Darwin's raw for kittens?

[Christie]

Hello Dr. Jeff, staff and community!

Happy to say we will own some new kittens soon and are looking to start them off right.

I'm interested in a half and half raw chicken diet and commercial canned food.

My question is when I do the Darwin's raw, does Darwin's offer all the nutrients needed?

What if I were to add in some dried Kelp bits, Ester-C sprinkles? Too much/ not enough?

Thank you!
Christie


Darwin's ingredients:

Free-Range Meat and Organs (98.5%): Chicken Meat, Chicken Necks (Including Bone), Chicken Gizzard, Chicken Livers, and Chicken Hearts.

Trace Minerals and vitamins (1%): Tomato Pomace, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Magnesium Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Inulin, Sea Salt, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E, Iron Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12, Iodine (EDDI), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3

Marine Oils (0.5%): Fish Oil 18/12 EPA/DHA (Derived from sea-harvested wild Sardines), Cod Liver Oil (Derived from sea-harvested wild Alaska Cod)

 

[Dr. Christina]

These are very lucky kitties to have you starting them with fresh food.

While Darwins, and other commercial raw foods are much better than canned or dry and there is no need to also feed canned, would you think the very best for you would be to eat the same frozen organic dinner twice a day?

Maybe you could do Darwins on busy days and feed a variety of different meats, fish, eggs, dairy (whatever you are eating) when you have time. You do need some calcium if feeding protein without bones.

Supplements are definitely a personal choice. Do we think we get all needed nutrition from the fresh foods, or do we need supplements. As you can see in the supplement thread, there are a lot of different opinions and also it depends on each cat.

Some people reserve vitamin C for illness, others feel it is needed (for people and animals) daily because of our toxic environment.

I think a seaweed product is great. I suggest rotating your supplements every month or so until you discover what each kitten needs to thrive.

Some have better BEAM (behavior, appetite, energy, mood) and shinier coats with supplements, others do not show any changes.

Dr. Christina

 

[Christie]

I think we all need supplements. I’ll check out the supplements and raw threads. I do like that calcium tip - didn’t know that.

I follow medical medium diet/protocol so I’ve been giving my other cat ester C & kelp from his recommendations/website/pet health radio show. I would feed the cans when I’m running around and in a pinch or having someone else watch my cats.

I just wish there was one vitamin powder I could sprinkle in but no one has recommended that, not even Anthony. Hmm

 

[Dr. Christina]

Rather than thinking of one vitamin powder, think whole food supplements, like Kelp, that have a variety of vitamins in their natural form.

A few I have loved over the years include:
Animal Essentials (developed by leading herbalist and author Greg Tilford) -Herbal Multi-Vitamin and chelated minerals with whole foods.

NaturVet - VitaPet

Earth Animal - Daily health nuggets

Rx Essentials

Dr. Christina

 

[Christie]

That's good to know, that kelp has vitamins. There's so much yeast ingredients in things I'd like to steer clear of as it is hidden msg.

I think I will add kelp bits and vitamin C and get some calcium to add to the Darwin's.

 

[kristen_acri]

@Dr. Christina -- your responses to Christie are helpful to me too in figuring out Charlie's new diet. It seems I can find on the forum whatever it is I'm thinking about!