This is going to be one for the books! Transitioning Lucky, Bugsy and Hope to Raw.... Challenges... - Page 25

Forgot to give Lucky the appetite stimulant at noon I will just give her at 8pm so I only need to pill her 2x a day - in the am with the cerenia, and at night Oh Carolina.......
She ate 0.6oz of WL chicken at 5pm.... total 2.85oz

Since it is 4-6 days, I will do an average - Tuesday will be the last day........ Hopefully she will hold food down without it

Dinner was amazing for Hope and Bugsy - They had Turkey -it took only the first sprinkle of WL chicken, and that was it - GONE - they polished their plates clean

I tried to reduce their intake by a bit once again, as they are both gaining weight they were SO hungry and sad I couldn't take it - I gave each a piece of fresh chicken to chew....
This week what I am going to do is monitor/completely cut treats - sometimes I do give them a pice of WL chicken or the left overs from Lucky's meals..... no more.....
Hope is porking out big time, and Bugsy....... well... that boy is going on the reverse direction

Lucky didn't have such a good meal...... I decided to offer her raw only instead of the chicken with raw next to it..... I was hopeful, as she did lick at it..... not enough to count, but at least she tried and ventured at it.
BUT a little after.... she started showing signs of nausea - licking her lips and crouching on the floor

The next meal I tried feeding her chicken with raw next to it - complete aversion form it.... and she ate very little chicken too... probably around 0.15 oz or so
Her total consumption for the day is 3oz...... with the conclusion that she needs more time - raw is still making her sick

Yeah..... momma is a little basket case overhere
At least I can see that she is feeling better..... She is acting fine.... And although she is not running around the house with Hope yet, she is being extra loving, obnoxious, alert..... eating, etc..... I am hoping she will get better eating raw..... really really am.... I don't want to think about kibbles.... but, if it comes to that.... well.... at least she will be healthy while I introduce her back to raw - it won't be forever. I guess we do it again For now we keep going.

Yep, everyone is porking up around here....
Hope and Bugsy are LOVING their foods - that is the good news - now I really need to figure out QTYs...... they are looking pretty round..... and well.... that was not the point of this thing for Bugsy

Great meal for Hope and Bugsy once again They had mainly Turkey, mixed with a bit of lamb - ate very very quickly and with minimum help.

Lucky had another 0.65oz of WL chicken in her plate with raw. She did not eat any raw..... and from her plate, ate only a little. The rest I had to hand feed her. Total intake for the day: 3.65oz. Total for the day, 4.25oz
Another 0.60oz for miss Lucky on her late-late night meal..... and we are all going to bed now.....

Lucky can't have anything to eat tomorrow morning She is going to the dentist and will be under anesthesia for her mouth x-rays..... she will be a hungry little girl when she comes back! for my little lady and that she won't need any antibiotics

I have Chicken and Rabbit defrosting in the fridge for my little carnivores tomorrow Of course the chicken strips as well
In the next couple of days will be giving them some NM's lamb
Edited by Carolina - 2/20/12 at 11:31pm

Lucky is starving. She is going to the dentist today for mouth x-rays at 1pm, which is done under anesthesia, and can't have any food this morning. To say she is waiting for food is an understatement. She s downright breaking my heart into a million pieces
She woke me up for breakfast.... brought me to the kitchen.... waited by my feet while I prepared what supposedly was her food .... and RAN to her room for it..... Then waited in there crying and crying, calling for me..... not understanding why Bugsy and Hope were eating and she was not
I know I am being silly..... I know this is not a big deal.... But it just breaks my heart seeing my sick little girl going hungry and not being able to tell her why - I just feel SO mean....

Bugsy and Hope had 1/2 Lamb and 1/2 Strips of fresh chicken for breakfast. Hope went straight to the chicken. No enticement, nothing. Only after she was done with both pieces, she moved on to the lamb - one sprinkle and she licked her plate clean - she is definitely a no-fuss carnivore now!

Bugsy started with the lamb.... One sprinkle also, and licked the plate clean.... He then moved to the chicken strips - ate the first one, and to finish the second one I had t sprinkle some WL on it. BTW - these are not tiny pieces.... These are large strips of meat as I really want them to chew and cut the meat - I want them to work those jaws and brush those teeth! They are getting 1oz a day each, at breakfast -
Here is a picture of Bugsy going at it - you can see the size:



SO proud of my little carnivores

Ok..... So back from the dentist with Lucky..... and it was interesting..... There are certainties and uncertainties.

