trying to make an old cat go raw

[Auntie Crazy]

Patience is the key for reluctant kitties. You can't make 'em go hungry 'cause they can end up with Feline Hepatic Lipidosis (also known as Fatty Liver Syndrome) and that's not a good thing.

You're right, though, you want to get rid of that dry food as soon as possible. It's nothing but garbage mucking up your kitty's biological workings. ;)

[roseyonnex]

Hey Debbie,

Good job hanging in there with your older cats. I have five cats, and I feed them all raw. I make my own food from www.catnutrition.org. I have the meat grinder and the whole bit.

The transition was MUCH harder for the older cats compared to the younger ones. It was very frustrating, and for awhile I felt like I was trying everything and they really weren't eating very much. But FINALLY four transitioned. My youngest one took about three days. My older ones took months. And I have one still holding out...little bugger!

My 16-year-old is finally eating raw, and I can tell a difference in his coat and his eyes don't water as much. He also was drinking tons of water like he had kidney problems, and he seems to have cut back on the water, so I'm hopeful he is doing okay.

I have tranferred most of my cats over by first getting them used to eating soft store-bought canned food first (because they were used to kibble). Then, mix raw with canned and slowly increase the porportions of raw to canned. And finally, they will eat the pure raw. It was a long transition for me and them.

Catnutrition.org does not recommend starving them, as I think it hurts their liver. (but I'll have to read the site again)

But, finally, I can say that the struggle has been worth it.

Cats are just creatures of habit and if they have been grazing on kibble for years and years, they really resist the change.

Now all I have to do is keep making it, which I have to say is a lot of work! Takes me about an hour to make a week's worth.

And, to the above posts, you're right, cats do not eat vegetables!!

Rosie

[Soldier Girl]

Rose, thanks for the tip!!! I'll figure out something. My old(er) cat does not like canned food, but she loves the juice from canned tuna.

She is such a picky eater. The site that I order her raw food from has just come out with ground mouse. I tell ya, I can't bring myself to that so I'm glad there are others that will do the job for me!!! When I'm ready to order again, I'm going to get some mouse.

It's a long transition. The other 2...well, I haven't been working as hard on them yet. The 4 year old is SUPER picky but she also loves the tuna juice. I think she also likes Fancy Feast....hmm... maybe?

Anyway, any and all tips/advice are welcome!!

~Debbie

[Veronica01]

I recently got a new kitten. he was eating kibble with his previous owner-but he wasnt going to be eating it in my house!!! We are raw foodists!

So he was a little hungry for three days. I would put the food in front of him, he wouldnt eat. I would put it away. Three days I did this, with lots of fresh water out for him, and by the third day he was on it! he attacked it- ate every little bit so I waited a couple hours and gave him some more. Thats how i did it when I transitioned my older cat- shes about 7.

I did feel kind of bad for him not eating for three days, but in the end it worked, and he got a litttle fasting in too Animals do naturally fast in the wild, so i equate his transition to him not being able to "find" food if he had been wild. Now he eats seaweed, coconut oil, green smoothies, and any other concoction i eat.

I am just wondering how your cat was ok after 3 days of not eating. My family has had 5 cats and 3 of them have died from liver disease, they stopped eating and after 3 days they got jaundice and refused to eat anything ever again and died. I have always been extra careful with my cat to make sure he eats and someone feeds him when i go on vacation. The cats that died were between 2 and 8 years old. They'd get glazed eyes and hide under the bed in the dark and just starve themselves for no apparent reason. I never fed my cat the cheap cat food at the store anyways, but he's 8 now and i want him to be around for a long time. In the summer he catches a lot of mice and moles outside and eats them but its pretty cold here and most of the months he spends inside.

[Colorawdo girl]

Hi....I have one sweet little kitty. She eats raw frozen chicken kibbles. I thaw them and she loves them. She catches a mouse once in a while.

I also feed her a very good quality kibble and also canned with no grain in it.

She also likes to see what I am having and will often eat some. She loves raw pizza!!!!!

Oh she eats wheatgrass too. Not the shots, just the grass.
Thats my kitty story.Here is my kitty!!!

[Soldier Girl]

Artgirly, what a beautiful kitty!!! She looks just like my 16-1/2 yr old!!

Hey all, I'm making progress. I found some good resources on helping your cat to go raw. And they were adamant about NOT letting your kitty starve or go hungry. This is what I'm doing and it seems to be working.

I've been using Fancy Feast canned food. My 4 yr old kitty loves it. I order my raw food from Hare Today. I love their variety and their prices are very reasonable. I divide the raw food in small portions and put them in freezer bags in the freezer. I take out what I need (one or two bags) and thaw them in the fridge. When I'm ready to use, I put a small spoonful on a little saucer plate (I'm short on cat food dishes) and I put in the microwave for 7-8 seconds. The I mix a very small amount of Fancy Feast with it and my kitties go after it. My 4 yr old was being the biggest challenge until yesterday. I noticed she was eating around the Fancy Feast! So today, I give both of them just the raw food and they ate it. I gave them duck today. They also seem to like the pheasant and rabbit. They don't like the mouse for some reason so I've been giving that to the ferals outside. They will eat anything!

The biggest and last step to come is to totally take away their dry food. I've been trying to keep an eye on them to see if they are eating it less and less. I can see that they don't eat as much of it as they use to so it won't be long before it's gone.

