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Raw Feeding Chronicles....
- Thread starter white cat lover
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Mine refuse necks.. but they are a bit strange
They're all a bit strange, each in their own special way.Originally Posted by sharky
Mine refuse necks.. but they are a bit strange
Good news. It was real hard to get Precious off the dry food, one - because she's stubborn, two - because I can stand to see her pick at her food because she's skinny, and three - that sad look is very cute and wears on me. But anyway, she has decided to be a team player. She really likes the raw NV Beef. Finally, the other good news is that she gained a quarter of pound. Yippeee. Hurray for BEEF. It's what's for dinner.
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I got down to my last medallion I had thawed today...the last one is always so good & bloody. Damita...freaked....out! She was throwing a four star fit over that medallion! I fed it to the outside cats. Got her one of the fresh ones I thawed last night.
Question for you raw feeders...when you thaw medallions out, what do you keep them in? I am thawing them in the fridge, 10-15 at a time. I put them in a big ziploc bag, but go through a new bag ever 1-3 days(depending on how fast the raw gets eaten). I hate to wash the bags out, but I am considering buying some cheap tupperwre tubs from the dollar store.... Just wondered how everyone else stored their raw meat!
Question for you raw feeders...when you thaw medallions out, what do you keep them in? I am thawing them in the fridge, 10-15 at a time. I put them in a big ziploc bag, but go through a new bag ever 1-3 days(depending on how fast the raw gets eaten). I hate to wash the bags out, but I am considering buying some cheap tupperwre tubs from the dollar store.... Just wondered how everyone else stored their raw meat!
I'm glad you were able to appease Miss Damita. A four star fit, huh? LOLOriginally Posted by white cat lover
I got down to my last medallion I had thawed today...the last one is always so good & bloody. Damita...freaked....out! She was throwing a four star fit over that medallion! I fed it to the outside cats. Got her one of the fresh ones I thawed last night.
Question for you raw feeders...when you thaw medallions out, what do you keep them in? I am thawing them in the fridge, 10-15 at a time. I put them in a big ziploc bag, but go through a new bag ever 1-3 days(depending on how fast the raw gets eaten). I hate to wash the bags out, but I am considering buying some cheap tupperwre tubs from the dollar store.... Just wondered how everyone else stored their raw meat!
I've been thawing them in the fridge, in the small ziploc bags. I get boxes of 600 bags at Sam's for a decent price, however I am going through a lot of them so I do feel your pain.
I'm only doing the small medallion size in lamb and rabbit now, as those are less popular w/my gang. I get the big 8oz patties for beef and chicken/turkey. Each day I go through about 1 chick/turk patty, 1 beef patty, and 3 lamb medallions. I try to keep about 1 day ahead in the fridge, so they're thawed in time but not too far in advance.
Since I don't go thru a whole pattie in a meal, I am taking some out and putting it a SEPARATE ziploc so it can sit in some cool-tepid water for about a minute while I get their plates out. If I give it ice cold they look at me like I'm nuts.
I almost picked up some of those cheapo Glad Ware containers for this. Then I thought about plastic and how it can be...like a little petrie dish for nasty bacteria. I'm never all that confident that plastic gets truly clean. So I nixed that idea. Maybe I'm just being weird...maybe it would be fine.
I thought about springing for some of those Pyrex (glass) storage containers that come w/ a plastic lid. Glass at least would seem like it was really truly "clean" after it had been washed.
Okay... here's what I remember of what I thought while I was reading through this whole thread... since I wasn't sure how long it was.. I figured some stuff might be answered in the end.
The easiest way I've found to thaw safely is either to toss it in the fridge and let it thaw from the freezer... or put *slightly* warm water in a bowl in which you toss the medallion in.. now... I've only fed about a grand total of three medallions to my crew, and in fact, I have a freezer with a full bag sitting in there.. but it thawed them pretty quickly.. a few minutes.. I just make sure the water isn't so hot as to actually cook the food.
I've heard you should never ever microwave something with bone in it. From what I've read it can make the bone brittle and then it splinters.. which it sounds like you guys knew from the posts, but always better to mention it than not just in case, is my theory. The warm water technique does work pretty well, and in fact.. I thaw/warm our raw in it all the time.
