Thread: Opinions on ready made raw food

Hi Victoria if you go onto main forum page & the diet & nutrition section there is a sub forum part on raw feeding could be something there to help you ......Done properly it is a good way to go although I am a lazy tin opener person...x

Hi Victoria, I am a raw feeder with my 3 coonies. I have never tried either of the brands you mention, but Natural Instinct has a very good reputation.

There is a stockist of DAF products very near me, so I have been buying their frozen 1-pound (454g) packs of minced chicken, turkey, rabbit, duck, beef, lamb and venison. Their website has been revamped and now you can order online. It does say dog food and there is a lot of choice for dogs, but the ground packs are suitable for cats too. Each pack is about 80p. You could find out if they have a stockist near you. DAF Frozen Dog Foods - DAF Petfood

Recently a new shop opened near me called Better4pets, stocking a range of frozen raw food from a different supplier (not sure which one). They are more geared up for cats and I was very happy to see them stocking a manageable half kilo portion of chicken hearts, which is my cats' absolute favourite. I had trouble getting them in small quantities before as I only have so much freezer space. They packs of ground heart, mixed game, rabbit, beef trim, etc, 500g for about 80p. They are super-helpful and you could asks them about supplies. Better4Pets Website :: Healthy diets for pets!

It's a good idea to ring the changes from the ground food with the occasional feed of raw chicken wings or thighs. This is important for developing jaw strength and for cleaning their teeth. I also sometimes shear the meat off a turkey drumstick for them. Or I make up my own food which is a mix of an entire chicken, chopped, some liver and kidney, some turkey leg meat, a tin of pilchards and an egg. Mix it all up and put it in freezer bags of about 400g each. Also, I order an ox heart and tongue from the butcher, chopped, and portion those up for the freezer.

If your breeder is raising kittens on some raw food that is a great start. I don't think you will have many problems with your baby eating raw when she comes to you. My breeder is excellent but she feeds kitten dry food and gives a sample to go with the kitten to the new home. In spite of this, my kitten got his face straight into the raw food I dished up and has never looked back.

Finally, this is a great site for general reading about raw feeding cats: Feline Nutrition

Thanks! That is so useful making me feel a bit more confident :D If i bought food from DAF for eg and have Royal Canin Maine coon food down all day would i still need to add some suppliments to the raw food? If so can you reccomend and UK ones all the ones i see are from America and are a bit expensive to import.

I have never used supplements as I don't think they are really necessary if you are generally getting the raw food balance right.

What I would say though, is have regular feeding times, and clear the dishes away afterwards. This discourages them from becoming picky, as they learn to eat what's there or it will be taken away. If they know there is kibble around all day then they might not bother eating the raw, especially if you are trying new suppliers. Some cats will not eat raw if they can so much as smell the kibble in the cupboard. My cats wait 10 hours from breakfast to be fed again in the evening. They have nothing to graze on in between so they are very hungry when I get home and pounce on their food, whatever it might be. They usually get a little top-up at bedtime too.

Kittens need feeding a bit more often though, so if you are out all day you might have to leave some food down, at least until your baby is older.

Should stick with food specifically for a cat, they test for the proper amount of taurine which a cat needs from their food.

Hi there.

We feed Natural Instinct and absolutely love it. We got into the idea of raw feeding when we owned a dog and we've never looked back! At the start we were just supplementing regular supermarket cat food with raw bits and bobs, mostly chicken wings with the occasional offal or cheap meat. But we wanted to do it full time and decided pre-prepared was the way to go for us. I'm too unorganized to be able to get all the ingredients myself and prepare that amount of food, and we don't have the suppliers around.

So after a fair bit of research into which brand to go for we chose Natural Instinct based on their reputation, the price, the fact the meat is human grade meat and also because we liked the packaging style (flat little rectangular tubs are easier to store than misshapen frozen bags). The tubs make for great storage tubs after they've been through the dishwasher too!

Currently we feed 1-2% of body weight to our adult moggie cats combined with raw chicken wings for teeth, and our 5 and a half old Maine Coon kitten has 100% Natural Instinct. I won't lie to you, it's not cheap but then it's not that much more expensive than other cat foods. She eats 200g or more a DAY, but it feels great knowing that the food we're putting into her system is 100% perfect. We're going to try her with raw chicken wings soon as well as she's shown an interest in them when the boys are eating them. Starting off with just wing tips first for her.

I 100% believe that she's growing so well and so large because of the quality of food we're giving her. So I totally recommend going 100% raw and for us, Natural Instinct was a good price, very convenient, and fantastic quality food. I've been tempted to fry some up myself!

Hi there,

Very new to this forum but have been researching things on Maine Coons for when I get my 2. I am wanting to go for a raw diet but as the OP don't think I would have the time/be organised enough to make the raw food my self. So have been looking around for pre made raw food and had liked the look of Natural Instincts but I have heard other people say its not that great. One of them recommended these guys SHOP and I emailed them and they said all they add to the meat is Taurine. But then I see people mentioning additives/supplements and I am not sure if I should add these or not or just keep to what these guys sell and give chicken wings as well etc for their teeth?

I cant give you any advise at all but am reading this thread with interest. I have just become a MC mummy and am feeding kitten pouches at the moment so will see how Frazer does on them, I have a great dane and many dane owners feed barf, I have always been reluctant to do this as so many have had horrid accidents with bones especially from chickens so my boy is on kibble and anything else is cooked for him. I hope you find the right way for you and let us know how you get on.