Natural Food For Cats

Natural Food for Cats for the Good Health of Cats

The Best Cat Food – Ideas:

I have prepared this page to give a general idea of the bones and raw food diet (often called BARF) my own Ragdoll cats and kittens are fed. While the very best cat food for our kitties is to feed them raw, whole prey, that is not an option for me – nothing like that is available, (and I probably couldn’t do it anyway) so I try and get as close to the natural food for cats as I can.

Commonly known as a Prey Model Diet, what we are attempting to do here, is to approximate the “whole” of a prey animal, using what parts are available to us. Sometimes, coming from a world where we are used to just tipping kibble / dry cat food into a bowl or opening a can, it can be confusing to start feeding raw cat food. Hopefully this page will give you some ideas. The main things are; plenty of variety, feed big chunks and bones often, and to try and follow the recommended ratios for feeding a cat raw food as shown below.

This page is only my personal “What” of Raw Cat Food! The “Whys” and “Hows” are very well explained at this website: Raw Fed Cats, and this wonderful site will give you a good basic understanding of the principles. If you are more inclined to feed minced meats, here are some websites with step by step instructions on how to prepare your own raw cat food: Making Cat Food and Cat Nutrition – Pictorial

Raw Cat Food – Recommended ratios – This is a general guide to feeding a “Prey Model Diet“. These proportions are relatively the same in almost every prey animal that carnivores are designed to consume, and the percentages are, approximately:

80 – 85% meat, fat, skin, sinew, connective tissue etc.
10 – 15% edible bone
5 – 10% organs with half that amount being liver (if fed daily this would only equal about the size of a grape or two).

These percentages, although approximate, should serve as the basic guidelines for a raw cat food / BARF / Prey Model Diet. These exact proportions do not need to be fed at each and every meal, but rather should combine to comprise the overall diet over the course of time. In simple terms – this equates to; mostly meat, a little edible bone and a little organ.

Natural food for cats is just as appropriate for your Ragdoll kitten

Here is a 5 week old Ragdoll Kitten really enjoying a raw chicken neck… start them young!

I recommend you set aside a contained place for Kitty to eat his raw cat food meals. Cats tend to carry their food to a comfy place to eat it – and it is rather nasty to sit on a piece of raw liver on your couch! I use a large cage (actually a dog crate) which has a plastic floor for easy cleaning. I usually also put in a carpet sample mat for comfort as the cats definitely prefer a soft surface when chowing down. You could use a towel which is easily tossed in the washing machine. Some people use a large pet carrier to feed their raw cat food in, and others simply put the cat in the bathroom or laundry to eat.

Pictured below is one of my raw feeding places for my Ragdoll Cats. This is actually a “dog crate” and works perfectly. The plastic bottom is easily cleaned and the whole crate folds away easily for storage.

If your cat is new to raw cat food, don’t (for example) go out and buy a whole raw beef carcass, as he might not like beef! Buy very small portions of lots of different meats and offer these. If you have trouble getting your cat to eat raw cat food, I recommend you join a free internet discussion group: RawCats. There are many experienced and helpful people in this group who give up a huge amount of their time just to help newbies to feed the “Best Cat Food” to their felines. You can ask questions and will get helpful, informed answers. Also you could Google: BARF diet for cats or Natural food for cats or Prey Model Diet for Cats, and you should find lots of information.

Natural Food For Cats:

Here are some of the things my Ragdoll Cats and Ragdoll Kittens eat… just to give you ideas

If the idea of feeding a raw cat food diet grosses you out, try and remember that the best cat food for your kitten is something that is a natural food for cats. Your kitten’s excellent health and longer life will make it worth the effort!

Pictured as bought

How I serve it

How “they” eat it

Whole Chicken

I whack these whole raw chickens up into cat-sized pieces as on the right. Smaller pieces for smaller kittens mouths and larger for the grown-up cats.
Much better than just feeding raw chicken wings or necks as a whole meal, as there is a better meat to bone ration.

