Raw foods for cats?

[Pomp]

What are some good raw foods to feed a cat?

[SpringerLover]

chicken, pork... mine love chicken

[SpringerLover]

Rascal enjoying a chicken wing (not recommended for a first time feeding, or for a while after either...)

[sam]

When I feed my cat raw I use a commercially prepared raw because cat's are harder to ensure you are feeding enough of certain nutrients like taurine etc. I just can't be bothred to figure that all out and to make up batches with the right amount of organ, muscle meat, ground bone, thenm repackage and freeze etc hard core raw feeders will say it's not that hard. They tend to use nutritiondata.com - I'm too lazy and too paranoid of messing it up.
My cat is small and we have good locally made raw so it's not too expensive. If I'm not feeding her raw I feed Evo canned and give her raw chicken necks which she loves and help keep her teeth clean.

[Pomp]

Originally Posted by SpringerLover

Rascal enjoying a chicken wing (not recommended for a first time feeding, or for a while after either...)

How do cats manage the bones? For examples, when my dogs eat chicken wings, they eat the bones too because they can mash them down with their teeth. Can cats do that?

Also, if a cat eats a chicken wing, do you still leave kibble out for them?

And finally, what about pieces of turkey and chicken without the bones? If I'm just starting to feed a cat raw, should I start with boneless?

[SpringerLover]

yes, definitely boneless... I feed a much more meat than I do bones. My cats will eat what they want/can of chicken wings but they love pork and I got them started with hamburger...

rawcat is a wonderful yahoo group to join... because with cats you have to make sure they DO eat, you can't withhold food from them...

[sam]

Originally Posted by Pomp

How do cats manage the bones? For examples, when my dogs eat chicken wings, they eat the bones too because they can mash them down with their teeth. Can cats do that?

Also, if a cat eats a chicken wing, do you still leave kibble out for them?

And finally, what about pieces of turkey and chicken without the bones? If I'm just starting to feed a cat raw, should I start with boneless?

When I first started feeding my cat raw she wasn't too keen. I don't think she really liked the smell/ taste of the kelp and fish oil supplements . I switched her back to Evo canned and then one day when I was feeding the dogs chicken necks, she hopped up on the counter and acted like she wanted one-- the rest is history and yes indeed they do crunch neck bones right up. I haven't fed wings because the shape of the bones is more uh.. pokey for lack of a better word.
I agree with the suggestion to join a yahoo raw feeding group and do some reading. Raw feeding isn't something you should just do willy nilly without a good understanding of what all they need, how much organ, are they getting enough taurine, balance of calcium and phos etc. You won't do your cat any favors by just giving peices of raw boneless meat and nothing else-- that's going to be nutritionally deficient in many ways- much worse for your cat than a high end canned food. I actually do think it's fine to start with giving the odd consumable bones- you can get the added benefit of clean teeth. The only problem you might run into is a cat who walks away from eat / won't try it.