Author Topic: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding  (Read 27698 times)

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Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #105 on: December 31, 2017, 04:55:11 AM »
What a great idea... for me.  :)

That is awesome!  She's very talented. 

Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #106 on: December 31, 2017, 04:57:43 AM »
I don't know if the one I gave you is Manga or not.  If you see something you want.... post the link.  :)

This one's fine for now.  When your daughter paints another cat, though... ;D

Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #107 on: December 31, 2017, 02:29:18 PM »
So an update on the transition.

They are all accepting the homemade food, mostly without complaint.  Jenny is a little more difficult - I've had to mix some Fancy Feast Broths that I had left from a few months ago to tempt her, but she is coming along, too.  I think I may try feeding her in the utility room off our kitchen, as she is easily intimidated by the other cats.  It wasn't a problem when I was free-feeding kibble, she just ate when no one else was, but that's not working so well with actual mealtimes.  Mostly, though, things are going well, and I am feeding less canned food every day.

I think the problem with the beef I offered the other day may have been that it was TOO lean, or maybe they didn't like the chunks.  Their favorite canned food is RedBarn lamb pate, so I am hoping to find some lamb I can afford soon.  I see that I am not too far from a delivery point for My Pet Carnivore, so I may try using them. 

One thing I started doing, and wish I had thought of it before, is weighing the food when it's all mixed and packaged up, and then weighing again after a feeding, so I have a better idea of how much I am using.  So far, it's working out pretty much a I expected.  Once they are completely off canned, I will probably need to plan on using about 2 1/2 lbs. of food per day for everyone, including the dogs.

Right after Thanksgiving, I noticed that one of our local grocery stores had whole turkeys for 49 cents/lb.  I did not look at them then, but I will see if they are doing the same thing now, and if the turkeys are free of solutions or other additives, I will buy as many as I have room for in the freezer.

Offline Lola

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #108 on: December 31, 2017, 04:37:20 PM »
Thanks for the offer, that's very kind.  My housemate loves to take pictures, I need to have her take some of the cat and dogs and send them to me.  Then I will have to figure out how to post them. 

You can always send me one you want to use, and I will post it for you. 
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Offline Lola

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #109 on: December 31, 2017, 04:37:54 PM »
That is awesome!  She's very talented. 

Thank you... even though she didn't get the talent from me OR hubby.  lol
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Offline Lola

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #110 on: December 31, 2017, 05:22:41 PM »
So an update on the transition.

They are all accepting the homemade food, mostly without complaint.  Jenny is a little more difficult - I've had to mix some Fancy Feast Broths that I had left from a few months ago to tempt her, but she is coming along, too.  I think I may try feeding her in the utility room off our kitchen, as she is easily intimidated by the other cats.  It wasn't a problem when I was free-feeding kibble, she just ate when no one else was, but that's not working so well with actual mealtimes.  Mostly, though, things are going well, and I am feeding less canned food every day.

Our Roxy eats in a bedroom by herself.  She is more comfortable eating alone.  If she is fed with the group, she will take a bite...look around... take another bite, repeat.  It seems like it makes her nervous. Others will finish before her, and then stare her down.  She will then walk away.  She doesn't like confrontation.  So the bedroom it is!

Jenkins also eats alone.  The reason for that is because he will scarf his food down, so he can steal others. 

The other 4 eat together in the kitchen.  They pretty much eat at the same speed.  Goose eats a bit slower, but no one would consider stealing her food!  :) 

My point... you will figure out what works for each of them.  :) 

Quote
I think the problem with the beef I offered the other day may have been that it was TOO lean, or maybe they didn't like the chunks.  Their favorite canned food is RedBarn lamb pate, so I am hoping to find some lamb I can afford soon. 


Don't forget beef in canned food isn't exactly (or even close to it) the same as fresh beef.  Whole new ballgame!  Plus, there is a texture change for them to get used to. 

Quote
I see that I am not too far from a delivery point for My Pet Carnivore, so I may try using them. 


I am realllllly far from My Pet Carnivore... never had a problem.  In fact, I am NOT on their list of States that they deliver to.  I had to sign that I wouldn't hold them responsible, if anything went wrong.  However, they package their products VERY well!  And they ship so that a delivery won't be sitting around in a delivery truck through a weekend.  I have NEVER had a delivery that was thawed or even partially thawed.  If you plan to buy any ground... skip the coarse ground, and go with the fine ground.  I don't care for the size of the bone fragments in the coarse ground.  Their rabbit is the favorite among my group.  Obvious favorite... they get beyond excited when they know rabbit is on the menu.  lol 

Quote
One thing I started doing, and wish I had thought of it before, is weighing the food when it's all mixed and packaged up, and then weighing again after a feeding, so I have a better idea of how much I am using.  So far, it's working out pretty much a I expected.  Once they are completely off canned, I will probably need to plan on using about 2 1/2 lbs. of food per day for everyone, including the dogs.

