RAW stocking up

Well after promising myself that I would never get so low on RAW food for the cats again Christmas crept up and kept me busy so when I looked at the beginning of this week I found only a few bits a pieces left, aaghhhhh.

Felini Complete is used here as a supplement but now I use T C Feline

I thought we would have loads of success getting unusual game items as people had been on holiday and gone out for the day!! but no, we ended up doing two farm butchers, one local town butcher and one supermarket to get everything. What a morning!! however we came back with three rabbits, venison bits and pieces and liver, pheasant over shot items, Ox heart plus kidneys and liver etc. The best buy today however was pork at £3.59 Kg and Beef £5.59Kg at Morrisons. Liver, heart and kidneys are always cheap.

Chicken wings being eaten with mince to the left and Ox heart sliced to the right

Well if you think a well known brand of basic cat food is 50p per 100g  as long as I come in around that for 100% Human grade meat and I know I am trying to protect them against obesity,  diabetes and dental issues I think I have done well. Docs (Day old chicks) are also a brilliant way of cutting costs at 6.5p each.

The down side was that I had a pile of meat to wade through. I started with the most awkward, Rabbit. Already dressed meant all I had to do was cleaver apart and take off chunks of meat to add after mincing the bone. The first grind is very coarse to allow the bone to go through the mincer. Then I put in the finest disc to ensure the bone is minute, the bone adds to the calcium level whilst the meat adds to the phosphorus side, 10% of the total should be bone. I add heart, liver and kidney 5% heart 5% kidney/liver and then additional supplements plus egg. At this stage I add loads of water which is why I rarely ever see any of my cats drink at all. If I had been making chicken up I would follow the same procedure just trying to keep the proteins of the offal species appropriate i.e. chicken hearts and chicken liver to be added to chicken.

Basic ground mince without offal, heart, supplement, or water added yet.

Pheasant legs then had to be ground and added to a game mix of bits and bobs they had given me. The cats love the game food as well as the venison, beef, pork, and rabbit but they really dislike chicken??? why?? they love small game birds - pheasant, mallard, partridge, quail etc. The venison came next, as this has no bone in the supplement has to be added which has calcium extracted from natural bone. Similarly when it came to the beef and pork food additional bone supplement had to be added. I also ensure a balance as on the days I feed the pork, beef, venison meats I also supply mice or Docs , bone in. Visa versa with the rabbit, pheasant and chicken they get strips of heart etc.

Well after a morning mincing, cutting and bagging we have a freezer full of food and another months worth done. I must try and get a small etc garage freezer, the game meat should be frozen for around a month just to be uber careful regarding disease.

Raw Cat Food

I've always try to make sure I read around subjects I am interested in, even when I buy something new I have to research that I have the best against my values.

When we got our first cat I made sure we gave him the best food possible, at the time I assumed from advertising and promotions at the vets that this would be dried cat food. 

Researching it became obvious that a cat without a natural thirst drive would find dried food an issue. Cats,especially male cats had a greater chance, when fed dry food, with blockages, crystals and cystitis. Obviously wet food was preferable.

Wet pouches and tins come from so many manufacturers however supermarkets seem to focus on a few. Again looking into these the methods of collecting the meat derivatives, the fillers and cereals made me question their quality. Why would an obligate carnivore require cereals? Food intolerance, allergies and obese cats are on the rise. Why would they need sugars? Mice aren't sweet! : ) Some tins of famous brands had as little as 4% meat! 

Trekking down brands of good wet cat food showed me they are available but with difficulty! Germany seems to be where thought about  ethics and quality transferred into a fair abundance of producers. Organic cat food, fair trade, sustainability had all been considered. 

You could find different protein sources- beef,lamb,chicken, ostrich, kangaroo, reindeer, sea bream, tuna etcetera. Meat quantities in the high eighties. 

I had delivered quality cat food from a site called "fuettern-mitt-spass-de", delivery very, very quick. Two days! From Germany! And delivery the same as Britain! Also I was able to get many tins from "Zooplus."

In researching these I came across more and more information about RAW/BARF food. Why was it not obvious to me that, yes, a cats natural food is meat, not cooked, all raw, and with all the extra bits!!

There are suppliers of frozen RAW cat food available, we have tried Natural Instinct ( NI ), Honeys, and Nurture through nature. They love NI, especially the Wild game, Rabbit and Venison flavours and all human grade meat etc. Honeys, they adored some flavours and not others. I will try soon www.nutriment.co. A company just starting out but with the best ethics from the sound of it.

My cats have never been healthier, coat and health shining through. Vets mentioning perfect weight and glistening teeth.

NOW I have started to make my own.

Minced Rabbit with bone in, plus heart, kidney, and liver and  supplements. Next is a bowl of cut up wing tips, and at the end some spare kidney.

Below is my first bowl of RAW I made working on the 80:10:5:5 ratio and supplements.

I'll write more about RAW when I have a bit more time!!!!