There’s no greater privilege than getting cats off to the right start from a young age—with great food, proper socialisation, and a safe, warm, and loving home. Sadly, so many domestic cats experience some form of lack in their early weeks or months. By the time they arrive in our care as rescues or strays, they often already carry physical and behavioural scars that can last a lifetime.

Is it safe to feed kittens raw?

The benefits of feeding raw to adult cats absolutely apply to kittens too. It goes without saying that only fresh meats intended for human consumption should be used when feeding kittens. Throughout this site, I don’t recommend raw poultry as a food source for cats because of the (small but real) risk of salmonella. When it comes to kittens, I really want to emphasise avoiding raw poultry altogether. Instead, choose lean red meats like beef, venison, bison, goat, and lamb for raw food prep.

I’ve raised many kittens on my raw diet, and I still get excited every time a new little one gets the chance to grow up this way. It’s such a wholesome experience—preparing their food with fresh ingredients, feeding regular meals, and watching them thrive. Kittens raised on raw food made with the TCfeline Original premix grow beautifully: they’re well-muscled, fit, lean, athletic, and their fur is so glossy. It feels so good to support them like this and see them become what they truly are—little carnivores.

The hands-on meal prep and regular feeding schedule also help build a strong bond between you and the kitten, and they go a long way in preventing behavioural issues—especially those driven by food insecurity, lack of proper nutrition, or food that doesn’t satisfy their natural cravings.

What about bacteria on raw meat?

One of the biggest concerns people have about raw feeding is bacteria—but this might actually be one of the most important benefits, especially for kittens. While I do think it’s wise to protect kittens from certain high-risk sources like raw poultry, frozen chicks, or backyard birds, the bacteria found on red meats—especially grass-fed—can be incredibly beneficial.

We now know it’s not just a theory: kids need exposure to bacteria to develop healthy immune systems. Without it, they’re more likely to develop allergies that can last a lifetime. Studies show that children who grow up with animals in the family or on farms have the lowest rates of allergies. Why? Because beneficial “Commensal” bacteria from the environment, from hands on contact with pets and livestock, and the eating of unprocessed food colonise the skin and gut, creating a strong microbiome that supports overall health.

This important “seeding” of the body with these good “commensal” bacteria starts at birth and continues through contact close contact with adult individuals, with the environment and unprocessed foods. In both humans and animals, the sharing of these bacteria—through grooming, cuddling, and yes, even contact with faecal bacteria—is totally natural and important. In fact, cats in the wild benefit from the faecal bacteria of their prey, just as we benefit from exposure to microbes from herbivores. The good bacteria we pick up from petting a horse, or even a cow or sheep end up on meat during butchering and play a helpful role in a cat’s diet—especially when they’re no longer eating whole prey.

These friendly bacteria do three key things:

1. They compete with harmful bacteria, helping prevent infections.

2. They help the immune system develop properly by interacting with immune cells.

3. They produce essential nutrients—like how E. coli in a cat’s gut makes vitamin K, which they can’t get from their diet alone.

Preparation of a Raw Diet for Kittens

The TCfeline Original cat food premix is perfectly suited for preparing food to raise kittens. It’s formulated so that, once the meat is added, the finished food meets all the nutritional needs for healthy growth and development—helping kittens reach their full potential. This isn’t just backed by nutritional analysis, but also by repeated, successful feeding trials raising kittens as part of my study group.

Making the food is essentially the same as it is for adult cats. However, there are a few extra points that are especially important for kittens:

• My other premix variety, TCfeline Special Formula, isn’t suitable for kittens. It doesn’t provide enough phosphorus, so the final food falls short of the minimum requirement for growth and development. If you’ve got adult cats on TCfeline Special Formula, make sure your kitten isn’t sharing that diet. TCfeline Original, which is recommended for kittens, is a bit more expensive—and it’s easy to see why. It includes MCHA calcium phosphate (from bone) and gelatin, which are essential for supplying the right levels of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium to support strong, healthy growth.

• I don’t recommend using cheaper raw diets that contain ground bone, especially for kittens. Vets have reported cases of kittens developing severe calcium deficiency and rickets because they can’t digest the bone fragments in those foods—meaning they can’t absorb the minerals properly. On top of that, the bone content in these diets can cause blockages in the intestines, or even perforations.

• Kittens are only little for a short time, and it really pays not to cut corners during this crucial window. That includes using fresh liver rather than alternatives like freeze-dried liver. While freeze-dried liver can work for adult cats, it’s still a processed product, and nutrients may be lost over time—especially after long storage on shop shelves. Using fresh liver is far more affordable and doesn’t have to be difficult. There are some easy ways to manage fresh liver that make this step feel a lot less daunting.