I don't feed as precise as Middle Child does.  She has things down to a fine science.  I tend to be a bit lazy.  On average, each cat is fed 5 oz a day.  I freeze 3 daily meals in one container.  Sooooooo mine eat the same brand/protein for an entire day.  The next day... different brand and protein.

I eyeball serving sizes.  Roxy is a small-ish cat, so she gets a bit less.  Arrows is very active, he gets a bit more.  Things like that.  If I had to guess...  3 of them are at perfect weight, and 3 of them could weigh a bit less.  I'm not doing the 3 any favors, but I have a fear of underfeeding that I can't seem to overcome.  Since I am prettttty sure I overfeed to an extent, I don't feed any snacks. 
I believe the perfect serving is 3% of a furkid's body weight.  Don't quote me though.  :)

Quote
 
Right after Thanksgiving, I noticed that one of our local grocery stores had whole turkeys for 49 cents/lb.  I did not look at them then, but I will see if they are doing the same thing now, and if the turkeys are free of solutions or other additives, I will buy as many as I have room for in the freezer.

We had a small freezer.  Bought a bigger one.  10 cu feet.  If I had to do it all over again, I would have went bigger.  Between already prepared frozen meals and meats waiting to be prepared.... it gets pretty tight in there.   Silly7
« Last Edit: December 31, 2017, 05:26:24 PM by Lola »
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Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #111 on: January 01, 2018, 03:13:31 AM »
Our Roxy eats in a bedroom by herself.  She is more comfortable eating alone.  If she is fed with the group, she will take a bite...look around... take another bite, repeat.  It seems like it makes her nervous. Others will finish before her, and then stare her down.  She will then walk away.  She doesn't like confrontation.  So the bedroom it is!

Jenkins also eats alone.  The reason for that is because he will scarf his food down, so he can steal others. 

The other 4 eat together in the kitchen.  They pretty much eat at the same speed.  Goose eats a bit slower, but no one would consider stealing her food!  :) 

My point... you will figure out what works for each of them.  :) 

Don't forget beef in canned food isn't exactly (or even close to it) the same as fresh beef.  Whole new ballgame!  Plus, there is a texture change for them to get used to. 

I am realllllly far from My Pet Carnivore... never had a problem.  In fact, I am NOT on their list of States that they deliver to.  I had to sign that I wouldn't hold them responsible, if anything went wrong.  However, they package their products VERY well!  And they ship so that a delivery won't be sitting around in a delivery truck through a weekend.  I have NEVER had a delivery that was thawed or even partially thawed.  If you plan to buy any ground... skip the coarse ground, and go with the fine ground.  I don't care for the size of the bone fragments in the coarse ground.  Their rabbit is the favorite among my group.  Obvious favorite... they get beyond excited when they know rabbit is on the menu.  lol 

I don't feed as precise as Middle Child does.  She has things down to a fine science.  I tend to be a bit lazy.  On average, each cat is fed 5 oz a day.  I freeze 3 daily meals in one container.  Sooooooo mine eat the same brand/protein for an entire day.  The next day... different brand and protein.

I eyeball serving sizes.  Roxy is a small-ish cat, so she gets a bit less.  Arrows is very active, he gets a bit more.  Things like that.  If I had to guess...  3 of them are at perfect weight, and 3 of them could weigh a bit less.  I'm not doing the 3 any favors, but I have a fear of underfeeding that I can't seem to overcome.  Since I am prettttty sure I overfeed to an extent, I don't feed any snacks. 
I believe the perfect serving is 3% of a furkid's body weight.  Don't quote me though.  :)

We had a small freezer.  Bought a bigger one.  10 cu feet.  If I had to do it all over again, I would have went bigger.  Between already prepared frozen meals and meats waiting to be prepared.... it gets pretty tight in there.   Silly7

You have described perfectly the way Jenny eats:  always looking over her shoulder.  Part of it, though, is that she still vastly prefers her canned food.  They all like it better, but she really holds out on me sometimes. 

