A Few Raw Questions

misshoomom

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Hi!

I feed my dog Nature's Variety Frozen Raw Medallions.

For the cats, right now I leave out a feeder of Wellness kibble and give them a little wet food at night. Because of how thrilled I am with the results in my dog, I'd like to switch the cats to raw as well. The cost is about the same for me, maybe a bit more.

But, I feel like I won't be feeding them enough because they will only be getting about 2 medallions each a day. I know with dogs you can't mix kibble & raw (unless it is raw kibble). But, I couldn't just leave raw kibble out in a feeder, it would spoil, right?

For those of you who feed raw, how do you do it? And how did you make the switch?
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by mschauer

I haven't tried it myself yet but several people have posted this link that describes what seems to me to be a good approach:

http://www.catinfo.org


3 of mine eat the recipe from catnutrition.org, which is essentially the same as what is at catinfo.org. I'm real pleased with how they are doing on it.

I don't think that 2 medallions (2 ounces) sounds like enough. I'm not sure why they can't have more? Mine average just under 4 ounces a day of the catinfo food, although on the NV Beandip (a 12lb cat) would rarely eat more than 3 ounces/day.

I'm not sure I know what you mean by "raw" kibble?

As far as mixing goes....One of my cats can't even tolerate getting any kibble along side of any wet food. It's all wet or nothing for him, or else he vomits. It's OK if he has a few kibbles with his wet in the morning, but definitely not at night. He's an extreme case, but an example of how mixing sometimes doesn't work. The transit times are different for the kibble vs. wet vs. raw. Sorry for the graphics, but it comes time to poop and out comes the wet just fine but then the digested kibble comes up right after that.


Beandip, Junior and Momma each get a touch less than 2 ounces of raw at 8am and again at 8pm. For Pixel and Pumpkin, they get 1.5oz of wet mixed w/1.5oz of raw at those same mealtimes. Paisley doesn't seem to be able to tolerate raw. She quits pooping, completely...for days on end. I've tried several methods and I got similar results...so she just eats canned. My other 2 are on canned food.

For switching, I just offered it as a "treat" and they ate it - basically. Most cats aren't so adaptable....it can take months of mixing and bribing and transitioning. Pumpkin tried the catinfo food when I sprinkled a bit of brewer's yeast on it for her. She'll try anything with that on it. It was harder to switch from dry to wet than from wet to raw. I mix the food for Pix and Pumpkin just because it's not that important to me to go one way or the other. They seem to like the mix more than either food by itself.

Prior to this, I was free feeding dry. When the wet and raw were added to the menu, some of them quit eating the dry and some didn't. Eventually I just eliminated the dry food from the menu.
 

panther pride

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I've looked at that site and find it frightening and strange. Thers this book Food pets die for. ....

The writer of the book, Ann N Martin, discovered euhtanized( misspelled but ya get the idea) dogs and cats were going into pet food. Thats... I cannot put it into words.... scary and sick.
It is them no different then if we humans were buying an unlabled brand of ground meat made with the processed meat of prisoners from death row


I'm going to buy that book and read up on it and see if my foods are safe, I think they are but I want to be sure, Also when the time comes to part ways with my cats I'm not leaving the bodies for the vet to deal with, nope I'm burying them in the backyard or at a park somewhere



Faced with this I'm proud of you for wanting to change your pets diet.
 
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misshoomom

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Originally Posted by Panther pride

I've looked at that site and find it frightening and strange. Thers this book Food pets die for. ....

The writer of the book, Ann N Martin, discovered euhtanized( misspelled but ya get the idea) dogs and cats were going into pet food. Thats... I cannot put it into words.... scary and sick.
It is them no different then if we humans were buying an unlabled brand of ground meat made with the processed meat of prisoners from death row


I'm going to buy that book and read up on it and see if my foods are safe, I think they are but I want to be sure, Also when the time comes to part ways with my cats I'm not leaving the bodies for the vet to deal with, nope I'm burying them in the backyard or at a park somewhere



Faced with this I'm proud of you for wanting to change your pets diet.
Yes, they just started a lawsuit about this. I am actually writing an article about it soon. Here is the info. on the lawsuit from a newspaper, you can also find a list of foods being sued for containing euthanized animals inside the actual lawsuit file. The link is on the right of the article.

http://cbs4.com/consumer/local_story_143224354.html

Thanks for the help, everyone. I was thinking only 2 medallions for my kitten, he's only four pounds & according to the prepackaged--that's only 2 medallions. I don't know the ounces on that. Will have to check into it further--thank you!
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by MissHoomom

Thanks for the help, everyone. I was thinking only 2 medallions for my kitten, he's only four pounds & according to the prepackaged--that's only 2 medallions. I don't know the ounces on that. Will have to check into it further--thank you!
Oh, ok...yes, at just 4lbs of body weight that's about right...but keep in mind that kittens could and should eat somewhere around double any recommended amounts.