The positives: She does not have an infection, doesn't require immediate surgery/dental, is not in pain, and there isn't anything MAJOR going on.
The negatives: She does have juvenile periodontal disease - she will very likely loose all of her small little frontal bottom teeth - the roots look quite bad already.
The uncertain: We do not know if she was born with permanent canines, or only with baby ones, and that's why they fell off. There are conflicting possibilities there. Or, she could have a condition where the canine roots were under developed - just shallow.
In the x-ray, the channel for the root showed a match to a permanent tooth.... however, the way she lost her tooth, and the way that the gum is completely flat a day or so after losing it, no holes, no injuries, no infections, no damage to the bone or gums whatsoever - makes it appear as though there was barely any root holding the teeth, which matches the profile of a baby tooth.
It is completely plausible - Like mother like daughter..... Weird coincidences I was borne this way Yep - I was borne with 3 pre-molars that had no permanent teeth "germ" to grow..... Isn't that wild that Lucky came to me?

Anyway.... The tooth that just fell off left a few root fragments inside the bone, but they are so tine, they will be reabsorbed - no need to worry. They were more concerned about her getting better from her tummy - did not want to stress her anymore with anesthesia/medications, etc. Said it will be good to have a dental in a few months..... but, what will really come down to, is home tooth care; and diet alone won't do it. I will have to brush her teeth D-A-I-L-Y

Talk about being a MOM!
On a good note........... She got home and was STARVING - I mean- she could have eaten the walls - the poor little thing.... So, I fed her 0.9oz of WL chicken...... and....... Drum-rolls please!!!!!!! 0.30oz of Rad Cat Chicken
I know it is not much....... But she ate it - every single bit of it!!!!! And now I have the hope that if she is hungry enough..... and if I wear some pants here..... and don't offer her the chicken...... she might eat the raw like the good old times!
So far no signs of nausea......
I know I said I was stopping the cerenia today.... But if I switch her to raw today I think I am doing the complete length - which includes tomorrow.... Just to be sure. That is not an extra day.... It is just the complete course (recommended 4-6 days, and tomorrow is the 6th).
oh, yeah, .... for those thinking kibbles = good teeth..... RIGHT
Edit: 4pm another 0.3 oz of Rad Cat Total intake: 1.5oz
Edited by Carolina - 2/21/12 at 2:10pm

For Lucky, at least, it was dinner time, and not dinner.... She didn't want to eat.... I offered her only raw.... and she refused it no matter what I did. Sitting with her, bringing her to the room with the others, putting a bit and a lot of WL.... She just did not want anything to do with raw.... She threw all her charm trying to get me to give her some chicken - she knows I knew what she wanted..... For now though, I am not giving in - at this point I know a few things:
1: She can handle raw and it is not causing her nausea - this is new, as of today
2: She does like the meat, but it is addicted to WL chicken - I HAVE to break that up
3: She will eat, given that she is hungry enough - she has shown me that today
4: She is safe to go without food for a bit of hunger convincing for a day or so She ate well yesterday and the days before.... and if push comes to shove, I will give her enough chicken in the last meal to get her by. Not for now.

I need to use her hunger for her own good - If I continue to offer her chicken she will reject the raw..... Chicken is McDonald, Raw is broccoli....

Hope and Bugsy had Chicken.... and ate well, in spite of not being their favorite meat. This is the only meat that they still need a second sprinkle of WL chicken - But I still give it to them - I like having variety in their plates.... and sure enough, they still eat the whole thing, and do well on it - so momma is happy all the same

Around 8:30 I will offer a bit of raw to Lucky again - Hopefully she will take it

Oh yeah...... she has been a alright
8:30 meal didn't go well either - she know what she wants and that is NOT raw. She took a few licks with a LOT of insisting...... and was very reluctant to it. well..... Let's see at dinner..... I will try it again..... and if she refuses it before I go to bed I give her chicken.

