Expert: KC - 12/18/2007

Question
I went through your previously answered questions and they answered some of my questions though brought up some new ones...

First, I'd like to fill you in on my babies. I have 2 kittens. The boy, and orange tabby, is currently almost 5 months. The girl, a black, is currently almost 3 months. Both are of normal health from the vet trips I've made.

How would I make my own homemade variations of things like "raw" diets' Wellness/Nature's Valley?

Raw meats/fish or precooked? Portions of either?
Can cats get salmonella poisoning? (My only concern about raw foods.)

Is it good to alternate various foods or mix them into a combination meal?

When mixing/combining into one homemade meal, what portions of each are preferred?

Eggs: cooked and raw are both okay? How much can my 2 cats have in 1 day?

In making my own homemade meals for my cats, how would I put the supplements and nutrients in the mix? Is there a way to get fish/meat and then just mix those essential remaining ingredients into it (in proper proportions)?

How would I put taurine into the homemade meals?

How much ground bone/calcium should go into the meals?

How do i actually put an ideal amount of nutrients in (without putting too little or too much)?

I'm really more interested in, if it is at all possible, putting together the homemade perfect meal for them all by myself instead of buying the premade varieties.

Maybe I can prepare a large amount of the food, refridgerate what they don't eat, and throughout 1 week give them proper amounts until it's all gone and I make more.

Between hard/dry catfood and raw/wet catfood, they're currently on Science Diet (the "kitten up to year 1" kind), I've been giving them mostly the Science Diet and sometimes canned (wet) food. I'd like to make the canned/wet food option - or homemade - a more permanent, yet affordable, option.

Is it okay to give them hard/dry food in the morning and soft/wet/canned in the evening?

They definitely drink a lot of water (I recently purchased a nice water dish that has a streaming fountain and water filter).

I probably cannot afford paying $18 or $20 for 1 pound of cat food, like with something like "Platinum Performance". Is there a close alternative to that for when I don't give them a homemade variety?

It's okay to *not* feed them table scraps, right? I actually prefer not too, thinking that people food can be really bad for cats. I'm also avoiding by-products and things like corn, carbs, etc. unnecessary fillers.

If I fill a catfood dish, dry food, once a day: how can I manage to get them to "eat large portions at once" instead of grazing all day? (I'm assuming all-day grazing is not the best means of eating for the little carnivores.)

If I am giving them canned/wet/raw food, how do I prevent grazing then - and if I leave that food out it gets nasty, stinky, etc. after leaving it out (not sure when to put it up (in fridge?) or when to take it back out or give them more.

Can I spend the same money on a truly premium (and by-product free) diet as what I'm spending on Science Diet now?

When do you give them which foods (canned, raw, and dry)?

As far as how often to feed, how would 1/2 way through a day (12 hour intervals) work?

Since I have 2 cats, I don't want one to overfeed and underfeed one or the other (if one eats it all up before the other). Is there a way to assure both get fair shares of food?

Maybe I could do the wet/raw/canned food in the morning, then have a catfood dish of (small amounts?) dry/hard food for throughout the day - though this sounds like it'll encourage "grazing"; and similar for night before bed, give wet/raw/canned food followed by dry/hard food for throughout the night-time while I'm asleep? My thoughts on considering that are to assure they don't starve or are under-fed (of course over-fed is a concern but they're growing babies and I know they need plenty of food).

When giving tiny bits of milk as a treat does it matter if it is cold or warmed up? (I'll stick to 1% or skim.) How about mixing it into the normal food?

You said Science Diet, IAMS, etc. are not "premium" foods - are you discouraging use of them? I thought they were very good and healthy for cats. Vets have said they are good choices. If they are bad for my kitties then I will stop feeding them that stuff.

My babies' health is a top priority for me.

Anyway, back to the homemade food... I am wondering if I could just mix things like fish/meat broth with "ocean whitefish", a little tuna, chicken, shrimp, liver. I'm not sure about mixing in the other stuff, like heart, how to "grind bones" for mixing, maybe even a touch of plain yogurt, or especially the essential nutrients like taurine/etc.

Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi.  I apologize for taking so much time in getting back to you...life tends to be crazy this time of year due to the holidays and I haven't been able to get online.  Please forgive me!  I usually try to answer questions much faster!

I hope I cover everything in this answer, as you had quite an in-depth question.  If not, please reply back and I will do my best to answer them.

First off, Science Diet is a terrible food.  It contains a lot of really cheap fillers and worst of all, is loaded in sugars from grains.  Most of the big name commercial foods, sadly, use the cheapest products they can possibly find.  The standards for the pet food industry are beyond immoral and unethical...they are far from the standards in the human food industry.  If you knew what they can legally use, and do use for pet food, there is no doubt you would only use by-product free, human grade, and organic food for them.  Science Diet is among the 'bad' brands.  A few vets have only recently started questioning their ingredients and the sources of those ingredients...and many are stepping up and getting the word out.  Hills (Science Diet) markets to vet students and vets...and vets make a HUGE profit from selling their products.  From the time vet students start school they are given freebies and even tuition by the Hills drug reps...thus encouraging every vet to sell their products and most never question the accuracy of their ingredient info or how it was produced.  The petfood industry's standards really need to change...and soon.

