** Raw Diet **

Monthly Preparation (takes about 1 to 2 hours)

Meat Grinder
The meat grinder we use was purchased from the Northern Tool & Equipment website. The direct link to the meat grinder item is here. Northern Tool & Equipment also sells a less expensive meat grinder, but it will require you to chop the chicken into smaller pieces before putting them through the grinder. The link to this less expensive grinder is here.

Use the coarse size cutting plate that comes with your grinder. Grind and thoroughly mix together the meats. The way I try to insure that I have mixed the meats together well is to divide the meat into 6-10 groups, with an equal proportion of chicken leg quarters, ground beef, beef heart, beef liver, and chicken liver in each group. That is each group would have the same percentage of the various meats as described in the Meats section above. Only take one group of meat out of the refrigerator so that it stays as cold as possible until the grinding is complete and the completed packages can be placed in your freezer.

Grind one group of meat at a time. I’ve found that it works best to start putting a couple pieces of chicken in the grinder, then add the heart and liver pieces, then complete the group grinding with the remaining pieces of chicken. The pieces of chicken that follow the heart and liver helps to push the heart and liver through the grinder.

You obviously don’t need to grind the ground beef, so add the ground beef to the just completed group of ground meat and mix it all together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl, using either your clean hand, or a large kitchen spoon.

I then spoon the mixture into quart sized ZipLok bags and stack them in my freezer. Place each group of bags into the freezer immediately, BEFORE starting the next group. You don’t want the meat to be un-refrigerated any longer than necessary.

Repeat the process above for each group of meat.

Miscellaneous Preparation

Sam’s Club sells fresh salmon (without the skin). I cut the salmon into little cubes (about ¾ inch square), place the cubes on a cookie sheet, then place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a couple hours (until frozen). Once frozen, take all the salmon cubes from the cookie sheet and place into one or more ZipLok bags and store in the freezer.

I do the same thing with beef cubes (the kind you buy for beef stew).

Each cat gets a beef cube and a salmon cube each day. The chewing action eating these cubes helps to keep their teeth clean.

I also feed canned sardines (packed in oil) once a week. I give one sardine to each cat.





		..: The Raw Diet ..: We have been feeding a raw diet for ten years and are so pleased with it we don't even feed commercial cat food when we are on vacation. It may seem like a lot of work at first, but once you get the hang of it it's not too bad. There are commercial raw diets available for purchase, but I don't feel comfortable with them.







There is Good News and Bad News The good news is your cats will have the purest and healthiest diet possible, and it will cost less than a premium commercial food. The bad news is that there is an initial outlay of money for a meat grinder. It will cost about $100 for a grinder that will handle chicken necks, wings, or cut up legs. A larger grinder that will handle leg/thigh quarters will cost about $375 (including shipping). Wings cost 3 times as much as leg quarters, so the larger grinder will end up paying for itself in the long run, plus it gives you more flexibility in the chicken pieces you can use. In my opinion, the larger grinder is well worth the initial investment. MEAT 75% chicken leg/thigh quarters. 15% ground beef - use less expensive ground beef because you need the higher fat content. 10% consisting of a combination of beef liver, beef heart, and chicken liver. Make sure to use the blood that may be in the beef heart package because it contains a high concentration of the taurine that cats require in their diet. Monthly Preparation (takes about 1 to 2 hours) Meat Grinder The meat grinder we use was purchased from the Northern Tool & Equipment website. The direct link to the meat grinder item is here. Northern Tool & Equipment also sells a less expensive meat grinder, but it will require you to chop the chicken into smaller pieces before putting them through the grinder. The link to this less expensive grinder is here. Use the coarse size cutting plate that comes with your grinder. Grind and thoroughly mix together the meats. The way I try to insure that I have mixed the meats together well is to divide the meat into 6-10 groups, with an equal proportion of chicken leg quarters, ground beef, beef heart, beef liver, and chicken liver in each group. That is each group would have the same percentage of the various meats as described in the Meats section above. Only take one group of meat out of the refrigerator so that it stays as cold as possible until the grinding is complete and the completed packages can be placed in your freezer. Grind one group of meat at a time. I’ve found that it works best to start putting a couple pieces of chicken in the grinder, then add the heart and liver pieces, then complete the group grinding with the remaining pieces of chicken. The pieces of chicken that follow the heart and liver helps to push the heart and liver through the grinder. You obviously don’t need to grind the ground beef, so add the ground beef to the just completed group of ground meat and mix it all together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl, using either your clean hand, or a large kitchen spoon. I then spoon the mixture into quart sized ZipLok bags and stack them in my freezer. Place each group of bags into the freezer immediately, BEFORE starting the next group. You don’t want the meat to be un-refrigerated any longer than necessary. Repeat the process above for each group of meat. Miscellaneous Preparation Sam’s Club sells fresh salmon (without the skin). I cut the salmon into little cubes (about ¾ inch square), place the cubes on a cookie sheet, then place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a couple hours (until frozen). Once frozen, take all the salmon cubes from the cookie sheet and place into one or more ZipLok bags and store in the freezer. I do the same thing with beef cubes (the kind you buy for beef stew). Each cat gets a beef cube and a salmon cube each day. The chewing action eating these cubes helps to keep their teeth clean. I also feed canned sardines (packed in oil) once a week. I give one sardine to each cat.