Cats can be so frustrating!

[GoldenMom]

I decided to switch the house leaches (oops, I mean cats) to raw a couple or three weeks ago. The dogs were soooo easy compared to the cats. And it doesn't help that there are five cats and they each are switching at their own pace. I've been so worried about the Monkey cat, she extremely picky and the last time I half-heartly tried to switch them to raw she was the reason I went back to kibble. I have been codling her for two weeks now, taking her food into her own private room, mixing it with extra canned cat food, etc. Yesterday I ran out of canned cat food so I just used tuna. Monkey had a huge breakthrough! Wish I would have found this out two weeks ago and then I wouldn't have had to worry. For the last three meals she's been my best eater! I'm going to have to try just tuna juice in the morning since she seems to have figured out the eating of chunks. Now I just have to get Fatty totally figured out (the other three pigs are doing pretty good, so they don't worry me).

I know we have several posters who feed their dogs raw-does anyone else feed their cats raw?

[tillandsia]

I have just gotten my 7 cats to switch to raw over the past couple of months. They can be a challenge! Right now they like beef heart, pork and chicken necks and liver.
It sounds like you and your cats are also making good progress.

Have you checked out:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/
Lots of ideas and support

http://rawfedcats.org/
Lots of information and links

Keep being patient and persistent. It will get easier! Remember, it's like trying to switch a child who is accustomed to eating fast food and junk food to a natural healthy diet. They will come around, and you will be very satisfied with the improvements in their health!

[tweety]

I wonder about feeding cats a straight fish diet. I have heard that fish lacks some essential ingredients that cats must have or get nerve damage. In the wild cats would eat small rodents, stomach contents and all, and get all sorts of trace things that aren't in fish.

[GoldenMom]

No straight canned fish here. I just use it as the mixer to flavor the chunks of chicken, beef, venison, and turkey.

I think they are doing really well too now (thanks for the links, I have checked those out). Fatty is trying to worry me now, though. She has refused most of the food I set out at meals for her last night and this morning, but just now she ate a big chunk of turkey while I was sitting here. And this is the cat that only has 7 teeth (she old and obviously commercial food didn't agree with her mouth). I was pretty sure she was going to always need to eat totally ground so that's what I've been offering her. Maybe she doesn't like the texture of ground? She wouldn't even eat straight canned food this AM. I was almost to the point of giving her a little bit of kibble to make sure she ate SOMETHING! Maybe I'll try chunks again later.

[Maura]

I used cooked oatmeal and cooked it in meat juice with garlic, mixed this with meat. Braising the meat in butter also is helpful.

[james dilley]

My cats eat A lot of Raw meats, But mostly its the trimmings, And they get the wild birds and Rodents too. They also get the fish, And poultry scraps we have, But they will woof down Dog food as well as cat food. I leave dry food out quite A bit.. With 10 cats including the 6 kittens I have left it helps.

[Willowynd]

I have tried switching 2 cats to raw- it didn't work. Now it probably doesn't help that they were both himalayans and was picky about food in the first place ( will eat only certain flavors of canned food, only 2 brands of dry, no cooked turkey or ground beef, but cooked chicken is fine- liver, hearts, gizzards IF the mood strikes them, and no canned fish). I hope you have better luck!

[GoldenMom]

So far I'm extremely happy with the progress of the 4 youngest. They ate chicken thighs last night. I cut the meat into strips but left it attached to the bone. They didn't eat the bone yet of course but all 4 chewed a fair portion of the meat off! Fatty (the oldest) is giving me fits. But I found out last night she LOVES heart and liver so I'll work on mixing that in with meat.

[WanderingOak]

I add a mixture of brewers yeast and garlic to my cat's food, and she likes the taste so much that she pretty much assumes that anything else with garlic on it is 'her' food. That makes pizza-night interesting, to say the least. Anyhow, what you might want to do is get your non-raw eating cats used to yeast + garlic on their kibble, then start adding it to their raw food.

[jen74145]

Uhm... large quantities of garlic really aren't good for a cat... and fish is TERRIBLE for them.

