Leaning towards RAW. Need advice :)

[Erindanielleg]

I recently (about 2 months ago) switched to a mostly wet diet for Jethro. He eats it 2 times a day and also had kibble to snack on. It has worked wonders. However- we have our kitten coming home this weekend and I am realizing how much I am going to be spending on food for 2 cats. For Jethro, we buy Royal Canin dry for Sensitive Stomachs and Merrick's Before Grain wet. The kibble costs about $40 per bag which looks like it would last him about 2-3 months for the 2 cats. The wet food will be costing us about $50-60 a month. Woah. Now I love my babies and am HAPPY to do this. However, my "excuse" for not going RAW is that it seems quite expensive. Now I want some info from all you Raw-feeders!

*What do you think you spend per month for your cat?
*How often do you prepare the food?
*How long does it take you to do so?
*What meat do you use? (grocery store meat? internet meat? butcher shop meat?)
*What do YOU add to the meat?
*How did your cat(s) do swtiching to Raw?
*Any other info you think I should know

Any advice or info would be AMAZING! Thank you in advance!

 

[live2flythesky]

I just switched to RAW, but I am not making my own. I am feeding a premade frozen one (Natures Variety Instinct Raw) and supplementing with a Taurine supplement. I used to feed a high quality organic canned and a grain free dry. I have worked out that it will be about the same price as before. If I were feeding 2 cats this way, it would be a bit cheaper than the canned and dry because I could get the frozen patties instead of medallions (cheaper per oz.).

I know that doing it the way I am (premade frozen) is probably the most expensive and several people on here have said that homemade raw can be significantly cheaper than commercial food. Maybe in the future I still give homemade a shot, but having been a vegetarian for 25 years, I just can't stomach the thought right now. I can't believe the fact that there is literally no smell when he poops though, and in my small loft, that is pretty priceless

 

[muddpuddles01]

*What do you think you spend per month for your cat?
*How often do you prepare the food?
*How long does it take you to do so?
*What meat do you use? (grocery store meat? internet meat? butcher shop meat?)
*What do YOU add to the meat?
*How did your cat(s) do swtiching to Raw?
*Any other info you think I should know

Any advice or info would be AMAZING! Thank you in advance!

I spend about $25 per month or about $0.80 per day.
I prepare her food once or twice a month, and it takes about 30 minutes.
I use dark meat chicken from the grocery store, and sometimes a very small amount of beef if I can find it cheaply.
I use a premix called Better in the Raw, and all I have to add to it is water and meat. Everything else for a complete diet is already in it, and it's SO easy!
I switched Lenore to raw cold turkey since her tummy issues were so so bad (I figured they couldn't get any worse), and within 24 hours she had solid poop and NO vomiting! She had NEVER had solid poop before!

 

[MollysMom]

I recently (about 2 months ago) switched to a mostly wet diet for Jethro. He eats it 2 times a day and also had kibble to snack on. It has worked wonders. However- we have our kitten coming home this weekend and I am realizing how much I am going to be spending on food for 2 cats. For Jethro, we buy Royal Canin dry for Sensitive Stomachs and Merrick's Before Grain wet. The kibble costs about $40 per bag which looks like it would last him about 2-3 months for the 2 cats. The wet food will be costing us about $50-60 a month. Woah. Now I love my babies and am HAPPY to do this. However, my "excuse" for not going RAW is that it seems quite expensive. Now I want some info from all you Raw-feeders!

*What do you think you spend per month for your cat?
*How often do you prepare the food?
*How long does it take you to do so?
*What meat do you use? (grocery store meat? internet meat? butcher shop meat?)
*What do YOU add to the meat?
*How did your cat(s) do swtiching to Raw?
*Any other info you think I should know

Any advice or info would be AMAZING! Thank you in advance!