Raw Food Preparation Steps

Kittens have higher needs when it comes to food quality and nutrient balance. They don’t have the bigger, fully formed bodies that adult cats do to help offset small and occasional nutritional gaps—so accuracy matters. I always recommend weighing ingredients for best results.

Full Recipe

• 40g TCfeline Original premix

• 240g (½ cup) fresh, cold water

• 100g raw liver (can be previously frozen)

• 900g raw, boneless, lean meat (preferably red meat)

• Yields approx. 1,260g of food

• Freeze in daily portions based on how much your kitten eats [see below]

Half Recipe
Ideal for two kittens—no freezing needed if used within 2–2½ days and stored in the fridge.

• 20g TCfeline Original premix

• 120g (1 cup) fresh, cold water

• 50g raw liver (can be previously frozen)

• 450g raw, boneless, lean meat (preferably red meat)

• Yields approx. 630g of food

Quarter Recipe
Great for convenience—portion and freeze the liver in 25g servings using small silicone moulds (cupcake or chocolate moulds work brilliantly—and they’re cute too!).

• 10g TCfeline Original premix

• 60g (¼ cup) fresh, cold water

• 25g raw liver (can be previously frozen)

• 225g raw, boneless, lean meat (preferably red meat)

• Yields approx. 315g of food

• No need to freeze—keep in the fridge and use within 2 days

Serving Tips

Kittens are more likely to eat their food if it’s warmed up. For this, the microwave is your friend! Serve their food on a microwave-safe ceramic dish. As a guide:

• Microwave 25g for about 7 seconds

• Microwave 40g for about 13 seconds

Always check with your finger for hot spots, and adjust the timing as needed.

For very young kittens (around 7–10 weeks), turning the food into a gruel can make it easier for them to lap it up. Avoid adding more water, though—it just fills them up with water and dilutes the food’s nutrients. Instead, I use a bit of  “10% Half & Half cream” or sheep’s milk (not goat’s milk). While this is often discouraged, I’ve never had a problem with it. At that age, kittens aren’t yet lactose intolerant, and 10% milk fat is very close to the fat content in their mum’s milk.

Adding a little cream might also help satisfy their suckling instinct, which can reduce the heartbreaking behaviour of searching for a nipple—something that can lead to inappropriate suckling of objects (or people).

If your kitten is under 6 weeks, it’s best to supplement with bottle feeding using a proper kitten milk replacer for another couple of weeks.

Transitioning kittens to raw

Typically, kittens transition to a raw meat diet with ease, as they’re still guided to some extent by instinct—unlike adult cats, who may have been reprogrammed and imprinted on commercial food during a key developmental stage. It’s a great idea to introduce a variety of foods to kittens early on, so they learn that different foods are acceptable. This helps avoid them imprinting on just one type of food. Our domestic cats live within a wider human community, and there’s no telling if your cat may need to be cared for by someone else at some point, or if you might face an emergency where you have to rely on pet foods provided by others. Offering a kitten not only their staple raw diet, but also a bit of dry food, canned food, prey, or even a few human foods, can broaden their “food knowledge” and help them feel more at ease with any necessary changes to their diet.

That said, while most kittens do switch to raw easily, there’s one notable exception: kittens from breeders. These kittens are often weaned straight from their mother’s milk onto dry food only, as it’s usually too costly and time-consuming for breeders to do otherwise. This means that by the time you get a kitten at 8, 12, or even 16 weeks old, they may already be fixated on dry food and reluctant to eat anything else. This is exactly what happened to me recently—I was surprised to find myself (and my new kittens!) going through a slow, gradual transition phase. But new cat parents, don’t worry. With a bit of patience, kittens will absolutely make the switch and come to love their raw food—often followed by a satisfying growth spurt and curiosity about other food types, including prey (if you’re keen to include that for enrichment).

Calculating How Much Kittens Need to Eat

If you’re not raising kittens regularly, it can be reassuring to calculate how much they need to eat based on their body weight rather than guessing and hoping for the best. Kittens often need more food than you’d expect for their size—it’s all part of growing up strong and healthy!

Ideally, kittens should gain around 7–15 grams of body weight per day. Using a digital kitchen scale and a small plastic tote to put the kittens in for weighing works well. Daily weigh-ins for the first three months can actually be fun, and they give you a clear picture of your kitten’s progress.

Recalculate your kitten’s calorie needs once a week based on their new weight. Once they hit around 2 kg (usually by four months old), you can switch to a simpler formula, spread meals out more, and go by feel rather than strict tracking. Until then, calculating and measuring is a smart move—and a great way to spot any early signs of illness.

