New to cats, NOT new to raw

[genike]

Hello, New here!
i have a few questions and i'm hoping you wonderful e-people can help me! hehe
I have had my two dogs on raw for over 6 years now(well one of them for 6 years the other one since we got him at 4 months old) anyway, i was only 15 when i switched my boy over cause i saw that i could make him 'live longer' and as a kid all i cared about was making my baby live longer. took the plunge and will NEVER go back... i would rather give up my right to be owned by the four legged and furry than feed that garbage!
Oso my 7yo LabX had rashes, soars and horrible gastro problems, didnt realize it at the time but that went away very quickly, he's now a spunky man that keeps up with the young pups. and our Boston hasnt really ever had any diet related problems, but my old vet does credit the diet to his abnormally quick recovery of a very badly broken elbow... anyway

we decided to add a kitty to our house hold... dont know why but so far we feel 'complete' hehe
anyway Soloman is a maine coonX from the SPCA believed to be about a year(starting to think less cause he's a big goofy kitten) and they had him on catchow (Ugh!) and i want to... NEED to switch him to raw, we picked up some kibble... royal canin i think... anyway he doesnt seem to like the kibble to begin with BUT
today i offerd him some bits of chicken off the dogs food, and some liver and kidney, he ate them... not a lot but i dont know how much a cat is suposed to eat. but my questions where.. are..
can i use mice? i've been in the reptile community for a while and can get large numbers of mice for fairly cheap (already dead and frozen mind you)
is it a good staple? i can get rats and bunnies but i dont want 'leftovers'
we're currently feeding the prey-modle diet to our dogs and i'd figure we'd do the same with the cat...
and how do you get a cat the was previously free fed to eat whats put in front of him right then and there?

and hello!

[sugarcatmom]

And hello to you, welcome to pets.ca! That's awesome that you already do the raw thing. A young cat should theoretically be easier to switch, but some can still be pretty stubborn, in which case just take it slow. To go from free-feeding to meals, just pick up the kibble during the day and put some food down at meal times (preferably canned until you can move to all raw). Give your cat some time to eat it, like an hour or two, then pick up whatever is left until the next meal.

And YES, feeder mice would be an absolutely ideal whole prey model for your cat, if he goes for it.

[want4rain]

gosh, i wish i could find mice for cheap!! even a few rats! i would think 2 or 3... make that 4 or 5 for a maine coon... mice or 2 rats a day should be just right. if you can, look into chicks frozen??

as for your spunky, seemingly younger than a year maine coon.... get over it. he is probably exactly the age they say he is.... only that MC's stay doggy like for EVER!! well into their senior years. *snickers* boy did you pick a good one for your first cat!!! also if he is still just at a year, they still grow for another 2 years on average so feed him well. he is likely still growing.

and uh.... got some pics for us?? we are absolute beggers for pics!!

-ashley