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Supplementing Canned with Raw?

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Variety is the spice of life. There's nothing wrong with your plan. Are you planning on giving him the whole prey instead of canned 2-3x wk, in addition to the canned, or as a treat? Any one of those options is fine. If you want him primarily on canned, I'd give the whole prey as a treat maybe at bedtime. What will you do if he prefers whole prey over canned?
 

grizzlybear50

Site Supporter
Variety is the spice of life. There's nothing wrong with your plan. Are you planning on giving him the whole prey instead of canned 2-3x wk, in addition to the canned, or as a treat? Any one of those options is fine. If you want him primarily on canned, I'd give the whole prey as a treat maybe at bedtime. What will you do if he prefers whole prey over canned?

Hi Deborah. my plan initially was to use it in addition to the canned or as a treat. I never wanted to completely replace canned because I wanted it to be the primary food source and wanted to avoid confusion. But you bring up a great point, if he ultimately prefers the prey to the canned, I think I'll transition to an all prey diet.

Which option do you think is best, for example if he evens out at 2 cans a day, 3 days a week feeding him 1 can and a feeder equivalent in caloric value to a 2nd can? Do you think this will help his diet be more balanced? I also ordered Kitty Bloom yesterday to supplement as well.

Thanks so much for the help.
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Theoretically, both the canned and the whole prey are balanced unto themselves and feeding any combination will yield a balanced diet. But, different commercial foods vary greatly in nutritional value and quality of contents. Same can be said of whole prey -- their nutritional value depends on what they're fed and whether they are mature or immature.

Until he's able to eat mature whole prey (breeding age for prey is a good guideline), I would use the prey as a treat. Immature bodies just don't have the full nutritional value of mature and I just think you wouldn't get the same bang for your buck feeding him 15 small mice (for example) instead of a can of food. Once he is able to eat mature prey (adult mice, rats, quail) you can do the 1 can & feeder equivalent.

How many days he gets canned or prey isn't as important as feeding him food of excellent quality. Since you're planning to do that, he should be a very happy and healthy cat.
 
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