Trying Raw

happilyretired

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Recently I posted how my boy eats wet but has rejected every premium brand I've tried and is wedded to Fancy Feast.

Today I visited a local "pet spa" because I'm going to try boarding him (long story; another thread); it's connected to an animal hospital, and when I went in to arrange things, I noticed that they sell packaged raw food (frozen) for dogs and cats. One of their vets is a holistic practitioner.

So I bought a sample bag to try, and tomorrow he'll have his first raw meal.
If he loves it (as I hope), it's going to be expensive, but I think it will be worthwhile in the long run.

I'll keep you posted.
 

mschauer

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Good for you!


Have you checked out some of the sites recommended here so that you know what feeding raw is all about? Here are a couple of good ones:

www.catinfo.org
www.catnutrition.org

Once you get into it and do some research I think you'll find there are less expensive and *almost* as easy ways to feed raw as buying premade.

Be aware that some cats may like raw but may not like some of the premades. The premades can have a lot of unnessary (IMO) stuff mixed in that they may not like. You might want to try some plain ground chicken, turkey or beef to test whether they like raw.
 

jack31

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Good luck

Our boys have been eating a raw meal each day for about a week now and they love it. I'm trying to find all my sources etc and get a deep freeze before I jump 100% in but I'm thrilled thus far with everything. I have about 10 lbs of turkey and chicken for them right now portioned and frozen.

Leslie
 
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happilyretired

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I gave him a little chopped beef (grass-fed) once when I was about to mix a meat loaf, and he devoured it.

I wonder about this pre-made. He's not used to his food cold; do you think it would hurt to microwave it for about 30 sec. to get the chill out without cooking it?
 

jack31

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I wouldn't nuke it. I warm the boys food in a plastic baggy sitting in a bowl of warm water.

Leslie
 

auntie crazy

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Hi, HappilyRetired! (LOVE that name!)

I'm pretty sure cooking or microwaving raw food destroys some, if not a lot, of the nutrients, enzymes, etc. that make raw food such a nutritious choice for our cats, so I wouldn't do it.

If you want to take the chill off the food, you could put it in a plastic bag and drop the bag into a dish of warm water for a few minutes.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
 

sharky

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With raw food you do not want the temp of it to get above 140 degrees F otherwise you are cooking it .... NEVER NEVER cook anything with bone of any kind... I do both raw and cooked ( homemade ) and thus buy accordingly ... raw is thawed and I use cool water baths
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by HappilyRetired

I gave him a little chopped beef (grass-fed) once when I was about to mix a meat loaf, and he devoured it.
Great! You have something to work from if he doesn't like the premade. Hopefully he'll like the premade.

I wonder about this pre-made. He's not used to his food cold; do you think it would hurt to microwave it for about 30 sec. to get the chill out without cooking it?
Like the others said, microwaving is against the raw feeders credo!
A warm water bath does the trick for me.
 
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happilyretired

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Thanks for the warm water/plastic bag tip!

So far he HATES the stuff, but I'm going to keep trying for a while. He sniffs it and ignores it. That's worse than he did with the premium canned I've tried. At least with that, he nibbled it a little before rejecting it.

Cats!
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by HappilyRetired

Thanks for the warm water/plastic bag tip!

So far he HATES the stuff, but I'm going to keep trying for a while. He sniffs it and ignores it. That's worse than he did with the premium canned I've tried. At least with that, he nibbled it a little before rejecting it.

Cats!
You can try a slow transition. Mix a tiny bit into his regular food and gradually increase the amount over several days or even weeks. Since you already know he likes ground beef, you could do the slow transition with it. That is, mix a tiny bit of the premade with ground beef and gradually increase.
 
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happilyretired

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Thanks for the tip about mixing. I'm going to the supermarket tomorrow, so I'll get some ground beef and try that with the premade raw.
 
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happilyretired

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I gave him some of the pre-made raw mixed with ground beef this morning--but he sniffed and rejected it. Perhaps I was too eager and put too much of the cat food in. I'll try again tomorrow with just the beef, and then if he eats that, at his next feeding, I'll add a "smidgen" of the raw mix.

If this fails, I may try mixing it with his Fancy Feast to see if he'll eat it then.
 

sharky

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some take to raw really quick others take a while and some never do ...

good luck with mixing
 

auntie crazy

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There may be something in the commercially-prepared mix he doesn't like; certainly, there's stuff in there he doesn't need.

I'm curious, why are you using a pre-made raw food instead of just buying raw food? It's the much less expensive to do it yourself and you know your cat will eat it (that's a huge part of the battle won right there!).
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

There may be something in the commercially-prepared mix he doesn't like; certainly, there's stuff in there he doesn't need.

I'm curious, why are you using a pre-made raw food instead of just buying raw food? It's the much less expensive to do it yourself and you know your cat will eat it (that's a huge part of the battle won right there!).
truthfully the cost is area dependent ... I get pre done without "extras" for about 1.50 less per lb than doing it myself for beef about 3 $ a lb less for chicken ... of course it can also be store dependent as I found a 3$ a lb difference between local stores .. I should note my pre mades are from local butchers who do it themselves for many of us pet owners

I second the is there something he may not want or need in the pre done.. or is it a simple meat organ bone or meat organ combo??
 

fuzmugly

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If you're comfortable without pre-made, try offering a chicken wing. If not, there a lot of pre-made mixes to choose from. Just because your cat does not like what you have offered so far, does not mean that your cat will not - does not want to eat raw.
 
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happilyretired

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I don't know whether he's not suspicious of all food but he would not touch the raw mixed with either beef or his own canned food. He would not even touch the plain raw beef which he once devoured. It may be because I've spent time trying to get him to accept premium canned food that he's now holding out for Fancy Feast or nothing.

Quite frankly, I'm ready to give up. I keep reminding myself that my former cat thrived for 18+ years on Fancy Feast without any major illnesses or problems, so how bad can it be?

At least for the little dry food he eats, I've got him on grain free.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by HappilyRetired

I don't know whether he's not suspicious of all food but he would not touch the raw mixed with either beef or his own canned food. He would not even touch the plain raw beef which he once devoured. It may be because I've spent time trying to get him to accept premium canned food that he's now holding out for Fancy Feast or nothing.

Quite frankly, I'm ready to give up. I keep reminding myself that my former cat thrived for 18+ years on Fancy Feast without any major illnesses or problems, so how bad can it be?

At least for the little dry food he eats, I've got him on grain free.
I don't think you need to feel badly about feeding FF. I think it is a decent enough food particularly the low carb ones (the "Gourmet" varieties).

If a cat doesn't take to raw right away it can take a lot of patience and persistence to make the transition. So far the only ones of mine that are all raw (Jeta and Zara) are the ones that took to it right away. I think Coco could benefit from it because she has digestion problems. But Toby, who won't even taste raw, well I don't know if I'll ever get him eating it and it wouldn't bother me a lot if he didn't since he does eat low carb wet foods.
 
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