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| Mincer, containers , mince, Fortan Fortain, Fellini complete, meats |
Well I am going to put my cards on the table and say I totally believe in feeding RAW food to my cats.
Our last cat Louis unfortunately died at the young age of three from a Urethral Obstruction. At the time we were told strongly that the best diet for him was dry cat food. He had the kibble sold at the vets and felt we were doing the best for him. On reflection I truly feel his diet and his behaviour combined to cause his illness. At no point did he have an over riding thirst drive and this combined with the feeding solely of dry food I feel combined to cause a constant level of dehydration and concentrated his urea to create uroliths causing the total blockage. It has been thought that early neutering could also cause a narrowing of the urethra however this in general has been disproved.
On getting our new male cats I looked into the causes of the disease and found that a RAW diet was recommended by individuals as a much healthier method of feeding resulting in better coat quality, better health, less obesity, fewer dental issues and no dehydrating effects of dry.
I had a EUREKA moment..... Cats are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES, they ONLY eat MEAT. They have a reduced thirst drive as they get all their hydration through feeding on raw meat, not cooked meat - raw meat. The more I read the more obvious it became that the continued benefits for health and overall cost made RAW an essential method of feeding.
For-
Body condition - cat self regulate their diet better, less podgy cats.
Coat - Shining good condition coat. Less dander for allergy sufferers.
Teeth - Bones and strips of meat help to clean the teeth and maintain healthy gums.
Health - No permanent semi state of dehydration and the stress that puts on the organs. Ease of digestion. Less urinary infections such as cystitis etc.
Cost - Home made is cheaper than tinned food but not as cheap as kibble however there could be a greater number of visits to the vets and those costs mount up.
Against-
Convenience - Open a tin, always on hand. Kibble will last for ages.
Cost - Kibble is cheap.
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| Need to add more fluid to this mince |
I started feeding our clowder of cats RAW in October using the company Natural Instinct ( human grade meat) Raw cat food, the food comes packed in 500g containers and the variety of frozen supplemented food varies according to the time of year. They have the basic chicken and beef/ chicken and lamb at all times but the Vension, Wild Bird Game and Rabbit is seasonal. The good thing about this company is that the food has all the additional health supplements you would want and the delivery minimum is only 5Kg. However quality can vary, the venison can be very dry as can be the Wild bird although these are their favourites. Good rich tastes. I have tried Honeys twice. Nutriment is a new company with the right ethos, which if their range expands I would hope to try with a sample box.
When supply became difficult recently I decided that I had to make my own. So this is when I officially became a mad cat lady to my friends.
I have tried mentioning the fact that it is what cats are supposed to eat, Obligate carnivores. That it doesn't have all the cereal fillers ( why does a cat need cereals?) that processed cat foods include. Nor the sugars which have may have raised the number of cats being seen for dental decay to epidemic proportions ( used for dramatic emphasis, maybe). That obesity is seen far less in RAW fed cats that naturally self regulate. There maybe a high correlation in those cats with Renal issues such as Urethral blockage or cystitis being fed dry kibble alone as cats have no natural thirst drive naturally getting most of their hydration through the killed food they eat. AND that it is generally cheaper than tinned food but not dry. BUT who wants to feed food that has been hosed off carcasses and pasted up then dried out into a kibble. A well known general brand of wet tinned food is 51p per 100g, therefore if I ensure I can buy my meat at £5.10 per KG or less then it is cheaper. For my bone content of 10% I can get Chicken wings for £1.50 and that is just the start, I have found sources at different butchers for kidneys, liver, heart, cheap meats ie Lamb breast/ Shin of beef/ seasonal game. I think all this human grade quality of meat is somewhat better than found in tins.
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| Home made mince, Chunked cut Quail, cut pancreas |
So I bought my mincer which is an Andrew James Electric mincer 1800 W. This beast is cheapish but can gnaw up bones needed in the food. In RAW food the suggested ratios of ingredients are 80% Muscle meat, 10% Bone, 5% liver and 5 % excreting organ such as kidney plus supplements at the moment I am too lazy to buy individual ones so I get Fellini Complete or TC Feline Raw Basic.
So I start with my chicken wings and throw them in the mincer, followed by the kidneys and muscle meat, the wings I try to have at room temperature as it makes it easier for the mincer. The liver I tend to have just defrosting from the freezer so it has integrity for the mincer to mince. I make up the supplement and mix the whole lot in together. All this time I try to work rapidly to keep the whole are as chilled as possible. I add water to make the mix the consistency I want. With my grind I keep it fairly coarse as they don't like paste, terrine style food. I then label a variety of containers from Lakeland and label, putting into each enough for one days diet for 4 cats. This then is frozen until needed. The night before feeding I remove from the freezer and defrost, you can put the container in just warm water. When giving I just give enough to be eaten over an hour but then regularly put new bowls of food down as the eldest cat is still only one and a half years old and a BSH, a breed which grows until 3years old. I add vitamin flakes sometimes, a Haem supplement sometimes and a Probiotic sometimes, not often though. It depends on the season and weather etc.
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| Love this mincer, just Olive oil the grinding discs to keep it A1 |
They also have in addition to the made mince on rotation each day and in another bowl, heart strips (lamb,pig, Ox), kidney chunk cut (pig, lamb, Ox), Chicken wings chunk cut, and wholesale cost Quail ( this is their absolute favourite including the new kitten of one week!! who will eat this first).
So that is my story of Raw up to the present moment, with four very healthy, glossy coated, dentally fine, and superb body conditioned cats.
As usual our start in the morning was early so the driver and guide chose to stop at this local roadside noodle bar. Our bird guide was not the most adventurous regarding food having already had his rice and spice fill but to us it was all about the culinary experience.
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Finally we got to Balang Shan in reasonable time and we all went our own ways to look at the town. Very, very much a tourist town as much as a town up the mountains would be, the houses were so beautifully adorned.
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