Started them on raw tonight :D

Thanks.

We ran some errands, among them picking up cat food. :lol3: We were down to exactly Feline's Pride rabbit (in the fridge) - which they do not like.

Came home with:

4 pounds Primal Turkey (it arrived!)
3 pounds NV chicken medallions
2 pound NV chicken chub
2 pounds Vital Essentials chicken patties
3 pounds NV lamb

It barely fit in the freezer, and that was after repacking so all medallions/patties were flat, removing the ice cube trays, and putting a bunch of chicken and 8 oz of lamb in the fridge. :lol3:

Spooky was out. I didn't bother with raw, but grabbed a can of stinky Wellness chicken & salmon. She ate 3.66 ounces of it! but *phew* :lol3:

Obviously she didn't show up for dinner (which was only 1.5 hours later, and served late).
I offered the bowl to Shel - he ate 1.15 oz.
Flowerbelle at 0.24 oz.

*********************************************
Dinner was 100% lamb for Laz, Tux, Spook, and Flowerbelle, and 75% lamb/25% FP rabbit for Shel, Billy, Chumley, and Ming Loy.

Ming Loy walked away. This is the 2nd time. She does NOT like the rabbit. Since Spooky didn't show up for dinner, I gave Ming Loy Spooky's lamb. She liked that. :lol3: She also enjoyed the larger portion.

Laz 0.40 oz
Shel 0.40 oz
Tux 0.60 oz
Flowerbelle 0.25 oz

So I took a 3 oz can of Wellness Turkey and plopped 1/3 of it on each boy's bowl of raw. They ate it.

Then I added water to what was left, another sprinkle of toppers (Fortiflora for Tux, WL chicken for Laz and Shel), and they all ate a little more (Laz, 0.15 oz, Shel 0.20 oz, and Tux 0.15 oz).

Total Dinner Intake:

Lazlo 0.75 oz
Shel 0.80 oz
Tux 0.95 oz
Spook 0 oz
Flowerbelle 0.25 oz

So the running total for the day is....

Lazlo 5.63 oz (and several rounds of WL chicken treats - 4-5 pieces each time)
Shel 5.32 oz
Tux 3.00 oz
Spooky 4.04 oz
Flowerbelle 1.72 oz (I missed a snack in the mid-day running total for Flowerbelle).

So everyone but Flowerbelle is on track. Not happy Spooky ate it all at one meal, but... what I'm wondering is why Flowerbelle doesn't seem hungry at all. :dk: Maybe since the Norvasc, she's sleeping more than she did ... so she only needs 2% of her body weight? (2.4 oz of food)?

YAY for Spooky - PHEW - I am relieved to hear that she ate THAT much food 3.66 ounces of Wellness Wonderful :rub:

AWWWW sweet, darling Flowerbelle. Laurie, I am sure the Norvasc is causing her to be a little lethargic (relaxed ) and possible causing a bit of a decreased appetite. I really commend you for taking this on for your babies - this raw transition is not easy by any stretch - but you are managing this SO well. :heart3: :heart3:

I think I will go and get some NV Lamb!!! I have not tried that one yet - maybe my cats will like that better than the S&C Lamb. Does it really stink like the S%C Lamb? Presley hates that smell ALSO - Four Legs sells Vital Essentials I wonder IF I should try that chicken brand since you say your cats like it better than the NV chicken. It might be worth a try. I just don't have room in the freezer for ALL of these bags that the four P's will be refusing to eat - The ferals have been very happy the last two days :lol3:

Yeah, I've never seen Spooky eat that much at one go! :lol3: I don't know WHY she is so off schedule but... I'll take what I can get right now. :nod:

As far as I can tell, the NV lamb smells just as strong as the S&C lamb. :lol3: I think mine preferred the S&C lamb, but no S&C of any kind arrived today. :dk: That's partially why I went home with so much chicken. But when they get sick of chicken, lamb works; and when they get sick of lamb, chicken works. Rabbit does not work. :lol3: Only NV rabbit, and who knows when it'll be available again?

And the ferals are LOVING this!!!!!

LDG said:

And the ferals are LOVING this!!!!!

Click to expand...

It will make quite the successful trapping season - barely do they know what comes with all the hanging around

Yeah, and it's so unseasonably warm, we'd better get to it! We know of at least five, though we don't see any of them here. SOMEONE is eating all this food, and it is far more than "our" four. :lol3:

OK! Spooky came out from under the bed again at around 9:00, so she had a snack, which then got offered to the other fussies. She didn't want the lamb medallion I quickly smooshed up, so I dropped Wellness turkey & salmon on it, because she seems to be eating that.

So, with dinner and snack combined, the daily total intakes were:

Lazlo 8.61 oz (GO LAZLO :lol3: The appetite stimulant obviously worked - this is 2x what he needs and I normally give him. And that doesn't include all the WL chicken pieces he got. :lol3.
Shel 6.93 oz (I think he was especially hungry, as he wasn't eating much the last few days, so took advantage of the canned supplement)
Tux 4.70 oz
Spooky 5.97 oz
Flowerbelle 2.73 oz

So everyone is doing fine on intake - except Flowerbelle. But she isn't acting hungry at all. If she only needs 2% of her target weight, then she did fine.

Dinner was NV lamb for Lazlo and Spooky. I'm keeping him on the one protein and canned until I'm sure diarrhea isn't a problem. No poop at all today, so I think this will be like last time - knock wood - and is already clearing up. :cross:
75% NV lamb / 25% Vital Essentials chicken for Billy, Chumley, Ming Loy, and Flowerbelle
Note: Ming Loy walked away from the bowl again! She was not going to eat it. I think she's sick of lamb. I gave her the S&C Shel didn't eat, and she ate with gusto LOL.
S&C chicken rehydrated for Shelly and Tuxedo.