Tomorrow at Breakfast we start the Raw "torture" all over again - that poor child

Getting ready to try again....

yeah....... you can declare Lucky the winner by Knock Out!
Oh no momma, you forgot to include MY plans in YOUR plans, Lucky says Again, Lucky wanted nothing to do with raw..... and she was starving.... I tried many things, including putting little pieces of chicken on the top of the raw, to work her appetite.... didn't work....
I could not let her sleep on 1.5 oz.... So I caved in I also didn't want to make meal times traumatizing for her, and they were starting to be
My poor little girl..... come back to the dark side little girl
She ended up eating 1.10oz of Chicken (WL) for a total of 2.6oz

Hope and Bugsy had Hare Today and loved it - Hope couldn't have enough!! She sat down and with one sprinkle of WL chicken, licked her plate clean Bugsy needed one extra sprinkle towards the end, and that was it

Because of Lucky, I have Chicken and Rabbit in the fridge right now.... along with the fresh cut of meat

Cross your fingers and send continued vibes for Lucky please..... she needs to get going here

Edit: Offered her 2 dry WL large pieces before going to bed - about 1oz if rehydrated..... total 3.6oz. just felt awful for her.
Edited by Carolina - 2/22/12 at 12:09am

This is not going to be easy

The clock is ticking, and the tick-tack sound keeps getting louder and louder in my head
For breakfast, I underfed her 0.6oz of chicken, and tried feeding her some raw - no go. Then I did it again - no go for the raw again. In the end, she had 1oz of chicken, 0of raw

Bugsy and Hope had Rad Cat Lamb and Strips of fresh chicken this morning. They started with the lamb, and just took one little sprinkle to polish all clean
Hope immediately proceeded to eat her chicken, and finished it all up without any help
Bugsy started without help, but needed a little sprinkle to finish it off.
I am not sure what it is, but whenever I feed the strips Bugsy and hope don't seem as satisfied as when I feed a complete ground meal - they still look for food afterwards..... Maybe it is not as filling They still look hungry, even though ounce per ounce the QTY is exactly the same.

Lucky is hanging out by the kitchen.... I will feed her another meal close to 1pm - I will have to leave for a while, and will be back only at dinner time.... she will be hungry for a while. poor little girl.... I feel bad for my princess

Yep - your assumption is right - back to the plan that worked with kibbles....... and hoping for the best

I got home late for their dinner - everyone was staaaaarving!!
I forgot to add that Lucky had 0.75oz for Lunch, so when I left her intake was 1.75oz of WL chicken - no raw.

Tonight I tried raw again....... for no avail. She ate 1.10ozof WL chicken for a total of 2.85 oz so far. I will feed her a couple of meals before we go to bed.
I will also defrost some Turkey - just a bit..... and see if offering that makes a difference

Hope and Bugsy had Rad Cat Lamb mixed with Rad Cat Chicken - They took an extra sprinkle to finish, but that was it. I am going to follow Laurie's advice and see how we do on the weight loss this week: I will let them "Self-Regulate" from now on.......... Meaning..... One sprinkle to start, and whatever they don't eat, that's it. No more sprinkles. If they don't finish their meals, I will assume they are full
Let's see what happens...... maybe Bugsy and Hope will finally stop gaining and will naturally start losing weight - this was in the plans..... at least for Bugsy

For Lucky, I decided that the clock will tick as long as she needs - I will just supplement the chicken so she is getting the taurine, calcium and the vitamins she would be getting otherwise This way I am not stressed out, neither is she. It is what is it....... She has to come back at her own pace..... and unfortunately her pace doesn't match my plans

Brother...... Will she ever come back? Oh boy oh boy
She had 0.8oz of WL chicken for dinner tonight. I offered her Rad Cat Turkey to see if it would make any difference.... nah - not a bit. She rejected it all the same. Total intake for the day: 3.65 oz - I will offer her another meal before going to bed
At the very least I need to bring her back to a schedule - these little meals are no longer working...... Will be forcing larger meals to get her going on a schedule beginning tomorrow.

Hope and Bugsy had Rabbit (Hare Today) One sprinkle was all it took for Hope to clean her plate...... Not for Bugsy though. The self regulate idea would not go well today..... well.... not completely anyways.... He stopped eating when 1/2 of his food was left - I could not let that happen - it was too much. I gave him 2 extra sprinkles, and didn't insist. I think he left about 0.4oz.... at that point he was full..... I am VERY happy with HT rabbit - awesome meat, and the kids LOVE it
Another 0.7oz for the princess..... 4.35oz today
Edited by Carolina - 2/23/12 at 12:24am