How to Feed Cats a Raw Diet

A diet based on raw meat is closer to cats' natural diet.

Cats are natural carnivores, but most commercial cat foods include significant amounts of grain and other plant foods they wouldn't get in the wild. Commercial cat food has been implicated in a number of feline diseases. Many pet owners have become interested in switching their cats to eating raw food, in the hope that this will improve their pets' health. Raw diets can have real benefits, but you need to do it carefully to be successful.

Things You'll Need

• 4 ½ lbs. raw muscle meat, bones included
• Knife
• 14 oz. raw heart or 4,000 mg taurine
• 1 oz. liver (non-beef) or 40,000 IU vitamin A and 1,600 IU vitamin D
• Meat grinder
• 2 cups water
• 4 raw egg yolks
• 4 capsules raw glandular supplement, such as Immoplex
• 800 IU vitamin E
• 200 mg vitamin B complex
• 1.5 tsp. lite salt with iodine
• 4,000 mg salmon oil
• 4 tsp. powdered psyllium husk
• Freezer-safe containers
• Plastic bag

Instructions

1. Remove approximately half the skin from your chosen muscle meat. This may be beef, chicken, turkey, rabbit or any meat your cat is not sensitive to. Choose dark meat poultry over white meat, as dark meat provides more nutrients. Use a knife to cut the muscle meat off of the bone into ½- to 1-inch pieces. Set meat aside.

2. Use a meat grinder to blend the skin, remaining meaty bones, raw heart and raw liver. Avoid using beef heart and beef liver in favor of organs from other animals. Stir the mixture thoroughly and refrigerate.

3. Whisk together two cups water, egg yolks, glandular supplement, salmon oil, vitamins E and B, and salt. Add psyllium husk and mix thoroughly.

4. Combine chunked meat, ground meat and liquid mixture until thoroughly mixed. Portion into individual freezer-safe containers and freeze. Remember that this food expands when frozen, so leave a little "head space" in the container.

5. Serve the raw diet by placing a frozen portion in a plastic bag and then heating the bag in hot tap water. Do not microwave this food to avoid destroying some of the nutrients.

Tips & Warnings

• Commercial products based on raw diets are available, but they may be expensive.

• Psyllium husk may be omitted for some cats.

References

• Packaged Facts: Fresh Pet Food In America: The Raw/Frozen, Refrigerated and Homemade Wave
• Grand Adventures Ranch: General Raw Feeding Guidelines
• Cat Nutrition: Raw Cat Food Diet Recipe Made WITH Real Bones

Resources

• Nature's Variety: Raw Diets For Cats