Why don't we just feed our cats red meat?

[Dilbertian]

I was reading somewhere that the top of a chicken wing, raw, is the equivalent of a mouse for a cat. The little raw bones are good for their teeth. It just lacks the taurine they need.

Which made me wonder, why do we feed our cats UPFs bulked out with vegetables and grains? Why don't we just give them red meat and chicken wing tips?

I've actually always wondered why on earth cat food is often fish flavoured (well, not just flavoured, but made of fish)- surely it should be mouse flavoured?

I feed my dogs raw meat and you are right it’s much better than kibble which is UPF. But they need 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal to get all their nutrients. So chicken wings or mince alone won’t do it. I buy mine frozen and ready mixed in the right proportions. Just defrost and dish up. Probably exists for cats too.

They can't just eat red meat and chicken wing tips as it won't give them the nutrients they need.

As for commercial cat food, it's generally designed to be long-lasting, cheap to produce and well-tolerated by the majority of cats. Raw feeding isn't cheap and isn't for everyone, for obvious reasons!

My cats get pretty good quality stuff. Hills dry and always at least 60% meat or fish

Probably for much the same reasons as most humans eat a varied diet with some fresh meat, vegetables, fruit, etc., and limit the ready made rubbish

I hear you, interested in this too. I’m not massively into the idea of putting raw chicken out though because of the health risks to us as humans to have raw chicken hanging around. But aside from that, interested in hearing about other non-UPF options.

Also, our cat is very fussy about food and I do wonder if it’s coz it’s not really ‘food’ and he knows it

The dog shop we get our dog's raw food from, definitely has a raw cat food section. I'm sure I've seen ads for raw cat diet delivery boxes too.

I buy the pouches from here:

www.purrform.co.uk/

Store in the freezer, put 2 in the fridge overnight to defrost for next day. My cat particularly likes the rabbit

Ive never known cats to like fish that much. Chicken they go mental for, pork similar but not as much.

But wouldn't mince and wing tips be pretty much 80% meat 10% bone?
Offal maybe not

You are feeding them the equivalent of ready made rubbish 😹

Plenty of people raw feed their cats, especially more these days since you can buy prepared 'complete' minces. Just spend 5 minutes on google or look in the freezer at your local pet shop.
You can of course DIY it but it needs to be done properly to ensure a balanced diet (especially for house cats, outdoor cats have a better chance of supplementing any deficiencies with their whole prey).
And 100% yes, cats are obligate carnivores, dry grain based kibble especially is a terrible choice for them if you want them to live a long and healthy life.

Our cats at home were all raw fed from 30 years ago and they all lived healthily until at least 15, oldest lived to 22.

It’s so hard if you have a fussy cat though! I’d love our boy to be raw fed on the finest meat and would happily spend whatever was needed to give him the best diet. In reality we have circled through allllll the wet food going from raw £ stuff to the stinky Whiskas he was being fed in foster care. He much prefers dry and often will just lick the liquid off the wet then leave the actual meat.

He gets decent dry food (Royal Canin) and is currently doing okay with Sheba in the morning and Encore at night. He won’t eat the little shrimps in the Encore - which I don’t blame him for - so it’s not a complete success!

For an ex stray he is a very picky diner.

Probably because people generally can barely afford to give their own human families a variety of meat regularly.
If you can it’s better for your cat but most people don’t bother because they can’t afford it

My old girl was never interested in food humans were eating unless it was prawns, salmon, tuna, mackerel or, most of all, Cod, when she turned into a psychotic dickhead.

She'd eat raw mince or chicken breast, but her obsession was fish and seafood.

We've cycled through better quality wet food and tried some of the expensive home delivery stuff but Dcat is only really happy with his Whiskas. As a compromise, whenever we're cooking we put some of the raw meat aside and he has a raw meal. Strangely disinterested in fish but goes insane for lamb. In other news doesn't like dreamies 🙀

Royal canin is absolutely awful, some of their formulas don’t even contain animal protein, yet cats are obligate carnivores. A lot of cats prefer dry as it is coated in something callef animal digest which they become addicted to.

My cats used to eat raw, but frankly, it was a pain, because (being cats) they decided that they didn't like frozen meat any more and would only eat fresh, then I had to occasionally go out for the day or a weekend, and the meat in the autofeeder (with ice) didn't seem like a great idea, so we spread out into 100% meat dry food as well, then my ex decided to try them on tinned cat food, and the rest was history.

I guess much like us, they prefer the junk - although like I say, my dry food isn't junk, and they only have 1 pouch of decent quality wet food a day - and they're fit and healthy indoor/outdoor cats in the countryside, so TBH, I think they're OK.

They do snaffle some turkey/meat if I'm cooking a roast (raw or cooked, as long as it's not salty bits), and whilst generally not fans of fish, they do like licking smoked salmon wrappers, and girlcat loves pate (I have to eat it in secret).

Oh and weirdly, boy cat likes the drain-off from a tin of chickpeas, so he gets a little saucer of that if I'm using them.

I raw feed my cats, have done for years. I started with Purrform but it’s not cheap, so making my own works far better. As PP have said, you need about 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% secreting organ (kidney, liver etc).

There’s a really good Facebook page, cats completely raw and proud, with lots of information and a calculator to help you work it all out the first time.

Cats will eat whiskers, Hills etc as it’s basically full of the feline equivalent of the stuff that will make children eat Happy Meals. But sadly provides about the same level of nutrition.

And as an added bonus, raw fed cats have smaller and non-stinky poos!

You haven’t met my very fussy cat! She has been known to try and stick her paw in adult dd’s mouth to pull the fish she’s eating out.
she used to eat chicken, pork etc. but she will now only eat (expensive) fish based food and the cheapest biscuits money can buy… the higher the dust content the better. And if we dare try mix in better quality biscuits she picks them out and throws them around the dining room as treats for the dog.

I've wondered about why cat food isn't mouse flavoured, apparently it's solely a human marketing issue and they don't think it's appealing to people!

Same reason lots of big brands of cat food, like Whiskas and Felix, have their slightly pricier ranges containing visible vegetables - it's all so people pick it up off the shelves, nothing to do with what the cat needs.

I got my cat a couple of years ago and had dreams of feeding him the best quality wet food diet. He just doesn't like those types of foods 😕 He doesn't particularly like Felix either, so it's Whiskas and I've found he also loves the Aldi fancy wet food in the black pouches.

I give him meat and high meat content treats as well. But my main priority is him eating a wet food diet to keep him well hydrated.

I have two cats, sisters and one of them has never ate cat food. We cook her chicken and salmon and give her a taurine supplement. Her milk also has taurine in it. She also loves a cheese triangle and a slice of ham. She drinks plenty of water as she doesn't get this from wet food. She has regular check ups and the vet said she is very healthy and has a beautiful coat.

We get heart kidney etc from our online shop for our cat
It's so cheap!

You can buy/order raw food suitable for cats in various price ranges or make your own. Even including frozen mice but don’t be surprised if they’ll play with those before eating.
I used to make my own cat food and freeze it when I had lots of cats, now I only have one and a dog, I just buy ready made food that’s good for both plus the dog gets extra veg.

Raw meat is hazard to human health, as are raw fed pets. That's one reason I wouldn't raw feed. (Vets usually have signs up asking to let them know if you're pet is raw fed, this is to protect any pregnant staff).
I've kept cats for 40 years and only ever fed kibble (good quality not cheap supermarket rubbish)..they all lived to at least 15.
Current cat won't entertain anything else, not even treats.