Converting your pet to a natural diet is not necessarily easy. It’s a bit like bringing up a child on KFC and MacDonalds, then saying its nothing but fruit from now on. You’re likely to have a riot on your hands!

You can do the change over gradually by substituting some of the normal diet for the raw food and slowly increasing the amount of raw food over a couple of weeks. If any raw is left over, persevere at that amount until it is accepted. Then continue increasing. Tinned fish is the least damaging of all the processed food, and mixing in a tiny amount will often persuade a finicky cat to eat. Kangaroo meat is also a favourite food, possibly because they are wild animals so the meat is not tainted with antibiotic or other drug residue.

Cats can have trouble accepting chicken wings/necks. Start by introducing a small amount of  chicken flesh (boneless) into the diet first. If they still don’t like this, warm it just until there is an aroma. Generally this is accepted. If it still isn’t, smear a tiny amount of Vegemite, Marmite, Promite or brewer’s yeast on it. This is normally irresistible. Gradually wean the cat off this process. When they are eating the raw boneless chicken happily, start bringing in small pieces of wing - a good fleshy piece with a small bone. As they accept this, gradually increase the size of the cut, until they are crunching on the bone.

Dogs and cats who are middle age to elderly and who have never had raw food, need to be introduced to it gradually, as they have no enzymes in their stomachs to digest this new food. Diarrhoea will be an ongoing problem unless you do this. See paragraph two.

Some elderly dogs and cats have few or no teeth. That frequently doesn't stop them from eating some of the smaller bones. If they are keen, let them.