Raw Food in Conjunction with Dry

Hi All

I have a twelve week old MC who was ill for a few days and that made me start thinking more carefully about his diet. He is on Royal Canin Baby Cat and Royal Canin MC Kitten but I did supplement that in the mornings and evenings with kitten pouches or tinned food.

I started looking at the ingredients in the tinned food and pouches and saw that the majority was animal or protein derivative and contained preservatives and flavourants. I came to the conclusion that if I was eating protein derivatives I would not be getting the vitamins I needed and that in that case, I could not expect that for kitten.

I am very reluctant to go raw food all the way as I have heard that even bad commercial food is better than an unbalanced raw food diet. At the moment he is getting chicken on the bone, beef mince and chicken liver (but only rarely because it is very rich). I sometimes mix the beef mince with a kitten pouch for him. He has access to his RC dry food all day and he still eats this.

I was wondering whether what I am doing at the moment is a correct approach or if there is something I am doing very wrong by mixing both types. Ideally I want to have the benefits of raw food but also to have a balanced diet which I hope he is getting from the dry food.

Hello Deshni,

Glad your kitten’s feeling better now. It is very sensible of you to carefully look into his diet. Such an awareness can prevent many health issues later on.

It is often believed dry food may interfere with the proper digestion of raw meat and bones. But experiences vary… some people don’t notice any problems in their cats, others report vomiting and diarrhea when dry and raw meals are given too close together. I think it’s probably best to observe how your kitty does.

Attaining balance in a raw diet is actually not rocket science, it is no more complicated than preparing balanced meals for yourself and your family. For most people the hardest things are sourcing your meats and finding the time to chop everything up for the freezer. A good alternative is prepackaged frozen raw petfood. But I don’t know if that is available in South Africa.

Hope this helps,
Anna

Hi Deshni

If you are thinking seriously about raw feeding, then now's the best time, while your kitten is still young.
Kittens will mostly eat whatever you give them, and 'imprint' those experiences to make lifelong eating habits.
This is why older cats can be much harder to transition.

As Antonia says, it is much easier to achieve balance with a raw diet than you may think. You don't have to balance every single meal, instead you can aim to achieve balance over a few days. There is lots of help and advice out there should you wish to look into it some more. Here are a few good links to start with:

Feline Nutrition
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health
cat nutrition - home

There are some very helpful and friendly Facebook groups too.