Kitten Guides

Raw Feeding British Shorthair Kittens: A Practical Guide

Every kitten born here in Bushey is weaned straight onto a complete raw diet — no kibble stage, no halfway house. This guide explains why we feed this way, what new owners tend to notice, and exactly how to carry on at home. It also covers, without any judgement, how to move your kitten onto a different food if raw does not suit your household.

Why we raw feed from day one

Cats are obligate carnivores: their bodies are designed to run on meat, organ and bone, with very little use for the starches that bulk out many processed foods. Our queens eat a complete raw diet throughout pregnancy and nursing, so when their kittens begin to show interest in solid food — usually at around four to five weeks — they simply share what their mother is already eating. There is no dietary upheaval at weaning, which we believe is one reason our litters wean so smoothly.

To be clear about what raw means in our kitchen: we feed complete commercial raw food, professionally formulated to meet a growing kitten’s full nutritional requirements. We do not improvise recipes, and we would gently steer new owners away from doing so too — a home-made diet that is not properly balanced is far riskier for a kitten than any good commercial food, raw or otherwise.

What owners actually notice

We will not pretend raw food is magic, and we do not deal in dramatic claims. The differences families report to us are modest, consistent and pleasant to live with:

• A dense, plush coat. The British Shorthair coat is famously thick, and a meat-rich diet seems to show it at its best.
• Easy digestion. Stools are small, firm and remarkably low-odour — something new owners mention more often than anything else.
• Lean, muscular condition. British Shorthairs should feel solid rather than soft, and raw-fed kittens tend to build weight as muscle.
• Enthusiasm at mealtimes. Kittens raised on raw generally arrive as confident, unfussy eaters.

Continuing raw at home, safely

Raw feeding sounds daunting until you have done it for a week; in practice it is mostly a matter of freezer space and the same common sense you apply to handling meat for your own dinner:

• Choose a food clearly labelled complete and suitable for kittens, from an established UK manufacturer.
• Defrost in the fridge overnight, never on the worktop, and use defrosted food within the manufacturer’s stated window.
• Lift anything uneaten after about half an hour rather than leaving it out.
• Wash bowls, utensils, surfaces and hands after every meal, and keep raw food separate from your own in the fridge and freezer.

For portions, follow the feeding guide on your chosen food and let your kitten’s condition — not the empty bowl — be the judge. As a rough rule, a twelve-week-old kitten eats three or four small meals a day and a surprising amount for its size; meals reduce to two or three by six months, and most adults settle happily at two. Fresh water should always be available, and because neutered British Shorthairs gain weight easily, it is worth weighing your cat now and then from a year old. Our sibling guide, the bringing your kitten home checklist, covers bowls, storage and first-week routines in more detail.

If you would prefer a different food

Raw is how we raise our kittens; it is not a condition of owning one. Plenty of Muggles Mittens cats thrive on high-quality, high-meat wet food, and an owner who feeds a good conventional diet consistently is doing far better by their cat than one wrestling with a regime that does not fit their life. If you do switch, do it gradually: over seven to ten days, mix a little of the new food into the familiar raw, increasing the proportion each day and pausing if digestion becomes loose. Abrupt changes, not the foods themselves, are what usually upset young stomachs. We talk every family through this before collection, and we are always at the end of the phone afterwards — it is part of what we believe an ethical breeder owes the kittens they raise. You can read more about how our cats live, indoors with a protected, enriched Hertfordshire garden, on our about page.