Raw Meow Mix: Keeping Raw Feeding Simple, Safe, and Balanced
One of the best things about Raw Meow Mix is that it takes a lot of the guesswork out of raw feeding. You do not need to source organs, balance calcium, or build a diet from scratch. Raw Meow Mix is there to do the hard part for you, so you can focus on choosing suitable muscle meat and feeding it properly.
That said, your choice of meat is still important.
Start with good quality meat
We recommend using human grade meat where possible. If you choose pet grade meat instead, make sure it comes from a reputable supplier and is preservative free, single protein, and free from added bone or secreting organs.
The point of Raw Meow Mix is to balance plain muscle meat. If the meat already contains extras you did not account for, the final diet is no longer what it should be.
Avoid pre minced meat if you can
Pre minced meat has a much larger surface area, which means more opportunity for bacterial growth, especially if it has already been sitting around for a few days. If possible, mince it yourself or ask your butcher to mince it fresh. If you do buy pre minced meat, choose the freshest option available and check the packaging date carefully.
Where possible, chunks of meat are often the better option anyway. They are fresher, less processed, and can also offer more chewing and dental benefit than mince.
Variety matters
Cats do better with variety. Feeding only one cut or one protein over and over again can lead to boredom, and in some cats may also make food sensitivities more likely over time.
Different proteins and cuts also offer different nutritional profiles, so mixing things up helps ensure your cat gets a broader range of nutrients across the week rather than the same ones on repeat.
We recommend feeding at least three different proteins, with a variety of cuts from each where possible. That keeps meals more interesting and builds a more well-rounded diet overall.
Good meat options to use
The most commonly used muscle meats with Raw Meow Mix are chicken, turkey, pork, goat, lamb, beef, duck, and kangaroo.
Breast, thigh, leg meat, including skin all work well for chicken and turkey. For pork, goat, and lamb, leg and shoulder are good choices, and lamb trim is a nice fattier addition. With beef, affordable fattier cuts are ideal. Duck is a great fatty protein and lovely for variety. Kangaroo is very lean, so it works best alongside fattier meats rather than as the sole protein.
Tongue, heart, and chicken gizzard can also be included and are excellent additions, but should each be kept to around 10% of the total diet. Tongue is naturally high in taurine, heart is rich in taurine and nutrients, and gizzards add chewing texture and jaw exercise.
Fish is not an appropriate meat source for use with Raw Meow Mix and should never be used as the meat component.
Freeze meat before feeding
All raw meat should be frozen before feeding. This is not optional, and it is one of the most important steps in raw feeding safely.
Freezing significantly reduces the risk of parasites that may be present in raw meat. The most commonly discussed is Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, but freezing also helps address other parasites depending on the protein source. While cooking eliminates parasites entirely, freezing at a sufficiently low temperature for long enough is the accepted method for making raw meat safer to feed.
As a general rule, standard muscle meats should be frozen for a minimum of three days before feeding. A standard home freezer running at around -18°C (0°F) is sufficient, but only if the meat is frozen all the way through. Large chunks or thick cuts need extra time to freeze solid at the centre, so when in doubt, freeze for longer.
Pork and wild caught meats require extended freezing. We recommend a minimum of three weeks for these proteins. Pork carries a higher risk of certain parasites, including Trichinella, and wild caught meats such as venison, rabbit, kangaroo, or fish can carry a broader range of parasites depending on the animal's environment and diet. Three weeks at standard freezer temperature gives a much greater margin of safety.
Thaw meat in the fridge rather than at room temperature, and once thawed, aim to use it within two to three days.
The goal is simple
Raw Meow Mix makes feeding a balanced raw diet much easier, but good raw feeding still relies on using the right meat, preparing it properly, and offering enough variety. Do that, and you are giving your cat a fresh, balanced, species appropriate diet without making raw feeding more complicated than it needs to be.