Couple of Raw Feeding Q's

[minkee]

I didn't want to hi-jack the other thread down there anymore! So, ontop of 'where do you raw feed?' to which the answer seems to largely be the garden, or tiled areas of the house, I have a couple more questions. And an assumption!

Does anyone have any experience raw feeding their cats as well? I'm not sure how many of you have cats AND dogs AND raw feed. The consequences of doing so is tied in with the next question:

When feeding more than one animal in this way how do you stop in-fighting over the bones etc? When I give my pup a bone to chew on, her first instinct is to bury it in the towels I've put it down on and leave it (to rot up nicely, presumably. mmm tasty). However she'll guard it fiercely if the cats come near, or even look in its direction. She has good reason to too - although there is something very pleasingly funny about seeing a tiny blue cat run off with a bone twice her size! Pup only guards bones.

My assumption is that raw feeding is the 'best'. That's just because it seems natural, so must be 'right'. Am I far off the mark?

[Nettle]

Please ask all the questions you want

Feed all animals in such a way that they can't get to each other. Then all resource-guarding and tension goes away.

I have fed raw for oooh must be over 20 years now and I would never ever go back to commercial food. I have a heap of friends who feel the same way.

[minkee]

When I give Scout a bone at the moment it's usually a big old thing as a 'treat' (read: distraction) rather than her actual food. She wants to bury it, save it and chomp on it later. It's more like a toy to her than food, I suppose.

Would big bones like that be a part of the diet? Or does it tend to be more things that can be consumed in one sitting. Because not only do I not want the guarding to be an issue, but I'd have to make sure the cats didn't eat anything that was a little 'ripe'. Some brief research has told me that for cats, the meat has to be SUPER fresh.

I haven't really looked into what I'd actually be feeding any of them yet. We do have a very good butchers just over the road however, so I'd be set for sourcing it. Whatever 'it' is. Before I get there, however, my mind is reeling over the logistics of 3 cats and 1 dog all eating separately in a small flat! Tiny kitchen, they can't eat in the BATHROOM (yuck!), do I really want them eating in my bedroom?! That leaves a decent sized, carpeted living room. And one (unused) crate. I have tasked my brain to continue work on this problem.

The cats are probably the biggest part of the problem (have you ever tried to teach a cat to stay?), but they're probably the ones who would benefit from it most. Plus I don't think I could torture them with raw meat going to the dog while they sit and watch and have to eat boring old cat food.

[easilyconfused]

I raw feed my dogs and cats in the same room. Its very simple.

At first when one finishes eating , call it over and get it to sit (my dogs win the food race everytime tbh) then I slowly give it some cooked meat until the next ones done, call it over etc. So the dogs learn to come sit next to me when done and not harass any pups/the cats for food.

I find its best to source whole chickens for the bulk of their food. These are hacked into weighed lumps, so over a week a dog will eat the whole chicken. Somedays allot of meat, some days its wing and carcass. A whole chicken however has a very good meat to bone ratio so over a week a nice balance is gained.
I intersperse these meals with other protein sources. Whole fish, breast and ribs of lamb and pork and other game animals when I can.
If your going to try and give veg mix to a cat, blend it into chicken mince and it will mostly get eaten.

[Mattie]

I feed in seperate rooms, to me there is not stress involved and my dogs all eat in peace, when in the caravan they have to be fed together in a small area, I do have to stand and watch them in case one attempts to go to another dog's dish while they are eating, it is rare they do this but I do find this stressful. I try to keep them as far apart as I can, 2 are fed on the beds with their dish on a cover. I have never had any problems feeding in such a confined area because my dogs are used to being fed seperately and don't expect one of the others to attempt to take their food.

What I am trying to say is, I don't understand training for something like this when good management solves the problems and is less stressful on us.

[chay]

from what i've read, cats are obligate carnivores so they actually get all they need out of eating whole animals, rather than veges (apparently they don't digest plant matter well at all and get little to no nutritional value from it)

so for raw feeding your kitties it might actually be easier than your dogs as you don't have to blend up vege mush as long as you feed a good mix of meat / bones / offal / i.e. what they would get from eating a WHOLE little animal (mouse tails and all!) they should be well balanced