Natural Pet Foods - Page 6

[QueenOfThePride]

I don't think there is a big difference between frozen prepackaged raw dog food and do-it-yourself fresh meat. If the frozen raw is AAFCO approved, then you know it is balanced.

Good treats are freeze-dried chunks of liver. Or anything your dog likes, barring food allergies, as long as you don't feed too many treats.

[Pandme]

We use Liv-A-Littles freeze-dried chicken, beef, salmon or cod for treats.

http://shop.halopets.com/category.cf...ategory_ID=27&

[bluegrassgirl]

I feed my 7 year old cat Felidae Platinum dry cat food, Merrick canned cat food, and Raw Advantage raw cat food (she get's this weekly, due to the cost). Daisy also eat natural treats made by Halo Purely For Pets.

As for cat litter, I use Feline Pine, because it doesn't smell or stick to the litter box.

Ever since that pet food recall scare, I have totally changed all of Daisy's foods (before she was eating Special Kitty dry food and Nutro and 9-Lives canned foods). Daisy doesn't shed as much now, she doesn't get hairballs as badly, and she's even lost some of the weight she's had packed on since she became an indoor only cat in 2002.

Jessie
(single mommy to Emma, 3 years and Angela, 2 years): :

[Mizelenius]

I have searched but cannot find the answer to this . . .

How much Innova EVO dry cat food does a cat need?

I want to switch (we use Hills now) but $ is a factor. So, if they need less than they would for Hills, I could do it. Hills is 1/4 cup per 5 lbs. I free feed and that is exactly what my cats eat.

[Shenjall]

I found this thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=655984

I posted the info from the bag on it.

My cats get 1/2cup a day each. They are fed 2x a day (1/4 cup at each meal). I do water it down a wee bit, so it does swell up a bit.

I hope that helps!

eta: my kitties are close to 10lbs

[QueenOfThePride]

I feed my cats EVO twice a day. One gets a mounded over 1/4 cup scoop, and one gets a not quite full 1/4 cup scoop. So between the two of them, I feed 1 cup a day.

[MPJJJ]

Would a meal of raw ground beef, raw egg, and oatmeal mixed together with a vitamin supplement sprinkled in be healthy enough to be the sole nutrition for 8 month old kittens?

[Mizelenius]

Thank you, Shenjall and QueenOfThePride! That was just the info I wanted!

[Shenjall]

Glad to help.

[naturemama1]

Originally Posted by MPJJJ

Would a meal of raw ground beef, raw egg, and oatmeal mixed together with a vitamin supplement sprinkled in be healthy enough to be the sole nutrition for 8 month old kittens?

MPJJJ, I'd drop the oatmeal, but if the vitamin supplement is Feline Future, you're golden. It's a supplement powder that you mix into raw meat to form a balanced raw cat food. So easy!

http://www.felinefuture.com/cat_food/

If you choose to make your own raw pet food from scratch (we've done both), you need to get hold of a true recipe for raw cat food. Cats' nutritional needs are slightly different from dogs' -- it's easy once you get the hang of it, but it is important. Beef heart will be needed for taurine, for example. A google search for BARF CAT will get you on your way. There are some great books out there (I would recommend looking beyond Billinghurst for cats -- he's the go-to expert for dogs). For a beginner, though, the Feline Future powder + a variety of different raw meats will be foolproof.

Two great investments that will serve both your family and your pets, if you choose raw for them, are a chest freezer and a heavy-duty food processor like a Vita-Mix (which is also a killer blender, grain grinder, soup maker, and food processor -- we love ours!). Deep freezing the bones (below a certain temperature for a certain amount of time) takes care of any parasite issues with the raw meat, and a Vita-Mix or a Cuisinart is all you need to put together the "glop" (offal, veggies, and supplements) that combines with the raw meaty bones to make a balanced pet food. Since we would be using both the freezer and the blender for ourselves anyway, the only extra cost specifically for our pets was an extra Vita-Mix blender container. (Technically you probably don't need a "raw only" pitcher, especially if you have a dishwasher, but I am a nut about kitchen hygiene so we have a pet pitcher and a people pitcher.)

Good luck! It's so worth it!

[wallacesmum]

Can I go OT for a second to say that the Vitamix is the most amazing appliance in the universe? I don't like the polycarb canister, though, and I contacted them to ask if they would consider steel or glass, but never heard back. OK, back to originally scheduled programming...

Our white cat has a heart murmur, and is just sort of sickly in general. Even though making our own food will be materially more work and money for me, I am hoping to try to make him a little more comfortable. Does anyone have experience with this? White cats are just a little iffy, I know. I have also heard I should add l-lysine, but I don't know where to get it.

[BookishVonLiberal]

I am so so happy we switched to Innova after reading this thread and several others in this forum. Matilda doesn't have any dandruff for the first time in I don't know how many years. Her coat is actually really soft now.

