Temporarily going all raw..thoughts?

My boys need to diet, especially Nermal, who needs to lose a good three pounds (a lot for a cat!) well I cant monitor dry food for six cats, so Im thinking to go all raw for a few months until they get to a good weight, and then bring dry back in. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I know its not ideal, and maybe Ill be able to afford to keep raw but until then I'll be feeding them a low fat (no skin) chicken diet. They love it, I feed Munchkin raw already.

I would try a sustainable diet... like maybe a mid level canned that come s in large cans...

Hi

Well if your kitties are currently eating dry only, chances are they won't go for the raw food right off the bat so you might want to try slowly switching them from the dry to canned to start and then incorporate the raw.

Here is a link on Switching foods that is very helpful. It helped me to successfully switch my boys from dry to canned.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...switchingfoods

Also check this one out, it talks about the importance of eating canned/raw in lieu of dry:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=...needcannedfood

This particular article was *pivotal* in helping me make the switch from dry to canned:

http://www.catinfo.org/index.htm#Tra...o_Canned_Food_

So your Munchkin already loves the raw, that is fantastic! Are you giving it to him plain or are you adding vitamins etc. to it?

Just for your information, Rascal took to the canned food relatively quickly, much to my surprise, but Samson wanted no part of it. The smell just turned him off and he wouldn't even eat his dry if the canned was near his bowl. But now he is eating the canned

So those articles should be very helpful, but if you have any questions or need some further advice please don't hesitate.

If you can find a way to afford to continue feeding raw after they lose weight I think you would be glad of it in the long term. They will be much less at risk for serious, chronic ailments. What you spend today in raw food you will likely save in vet bills down the road. A lot of people struggle for a very long time to get their cats to eat raw because they know it is healthier for them.

One of mine, Jeta, is currently eating nothing but raw. I'm trying to transition the others to all raw but even if none of them ever take to it I will continue to give Jeta raw. She is prone to struvite crystals and on the raw her urine pH stays at 6.2, perfect to prevent crystals. When she ate dry and canned it was 7.0 - 8.0.

Of course not all cats are prone to crystals. That's just one example of an ailment that can be prevented bt feeding raw.

They all looove raw, I usually give them a little bit for breakfast, just do they dont feel left out. I think thats why Nermal got so fat so fast, he was eating his raw super fast and was stuffing himself.
I use the recipe from http://www.catnutrition.org/recipes.php which is chicken with added vitamins with chicken hearts (not just supplements).
Im not interested in going canned because cans are more expensive than making raw but Im a little worried that if the time comes to switch back to dry the low moisture food will be a problem for them.

The switch from dry, to raw, then back to dry.....my thoughts are that they'd get fat again right away when back on the dry....and that it's probably not that good to go back & forth like that.

I wouldnt be free feeding dry any more, Im not sure how I'd manage to get them all the right amount of food without someone trying to hog out of another bowl but Im sure I could come up with something after a few months contemplation

Balence the raw and dry to your $$ so both stay at the same level

Maybe what I'll do is mostly raw, with about 1/4 cup dry at night. That way they'd still get crunchy bits for their teeth and it'd be a tiny bit cheaper, and I should be able to monitor the dry feeding when there is only 1/4 cup for each of them.

Originally Posted by MonaxLisa

Maybe what I'll do is mostly raw, with about 1/4 cup dry at night. That way they'd still get crunchy bits for their teeth and it'd be a tiny bit cheaper, and I should be able to monitor the dry feeding when there is only 1/4 cup for each of them.

Click to expand...

That sounds reasonable ... thou with the number of cats likely 1/2 a cup