

Buy bulk applaws food from zoo plus, they often go on sale. Tuna and chicken kitten cans smell fine the sardine one on the other hand smells awful so avoid that one.

I feed my cat raw. You have to get the balance right to ensure they get all the nutrients thy need. It requires bone, raw meat and liver.

Very easy to make. And super beneficial for Mogs, full of nutrients, helps their teeth (unlike kibble) and gives a lovely glossy coat. I made a months batch last night and it probably cost me £12.

We get it all from zoo plus. It's cheaper than most pet stores and you get discounts for buying in bulk. I buy huge bags of biscuits which last 2-3 months, and then wet food which I have to buy every 3 weeks or so.

I fed my old cats on supermarket biscuits and unfortunately the male ended up with a urinary blockage which the vet put down to his food. I don't think the wet food is as much of a problem, but decent quality biscuits are worth the extra cost still can't get over the 1k vets bill