Is a mixed diet (homemade and commercial) good for my cat?

Question

I will consult a specialized vet, this is for sure, but I'd like to hear from you what you think about this.

I don't like the idea of my cats (who are 4 months old) eating commercial food but at the same time I cannot spend more than what I spend for myself to feed an animal. So I decided to mix two diets: I'm feeding them twice a day, in the morning with some homemade stuff (I'll list it later) and some commercial dry food at night.

This is because I've read everywhere that Taurine and other ingredients are necessary for a cat and either I buy muscle meat/heart meat or I use a supplement (the first solution is very expensive and the second one is.. well.. seems stupid but here in Italy I can't find supplements so easily). These elements, apparently, can be found in commercially available foods.

This made me choose to feed them the following:

MORNING

Day 1: raw meat (beef) 75g + rice 10g

Day 2: raw fish 100g + rice 10g

Day 3: boiled chicken 75g + rice 10g

Day 4: raw meat 107g

Day 5: boiled chicken 107g

Day 6: raw fish 100g + rice 10g

(then restart from day 1)

NIGHT

30g friskies junior croquettes

What do you think about this diet?

Thank you very much!

p.s. the reason why I don't feed them vegetables is because, in the end, I guess they don't really need it, being them obligate carnivores.

Answer 1

don't feed the rice, they don't do any good to your cats. feed the chicken raw also. you're lacking calcium in your diet, might want to add raw chicken necks or wings to provide it. Adding of essential oils like fish body oil would help also. remember the ratio of 70% meat, 20% organs and 10% bones. for organs feed, 100g per week per cat, raw.

you actually need not feed twice a day, besides friskies isn't good at all. one raw meal every morn is sufficient. you'll only need to bring down the meat from the freezer every night so by morn it's thawed. add in the oils ( you need not add ta urine if chicken heart and liver are already in their diet, be careful not to exceed 100g a week as there will be an excess of vitamin A that isn't beneficial).

try to limit feeding fish to 2 times a week max as fish will cause a deficiency in vitamin B. give them each 3 raw egg yolks a week also.

remember, no grains, no vegetables, no cooked food, no commercial food.

oh you need not worry about bacteria as cats are carnivores which means that their entire digestive tract is very acidic in nature, which will kill the bacteria. unlike humans since only our stomach is acidic and small intestines are alkaline

Answer 2

Idk how safe it would be to feed your pets raw meet, for fear of disease, but of course cooking them fully is out of hte question since i don't think cats can digest fully cooked meats. Also the egg part, cats probably wouldn't randomly find eggs to eat, so idk how well their stomachs can digest that especially since it is cooked(unnatural).  

The other things look ok. Just the idea of raw meat, i mean i know its natural,b ut the average life span of a wild cat is prob 1 or 2 years while domesticated can live til past 20.  I've had a cat that was 18 yrs old( my parents had it before i was born, i was 14 at th etime).

One thing you can think about is buying denser nutritioned food.  More likely than not your vetwill advise you to go for "science diet" it's the most common one.  Personally unless my cats have some kind of over weight or hair ball problem, i stay away from science diet.  Science diet's along with a lot of other cat foods number one ingredient is corn, and corn goes in one way and right out the other, no real nutrition content, and their meat sources come from by-products, bleh.  Corn probably doesn't keep a cat full long and by products can't possibly be too dense in nutrition, unless you get like a lucky piece of organs.  

I try to stick with foods listing meat as their number one ingredient, made from meat meal not meat by-products.  The generally cheap brand of these is "nutro" and"nature's recipe(forget their ingredients)" isn't too badly priced either.  In the end you might spendmore on those too but they keep your cat full longer and they also p**p nicer, trust me on that one, i've lived through it lols, so in the end you might spend less on food because they are full longer.(not sure on that one).

Answer 3

I don't think I'd bother with the rice.  No matter what commercial pet food companies claim, cats don't need rice.  But some like it, and it's better than corn.

There is some good information here: http://www.rawfedcats.org/practicleguide... on raw feeding and on other sites too. And the BARF diet: http://www.barfworld.com/

Just be careful they're getting enough nutrients.  You may need to add some vitamins and such to the meat. I'm not sure why you would boil the chicken at all - or is that just while you're getting started?  Any cooking will take away a lot of the nutrients they need.  Make sure they don't get any bones from the boiled chicken, cooked bones are not safe for cats. For the time being they will need to eat more than twice a day because they are growing fast and have tiny tummies.

I'd switch off the friskies.  If you're putting in so much effort with the raw food, I'd use a high quality food to supplement.  I have 6 kitties who are very impatient so I don't feel like I can succeed going raw so mine have Innova Evo: http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp You could probably skip the dry food entirely and give them the wet food - much healthier.  It's costlier than friskies but they will eat less and they won't be stuck eating grains and by products.

Since I don't do raw (hopefully someone answers who does) I don't know what needs to be added to the meat to make it perfect. Raw is certainly much healthier for them.  Keep reading up on various raw diets so you always make sure yours are getting everything they need.

Best of luck!  

Answer 4

I don't know about the Friskies - in the US it's an inferior food but I've seen ingredients differ in different countries.

Your plan isn't quite right.  What I would change is to eliminate the beef which isn't often used in raw feeding for cats, and definitely eliminate the raw fish.  Boiled fish would be ok, however, and 2 days a week is fine.  Serve the chicken raw instead of cooked.  There are other meats you can use instead of beef if you want more variety although sticking with just chicken is fine as well.  Really, anything but pork will suffice.  It's (apparently) preferable to stick with small animals but not strictly necessary.  And leave out the rice.

But supplementation is still necessary.  I don't know what would be available there and I'm guessing ordering from the US would be pricy.  So what you'll need to do is follow a recipe.  See this for one example of what you can find on the web:  http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.p...

I don't believe in adding veggies to my cat food either, but if commercial supplements aren't doable, then that's the way to go.  This book has some more recipes:  http://ezinearticles.com/?Whole-Health-f...

And although my links may be of limited use to you, you can look at my blog on how to get started feeding raw:  http://runeamok.multiply.com/journal/ite...  Some of it may be of use to you, particularly links to groups you can join where you can learn more.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I personally feed a ground Raw Meat, Bones and Organ based diet to my cats and they are incredibly healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. While scary at first, once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it it's a snap to prepare.

Cats are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat!

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet some great places to start learning are http://www.catinfo.org/  , http://www.catnutrition.org/  , and http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/  .

If you would like to try raw with your cats and don’t want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from http://www.felinespride.com/products/cat...  . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it!

Another premade Raw you can try is Natures Varity. I personally have never used this but know many people that do and it’s pretty easy to find http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...

Here's a bunch of websites to help you learn what you need to know.

www.catinfo.org/

www.catnutrition.org/

www.rawfedcats.org/

www.felinespride.com/

www.felinefuture.com/

www.felineinstincts.com/

www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/

www.blakkatz.com/

www.holisticat.com/

http://www.goldcoastragdolls.com/MyOwnCa...