I make sure to only buy small chickens, so the kittens are able to eat the bones. Bigger chickens have tougher bones.

Chicken Wings & Necks

Good for kitty’s jaws, but not a lot of actual meat – so don’t feed these as a sole source of food too often. On older chickens, the skin can be very tough, so you may need to remove some so kitty can get at the meat. For kittens I thump them a few times (the necks – not the kittens!) to flatten and make easier to get into their mouths.

9 week old kitten

Chicken Drumsticks

When transitioning a cat to raw food, you may have to whack the knobbly bits of bone to crush them a bit to release the smell of the marrow and get the cat started off.

Chicken Drumsticks cut up for cats

I usually cut from bone out thru meat to enable cats/kittens to get their mouths around these.

Chicken liver

Adored by my cats!

Beef

Most cats love to eat raw beef – I cut it up into chunks and strips.

Beef Tongue

Really tough and good for a jaw workout – but this grosses me out so much-I have to get someone else to prepare it. Cut it up into chunks and strips.

Lamb Heart

Heart is a rather tough meat, so it is great for building jaw strength on transitioning cats.

Heart is much loved by all my kitties. Treat it as both muscle meat and/or organ, I feed it twice a week or so as a whole meal.

Very high in Taurine, which cats need a lot of.

Lamb Off-cuts

Cut into strips to enable them to fit into little kitten mouths.

Lambs Fry (liver)

Raw liver is an exxential part of a cat’s diet to provide Vitamin A and many other nutrients. Liver should make up around 5% of the overall diet of cats.

Over feeding of liver can cause runny poops, and also can cause Vitamin A toxicity.

Lamb Kidney

Treat kidney as the “organ” part of diet. I normally mix it in with a mince mix, because some cats don’t like it on its own.
When feeding organ meats for the first time, only use very small portions until your cat’s tummy gets used to it, otherwise the cat may through it up.

Pork Roast
…don’t chop it up Mum, we’ll just eat it as is!

Most of the cats adore pork meat.
I chop it up into large hunks – if I get a chance! Pork is not really an appropriate meat for cats though, so it is only a rare treat here.

Ragoll Cats Love Eating Raw Pork

Pork Ribs & Rashers

Fed just as you see them.
Pork Rashers – I cut lengthwise for little kittens as the skin is quite tough.
Pork Ribs – The cats will strip almost all of the meat off, and some will chew through the bones as well.

Raw Fish

Raw Fish – Feed whole, or chop into cat sized pieces if it is a large fish.
Not a natural part of a cat’s diet, so don’t feed too often, as an occasional treat is plenty.

Rabbit

Much loved by my Ragdoll cats but very expensive here in QLD where rabbits are illegal.

If it is available to you, rabbit is an excellent all round meat for general feeding.

Being a small game animal, it is one of the very best foods for cats.

So use your imagination – if its meat – give it a try.
You can see by the concentration on my Ragdoll cats faces that they really love meal-time here!

Raw food really is the best cat food of all

And here are some very “occasional” cat treats…

Whole prawns – definitely feed these outside or contained, the cats love to play with them as much as eat them!

Cooked leftovers – remember to never feed any bones that are cooked!

Canned Tuna or Salmon – in Spring Water

Duck, goose, emu, ostrich, quail, pigeon. All excellent if you can get them.

There is a lot of information available about raw food on Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s Bones and Raw Food * BARF * website. Although the word itself doesn’t have pleasant connotation in New Zealand and Australia, the acronym BARF (or B.A.R.F.) has become one of the better known names for a raw cat food or raw dog food diet.

BARF, although much better than most commercial cat foods, is however not the ultimate raw cat food – as there is a lot of vegetable matter recommended and added to the products. And as of course you surely know by now – your cat is an obligate carnivore

But Dr Billinghurst’s information on WHY you should go raw for your pets, is great.