Reading time: approx. 15 min | by Asoka Fernando

BARF for Cats – A Case Study (Part 1 of 2)

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they belong to the group of animals that are strictly meat-eaters. Even a cat that is extremely hungry will not, for lack of meat, resort to eating salad instead. But how should you feed them? Is it enough to simply put a piece of raw meat in front of the cat? In principle, that would be a good start, but “BARF” is done differently.

Biologically appropriate raw feeding is based on the prey animal principle. This means that when putting together a BARF ration or meal, the BARFER uses the composition of a typical prey animal—in the case of a cat, a mouse—as a guide. Accordingly, a cat’s meal should consist primarily of meat, organs, blood, fat, cartilage, and bones, supplemented with fiber in the form of finely grated vegetables and fruit. Since some cats eat neither vegetables nor fruit and tend to refuse the entire meal as soon as one component doesn’t suit them (more on the topic of neophobia in cats in a separate article), you can also use flea seeds or chia seeds instead.

The optimal cat diet is therefore composed as follows:

50–65% muscle meat

15% RFK (raw meaty bones)

10–20% organ meats

and 5% dietary fiber

How do I calculate the right amount of food for my cat?

The guideline for the daily food portion for an adult cat is 4% of its body weight (BW). If my house cat weighs 3.5 kg, this results in a daily food portion of 3,500 g × 4% = 140 g.

For kittens that are still growing and meet all their nutritional needs through their food intake, the daily food amount is correspondingly higher. Kittens can eat enormous amounts. Therefore, it’s even recommended to feed them “ad libitum,” meaning “feed as much as they want,” or “feed until full.” This means the kittens are fed until they’re satisfied. libitum” approach—that is, “feeding at will”—or “feeding until full.” This means that kittens do not need to be fed in restricted portions; they can eat as much as they want. It’s quite possible that a kitten will eat 400 g of food or more per day by the end of its first year. At first glance, that seems like quite a lot for a kitten, and it’s actually true that you should let them eat as much as they want. They’ll naturally settle into a normal food intake on their own.

What kind of meat is suitable for feeding my cat?

In principle, you can use the meat of any domestic animal for feeding. Meat from poultry, hares, rabbits, lamb, horse, beef, game, and fish is suitable and popular among BARF feeders. When it comes to fish, you can feed whole pieces of raw fish, including the bones.

What kind of fat and how much can I use to feed my cat?

Cats love to eat butter, goose fat, and lard. They also enjoy coconut oil. We assume a fat content of 15–20%. Cats love and need fat. The fat content is calculated based on the lean meat portion. For our cat weighing 3.5 kg, that’s about 20 g of fat.

Would you like to calculate it exactly using an example?

Let’s take my 3.5 kg house cat as an example. Of the 140 g daily food portion, 95%—or 133 g—is animal content (= 70% muscle meat, 15% raw meaty bones, and 10% organ meats). Of these 133 g, 70%—about 93 g—is muscle meat; 20% of that (93 x 20%) equals 18.6 g, rounded up to 20 g of fat (remember, cats love and need fat, so it’s fine to round up here).

What about calcium requirements?

When feeding according to the prey-based diet, RFK—that is, raw, meaty bones—are also included. Bones contain calcium. RFK are simply bones with meat still attached, which we can use to meet calcium requirements. Examples of RFK include chicken necks, carcasses, and wings. These RFK are available in well-stocked BARF stores both ground and whole. Feeding whole RFK has the advantage that as the cat gnaws the meat off the bones, it also promotes dental health. This is because the gnawing process—through abrasion and the fibers of the raw meat—acts as a natural teeth-cleaning mechanism: the fibers clean the spaces between the teeth, while gnawing on the bones cleans the tooth necks. Animals fed a BARF diet usually have beautiful, snow-white teeth, clean tooth necks, and well-supplied gums.

To stick with the example of my 3.5 kg cat, I calculate 133 g × 15%, which results in a daily amount of 19.95, rounded up to 20 g RFK.

How do I meet the need for omega-3 fatty acids?

To meet these needs, we require fatty acids from marine sources. Other oils, such as flaxseed oil or hemp oil, are not suitable here, as cats cannot utilize the essential EPA/DHA fatty acids found in these oils. They lack the necessary enzymes to do so. Salmon oil, cod liver oil, algae oil, and krill oil are suitable for cats. Krill oil is particularly recommended for cats with fat malabsorption. This oil does not count toward the cat’s fat intake.

We use between ½ and 2 ml of oil, depending on the cat’s size. We add this daily to their food portion.

How can I meet my cat’s taurine needs?

Chicken or turkey hearts are excellent sources here; skeletal muscle contains particularly high levels of taurine. About 3–4 pieces per day, or the same amount of shrimp, are sufficient. These are available in 200- or 250-gram packages in our shop. Green-lipped mussel powder is an equally good source of taurine; it has a “seafood flavor” and your cat might well enjoy it.

What organ meats can I feed my cat?

Liver, spleen, and kidneys are suitable for feeding as organ meats. Heart is considered muscle meat, not organ meat. The ratio of liver to other organ meats should ideally be 50:50. “Ideally” means that if you only have liver or only other organ meats available at any given time, that’s not a big deal—you can simply skip the liver or feed only liver to maintain this ratio.

For my 3.5 kg cat, I now provide 10% offal. With a total animal content of 133 g, this amounts to 13.3 g—we’ll round that up to 15 g.

How much and what kind of fiber should I feed my cat?

Let’s remember—cats are obligate carnivores. To stay healthy, they must eat meat. When cats eat mice, they obtain dietary fiber from the mouse’s stomach and the rest of its digestive tract. This consists of plant matter that the mouse has eaten. In our prey model, the fiber content is estimated at approximately 5%. In our example with an adult house cat weighing 3.5 kg (body weight), which we plan to feed 4% of its body weight daily—that is, 140 g of food—this amounts to just 7 g of fiber.

Read right away >>here<< in  Part 2 of our BARF case study, where we’ll cover a specific weekly shopping plan and special product recommendations!