Disclaimer: Any information provided here is personal opinion only. I am not a vet or a specialist on animal health and nutrition. Please do your own research and seek professional advice when necessary.

I feed my cats on raw meat diet and I am lucky to live on a farm where not only I have easy access to fresh organically farmed meat (sheep, beef and chicken), but I can also use meat that comes from our pest control. This includes hare, rabbit, opossum and goat (these animals have all been introduced to New Zealand and, when in the wild, they are considered pest - they feed on native trees and seedlings and endanger native flora and fauna). All the animals from our pest control are killed humanely (no live traps are ever used) and I only use freshly killed meat. Whenever possible I feed my cats 'whole prey'.

Please visit our LINKS page to see several useful sites that talk about raw food for cats.

LUNCH!!

Here are some examples of meals I feed to my cats – you can be creative and try different combinations and see what is your cat’s favourite food. I like to vary their meals if I have the option.

RABBIT. We catch our own rabbits whenever we can. Rabbit is skinned and gutted. I save Liver, kidneys and heart and serve small amounts with the meal. As rabbit has very soft bones, cats can eat all of it. I will chop up the whole rabbit in small chunks and serve it with the organs. They love it!!

HARE. We also catch our own hares. Same as rabbit, hare is skinned and gutted, and organs are saved. Hare has harder bones than rabbit and not all cats can eat all of the bones. However my older cats like to chew on harder bones and they will take off the meat themselves. I will take most of the meat off the bone, but make sure I leave some meat on – especially on softer bones like ribs. Meat will be cut in chunks – for adult cats about two inches, kittens get smaller pieces. For my very small kittens if I have rabbit and hare I cut it very very small and I also prepare a special mince mix as a starter. To my adult cats I will give harder bones to clean up, and everyone can get chopped up ribs and spine. Serve small amount of organs together with meat and bone.

OPOSSUM – same as hare.

CHICKEN. For my adult cats I will chop up the whole chicken into chunks and they will eat it with bone. Most of the bone from the chicken they will eat ok. Some cats will not eat harder bones but they will still like to chew on it. However, some of the chicken in NZ has campylobacter, and I had a case of it in one of my litters causing diarrhea, for my small kittens now I prefer to cook it. I take all the meat off the bone and ONLY USE COOKED MEAT – NEVER FEED COOKED BONES to your cat! I break the meat and serve it either on it’s own together with some organs and raw chicken necks, or I mix it with some red meat. I also use cooked chicken meat in mince I make for my baby kittens as a starter food. It can be mixed with sheep, goat, beef, pork…. As soon as kittens are used to meat I give them chunks to chew as I prefer them to use their teeth. But I always stay with them till the finish eating in case of choking - some babies can be very greedy and try to swallow pieces.

SHEEP, GOAT, BEEF, DEER, PORK. I use meat – cut up in chunks (2 inch or size of a small mouse). I also use kidneys and liver – as organ portion, and hearts as part of the meat portion. When I feed sheep, goat, beef and pork I will add raw chicken necks as bone. My cats love goat the most and they eat sheep well. Not all cats will like beef and some might even vomit it – it also sometimes depends on the quality of meat found in supermarkets! They were occasions when my cats refused to eat supermarket meat! Pork I will feed less often or I will mix it with other meet and I will sometimes use it as part of a mince for kittens. Deer is not easy available and I use it as special treat when we travel to shows J. Some cats find it too strong, some cats love it.

FISH. I feed fish once a week or once in two weeks. I buy fresh fish and chop it up in chunks. I will also give them fish liver and roe.

RAW CHICKEN NECKS AND WINGS – can be added to every meal if you have no other edible bone. I give it to kittens as well as adult cats.

EGGS. I give egg yolk to my cats raw and I cook egg whites. You can also grind up the shell and give it to your cat as source of calcium. I do not feed egg whites raw as they contain avidin, which binds to B-vitamin biotin contained in yolk.

MILK – I never give any milk to my cats. Exception is kitten formula if any kitten needs additional feeds.

ORGANS I FEED TO MY CATS: chicken liver, goat and sheep liver, sometimes beef liver, goat and sheep kidneys, as well as liver and kidneys from rabbit, hare and opossum.

Very occasionally I will feed:

CANNED MACKEREL OR SALMON IN SPRING WATER

RAW PRAWNS

QUAILS, PHEASANTS – if you can get them they are great!

DUCK

If you have the option you can also feed different rodents such as mice (some pet shops will sell them frozen). Sometimes you can also buy frozen one day old chicks. Cats will eat it all – feeding “whole pray” is ideal if you can do it. I have a possibility to feed one day old chicks to my cats but so far I have had no heart to do it – I just can not kill them! When I was able to buy them frozen, my cats loved it.

Please visit following websites for more info:

http://catinfo.org