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Raw Food Diet

Cats are carnivores and need protein from meat or fish, amino acids like taurine, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and water. When it comes to what actually makes up the raw food, heres the breakdown:

  • 80-85% Meat, fat, skin, sinew, connective tissue
  • 10-15% Edible bone
  • 5-10% Organ meat with half being liver

You want to use the egg yolk only because the egg white can be bad for cats due to the protein in the whites called avidin which can bind the essential vitamin biotin (B7) so cats are unable to absorb it. You also want to use lite iodized salt with chicken parts unless the thyroid is included.

Generally, for adult cats you should feed 2 to 4% of ideal body weight per day. For example: for a 10-pound cat at 3%, this would work out to 4.8 ounces a day. Adult Cats should eat about 4-5 oz a day. 4 ounces is about 1⁄2 a cup.

I like to feed my kittens about a 1⁄4 cup three times a day and my adults get anywhere from 1⁄2 to 1 cup twice a day.

This recipe makes about 40 lbs. of food which equates to 640 ounces. 640 ounces at 5 ounces a day for one cat is 128 days. So, it’s about 4 months of food for one adult cat. Decrease the recipe as you need for your cats. I have a deep freezer so I can store my food for up to 6 plus months.

Get started with raw feeding

Ingredients:

28 lbsChicken thighs (Bone-in/Skin-on)
8 LbsBeef heart
2 LbsBeef liver
2 LbsBeef kidney
3.5 LPurified water
6Egg yolks (No whites)
8,000mgTaurine
10,000mgWild salmon or krill oil
400IUVitamin B
400IUVitamin E
3 tspLite iodized salt
8 tsp*Psylum husk powder* (optional)
Raw Diet cat food

Directions:

  1. Set up meat grinder and container to hold the food. Place container under meat grinder. I use a plastic sterlite storage container (22”x15.5” & 6.5” deep) for my meat. I must place a cutting board underneath my meat grinder, so the grinding tube fits over the bin nicely.
  2. Add water, egg yolks, and supplements (the ones that are not gel capsules) into the container. Use a whisk to mix everything well. The capsule supplements (i.e. salmon oil, and vitamin E), just run those through the grinder with the meat. You can use something sharp to pop them and squeeze the contents out, but that is an extra step.
  3. Rinse the meat thoroughly and cut if necessary to fit through the grinder. Start with the liver, then kidney, then heart, and finally the chicken. Mix the meat in the container as you go.
  4. Once all the meat has been ground, mix it well. Use quart size bags and fill each bag until the container is empty. Date each bag with sharpie before filling them up. Refrigerate what you need for the next few feedings and freeze the rest. Clean all your surfaces really well with disinfectant such as Clorox when done, including the floor.
  5. Feed! I like to defrost my bags in the fridge for 2 days before serving. Do not like to defrost at room temperature for safety reasons. Scoop some food onto a pie tin and add in a little hot water. I do this so the food is not super cold when my cats eat it. They are spoiled.
Download the printable PDF here!