Step-by-Step: Calculating Caloric Needs

Veterinary professionals calculate kitten feeding needs by first determining Resting Energy Requirement (RER) and then Daily Energy Requirement (DER)

Kittens Under 2kg (Typically Under 4 Months Old):

Use an online exponent calculator to make this part easier:
👉 Exponent Calculator<

100 g food –> 143 kcal

X g food –> 207 kcal

Kittens Over 2kg (Typically 4+ Months Old):

Here is a nice Feeding Reference Table. Food amounts rounded to nearest gram for simplicity

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

1. 1. • With a balanced raw diet like TCfeline Original, giving the right number of calories automatically provides the right amount of nutrients.
      • Kittens need more food than adult cats—sometimes three times as much.
      • Don’t worry about getting “too much” of some vitamins. When calorie needs go up, so do nutrient needs—it all scales naturally.
      • In nature, a hungry kitten just eats more mice. More mice = more nutrients. Simple!

Adjusting for Real Life

1. 1. • You only need to recalculate calories weekly, even if you weigh daily.
      • Not every day will be the same—some kittens may eat less one day and more the next. That’s normal.
      • On the flip side, some kittens may eat everything but still gain too much fat. If you see chubby bellies or fat pads, it’s OK to cut back—even if the maths says the portion is “correct.”
      • It’s easier to help a kitten slim down now than later in life. So it’s worth keeping an eye out for early signs of excess weight.

Feeding Schedule

In proportion to their body size, kittens need to eat a lot—but their tummies are tiny. So, it’s best to split their daily food requirement into several small meals. Personally, I’ve found that six meals a day works best for the first four months, but this can be tricky for cat parents who are out at work.

A typical feeding schedule like 7am – 10am – 1pm – 4pm – 8pm – 10pm may need to be condensed to suit your routine, for example: 6am – 8am – 5pm – 8pm – 10pm. Another option is to use an automatic feeder to dispense dry food during the day to bridge the gap when you’re not home. Once your kitten is older and needs fewer meals, the dry food can be phased out.

Feeding Very Young Kittens

If you’re raising kittens born in your home, you can start offering raw food between four and five weeks of age. Feed them 4–6 times a day while they’re still nursing. You don’t need to purée the food, but it should be made with ground meat rather than chunks.

Introducing solids doesn’t mean they no longer need to nurse—it’s just an addition. Mum’s milk will still be their main food. If given the chance, kittens will happily nurse for at least three months while learning from their mother what to eat and hunt.

There’s no need to add anything special to the food for kittens. In the wild, kittens grow on whatever their mum brings to the den and eats herself. We can mimic that with a balanced raw diet.

One exception might be very young motherless kittens around 7 or 8 weeks old. While they no longer need to nurse at that age, I’ve found it helpful to make their food into a gruel with a splash of 10% “Half & Half” cream or sheep’s milk (not goat’s milk). This is often discouraged, but I’ve never had issues. Kittens that young aren’t usually lactose intolerant, and 10% milk fat is similar to what’s in their mother’s milk. The cream acts as a comfort, a calorie boost, and can help reduce suckling behaviour toward objects or people.

Introducing and Feeding Prey

If you plan to include whole prey—like mice—in your cat’s diet later, the best time to introduce it is while they’re still kittens. At first, they’ll probably just play with the mice, which is fine. They’ll grow into eating them, even if a few get wasted at first. Many raw-fed kittens will start eating mice on their own. Others may need encouragement.

If needed, tear the skin to expose the meat. If that still doesn’t do the trick, you can skin the mouse and cut it into pieces to mix with their food. This usually gets the message across.

Feeder mice should always be bought frozen from a reputable supplier (they’re typically sold as snake food). Sizes are labelled as “pinky,” “fuzzy,” “hopper,” “weaned,” and “adult.” For cats and kittens, go with adult mice. I wouldn’t recommend frozen chicks (risk of salmonella) or rats.

Make sure to follow the handling guidelines provided by the supplier. Depending on your household, feeding frozen prey can be a bit of a juggling act. Pregnant women, young children, or anyone with a compromised immune system should avoid handling feeder prey. It’s mostly a precaution, but still worth being mindful. A frozen mouse in your home isn’t much different to a pet mouse, but it’s still good practice to handle them with care—wash your hands straight after, and avoid prepping or feeding them in the kitchen. The garden or catio is ideal, followed by the bathroom or tub.

You can offer the mice to your kittens frozen (they’ll thaw as they play), or thaw them in a closed container for an hour or two first. Let the kittens play for about an hour. If the mouse hasn’t been eaten by then, encourage them to eat it or dispose of it (flushing down the loo works well).

Don’t give kittens wild-caught or live prey. Wild prey can carry parasites and diseases specifically evolved to infect cats. Live prey offers no additional benefit and kittens get just as much enrichment from a humanely killed frozen mouse.