Raw cat food for cats (BARF)

[Sparticle]

I've had my dogs on the BARF diet before but when we moved I got rid of my files. It's been several years since they were on it, but we're wanting to get back to it. I want to start with the cats so I looked up some recipes and they all call for grinding the chicken legs. I don't want to grind up meat and bones. I'd rather just give them a meaty bone and then give them the extra stuff they need like organ meats and amendments mixed together in their bowl. I'm not going to go get all these fancy ingredients the online recipes call for because we just have too many cats to afford that. I don't' mind getting fish oil and eggs and ingredients I can get without costing a fortune.

Can someone please direct me to a site that has a recipe were the meat and bones aren't ground up and that have "normal" ingredients?

oops can't edit the title, guess I didn't have to say Raw cat for for Cats. hehe

[uncle Will in In.]

Is BARF less expensive than some of the other brands of dry catfood in the 20 or 40 pound bags. We can get that for 50 cents a pound.

[Humburger]

In my experience, cats that have not been raised to eat bones usually won't. In addition to ground meat, I powdered eggshells and mixed that in instead of the bones. Here is my recipe:

Healthy Powder
2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup lecithin granules
1 tsp iodized sea salt
5 tsp powdered eggshell
¼ tsp vitamin C powder

Beefy Oats
8 cups water
4 cups quick oats
2 tblsp butter
2 eggs
2 pounds ground beef
1 small can tuna in oil
4 tblsp Healthy Powder
2 ¼ tsp powdered eggshell
10,000 IU vitamin A
200 IU vitamin E

Bring water to a boil. Add oats, cover, remove from heat, and let set for 10 minutes. Add butter and eggs and stir until butter is melted. Let set for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Use potato masher to mix in ground beef and tuna. Yield: about 12 cups. Serve about 1 cup a day or as much as cat wants. It is better to feed right before bedtime, once a day.

Now, I must confess that I never used the lecithin. I just never got around to buying it. My cats always loved the food, but one time I put garlic in it and they did not eat it. It was a contest of wills. I fed only the regular food with garlic in it and they did not eat. For two weeks... Finally, I caved and fed the skeleton cats, they overate and got sick, and I made new food without the garlic. On this food, they were very healthy and sleek, not overweight at all (as long as they EAT IT, LOL!).

I got this recipe from a book and don't remember what book it was, I don't have it anymore.

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by uncle Will in In.

Is BARF less expensive than some of the other brands of dry catfood in the 20 or 40 pound bags. We can get that for 50 cents a pound.

I believe some have made it cheaper, but I'm really interested in healthier (yet affordable). Right now they are on "chicken soup for a cat lover's soul" because it's made with real chicken as the first ingredient, but that's still not as good as raw for their health.

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by Humburger

In my experience, cats that have not been raised to eat bones usually won't. In addition to ground meat, I powdered eggshells and mixed that in instead of the bones. Here is my recipe:

Healthy Powder
2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup lecithin granules
1 tsp iodized sea salt
5 tsp powdered eggshell
¼ tsp vitamin C powder

Beefy Oats
8 cups water
4 cups quick oats
2 tblsp butter
2 eggs
2 pounds ground beef
1 small can tuna in oil
4 tblsp Healthy Powder
2 ¼ tsp powdered eggshell
10,000 IU vitamin A
200 IU vitamin E

Bring water to a boil. Add oats, cover, remove from heat, and let set for 10 minutes. Add butter and eggs and stir until butter is melted. Let set for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Use potato masher to mix in ground beef and tuna. Yield: about 12 cups. Serve about 1 cup a day or as much as cat wants. It is better to feed right before bedtime, once a day.

Now, I must confess that I never used the lecithin. I just never got around to buying it. My cats always loved the food, but one time I put garlic in it and they did not eat it. It was a contest of wills. I fed only the regular food with garlic in it and they did not eat. For two weeks... Finally, I caved and fed the skeleton cats, they overate and got sick, and I made new food without the garlic. On this food, they were very healthy and sleek, not overweight at all (as long as they EAT IT, LOL!).

I got this recipe from a book and don't remember what book it was, I don't have it anymore.

