Parenting-Furkids
Cats => Cat Food And Nutrition => Raw Feeding => Topic started by: ThreeStep on September 26, 2018, 09:08:15 AM
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SO came across some convincing information and wants to add raw to their diet.
Izzi - is dead set on her wet with a sprinkle of kibbles.
Aunties - are on wet and poached chicken seeral times per week
TwoStep - RIP - until her last two weeks she refused anything but chopped liver/chicken and an occasional sip of half and half (now I am afloat again ant she has been gone for almost ten years!)
How do I start? He suggested chopping liver. Fine with me. Someone else suggested chicken thigh bones with some meat on it. .... I am a bit at loss and our local vets are as useful as ... .
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Well, the fact that they eat wet is already a great start, and may make it easier to transition to raw than you might think. Usually, the difficulty is getting them to go from dry to wet.
For the aunties, since you're already giving them poached chicken, one idea may be to reduce how long the chicken is poached, making it less cooked, and feed it that way, gradually reducing it to a point where the chicken is raw. Or, if you like, you can "accidentally" drop a piece of raw chicken on the floor and see how any of them react, including Izzi. They may find it interesting and may even eat it on their own, which means you can skip the poaching altogether.
All cats are different, so different things work for different cats. As for Izzi, you can put a tiny piece of raw in with her wet and kibble sprinkles, and see how she reacts.
I'm sure the others will have more suggestions, but the above are what came to my mind for now. And congratulations on SO being more open to raw feeding! multistars
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I agree with Pookie... transitioning from canned to raw (at least in my experience) was SO much easier then going from kibble to raw. Our Jenkins is the only one that went directly from kibble to raw.
Be careful how much liver you feed. Too much can cause vitamin A toxicity.
I feed our feline bunch ground raw. A few of them had no interest in chunks. Others would swallow pieces whole. Even if there was interest, they ate canned and ground raw for so long... they would have to build up their jaw strength. I'm lazy... I have no plans to pursue that battle. Yeah, so I won't be winning raw feeing mom of the year award. I can live with that. Silly7
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A lot of people recommend starting with a commercially balanced product. I would recommend Rad Cat for this purpose.
I started with Stella&Chewy's freeze dried. When I saw how much difference even that change made with Queen Eva, is when I started adding Rad Cat.
I was, before buying, already slipping tiny pieces of raw meat slivers to them as a treat. Jennie and Queen Eva needed no coaxing at al, for any of it.
Mazy cat took about 2 months to even try the Rad Cat, it was a long daily process with her. I wil be happy to share it, if you want. Not right at this minute though. didn't want to read and run as the saying goes.
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I agree with Pookie... transitioning from canned to raw (at least in my experience) was SO much easier then going from kibble to raw. Our Jenkins is the only one that went directly from kibble to raw.
Be careful how much liver you feed. Too much can cause vitamin A toxicity.
I feed our feline bunch ground raw. A few of them had no interest in chunks. Others would swallow pieces whole. Even if there was interest, they ate canned and ground raw for so long... they would have to build up their jaw strength. I'm lazy... I have no plans to pursue that battle. Yeah, so I won't be winning raw feeing mom of the year award. I can live with that. Silly7
Just run it through the grinder? I have a trusted and well worn KitchenAid and a good knife. What kind of meat? Aunties refused chicken thighs but accept breast.
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A lot of people recommend starting with a commercially balanced product. I would recommend Rad Cat for this purpose.
I started with Stella&Chewy's freeze dried. When I saw how much difference even that change made with Queen Eva, is when I started adding Rad Cat.
I was, before buying, already slipping tiny pieces of raw meat slivers to them as a treat. Jennie and Queen Eva needed no coaxing at al, for any of it.
Mazy cat took about 2 months to even try the Rad Cat, it was a long daily process with her. I wil be happy to share it, if you want. Not right at this minute though. didn't want to read and run as the saying goes.
40$ 18 oz - ok - rib eye for SO is 12/pound. How far does it go? This is new for me so be patient please. Mostly chicken/pork here little beef. No meat tonight but I will do the slivers tomorrow.
Please share when you have time. Shadow Cat has us worried with her obsessive behavior as far as food is concerned, ChaCha is her three selves (I me and myself) and Izzi is at one year and most of it with wet an some kibbles (which she demands loudly and clearly) our most finicky eater.
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40$ 18 oz - ok - rib eye for SO is 12/pound. How far does it go? This is new for me so be patient please. Mostly chicken/pork here little beef. No meat tonight but I will do the slivers tomorrow.
Please share when you have time. Shadow Cat has us worried with her obsessive behavior as far as food is concerned, ChaCha is her three selves (I me and myself) and Izzi is at one year and most of it with wet an some kibbles (which she demands loudly and clearly) our most finicky eater.
Ask a bazillion questions! We have all been there.
RadCat is a bit pricey, but they have done all the work for you. :) On AVERAGE an adult cat eats about 5 oz day. I started with that figure, maybe a bit more. I weighed everyone weekly, to make sure no one was losing or gaining loads of weight. I adjusted as necessary.
If you have freezer space... to take full advantage of shipping costs... take a look at www.Hare-Today.com. I order a lot from them. EDIT: If you click on the link at the bottom of the forum, I get (I don't remember what Silly7) from them. They have grinds, chunks, etc.
I also order from www.MyPetCarnivore.com.
Half the world says vitamins should be added, even if one is feeding 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% secreting organs (of which 5% should be liver).... and the other half says vitamins aren't necessary. I add Alnutrin (www.knowwhatyoufeed.com) to meats from Hare Today and the grocery store. It is cheaper to order from them directly.