[mamalisa]

I would figure that they'd eat when they got hungry if you'd outwait them.....

[GoldenMom]

Originally Posted by mamalisa

I would figure that they'd eat when they got hungry if you'd outwait them.....

Can't do that with cats-it puts them at extreme risk of hepatic lipidosis. Had a major set back with Fatty the last few days. Ended up syringe feeding her canned food a few times. She *seems* to be eating again, we'll see. I guess if I had to pick one of them to have issues it would be Fatty as she is getting old already and I can deal with "special needs" for a quite a while (just not 2/3 the lifetime of one of the younger cats!).

As for the fish, I've pretty much got the others weaned off. They just get some of the juice and a tiny bit rubbed on their meat. They actually seem to be preferring meat that's attached to the bone! They don't eat bone yet, but it wil come. I will have to try a *small* amount of garlic powder and see if they even like it. Otherwise I've been using a little bit of a new product call FortiFlora which is probiotics. They seem to like the taste.

[Ardie/WI]

Originally Posted by GoldenMom

Can't do that with cats-it puts them at extreme risk of hepatic lipidosis. Had a major set back with Fatty the last few days. Ended up syringe feeding her canned food a few times. She *seems* to be eating again, we'll see. I guess if I had to pick one of them to have issues it would be Fatty as she is getting old already and I can deal with "special needs" for a quite a while (just not 2/3 the lifetime of one of the younger cats!).

As for the fish, I've pretty much got the others weaned off. They just get some of the juice and a tiny bit rubbed on their meat. They actually seem to be preferring meat that's attached to the bone! They don't eat bone yet, but it wil come. I will have to try a *small* amount of garlic powder and see if they even like it. Otherwise I've been using a little bit of a new product call FortiFlora which is probiotics. They seem to like the taste.

Wow I can sympathize. Tippy, the cat that recently passed on was a super picky eater and lacked teeth too. Add to that, he has a very sensitive stomach and barfed his way though life. I truly believe that was why he finally got too sick to live. He turned up his nose so many times at food that I didn't realize he was not eating soon enough and the rest, unhappily, is history.

[WanderingOak]

Originally Posted by jen74145

Uhm... large quantities of garlic really aren't good for a cat... and fish is TERRIBLE for them.

I only give her 1/2 tsp of the blend (not sure of the yeast/garlic ratio) per day. It is marketed as a supliment for cats, so I was under the impression that it was healthy.

[housewife]

Having a "special needs" cat and a fat cat, I can so sympathize!! She is 15 after a cold she ended up with a super sensitive stomach, though she has always been a puker. Oh and she is minus a few teeth too. It's getting hard to keep the weight on her but now that she is on pain meds she is playing and seems happy. We now feed her in a dog cage to make sure the others don't get her pain meds. or her special food. It sure is hard admitting she is getting old.

[jen74145]

WanderingOak,
with that itty amount, she should do fine... so many people overdo it, though, that I tend to mention that little snippet often.

[GoldenMom]

I hope I finally figured out why Fatty has not really been eating much lately. DUH, maybe some of her few remaining teeth hurt! Some vet/pet owner I am! Took her to work with me this AM for sedation to check those teeth closer. Sure enough she had 2 (of the 7 remaining) teeth that were bad. Hopefully now she'll be more into consuming food (all she wanted to do was lick it). I also drew her blood and ran a couple of chemistries here then am sending the rest out to see how everything is doing. So far so good. I was really afraid that since she hasn't been eating very much for a couple of weeks that she might have some fatty liver trying to start, but it doesn't look that way at this time. I know she'll never eat chunks or bones, but if she'll just eat on her own I'll be happy! Everyone else seems to be doing pretty good-I think I'll keep working at it for a while yet.

[Willowynd]

That is wonderful! You should be able to find bone dust at a butcher shop - call around. Then you can mix the bone dust in with her food.

[GoldenMom]

I hadn't thought of that! I was just planning on either using Ca++ pills or see about purchasing some of the pre-ground products. I think the bone dust would be easier/better.