The Battle Begins - Getting Nightmare to Eat Raw

[Mo]

All the other cats eat raw, but well Mr. Nightmare has to have his canned, and will have nothing to do with the raw everyone else eats.  I tried all the tricks posted on catinfo.org and then some when I switched everyone else to raw, but he just wouldn't have it. 

I gave up on getting him to onto raw a year ago but after realizing just how much his canned food costs per month I want to try get him onto raw again. 

So far:

He ate a 1 ounce piece of NV Lamb (premade raw) a week ago, but then refused that, even though it was mixed with a full 6 ounces of canned food. 

He would not eat his can of food when it was mixed with a tablespoon of raw turkey.  He tolerated eating 1 teaspoon mixed with his canned.

He would not eat plain cooked chicken mixed with his canned food.

Tonight I am trying some raw wild-caught Alaskan salmon. 

He is named "Nightmare" though for a reason 

[Lola]

Some cats can be prettttttty stubborn.  They call the shots.  They OWN us. 
They are like human two year olds...with POWER.   

[CarnivorousCritter]

Hope the salmon works!  Maybe he wants to eat alone, or is more nocturnal than the rest? (a snob?  )

[Mo]

He is fed in a different section of the barn than anyone else, but the others do come steal his canned after they finish their raw food.  I know he can and will eat raw - he has gone to catch mice on occasion when I feed him canned he does not like, brings them back to the barn, and eats them in front of everyone. 

He will not eat mice unless he is the one that catches it.  They frozen mice from pet stores are no good according to him.

He would not eat the salmon (it was 1/4 the size of a dime, and as thin as a dime).  I put that tiny piece of salmon on the plate with his canned food.  He would not eat the canned food until I put it moved it to a different plate as it was apparently fraternizing with the enemy.  Storm ate the salmon after Nightmare had finished his canned so at least he was happy.

I'm considering putting Nightmare in the large dog crate for a while, to try switch him to raw.  That way, no one else could steal his food, and he would have it available to him until he ate it.  How I would get him into that cage, though, I have no idea.  The cage is huge, probably 4.5 feet high, 4 feet width, and 5.5 feet length.  So it isn't like he would be stuck in a tiny cage, he would have some room.  I do think it would be much easier to try switch him to raw if he was in there - if he could cope with being locked up as he is used to roaming where ever he wants.

[CarnivorousCritter]

Who knows where the little rascal's head is at, but this is intriguing:  

he has gone to catch mice on occasion when I feed him canned he does not like, brings them back to the barn, and eats them in front of everyone.  

 

Wonder how he'd like maybe a Kong if you let him sniff it, them roll it around & tease him (or something moving?) Tie some raw to a string & make him chase it...just for experiments' sake...eventually use this tactic to lure him into the cage.
Maybe he sees "meat" as "should be moving first".

[Lola]

I know he can and will eat raw - he has gone to catch mice on occasion when I feed him canned he does not like, brings them back to the barn, and eats them in front of everyone. 

THAT is screaming funny.  I can just hear him saying, "I don't need YOUR raw...I will catch my own." 

Trying to "get through" to a cat is no easy feat.  If ANYONE can do it...my money is on you.

[Mo]

I picked up samples of the three flavors of Rad Cat raw - turkey, chicken, and lamb.  While I would not want to feed this to him all the time (expensive) if he will eat it, it may give him a taste for raw.

I'm glad the store had one ounce samples of each of the types - I didn't want to buy a full 8 ounces of each kind to find out he wouldn't eat that either!

Tonight I'll defrost the Rad Cat chicken for him and see how that goes. 

Also, I borrowed a large humane trap from the shelter, to try trap the stray.  If Nightmare is willing to, I could catch him in that as well and transfer him from that to the dog crate.  While I do not want to take away Nightmare's freedom, I feel like this may be the only way I could get that cat on raw as that way no one else could steal it from him. 