I probably will not be as precise as Middle Child, either.  I'm kind of ball-parking it, and using the weighing of food to figure out how much meat I need to buy each month.  Ideally, I would be able to know exactly how much each cat is eating, but there is no practical way for me to set up six feeding spots and keep the cats from checking out each other's plates.  They're like little kids, everyone making sure nobody else got something better than they did!  I've based my amounts on the total weight of all the cats, plus what I think I need to add to the dogs' premix.  The percentage I have seen is 2-3% of body weight.  I am using 3%.  I can adjust it down if I need to, based on the cats' weekly weigh-in.  I don't think an impulse to overeat was making my fat cats fat, I think that was kibble.  I'm sure they were eating too much of it, but that was probably in a vain effort to get what they needed from junk that could never truly provide it.

Our freezer is an upright.  It was here when I moved in.  I'm hoping to get the the point that half of it is available for pet foods.  I used to have a 25 c.f. chest freezer.  I miss it.  I think I could probably find some way to maximize the space in the one that we have, though.  I have some plastic boxes and drawers I might put in there to do that, so there's not just empty space over the items on the shelves.

My reason for being so pleased that I live near a My Pet Carnivore delivery point is, as with many things that delight me, cost.  If I can meet them and pick the food up, I don't have to pay for shipping, and every dollar I save on shipping is a dollar I can spend on the food itself.  Plus, there are items they do not ship, like bulk packages of goat and lamb trim:  30 lb. for about $75!  That's a lot of meat, and as part of a rotation diet, it would probably last at least two months, depending on how often I feed it, but it's a way for me to offer items I couldn't possibly afford to otherwise, unless I find an amazing sale in town.  The two workhorse items on the menu are probably going to be chicken and pork, which I can get cheaply here in town.  If I can add some lamb or goat, purchased in bulk, that will free up money for things like rabbit, which I understand cats adore.  If my calculations are right, I will be using close to 75 lb. of meat per month to feed everyone, plus the cost of supplements, and premix for the dogs.  (Actually, I am not at all sure I will continue with the premix.  I'm tending right now toward using what I just got, and then making my own fruit and veg puree to add to their meals.)  I need to keep meat costs as low as I possibly can, while still providing a good variety. 
« Last Edit: January 01, 2018, 03:22:37 AM by Catgirl64 »

Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #112 on: January 01, 2018, 05:22:49 AM »
Just started on the pork roast I got at Sprouts, it took forever for it to thaw out.  It's got a lot of marbling and fat, not necessarily what we prize in pork for our own dinner tables, but I think it will make good pet food.  It is a little harder on my food processor than chicken, though.

I think Mouse will be my most enthusiastic raw cat - she kept getting on the counter and licking the meat as I was cutting it up!  I dropped one little chunk on the floor, so I gave it to Bandit.  He sniffed it, carried it around, acted like he was not going to eat it, and then gobbled it up when I moved to take it away.

Getting very low on canned.  I don't want to be without it entirely, so I may see if Hollywood has any more Lotus on sale.  It is not their favorite, but $1.50 for a large can of that brand is amazing, and they will eat it.  Anyway, it seems like giving their favorite canned might make them less likely to eat the raw. 

I hope you all don't mind my frequent posts and stream-of consciousness style of telling this story.  I'm just kind of adding stuff as it occurs to me... :-[
« Last Edit: January 01, 2018, 05:27:40 AM by Catgirl64 »

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #113 on: January 01, 2018, 07:00:43 AM »
Quote
I hope you all don't mind my frequent posts and stream-of consciousness style of telling this story.  I'm just kind of adding stuff as it occurs to me... :-[

This is exactly what we had HOPED for.  It is incredibly helpful to do it this way, I have found, and it is a treasure trove of info for anyone else thinking of making the transition.  HeadButt

Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #114 on: January 01, 2018, 03:54:58 PM »
Scary new protein source!  Cats proceeding with caution.

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #115 on: January 01, 2018, 09:53:07 PM »
Quote
  I don't think an impulse to overeat was making my fat cats fat, I think that was kibble.  I'm sure they were eating too much of it, but that was probably in a vain effort to get what they needed from junk that could never truly provide it.

That, and the kibble itself isn't filling from a satisfaction standpoint, because it doesn't have enough animal protein, and that's what fills/satisfies them.  An example is that I can have a bowl of cereal for breaksfast, but less than an hour later I'm hungry again.  And another thing:  carbs spike the blood sugar, and when the blood sugar drops, you/they need to eat again to keep from crashing.  It becomes a very bad cycle, and it's how cats (and people, depending on what they're eating) can become diabetic.