You don't have to worry about cats getting salmonella, or more importantly e. coli. from raw meats.  It could occur but is rare...as they naturally produce bacteria in their digestive tract and have such a perfectly designed carnivore system, that raw meats digest better than any commercial food.  I always rinse beef, chicken, and pork prior to feeding them to remove any debris...as I do prior to cooking for people anyway.  The main thing is to keep the meat referigerated, keep it clean, in an air tight container, and don't keep it too long.

Regarding food prices...Wellness and Nature's Variety, which are my personal favorites for quality of ingredients and added nutrients, are VERY comparable to Science Diet!  I feed mine the Wellness dry, canned in both brands, AND raw.  I only feed twice per day, first offering canned or raw and then immediately offering dry.  As soon as they leave the bowl it is picked up until the next meal.  Platinum Performance, the one you mentioned as being so expensive, is only a supplement (an excellent one).  You only need to feed it if you feed only raw.  And...regarding the price, it's a powder so the 1 pound size lasts a really long time since you add so little to each meal.

A cat that is used to grazing all day, within just a couple of weeks, will get used to eating more at only twice per day feedings...which is more natural for carnivores.  They just have to get used it it.  The hardest part is actually not the two day meals, but learning not to rely on the sugar loaded food (like Science Diet).  The grains in the kibble that they graze all day causes constant fluctuations in their blood glucose level...they eat just a few morsels and feel full...then are starving again in just a short time...exactly like the cycle people go through if they snack on carb loaded food all day.  The first few days the cats will beg and be obviously annoyed and even alarmed that food isn't out.  They will make it their goal to let you know this...because you obviously must not know that their bowl is not out or empty!  Ha ha!  Once they realize that you aren't giving in and they must wait it out between meals, they will quickly adjust and learn to fill up and mealtime...and actually be perfectly satisfied with this new routine.  It's super easy to start young cats on this diet or even cats who weren't given sugar loaded kibble.  However, cats who are already addicted to junk commercial foods are harder to switch over to a healthy food...and VERY hard to convert to a solid raw diet.

A totally raw diet is quite hard to completely provide yourself.  I know breeders who get meat from butchers and slaughter houses directly, have their own meat grinders, etc.  It can be quite costly and a major hassle to do right.  You have to have a combination of different types of tissues to best support thier digestive tract...they need meals containing connective tissue, organ meat, ground bone, some fat, and cartiledge.  An all around super supplement, like Platinum Performance, MUST be added...without adequate taurine cat's lose eye-sight.  Dogs are MUCH more easily fed entirely raw because they are total able to chew and eat larger bones, etc. without having your having to grind them.  They also don't require such a complex and precise amount of nutrients.  Therefore, that is why I prefer to feed my own cats Wellness and Nature's Variety in addition to raw...raw fish, tuna, chicken, shrimp, etc.  That way I don't have to worry about supplementing because if they are eating the quality brand, most of the time if not daily, they are getting everything they need.

You can safely give your cats milk (unless an individual is lacose intolerant), eggs (1-2 a day just cracked in a bowl or lightly scrambled), cooked meats (without added salt), yogurt (1-2 T a day), and cheeses (no more than 2 T or so per day).  You can also give canned tuna (not more than twice a week due to mercury) and canned chicken.  When giving meats though, raw is definitely better than cooked...IF they will eat it.  Most that were not started on raw as kittens are very picky about trying it and don't like eating it for every meal.  You can mix milk with normal food, though I don't recommend it...it's far better for them to get used to eating a normal food and get the milk as a treat or afterwards.  You also can feed dry for one meal and canned for another...but be careful...many will get picky and not eat one meal in order to hold out until their favorite variety comes along which will more than likely be the dry, from my experience.  Oh, and regarding feeding times.  I feed roughly 12 hours apart.  I feed around 8 a.m. and then again between 7 and 8 p.m.  

I hope this info has helped.  I also really hope that I've covered all of your questions.  If not, just reply back and I'll respond just as quickly as I can.  Best of luck with all of your babies!  And please, get them off of Science Diet!  One of my cats developed feline diabetes from eating the dry Science Diet Adult formula...and I allowed grazing then.  He then needed high levels of insulin twice daily with his meals.  The vet put him on the Science Diet Prescription food for diabetic cats (ironically a dry which was loaded in grains!).  After his diabetes was well maintained for over two years I started reading up on diet and nutrition...I took him off Science Diet.  Within two weeks he was a perfectly healthy cat!  He no longer needed insulin, NONE!, and the new food (Wellness and Nature's Variety...and I gave raw as treats then) never gave him the huge blood glucose peaks that even the Science Diet for diabetic cats did.  This really changed my mind about pet foods and the way we feed our animals.  Over time, what I ended up learning about commercial petfood ingredients has me doing this AllExperts forum, among other things, and I can't thank you enough for searching out to find the best food options for your cats.
Best of luck!