# Feeding Kittens a Raw diet



## kelzcats (Aug 1, 2011)

Hi everyone I just need some general advice. I normally feed my kittens Royal Canin baby cat biscuits and they have always done well on these. I know feeding raw is becoming more popular and I want the kittens to get maximum health benefits from there food. One of my girls has minced raw chicken from pets at home as she gets a funny tummy and does brilliant on it, I was thinking of trying the kittens on it, I have noticed the meat has ground fine bone in it will this be ok for them? kittens are currently 6 weeks and have started showing an interest in food. Any advice is much appreciated.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Is the chicken from PaH actually a complete cat food? From my understanding, they only sold raw dog food. If this is the case then no, your kittens will not be fine on it as it's not nutritionally complete. They will however be fine on a raw diet that is nutritionally balanced for cats. If you want premade, have a look at Nutriment (in my opinion the best premade out there, although the selection really isn't large at the minute so that's not saying much), Purrform (check it carefully as sometimes the meat arrives bad), Nature's Menu (bone shards are a little too pointy for me to be comfortable with), or Raw Pet Supplies in Cardiff who do lots of 80-10-10 mixes which, whilst not specifically for cats, have no filler/veg in them, so should be fine if Taurine is added, and you throw in the occasional egg/tin of oily fish into the diet.

I have fed my kittens on raw for years now, and this always results in incredibly robust, chunky little bricks who weigh much heavier than you'd expect for their age. My record to date is 2.4 kg at 14 weeks!


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## kelzcats (Aug 1, 2011)

Natures Menu Frozen Free Flow Just Chicken Mince Dog Food 2kg (Special Delivery) Here is the link Carly87 is this any good for the kittens as well as giving them a constant supply of Royal canin baby cat? sorry Carly what does paH mean?


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

PaH = Pets At Home, also known as [email protected]


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## kelzcats (Aug 1, 2011)

what are your views on this food OrientalSlave?


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## Babyshoes (Jul 1, 2016)

It's a tricky one as you don't know what the new owners will want to feed. Some may not be comfortable with raw meat, for whatever reason. 

I'd be tempted to give them a mix of commercial wet, commercial raw, & a very little bit of kibble so they recognise all of them as food. (At different meals, not all in the same bowl...)


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

I feed mine natural instinct frozen raw. it has a kitten paste one. but I do try to give them a variety of foods, as someone else said, when they go to new homes the owners may not want to feed raw. so I try to get kittens used to a variety so new owners have a choice as to what to continue with.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

I certainly would not be feeding dog food to any of my cats regardless of their age, unless you know it's 80-10-10 and are adding supplements as I mentioned above, so no, your kittens won't be all right on that on its own I'm afraid.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Our kittens get home made raw, same as the big cats with chicken necks & wings introduced around 6 weeks old.

We also feed commercial wet foods and a tiny amount of grain free dry.


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

[email protected] sell Nature's Menu raw for cats http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...zed-frozen-nuggets-400g-6-pack?i=9&orderBy=1# Look for that rather than the dog minces.
I feed a variety of raw and tinned so that new owners have the choice.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

kelzcats said:


> what are your views on this food OrientalSlave?


The free-flow mince chicken from [email protected]? It's not a complete food.


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

Its not complete but so long as it is _*not the only*_ food offered it actually is fine to use. I know several breeders who feed this or supermarket chickens they've ground themselves alongside commercial complete cat food. I've even offered it to mine on occasion but I wouldn't offer it more than once a day. I usually give it as the lunchtime meal so it's thawed and risen to room temperature in time to be fed. 
Natures Menu to offer a raw cat food which I believe [email protected] is now stocking. It is allegedly complete yet isn't when it comes in the freeze-dried version (go figure??). Not all cats like this though so it'll be a case of trial and error.


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## kelzcats (Aug 1, 2011)

carly87 said:


> Is the chicken from PaH actually a complete cat food? From my understanding, they only sold raw dog food. If this is the case then no, your kittens will not be fine on it as it's not nutritionally complete. They will however be fine on a raw diet that is nutritionally balanced for cats. If you want premade, have a look at Nutriment (in my opinion the best premade out there, although the selection really isn't large at the minute so that's not saying much), Purrform (check it carefully as sometimes the meat arrives bad), Nature's Menu (bone shards are a little too pointy for me to be comfortable with), or Raw Pet Supplies in Cardiff who do lots of 80-10-10 mixes which, whilst not specifically for cats, have no filler/veg in them, so should be fine if Taurine is added, and you throw in the occasional egg/tin of oily fish into the diet.
> 
> I have fed my kittens on raw for years now, and this always results in incredibly robust, chunky little bricks who weigh much heavier than you'd expect for their age. My record to date is 2.4 kg at 14 weeks!


Thanks carly87 I tried the natures menu but sat there picking the shards of bone out as I was concerned they might get stuck in there throat, they have been doing really well on it one of the kittens who refuses dry food as put on 130grams in a week and my other two boys are 1410kg and the other is 1220kg at 9 weeks of age. Does the Nutriment have sharp bits of bone in it? as I was going to op for this, also it only sells adult food is it any good for kittens.
I was having a discussion with my vet today on raw feeding and she advised against it saying the protein in it can cause urinary problems such as crystallisation and blockages especially in male cats so I a bit confused. How many times a day do you feed this to your kittens?


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## kelzcats (Aug 1, 2011)

Just found this website has anyone tried there minced chicken or even used there food? It caters for adult cats but not kittens. There minced chicken is 100% chicken with gristle and some bone. It's the bone that bothers me. I am going to email them and see if they can give me some idea of how big the bone is. Another site that caters for kittens is purrform.co.uk


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## Zephodi (Jul 2, 2014)

Raw is fine for both adults and kittens, that's why you typically won't see a kitten version. The ones I have seen are usually very finely ground and aimed at weaning kittens. You'll want a mix that has 80% muscle meat (this includes things like heart, gizzards and lungs), 10% bone content and 10% secreting organ, of which at least half must be liver.

I personally use Raw Pet Supplies and get a mixture of pre-made MVM and Paleoridge, along with supplies to make my own. I've never had any problems with bones in these. I would say to avoid the ground whole quail chicks and day-old-chick mixes though, I found they had too much feathers for my cats to cope with. 

I add calcium carbonate to the home made instead of bone as my cats pick around it unless it's ground, but I like to feed them chunks as well as mince. This could be an option if you feel comfortable making your own.

I don't add taurine to the pre-made but I do make sure to include heart in my home made mix to balance any rabbit/chicken mixes I might order (rabbit is low in taurine as is chicken breast, I'm not sure which part of the chicken is used in the pre-made). I always add eggs and oily fish to everything though, I find it gives a lovely shine to their coats.

Also, your vet is talking rubbish about protein causing urine problems. Cats are obligate carnivores, this means they NEED protein! Most urine problems result as a lack of water in a cat's diet, often seen in kibble fed cats. They have a low thirst drive and often cannot drink enough to compensate for the lack of moisture. In fact, cats with kidney troubles often do a lot better when switched over to raw. 

Cat CRAP on Facebook is an excellent source of information.


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