Most of my cats are mousers so they are used to raw food and bones. Right now it's winter though and they are mostly in the house. Thanks for the recipe, but I really don't want to do ground meat. I was hoping to find something to supplement raw chicken on the bone.

[Humburger]

In the recipe, replace the two pounds of ground beef and the eggshells with the chicken with bones, then. I really have never believed that it has to be so exactly balanced and scientifically formulated, anyway. Play around with it. Even just feeding them the chicken one day and some eggs another day and some oatmeal the next day should be fine. Of course, you will get people that want to put the fear into you and say that they need so many milligrams of this and that and it has to be mixed with so many IU's of whatever or your animal will not be healthy, etc.

You could mix up some oatmeal, eggs, butter, and nutritional yeast and they will probably yum it up. It is cheap and good. The only reason I put tuna in the recipe (it was not in the original) was to get them to like it in the beginning, which they probably would have anyway, and then once they were used to it, I didn't want to change it. Finicky cats, you know.

[Tracy]

http://www.catnutrition.org

http://www.fnes.org

Both these are excellent websites for feeding cats raw.
You do not necessarily have to grind you can cut up chunks as long as the cat is eating the bones as well.
Taurine is essential for cats so you either need to feed a supplement or include hearts [chicken, duck, beef, etc] as these are high in taurine.

You could also look for feeder mice [normally sold frozen for snakes] as feeder mice is the perfect cat food as far as nutrients.
Rabbit is also another good choice for cats.

[NCLee]

It's interesting to watch the change over the years. Back when I was a kid on the farm, my folks never bought commercial cat and dog food. Cats and dogs got the leftovers from the table and the appropriate scraps from cooking. As did the chickens and hogs, so nothing went to waste.

Cats were working cats and they kept down the mouse and rat population.

Since we ate relatively healthy meals (mostly home grown meats and vegetables) what the animals received were the same.

Times sure have changed.........................

Lee

[GoldenMom]

I will get back to you-my "recipe" is on my home computer. I used A LOT of chicken necks, but it would work with chicken wings or backs too. The only "ingredient" are chicken necks, some muscle meat, organ meat, eggs, and heart. Doing whole RMBs will definitely help keep their teeth good in addition to all the other raw benefits.

[bluefish]

Honestly, all I do is give them parts of chicken, goat, whatever I have butchered lately, the innards and let it go at that. For the one spoiled ancient cat, she gets parts of the animal and a vitamin supplement and scraps from whatever we're eating. I like easy no muss/no fuss type feeding. They seem to be healthy as a horse.

[upnorthlady]

Originally Posted by NCLee

It's interesting to watch the change over the years. Back when I was a kid on the farm, my folks never bought commercial cat and dog food. Cats and dogs got the leftovers from the table and the appropriate scraps from cooking. As did the chickens and hogs, so nothing went to waste.

Cats were working cats and they kept down the mouse and rat population.

Since we ate relatively healthy meals (mostly home grown meats and vegetables) what the animals received were the same.

Times sure have changed.........................

Lee

I totally agree with NC Lee! I have farm cats and that's what they get...........food that I eat.! They also get scraps, occasional milk or broth, and some dry kibble. I eat my own homegrown, home canned food. It's healthy. My cats live outdoors up here in northern MN where the winters can get to minus 40. They are fine. They still get mice under the snow, and eat frozen garbage (I try to hide it from them, but they see and know everything around here!) They have an insulated shelter to live in and they're all fat and happy. If you try to buy chicken and beef and grind it up and add expensive ingredients like brewer's yeast and vitamins, etc. etc. you'll end up spending more than what a 20 lb bag of dry cat food costs. Way more.

[ldc]

My cat eats small animals every day and gets kibble as a treat. He hasn't been sick in 8 years, I believe b/c he gets taurine etc in the mice, rats and squirrels he murders and devours! ldc

[Oldcountryboy]

Originally Posted by ldc

My cat eats small animals every day and gets kibble as a treat. He hasn't been sick in 8 years, I believe b/c he gets taurine etc in the mice, rats and squirrels he murders and devours! ldc

Yep, throw the cats outside and don't feed them anything. They'll learn to provide their own Barf diet. And they're very good at it.