Storage, I use ziploc bags. Feeding, I use paper/styrofoam plates (although I really try to use paper since styrofoam is so bad for the environment), but my sister feeds her Bengal at bedtime so a plate of food goes upstairs on a styrofoam plate nightly. It's much easier to clean up, and it's easier than tryign to get everything sterile. I do occasionally use some sort of tupperware, but I make sure to sterilize it after washing either by dishwasher or hand to make sure nothing gets contaminated.
Hmm, I've found our raw to be cheaper than packets of food (if you tally up the recommended number per cat per pound of body weight and then figure in the price per packet).. but I'm using chicken mostly, some beef, and occasionally some salmon or some fish, or turkey in it. Now, that being said, we make our own. However, Kahn and Joyeux will not touch medallions.. which is why I still have a full packet. I did find that the pre-made raw was more expensive than making your own. In fact, I think the pre-made was more expensive than packets of food. They absolutely despise veggies.
We started out grinding our food, or putting it in a food processor. It was fairly quick (certainly quicker than what I'm doing now which is cubing it).. I don't see any problem with it, except that from what I've read, gives more surface for bacteria to form on.. and/or the more handling/processing you do the more it breaks down the vitamins/minerals. The theory in our house, supposedly, is that eventually everyone is going to be eating straight from the bones and I won't be chopping anything anymore. I think it would be fine to process it for mixing into other foods for transitioning.. that's probably what I'm going to do with the two I have that are not on raw. I'm always super cautious and double sanitize everything I'm using.. counters, machines, knives, etc.
Okay, from what I remember, they're supposed to be ultimately getting about 3/4 an ounce of raw per pound of body weight a day. I think this completely depends on their activity level. Kahn of course, eats more than that, and he eats almost a pound of raw a day. Joyeux vacillates and sometimes doesn't eat a lot, and other times eats more than I put down. She was having constipation issues, and .. I think they're finally solved. We tried everything..but apparently giving them access to wheat grass has done the trick without giving her Laxatone. Psyllium husk did not help at all.
Phew, sorry for the long post.. but I think I mentioned everything I meant to mention, hehe.
I'll be sure to give you all updates on how the conversion goes for Noel and Bagheera... who are currently eating Innova Evo (and noel is actually losing a little weight.. 2 ounces!)..
The easiest way I've found to thaw safely is either to toss it in the fridge and let it thaw from the freezer... or put *slightly* warm water in a bowl in which you toss the medallion in.. now... I've only fed about a grand total of three medallions to my crew, and in fact, I have a freezer with a full bag sitting in there.. but it thawed them pretty quickly.. a few minutes.. I just make sure the water isn't so hot as to actually cook the food.
I've heard you should never ever microwave something with bone in it. From what I've read it can make the bone brittle and then it splinters.. which it sounds like you guys knew from the posts, but always better to mention it than not just in case, is my theory. The warm water technique does work pretty well, and in fact.. I thaw/warm our raw in it all the time.
Storage, I use ziploc bags. Feeding, I use paper/styrofoam plates (although I really try to use paper since styrofoam is so bad for the environment), but my sister feeds her Bengal at bedtime so a plate of food goes upstairs on a styrofoam plate nightly. It's much easier to clean up, and it's easier than tryign to get everything sterile. I do occasionally use some sort of tupperware, but I make sure to sterilize it after washing either by dishwasher or hand to make sure nothing gets contaminated.
Hmm, I've found our raw to be cheaper than packets of food (if you tally up the recommended number per cat per pound of body weight and then figure in the price per packet).. but I'm using chicken mostly, some beef, and occasionally some salmon or some fish, or turkey in it. Now, that being said, we make our own. However, Kahn and Joyeux will not touch medallions.. which is why I still have a full packet. I did find that the pre-made raw was more expensive than making your own. In fact, I think the pre-made was more expensive than packets of food. They absolutely despise veggies.
We started out grinding our food, or putting it in a food processor. It was fairly quick (certainly quicker than what I'm doing now which is cubing it).. I don't see any problem with it, except that from what I've read, gives more surface for bacteria to form on.. and/or the more handling/processing you do the more it breaks down the vitamins/minerals. The theory in our house, supposedly, is that eventually everyone is going to be eating straight from the bones and I won't be chopping anything anymore. I think it would be fine to process it for mixing into other foods for transitioning.. that's probably what I'm going to do with the two I have that are not on raw. I'm always super cautious and double sanitize everything I'm using.. counters, machines, knives, etc.