I don't add anything to products from MyPetCarnivore.
The meats that I grind myself, I add liver and the Alnutrin for meat with no bones. They offer both kinds for meat with bones and meat without.
I feed a different protein from a different source every day.
Edit again: If you have any interest in Hare-Today grinds, we will talk about what to do to make the grinds 80/10/5/5.
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JUST throwing this out there.... Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM used nitrite-free bacon fat drippings for an enticement when needed.
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We have some homework to do.
RadCat is not going to work at 15 ounces/day.
Liver is in the fridge.
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We have some homework to do.
RadCat is not going to work at 15 ounces/day.
Liver is in the fridge.
I buy it once or twice a year. I order the 24 oz size from OnlyNaturalPet.com. (It is currently on back-order) I order to fill the styrofoam chest they use for shipping. I like to have as many different sources as possible in our rotation. I feed it sparingly and consider it a treat.
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The liver sliver experiment was a bust. ChaCha refused to eat at all. ShadowCat threw up twice. Izzi walked. :(((
Poached chicken tomorrow.
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For my feline bunch in general, liver has to be ground into very tiny pieces. It has to be mixed into their meals.
TRY not to stress. You will find what works for your bunch and you.
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Izzi shared her breakfast:>( She sat in front of it, cocked her head and looked like a big question mark. Poor little thing! She ate about 30 minutes later and it stayed down. At least now I have four catted rugs on the patio to scrub and wash.
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It is kinda of odd for a young cat to be bringing up meals. Did she have a kibble topper with her breakfast? NOT judging!! Just trying to figure out what the problem could be.
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It is kinda of odd for a young cat to be bringing up meals. Did she have a kibble topper with her breakfast? NOT judging!! Just trying to figure out what the problem could be.
This is the first time aside from a few hair balls. She generally insists on a few Blue something kibbles and we have been decreasing them to 5-6 per portion.
All well this morning. The pride got me out of bed. ChaCha tried to physically dig me out, Izzi glared at me from my night stand, ShadowCat was in the starting blocks in the door while SO worked his part time job as logger. First breakfast went well. I crawled back in to wake up 45 minutes later with Izzi on my feet. Then she wanted a chin scratch. This is a treat for me! Second breakfast was mostly chopped cooked chicken topped with 1/2 teaspoon Izzi food and a normal helping for Izzi which is about 1/3 of a small can and she will not clean her plate most of the time. It feels like she is a bit less skinny. SO will bite the bullet and try to weigh her today.
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Again, just throwing out this info (NOT trying to be a jerk or anything)... hairballs should go out the backend. You might want to pay attention how often stuff like that happens. I'm ONLY sharing because of experience I have had with my cats. Stuff I thought was the norm and such, that wasn't.
Did your SO have any luck with the weigh-in?
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It got late last night and nobody wanted to play.
Aunties had breakfast and are settled in. Izzi has conversations with a flock of sparrows.
I understand which way hair balls are supposed to come out which is considerable more pleasant and less time consuming than the other way.
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I keep a journal of what I feed for every meal. (Thanks to MC!) I also include notes if anything out of the ordinary happens. It comes in handy, and I don't have to rely on my memory. ;)
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Hug1
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I keep a journal of what I feed for every meal. (Thanks to MC!) I also include notes if anything out of the ordinary happens. It comes in handy, and I don't have to rely on my memory. ;)
I did that, too, for Pookie and his sister. It helped me figure out that they couldn't tolerate foods with fish, at least, not when I was still feeding kibble. When I went to all-wet, grain-free, they were better able to eat foods with fish, but I didn't feed it very often. Anyway, it's a handy thing to have, and I would take it with me when I went to the vet so I could refer to my notes if needed.
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Ladies - you make me feel like an ogre. I do not see three hair balls and tiny ones at that and one vomiting in ten months as a crisis. Vets around here are expensive and useless. Last time I asked how to get ShadowCat loose weight the answer was feed her less and it does not matter what. Worth 150$ do you not think so?
5:00 am - feeding three different plates, begging Izzi three times to please consider eating, brushing three cats, make hot breakfast for SO, get myself ready, clean boxes, .... . We really care for our three whiskers but they are part of the family not the family. If I am offending someone - please let me know. SO keeps the wrappers of cans that the furries like especially Izzi. Yes, we tried to go through the site of catinfo - extremely interesting, confusing, scary. So far - a few bites of boiled chicken, never the next day. Liver anyone? It is ten miles to the next WalMart.
It is the two of us. No family but elderly problem parents and daily issues and one sibling each - mine does not know me; SO's makes her presence known around her birthday. Venting? Yes.
As much sense as a food diary makes - not here. Aunties - two vomits in about a year, no health issues but plain ol' being bossy old biddies. Izzi - three hair balls (considering her floof), one minor vomit (just a bit of liquid) and the one last week. I think it was ShadowCat dogging her.
Back to work.
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Mentioning a journal was just a suggestion. Nothing more... nothing less. REALLY.
You do what works for YOU!
I started one, when I transitioned our bunch from kibble to can. It made it easier for me to keep track if there were any issues with a brand or protein. Issues as in ...did one not eat all their food? Did one not eat at all. Barf? Stool issues? Stuff like that.
The journal continues to come in handy. My notes are pretty basic, now that we have been feeding raw for several years, but it still comes in handy at times... especially if I make any changes.
Also because two of us do the feeding, it often helps the other to know who added what to which meal.