Raw diets?

[Jupiter]

Does anyone feed their cats or dogs a raw diet? Well, I've recently been delving into raw diet vs. commercial food (dry & wet) for cats, but I'm assuming there are raw diets for dogs too.

As I said, I've only recently been researching it on the internet and it's very interesting for me. If anyone does feed their pets raw, any comments?

[whiskandbowl]

I don't have dogs or cats, but I do have ferrets.

Raw diets are touted as the best diet for ferrets, as they are obligate carnivores (derive all necessary nutrition for meat). Feeding raw is very big in the UK, as the availability of quality kibble is lacking, though the quality of a lot of ferret kibbles in the US is lacking as well. Fortunately, there are some good cat kibbles available.

I don't have the time right now to switch my ferrets to raw (they can be notoriously picky) but they do occasionally get a "soupie" made from commercial frozen Natures Variety Instinct raw. Their main diet consists of 3 high quality meat based kibbles.

I've been really happy with the quality of Natures Variety (both kibble and raw). They make raw diets for dogs.
Another brand I know of is Stella and Cheweys.

[Jupiter]

For ferrets, you can use high quality cat food but not dog kibble, right?

That's another thing I was wondering, actually...if there are ready made raw diets available. I didn't know there was.

When I get my own cats I'm thinking of switching to raw but I am really squeamish and can't handle raw meat...lol.

[whiskandbowl]

Yes that's right. High quality such as Wellness core, Evo, etc. No dog foods because it doesn't have taurine.

Natures Variety raw just comes in little pucks. Defrost and serve. I believe Stella and Cheweys is freeze dried so not much of an ick factor there.

Natures Variety also makes a kibble with bits of freeze dried raw interspersed. My ferrets love it!

[Jupiter]

Yeah I could handle it if it's ready to serve. That's really handy!

Do you know if it's available at Petsmart or online?