Okay, from what I remember, they're supposed to be ultimately getting about 3/4 an ounce of raw per pound of body weight a day. I think this completely depends on their activity level. Kahn of course, eats more than that, and he eats almost a pound of raw a day. Joyeux vacillates and sometimes doesn't eat a lot, and other times eats more than I put down. She was having constipation issues, and .. I think they're finally solved. We tried everything..but apparently giving them access to wheat grass has done the trick without giving her Laxatone. Psyllium husk did not help at all.
Phew, sorry for the long post.. but I think I mentioned everything I meant to mention, hehe.
I'll be sure to give you all updates on how the conversion goes for Noel and Bagheera... who are currently eating Innova Evo (and noel is actually losing a little weight.. 2 ounces!)..
Quite true, especially if you actually pop it in at full power. I'm fairly certain the medallions that I microwaved for 30 seconds at 1/2 power were totally fine for consumption. Of course I don't want to rely on that - My best bet is to actually thaw them out ahead of time
as for storage, I put them on a paper plate in the fridge (or a paper bowl), be sure to cover them! then throw out the paper plate - - -no clean up!
Yours were probably fine since you did it on half power and for a very small time period. I was just mentioning it because it's what I read when researching raw. I think they actually say if the water that you thaw it in is too hot it can be an issue as well, but I haven't actually started putting bones in mine yet so ..
Yeah, I'm big on the paper plates and plastic baggies... I just have to find some way to lock them down for disposal so they don't stink. I've tried double bagging, but that doesn't seem to work.
Yeah, I'm big on the paper plates and plastic baggies... I just have to find some way to lock them down for disposal so they don't stink. I've tried double bagging, but that doesn't seem to work.
We are lucky that Puddin came to us as a raw fed kitty. She gets chunks of meat (lamb/chicken/rabbit), w/the appropriate amount of heart and liver mixed in. She won't go for the salmon oil, so I have started giving her canned (water only) sardines as a treat. I am going to try and slip in some salmon oil in those, as while they are good, they don't have as much omega's as I would like her to have. She won't do bones, but I will start trying to get her to eat the tiny quail bones if I can. Right now I am adding powdered eggshell to her chunks. I cut up the chunks, and put a bit of water (and the juice from the meat) in w/them. I use canning/freezing jars for my meat easy to do up the portions (there are 4 oz and 8 oz jars for small sizes). Jars and lids go in the dishwasher. The glass jars thaw quickly in lukewarm water. I am probably going to try and grind the raw bone in my grinder, as this would be better than eggshell. She actually doesn't like cat food at all, and doesn't care for ground. The raw chunks are so much easier than ground, anyhow. As long as liver and heart are added in appropriate amounts, no other vitamin supplementation is needed (except for bone substitute).
Tumper on the other hand (our other kitty) is project. He has a very sensitive tummy and is super picky, and I am slooowly putting tiny bits of raw meat in w/his NV canned. I also give him slippery elm bark (good for digestive issues) once a day, and add L-Glutamine (amino acid powder supposed to be good for inflamation). He actually tried a canned sardine and liked it - first time I've been able to interest him in something he had to chew - really chew and use his teeth like a kitty is meant to.
I looked at the NV freeze dried raw last year, hoping to try w/him and our other (angel kitty now) kitty, but the smell to me was so bad! Neither would look at it at all.
I don't mind the chunks of meat, or other forms of raw meat - they aren't bad to deal with. Even the liver and hearts. I won't do the mice, though. I don't trust anything that isn't sold for human consumption. I think that is as safe as I can get w/my kitty's food in this world!
Oh, one great thing I have noticed - Puddin only poops once every 2-3 days. From what I understand, this is normal for a totally raw fed kitty, since she isn't getting any garbage food!
Best regards,
cejhome, Puddin & Tumper
Tumper on the other hand (our other kitty) is project. He has a very sensitive tummy and is super picky, and I am slooowly putting tiny bits of raw meat in w/his NV canned. I also give him slippery elm bark (good for digestive issues) once a day, and add L-Glutamine (amino acid powder supposed to be good for inflamation). He actually tried a canned sardine and liked it - first time I've been able to interest him in something he had to chew - really chew and use his teeth like a kitty is meant to.
I looked at the NV freeze dried raw last year, hoping to try w/him and our other (angel kitty now) kitty, but the smell to me was so bad! Neither would look at it at all.