I hope this helps anyone who is experiencing challenges in trying to get your kitties/animals to go raw. I found that putting it in the microwave for a few seconds doesn't hurt it and it softens it and brings out the natural juices that my kits go nuts for.

~Debbie

[oceanluv]

aka Bubba. I was feeding him vegan dry kibble, and after all the replies to that, went back to store bought natural kibble. Did some more thinking,(I do that now and then)
and researched raw foods on line, plus what you guys said. I bought a chicken breast, cut it up into small pieces (gross!) and fed him about 3 of them. He scarfed them down, and seemed very happy. Like I said before, he was a stray, so I'm sure he was eating all kinds of raw " goodies." I will still feed him some kibble, at least untill the bag is gone.
I looked into the frozen foods, but they are too much for my budget right now. One site recommended adding the oil from a fish oil capsule once or twice a week. Is that something you all do? Bubba thanks you for making me aware of his preferences. :)

[oceanluv]

the first part of my post got lost somewhere. it was update on Mr. Lucky, aka Bubba.

[lucky lemons]

I agree cats are not meant to be vegetarian, they are carnivores. My cats are not on a wholly raw food diet but I do feed them raw tuna and they love it, they seem to vastly prefer it over their supposedly holistic all natural cat food. I think they would be content on a diet of raw fish and fresh greens.

[RawSar]

I have 2 kittens (10 weeks old) that I have been feeding kitten canned food (not natural just something from the grocery store), vegan kibble, enzyme powder and Green Mush.

Kibble,enzyme powder and green mush from: http://www.veganessentials.com/

My boyfriend wants to transition the kittens to just eating the kibble, enzyme powder and green mush. Transition them to a vegan diet. Everything I read here is saying that cats should not be vegan. I'm reading some articles (links from this forum) that explains why cats need the meat but my boyfriend wont read them (because you know you can find articles on both sides of the story) He says that the vegan kibble is the best and that it has everything in it that they would get from meat. So can they really live a vegan life with these 3 things and be happy healthy cats?

The vegan kibble has: Taurine, Vitamin A and Arachidonic Acid as well as B Vitamins and other Amino Acids. magnesium other vitamins and minerals, as well as omega 3s and 6s.
Guaranteed analysis:
Moisture – 8%
Crude protein – 33%
Crude fats – 14%
Crude fiber – 4%
Crude ash – 5.5%

Vitamins and minerals:
Vitamin A – 19000iu
Vitamin D3 (synthetic formulation) – 1250iu
Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol) – 210mg
Copper (copper suplhate pentahydrate) – 5mg

Green Mush: Ingredients: Whole leaf barley and wheat grasses, spirulina, broken cell wall chlorella, horsetail herb, nettle leaf, burdock root, alfalfa leaf juice, dandelion leaf juice, kamut grass juice, barley grass juice, oat grass juice, sea vegetables (Nova Scotia dulse and Icelandic kelp), carob pod, Nopal cactus, plant source digestive enzyme complex (protease, amylase, lipase, cellulase, alpha-galactosidase, bromelain, papain), CoQ10 (40mg per 9.5g or 13.4g per teaspoon), ginger root. Also contains a comprehensive probiotic mixture of beneficial organisms including A. Agilis, L. Acidophilus, R. Arrhizus, DDS-I Acidophilus, Bifidus, L. Bulgaricus, A. Brasilienese, B. Brenis, P. Chrysosporium, A. Citreus, L. Casei, P. Calcis, S. Cellulase, P. Denitrificans, S. Faecium, S. Fradiae, P. Flourescens, A. Globiformis, S. Griseoflavus, P. Gelatic, B. Lipolyticum, A. Luteus, A. Lipoferum, A. Lwofii, B. Laterosporous, P. Marinoglutionsa, B. Macerans, P. Nigraclens, P. Putida, L. Plantarum, B. Pumilus, B. Polymyxa, B. Stationis, L. Salivarius, B. Subtilus, B. Succinogenes, A. Simplex, B. Subtilus, S. Thermopolis, A. Terreus, M. Verrucaria, T. Viride, K. Zopfit

What are your thoughts on this?

[oceanluv]

another update on Bubba.. he is eating only raw now. We also have a new friend, Frankie, a 5 month old siamese mix that I got from the same feline rescue Bubba came from. He took to the raw diet like a champ. I feed them chicken, beef cubes and occasionally non grain canned food. at first I was warming up their food in a baggy in a bowl of water, but now they eat right out of the fridge. am thinking about getting them some mice!!!! weird what we do for our furry friends.

[oceanluv]

what I meant was... they eat it cold from the fridge, not that they stick their heads in there and eat, lol.

[MysticTree]

about 35 years ago, my father tried to teach our cats to eat lettuce. They already caught their own meat but he felt that lettuce could only be a good thing ... he failed miserably lol

Georgina

[gener]

If your pets are actually hungry, they will eat. I keep 2 alligator lizards. It doesn't matter if I load their cages with live crickets, they will turn up their scaled noses at them until they are skinny, and only then will they eat.

Luckily for them, they don't have large enough brains to have psychological motivations yet. Hahaha.

[RawLibrarian]

If your pets are actually hungry, they will eat. I keep 2 alligator lizards. It doesn't matter if I load their cages with live crickets, they will turn up their scaled noses at them until they are skinny, and only then will they eat.

Luckily for them, they don't have large enough brains to have psychological motivations yet. Hahaha.

Maybe true for lizards, but as someone noted above, if cats don't eat for just a couple of days they are at very high risk for fatty liver disease, and then it's curtains.