[upnorthlady]

Originally Posted by ldc

My cat eats small animals every day and gets kibble as a treat. He hasn't been sick in 8 years, I believe b/c he gets taurine etc in the mice, rats and squirrels he murders and devours! ldc

This is true...........cats must get taurine - it is essential for their health! Cats cannot be vegetarians - they are the only true carnivores on earth! I worked for 10 years in vet clinics and this was always stressed to the pet owners. Taurine is present in meats, eggs and fish. And mice.

By the way - what's a BARF diet?? Bones and raw food???
I wonder how come they don't have "mouse flavored" cat food?? I suppose this would be politically incorrect?? Maybe offend someone?? But the cats would love it!!

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by NCLee

It's interesting to watch the change over the years. Back when I was a kid on the farm, my folks never bought commercial cat and dog food. Cats and dogs got the leftovers from the table and the appropriate scraps from cooking. As did the chickens and hogs, so nothing went to waste.

Cats were working cats and they kept down the mouse and rat population.

Since we ate relatively healthy meals (mostly home grown meats and vegetables) what the animals received were the same.

Times sure have changed.........................

Lee

We're vegetarians so that wouldn't work. The pig does get a lot of the scraps as do the dogs.

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Yep, throw the cats outside and don't feed them anything. They'll learn to provide their own Barf diet. And they're very good at it.

They get mice when they go out and when they want to. They are members of my family and live inside when they want as well. When it's freezing outside and they have the option, they'd rather be in. Though they do go out every day - just not for very long sometimes. I'm sure if I was raised and lived only outside I'd be just fine, but I'm not used to it and neither are they. I'm not going to throw my 13 year old cat out and say "you're on your own now".

[upnorthlady]

Originally Posted by Sparticle

We're vegetarians so that wouldn't work. The pig does get a lot of the scraps as do the dogs.

If you are vegetarians, how come you are raising pigs?? For what?

By the way, I am also a vegetarian, but I won't force my cats to be one. I won't make anyone eat vegetarian, not my husband or house guests or kids - they can all eat meat and I'll cook it for them. It is strictly a personal choice for me. For reasons I don't want to explain.

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by upnorthlady

If you are vegetarians, how come you are raising pigs?? For what?
.

Just one pig. A lady farmer near us was in a car wreck and became totally paralyzed. She asked if I could take any of her animals and care for them and he's been with me ever since. He was 5 pounds then and now he is much bigger! That's been about 13 years now. So I'm not raising pigs, but my long term guest does provide a lot of good poop for the compost. :-) It's really funny when his little poop balls in the yard spout tomatoes or anything else he's been eating. He is good buddies with the cats and in the summer they like to sleep in his house with him.

[ronbre]

our two cats go outside and catch all the raw food they want..

however..they won't touch fish oil..ive tried.

they are very persnikity for cat food that is..and they prefer to catch their own..but we do provide dry inside and occasional fish

[GoldenMom]

OK, here's the recipe I am going to use once the oldest cat with no teeth passes (right now I use the same basic recipe, but grind part of it):

6 days per week each cat gets about 2 ounces of chicken necks and 1.5 ounces of muscle meat (or 3 days per week gets 4 ounces of chicken necks and 3 days per week gets 3 ounces of muscle meat, whatever works best for you). 1 day per week each cat gets a 4.5 ounce meal of ground organ meat mixed with ground heart and eggs. I make up larger quantities of this and freeze them in meal sized portions (I use snack sized ziploc baggies).

So here it is in percentages and weights:
35.7% Muscle Meat 1.5 ounces per day*6 days=9 ounces per week
47.6% Chicken Necks (which are ~36% bone, giving an overall bone percentage of ~17%) 2 ounces per day*6 days=12 ounces per week
10% Organ Meat (50% liver, 25% kidney, 25% equal parts brain, spleen, and pancreas) 2.5 ounces per week
5% Heart 1.25 ounces per week
3% Eggs 0.75 ounces per week

Total per week=25.5 ounces (~2.25% of 10# per day)

Chicken wings (~46% bone, overall diet ~22% bone) or backs (~44% bone, overall diet ~21% bone) can be substituted for the necks.