Quote
I hope you all don't mind my frequent posts and stream-of consciousness style of telling this story.  I'm just kind of adding stuff as it occurs to me... :-[

You are doing me a HUGE favor, because I never got Pookie on all raw.  I'm currently without furkids, but one day when the circumstances allow me to live with them again, I'd like to go all raw.  This thread will be a tremendous reference for me, and others as well, I'm sure.  So please, keep posting, and THANK YOU!   DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy DrLisaPiersonWorthy

Scary new protein source!  Cats proceeding with caution.

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Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #116 on: January 03, 2018, 08:25:32 AM »
Well, I just did a weigh-in, and I am not sure what to make of it.  For one thing, I actually used the carrier this time, but I have noticed that no matter what I do, the numbers on the scale bounce around as long as the cat is not perfectly still.  I think I might have to weigh daily for a while to get a real idea of what everyone actually weighs. 

Jeoffry - 15 lb., 11.7 oz.  Loss of .5 oz.

Jenny - 11. lb., 12.2 oz.  Loss of 8.8 oz., much too much!  The thing is, she's the one I have had the most trouble weighing, so I am not at all sure that my starting weight was accurate.  I will be weighing her daily, and saving her favorite canned for her alone.

Truman - 16 lb., 5 oz.  Gain of 5.6 oz.  This seems like a lot to me.

Lucy - 8 lb., 0.3 oz.  Gain of 6.3 oz.  Again, it seems like a lot, but she's the one I was most worried about when they rejected some canned food I had gotten.  She was getting too thin, and seems more normal now.

Violet - 7lb. 13.2 oz.  Gain of 11.2 oz?!  Something has to be off here.  I don't believe she has gained that much that fast.  I think I would be able to actually see it.  Shaking my head over this one, and thinking my first weigh-in was incorrect.  I did it with her just sitting in a box.  Not worried about it unless this pattern continues.  She's a lot more solid than when she was eating kibble, and does not seem fat anywhere.

Mouse - 8 lb., 6 oz.  Gain of 8.8 oz.  Same reaction as above, I must have done something wrong the first time.  She likes the raw, but she doesn't eat THAT much.   

I know there are factors that could make a cat's weight fluctuate, like when they most recently visited the litter box, which is why I think I might need to weigh daily for a while.  I am wondering if raw could make the cat gain weight, even while looking more slender, as muscle mass increases.  Any thoughts on this?

The only one I am really concerned about is Jenny.  Again, her starting weight was an estimate, as I could not get her to hold still when I weighed her, but she is my most reluctant eater.  I am going to have to go very slowly with her.  She does have an appetite, but is a lot less accepting anything new than the other cats.

Offline Middle Child

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #117 on: January 03, 2018, 03:38:28 PM »
Yes, as muscle mass increases there may be a slight weight gain on the scale, while the body condition doesn't show it. But cats can gain weight on raw (too many calories is too many calories no matter what the diet) Some of it MAY even out over time as they will probably become more active.

However I think your plan to weight daily for a while is very good.

I weigh weekly, every Sunday morning before breakfast (sometimes Saturday) and make sure that everyone has had their morning pee before I do weights. Pees can weigh from 0.7 oz to 2 oz or more. Poops don't weigh as much.

Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #118 on: January 03, 2018, 03:57:31 PM »
Yes, as muscle mass increases there may be a slight weight gain on the scale, while the body condition doesn't show it. But cats can gain weight on raw (too many calories is too many calories no matter what the diet) Some of it MAY even out over time as they will probably become more active.

However I think your plan to weight daily for a while is very good.

I weigh weekly, every Sunday morning before breakfast (sometimes Saturday) and make sure that everyone has had their morning pee before I do weights. Pees can weigh from 0.7 oz to 2 oz or more. Poops don't weigh as much.

When I did that first weigh-in, it was after they hadn't been wanting to eat very much (remember my panic about that?), so that may explain some of the gains.  I suspect part of it is also due to the way I tried to weigh them that first time.  The only one I am really concerned about is Jenny.  I'm focusing very hard on getting her to eat more.  If she continues to drop weight, I'll take her to the vet in a couple of days to see if there is a reason for it other than diet.  She's lost quite a bit since taking them all off Science Diet months ago, and that's good, but this past 10 days was too much, too fast, if it's accurate. 
« Last Edit: January 03, 2018, 04:16:52 PM by Catgirl64 »

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Re: Catgirl64's Journey To Raw Feeding
« Reply #119 on: January 03, 2018, 04:25:17 PM »
I suspect part of it is also due to the way I tried to weigh them that first time. 

I'd weigh them the way you did the first time, and weigh them again the new way you've weighed them. Compare. You're not going to get proper results any other way.

What you've just done is compare apples to oranges, and the first weigh-in doesn't count.
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