Each medallion is an ounce. A general idea for recommended amounts is 2-3% of body weight. My fairly inactive 12 lb cat eats about 3-4oz a day (which is the same as 3-4 medallions)...but a growing kitten could easily eat that much or more.
 
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misshoomom

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Thank you! I did not know kittens should eat double.

Also, how long do you leave out the medallions? For my dog we thaw them and he devours them within seconds, I am afraid the cats will take their sweet time and it will spoil!
 

beandip

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These guys clean them up pretty quickly too....but I would say no more than 30 minutes.

My cats prefer them at about room temp, so I put them in a baggie and submerge them in ~80 degree water for a few minutes to take the chill off. I've heard of dogs that will eat them frozen
, but my cats are a little pickier.
 

sharky

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TRY NOT to mix dry with Raw at all...

Raw should be exiting the system at about 8 hours after consuption

Dry can take 18-24 hours

wet is about 12 hours

homemade varies on what is in it 10-14 from what I figure

The reason NOT to give the raw with dry is the dry will SLOW the raw thus exposing the animal to raw bacteria longer than it should...

My cat had to have hers fully thawed my dog will eat semi thawed with "blood"...

Raw kibble??? .. There are COOKED kibbles with freeze dry raw but RAW kibble there is NO such creature
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by MissHoomom

Yes, they just started a lawsuit about this. I am actually writing an article about it soon. Here is the info. on the lawsuit from a newspaper, you can also find a list of foods being sued for containing euthanized animals inside the actual lawsuit file. The link is on the right of the article.

http://cbs4.com/consumer/local_story_143224354.html

Thanks for the help, everyone. I was thinking only 2 medallions for my kitten, he's only four pounds & according to the prepackaged--that's only 2 medallions. I don't know the ounces on that. Will have to check into it further--thank you!
BEFORE the conspiarcy theroys fly.... Lawsuits like that HAVE BEEN DISMISSED mostly cause they have NO ACTUAL facts
... I know of Five off the top of my head...
 
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misshoomom

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Originally Posted by sharky

BEFORE the conspiarcy theroys fly.... Lawsuits like that HAVE BEEN DISMISSED mostly cause they have NO ACTUAL facts
... I know of Five off the top of my head...
IMO it is worth a read. It just points another finger at ingredients, allowing pet owners to decide for themselves which ingredients are best for their pet.


And, thank you for the advice. The Nature's Variety website suggests you rotate between their different textured products, I was under the impression the kibble was part of their prepackaged raw diet. I see that it is not, I would never mix dry with raw because of the different rates of digestion.
 

sharky

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I did read
... AHH yes the rotation diet is an interesting one ..lol.. with Gigi it turns out I did ... she eats some raw ( when I am home to ensure she did her stuff
) alot of homemade and some kibble( treats ) and occationally a can
 

renovia

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Originally Posted by MissHoomom

Thank you! I did not know kittens should eat double.

Also, how long do you leave out the medallions? For my dog we thaw them and he devours them within seconds, I am afraid the cats will take their sweet time and it will spoil!
luxor eats 1.5 medallions in the morning and again at night. they are gone with in 60 seconds, literally. he takes longer to eat other things. all cats are different - mine just happens to live for food.


Originally Posted by sharky

TRY NOT to mix dry with Raw at all...

Raw should be exiting the system at about 8 hours after consuption

Dry can take 18-24 hours

wet is about 12 hours

homemade varies on what is in it 10-14 from what I figure

The reason NOT to give the raw with dry is the dry will SLOW the raw thus exposing the animal to raw bacteria longer than it should...

My cat had to have hers fully thawed my dog will eat semi thawed with "blood"...

Raw kibble??? .. There are COOKED kibbles with freeze dry raw but RAW kibble there is NO such creature
when you mean mix, do you mean in the same day or at the same feeding time....I never give kibble with wet/raw food. i only use it as a quick snack or a treat so really no more than about 15-20 pieces at any one time.
 

vanillasugar

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Originally Posted by Renovia

when you mean mix, do you mean in the same day or at the same feeding time....I never give kibble with wet/raw food. i only use it as a quick snack or a treat so really no more than about 15-20 pieces at any one time.
I usually reccomend at least 8 hours (the digestion rate of raw food) between a raw meal and a kibble meal. Meaning, if you're feeding raw and kibble, it should be kibble for breakfast and raw for dinner (or vice versa depending on your schedule)
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by vanillasugar

I usually reccomend at least 8 hours (the digestion rate of raw food) between a raw meal and a kibble meal. Meaning, if you're feeding raw and kibble, it should be kibble for breakfast and raw for dinner (or vice versa depending on your schedule)
the english version of what I meant
 
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