I spent $55 on the pre-mix (which is including shipping), and this lasts about 2 months
I was making the food every week, but we just got a deep freeze, so I am going to make about 2 months worth in a batch now. I cut everything into 1 inch chunks, then mix the powder with cold water and combine with the meat.
It will probably take me an afternoon to do the big 2-month batch, to make a week's worth is 20 minutes.
I am lucky and have free meat from my family of hunters, so she eats moose, venison, elk and bison
I don't add anything to the meat except for the pre-mix (which is already supplemented with Taurine and chicken liver), and the red meat that she eats is higher in Taurine than chicken, etc. I am going to start adding a small amount of butter to it too for fat content, as the meat is really lean, and they need a bit of fat.
She had no issues switching to raw, but I also did it gradually by smearing a bit of wet food on it to get her used to it. She won't really eat plain raw meat, but LOVES the taste of the pre-mix with her meat.

I have seen a huge difference in her energy level and poop with the raw - her poop was never really THAT runny, but enough that she could make a mess with it. Now she is peeing WAY more (because of the high moisture content) and has hard poops with almost no smell at all. And I used to have to open the patio door after she went!

 

[Flowergirl]

I just started, but I've already noticed such a remarkable change I figure maybe my notes are relevant.

I use meat from the butcher. Food is incredibly cheap here in Germany so it's very inexpensive. I haven't been at it for a month yet but when it's over it'll probably be 15-20 Euro, including money I spent of stuff he can't eat (red meat) while I was figuring out.

He eats whatever dark poultry meat and organs the most convenient grocery store has cheapest. So far this has meant chicken thighs, chicken backs, random slabs of turkey, chicken hearts, chicken livers, and chicken stomachs.

I get the meat home and I cut it up into nickel sized pieces. I remove the skin (too chewy). I tenderize it. I break up the bones with the tenderizer and put the bone dust and tiny fragments in with the meat. I let him chew on the bigger bones while I am doing the rest.
A 4 pound batch took me about an hour to process in this way. It will last almost 2 weeks I assume.

Beef, lamb, and bacon make him barf. Can't eat it.

My little boy had never had a solid poop in 4 years. The day I started feeding raw he had 6-8 hot hershey syrup poops and was very distressed. His normal feces was extremely stinky, and the consistency of super creamy peanut butter.
Over the last four days he's had 2 solid, practically scentless small solid poops! (day one he had one in-between poop getting rid of the last of the kibble in his system)
He has CRAZY amounts of energy, almost more than he did as a kitten.
He hasn't lost any weight but he looks much more trim and toned. I believe he was very bloated before.

I can't say that he immediately took to the diet. He was very attached to his kibbles no matter how sick they made him. But, he's happy enough to eat his raw now after only 4 days!

I wish I had tried this sooner!

 

[werecatrising]

I am not sure what I spend per cat per day but it has to be way under a dollar. I get the bulk of my meat from a wholesaler. I am feeding 6 cats and 3 dogs so I buy large quantities. I buy chicken for bone in meals and pork for boneless when it is on sale at the grocery store. I plan to order from Hare Today soon for variety. I don't do much prep work. As the bulk orders thaw I package them into ziplock- a couple of days worth of each protein per bag. I cut chunks off at every meal time and that's about it.

 

[Zaki`s mom]

I just started our 9 cats on Raw 2 days ago. I bought myself a meat grinder, I buy whole chickens or chicken pieces (whatever is on sale) and grind them up with the bone. I add liver, chicken hearts and then also Vit B, Vit E, Taurine and Salmon oil. I made 13kg of this 2 days ago. This will probably last me 2 weeks. I don't know yet what it will cost me per month..
All but 3 took to it immediately, I just put a bit of canned food on the raw food of the ones who didn't want to eat it and voila, they ate it!

Here is a good website to read: Making Cat Food by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: homemade cat food, cat food recipes

 

[Flowergirl]

That's a good link Zaki's Mom!

I am not in a position to buy a grinder right now, but it give me a lot of good ideas for when I can!