I don't mind the chunks of meat, or other forms of raw meat - they aren't bad to deal with. Even the liver and hearts. I won't do the mice, though. I don't trust anything that isn't sold for human consumption. I think that is as safe as I can get w/my kitty's food in this world!
Oh, one great thing I have noticed - Puddin only poops once every 2-3 days. From what I understand, this is normal for a totally raw fed kitty, since she isn't getting any garbage food!
Best regards,
cejhome, Puddin & Tumper
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A raw feed animal should POOP at least ONCE a DAY ... see raw food is asimilate( digested faster than canned/ cooked or dry ) ... About 8 hours vs 12-16 hours///.. try sardines in oil... I will ask why but my vet said no in water .. Egg shell s are NOT a great calcium source...Kitties arent designed to chew rather to rip and swallow
raw meats starts cooking at 116 degree s a mirco on high is around 500.... BEST to thaw in cold water
raw meats starts cooking at 116 degree s a mirco on high is around 500.... BEST to thaw in cold water
I'm not entirely sure how much mine are pooping, as they have community litter boxes. Since I have two on and two off...and I generally scoop every other day to three days when I'm really a slacker (although, ideally, I'd like to scoop this daily.. I just haven't had the energy to get to that part by the time I finish everything else up)...
It's hard to tell which is which, or how often. However, I do notice that the litter boxes don't smell as bad in general. That is not to say, however, that my crew's poop smells like roses because one whiff of a fresh batch can knock you unconcious.
It's hard to tell which is which, or how often. However, I do notice that the litter boxes don't smell as bad in general. That is not to say, however, that my crew's poop smells like roses because one whiff of a fresh batch can knock you unconcious.
I'm an obsessive compulsive scooper
...so I can say that my only totally raw-fed cat Beandip poops once a day, everyday.
He eats 4.5 ounces a day on a good day...seems to have leveled out at 4 now. He was stuck at roughly 3 for awhile. When we started on the raw he was still feeling kind of crummy from his bladder issues. So he didn't eat so well for awhile. However, he only lost a quarter of a lb when he was eating less than 3oz/day. He's feeling better now, so his activity level is much higher than it used to be. He used to be about as active as a lampshade. Raw has been great for him. That's a big eater you have, Heather.
The kittens eat about 2-3oz/day in addition to all the canned food they can eat...which is quite a bit.
I would give them more raw, but I need for somebody to finish the canned food...cause I have some that demand it.
He eats 4.5 ounces a day on a good day...seems to have leveled out at 4 now. He was stuck at roughly 3 for awhile. When we started on the raw he was still feeling kind of crummy from his bladder issues. So he didn't eat so well for awhile. However, he only lost a quarter of a lb when he was eating less than 3oz/day. He's feeling better now, so his activity level is much higher than it used to be. He used to be about as active as a lampshade. Raw has been great for him. That's a big eater you have, Heather.
The kittens eat about 2-3oz/day in addition to all the canned food they can eat...which is quite a bit.
I forgot to mention...but this is totally unrelated to my previous post.
It's official - these guys absolutely don't like those rabbit medallions. I figured since lamb seemed to be an acquired taste (they're finally eating it!) ..that maybe they'd eat rabbit now too. NOPE. I put out one ounce, 3 of them took one bite, one only licked it, and the other 4 didn't even try it.
It's official - these guys absolutely don't like those rabbit medallions. I figured since lamb seemed to be an acquired taste (they're finally eating it!) ..that maybe they'd eat rabbit now too. NOPE. I put out one ounce, 3 of them took one bite, one only licked it, and the other 4 didn't even try it.
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That is the biggest plus! With Damita's allergies, her poop smelled like something up & died in my house. Now, when she poops, there's like no smell at all!
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If he'll eat the raw & you plan on him going all raw, you could just as well. I actually planned on keeping Damita on some canned so I bought a ton....yeah, that plan fizzled out!
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Let us know how it goes!!
Yeah, Kahn eats right at 12-13 ounces a day... sometimes more. But, he's an F3 Bengal, and he's only now just filling out. He is starting to build up some muscle too, but.. you know, sometimes he does eat almost a pound a day. Joyeux is Bengal (hear her roar) too.. and she eats.. eh.. 3-4 on a low day and up to about 7 on a good day.. and then nibbles kibble too. They're hearty eaters. Kahn is a little over two years, and Joyeux is just at six months.