[Mo]

He ate the chicken Rad Cat!  I want to try get him into a kennel soon as all the other cats were trying to steal his food last night before he had finished.  Might go to the farm today and do some moving - Wilda to the kennel in the strawmow, move Wilda's previous kennel into the strawmow for Hortense, and clean Hortense's cage and get it ready for Nightmare.  I'll need to do this soon anyway, before there is to much snow to push a wheelbarrow through (what I put the old straw/litter into to haul it outside).

[Mo]

Nightmare is in the large kennel now - I trapped him tonight.  

Moving everyone around and getting Nightmare into his cage...well I don't want to do that again  

I fed Nightmare the remains of his canned food (used some in the trap) as well as a few tiny pieces of salmon and then lamb Rad Cat.  All of which were on seperate plates in case one was offensive and would 'infect' the rest.  I mixed a few drops of Rescue Remedy in with his canned food to help him get over the shock and calm him down.

He had been trapped once in the past (to get neutered) so I didn't think he would fall for it again.  Well tonight he walked right on in so I guess I had no reason to worry!  Now to try make sure he isn't scared of the trap in the future...maybe once he is back out of the kennel I can feed him next to the trap?  Just to keep him used to it.

[Lola]

Glad to hear the Rad Cat was a hit!    

All of which were on seperate plates in case one was offensive and would 'infect' the rest. 

Had to laugh.  We have a few that are like that.  The food could be brands and flavors that they LOVE, but do NOT mix them.  Come to think of it, my son was the same way...when he was younger.  Different foods, on his plate, could not be touching.  Weirdos.   

[FurMonster Mom]

How goes it?

I can't comment on the commercial raw, because I don't go that route.

I wonder, if Nightmare is so accustomed to catching his own, you might have more success with "frankenprey" style?

.

[Pookie]

What I wonder is how you have any mice in the area with that many cats around?   

[Lola]

What I wonder is how you have any mice in the area with that many cats around?   

 

[Mo]

What I wonder is how you have any mice in the area with that many cats around?   

Well, only seven cats at the farm actually go outside.  The rest are in the strawmow - and never learned how to get down.  I think Mo, Storm, Nightmare, and Missy are the only ones that do much hunting.  So four cats taking care of an area that has a border of roughly 2 miles roundtrip.  Plenty of mice to go around

Nightmare didn't eat the Rad Cat lamb but did eat the turkey.  I don't know if he didn't like the lamb, or if it froze before he got around to eating it.  With it having been 10 degrees out the night I fed it to him it would have frozen to the plate quite fast.  He also ate some wild-caught Alaskan Cod.  I am starting to run out of fish (what I have I got for free) so I may quit offering him that.

I bought a 16 ounce container of the three types of Rad Cat - lamb, turkey, and chicken.  I also got a few cans of tuna in case I need that for a bribe to get him to eat the raw. 

I have been trying to get him to eat frankenprey as well as whole prey but he will not eat it.  My hope is that once he is on all premade raw he will be willing to try tiny pieces of meat, so I could slowly work him up to frankenprey. 

[Mo]

Last night Nightmare ate ~1.5 ounces of ground turkey mixed with a tiny bit of sardines. He also had 3 ounces of canned food.
 
The rest of the farm cats split 5 pounds of ground turkey that was mixed with two cans of sardines and two cups of water, so I just took a tiny bit of that and put it on Nightmare's plate.

Today Nightmare had 2 ounces of turkey Rad Cat and 3 ounces of canned food. I put the Rad Cat on a seperate plate and sprinkled a tiny bit of fish food flakes on top to get him to eat it. The Rad Cat is the same texture as canned food which is probably why he is willing to eat it.

I don't know how I'm going to get him on prey model raw (which the others eat) if it is a texture issue that he has. He will eat chunky canned food (Nature's Variety Homestyle) so maybe it would work to cut the meat into small cubes and mix it in with it. I guess I should just be happy he is eating raw now