[mosesface]

i'm so embarrassed reading about these cats eating 1/4 cup of evo a day.

mr. grumbles is a big guy. last weigh in, he was a whopping 24.6 pounds. but we're happy because that's 2 pounds LESS than he weighed when we adopted him 18 months ago.

he gets 3/4 cup of innova evo a day and if he can see any portion of the bottom of his bowl, he WILL NOT SHUT UP. like he's going to just shrivel up and die if there is not a bountiful buffet of endless food available to him at all times.

he's been eating evo for almost a year now and it's amazing how much his demeanor has changed. he used to be a very, very lazy fat cat who never did much but sleep and ask to be fed. it was only a few weeks after the switch that he actually seemed to transform into a real cat who loves to play and hunt bugs and stalk birds from the window.

in addition to the better food, i am always looking for different ways to make getting to his food more challenging to give him some exercise. we set up all kinds of obstacle courses for him and then change them once he's mastered them. if he weren't getting decent food, he'd never make it.

[EricaLeigh]

I have been reading up on switching to a raw diet for our dog Sophie, although we haven't made a switch YET! I've have been learning alot from these sites:

http://www.rawlearning.com
http://www.rawmeatybones.com
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/

[kittywitty]

I am ready to make the switch over to raw for my cats and dog. My cats puke a lot, one has chronic urinary stones and infections, and my dog HATES kibble.

I have been reading those sites, and the only things that are stopping me are:

1. Will my cats really NOT choke on the raw bones? They are fairly old and never have eaten a raw diet. I would just die if one of my cats was killed or injured by what I feed them.

2. How do you contain the germs and mess? We have carpet and a TINY area of lanoleum in our tiny, tiny kitchen. My cats like to drag food away (my dog is the worst culprit-she even hides spots of food around the house for later!), and I am worried about contamination with the kids and a new baby on the way.

[pjlioness]

Starting a thread instead.

[Alcyone]

I'm glad I found this. I'll definitely be checking out the raw links. I'm seriously considering going raw because cat food in Denmark is just pathetic. My babies have been on Wellness for a long time and they were doing soooo great on it. Then I moved. Now the only thing I can find that doesn't list corn as a first or second ingredient is Royal Canin Pure Feline. I'm feeding it now but I'm not too impressed with "animal fats" and a few other things on the ingredients list. And litter! Ugh! There's nothing but clay! I'm using wood pellets marketed for rodent cages.

With regards to good foods causing stinky poo, I've had that problem with particular cats reacting to particular ingredients. Another flavor or brand would usually fix the problem without having to go back to pseudo-premiums like Iams or Science Diet. My Lidja used to clear the house with her poo if she ate anything other than lamb. I was able to gradually introduce other meats and now she can eat just about anything!

Now off to read more about raw....

[EricaLeigh]

I just wanted to post to update. Sophie started her raw diet, 2 days ago & she is doing great. We switched her cold turkey. I joined a raw feeding yahoo group & after reading for a couple months we decided it was time! We have started her on chicken & she loves it. We feed her outside. It is really nice to watch her eat, it just feels right, the way nature intended. She would gobble down her kibble in seconds, well now it takes her a while to eat. So far so good. She will remain on chicken only, for a couple weeks & if all goes well we will introduce a new protein. The ratio is 80% meat, 10% bone & 10% organ meat, however the organ meat can give most dogs the runs. So this shouldn't be incorporated until the raw diet has been established in a month & a half or 2 months down the road & added very, very slowly. That is the very bare bones basics, you really need to read up on this if you are planing on switching over. It isn't difficult but requires some knowledge & a support system if you have problems. Espescilly since most vet's arn't supportive. A few more helpful links:

Here's the yahoo group that I'm a member of, this is exactly the support system I'm talking aobut. Join & I bet you will be a raw feeder soon!
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/

Here's a calculator to help figure how mcuh you need to feed
http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

[Alcyone]

That's awesome, EricaLeigh. I've started mine on the switch too. Tycho took right to it with no problems, but Lidja is being more stubborn. So far she has eaten raw chicken when I mix it with chunks of Whiskas or put sauce from the Whiskas on top, but not by itself. (And yes, I know Whiskas is pure junk, but she just didn't think the raw chicken was food until I did something to it!) I'm going to start putting less and less other stuff with it and hopefully she was start eating the raw plain.

I was a bit scared to go raw, but it's a lot easier than I was expecting!

[EricaLeigh]

Awesom Alcyone. I have heard that there is nearly not much smell in raw meat compared to the commercial pet food. So some people do have to take those measures just to get thier animal to reccognise the raw meat as food! Also I'm wondering if you can get your hands on wood pellets for pellet stoves? That is what we used for liter when we had rabbits. The hardwood (untreated) pellets worked best for odor absorption. I'm so glad we switched!