Quote Originally Posted by Norsegoddess View Post
Questions: Those of you grinding your own food, do you include the skin and bones? Did you buy a standard meat grinder for the task? Do you include any veggies or starch (like cooked rice) or just the meat? What supplements do you give? With raw meat, are you concerned about salmonella, e-coli and othe nasty things?
When I grind chicken or cornish game hen I grind it all - skin, bones, organs, neck. It is nutritionally balanced re calcium phosphorus ratio. Meat from large animals with bones too hard to grind like beef and lamb need to have calcium added to balance the high phosphorus in the meat.

I have a Maverick grinder like Mimi, although mine is 9 years old. It's a great grinder. You can't just use any grinder. Some of the more powerful ones don't grind bones very well.
This is supposed to be a very good grinder also.
http://www.onestopjerkyshop.com/prod...products_id=47

I don't include any starch/grain because cats don't have any need for them. (I've read that dogs can utilize nutrients from grain.) I include a small amount of veggie as a fiber source.

In the 9 years I've been preparing the raw diet I've never had any problems with the cats, or myself, getting sick from the raw food.

If anyone wants further info on raw diets for cats http://holisticat.com/ is a great resource. So is their forum.

Carol