Laz only ate a little of the NV lamb, and Shel ate a quarter ounce of S&C chicken (rehydrated). So I swapped their bowls, and Shel at about half an ounce of the NV lamb, and Lazlo ate about a half an ounce of the S&C chicken rehydrated. :lol3:

I'll figure out tomorrow what their percentages of raw vs canned were.

Poop-O-Meter report: Everything seems back to normal. :cross: No signs of diarrhea or mucous so far! If it stays this way, it HAD to be those turkey treats. :nod:

OK... Lazlo woke us frequently for WL chicken throughout the night. :lol3: The frequency with which he's asking for food is calming down a bit. But at least he's back eating again, and smell doesn't seem to be as big a problem. I think we're over the hump from the chemo treatment, and I doubt he'll need another dose of the app stimulant. :cross:

Breakfast 2/8/2012 Wednesday

Lazlo had NV lamb
Shel & Tux had cut up chicken thigh
Spooky had 75% NV lamb and 25% VE chicken
Flowerbelle had 25% NV lamb and 75% VE chicken
Billy, Ming Loy, and Chumley had 100% VE chicken

Laz and Tux each ate about a half ounce of raw. Flowerbelle ate 0.25 oz. (She seems to generally eat in 1/4 ounce portions, but I couldn't convince her to eat more raw). So I plopped Wellness turkey & salmon on top of their raw.

Total Breakfast Intake:

Lazlo 1.03 oz
Shel 2.0 oz (He ate his 1.5 oz of chicken thigh and the half ounce Tuxie didn't finish LOL).
Tux 1.01 oz
Spooky 1.00 oz
Flowerbelle 0.52 oz

LDG said:

Poop-O-Meter report: Everything seems back to normal. :cross: No signs of diarrhea or mucous so far! If it stays this way, it HAD to be those turkey treats. :nod:
OK... Lazlo woke us frequently for WL chicken throughout the night. :lol3: The frequency with which he's asking for food is calming down a bit. But at least he's back eating again, and smell doesn't seem to be as big a problem. I think we're over the hump from the chemo treatment, and I doubt he'll need another dose of the app stimulant. :cross:
Breakfast 2/8/2012 Wednesday
Lazlo had NV lamb
Shel & Tux had cut up chicken thigh
Spooky had 75% NV lamb and 25% VE chicken
Flowerbelle had 25% NV lamb and 75% VE chicken
Billy, Ming Loy, and Chumley had 100% VE chicken
Laz and Tux each ate about a half ounce of raw. Flowerbelle ate 0.25 oz. (She seems to generally eat in 1/4 ounce portions, but I couldn't convince her to eat more raw). So I plopped Wellness turkey & salmon on top of their raw.
Total Breakfast Intake:
Lazlo 1.03 oz
Shel 2.0 oz (He ate his 1.5 oz of chicken thigh and the half ounce Tuxie didn't finish LOL).
Tux 1.01 oz
Spooky 1.00 oz
Flowerbelle 0.52 oz

Click to expand...

Excellent Laurie!!! Just Excellent!!!

WOW you had a great ending results for yesterday's intakes YAY FURBABIES!!!!!!! :rub: :rub: :rub: That IS a lot of food for Lazlo - SO happy to hear he is eating well. AND poops are better. Must have been those turkey treats!!

Good breakfast report too Here's to another good day !!!!! :bigthumb: :bigwink:

OK.... since all is well on the poop front, I decided to introduce the Primal turkey. It was at about 20% to the NV chicken at 80%.

Spooky didn't eat any despite toppers, so I broke out the Wellness chicken. She still didn't eat much.
Laz only ate 1/3 of an ounce of raw. I added the canned - and then he finished up most of the raw and ate very little of the canned! :lol3:
Shel ate almost all of his raw (an ounce), then almost an ounce of canned.
Flowerbelle only ate the raw. I offered her canned, she didn't eat any.
Tux ate 50% raw/50% canned.

2/8/2012 Lunch
Lazlo 1.29 oz
Shel 1.81 oz
Tux 1.62 oz
Spooky 0.20 oz
Flowerbelle 0.52 oz

LDG said:

OK.... since all is well on the poop front, I decided to introduce the Primal turkey. It was at about 20% to the NV chicken at 80%.
Spooky didn't eat any despite toppers, so I broke out the Wellness chicken. She still didn't eat much.
Laz only ate 1/3 of an ounce of raw. I added the canned - and then he finished up most of the raw and ate very little of the canned! :lol3:
Shel ate almost all of his raw (an ounce), then almost an ounce of canned.
Flowerbelle only ate the raw. I offered her canned, she didn't eat any.
Tux ate 50% raw/50% canned.
2/8/2012 Lunch
Lazlo 1.29 oz
Shel 1.81 oz
Tux 1.62 oz
Spooky 0.20 oz
Flowerbelle 0.52 oz

Click to expand...

Aside from Spookie...... major success! Silly Lazlo

I am so glad that its going well for you hun.x

Took Laz to the vet for his post-chemo blood work. Grabbed Tux to get his nails clipped (wanted him weighed too LOL).

Lazlo gained weight! He went from 12.1 pounds 2 weeks and 2 days ago back to 12.6!!! Tuxie also gained weight. He was last weighed 12/20, but he went from 11.4 pounds to 11.8 pounds. :lol3: So... they both actually need to lose weight. But the good news is I can't trust my eyes.

**********************

So everyone's getting sick of NV lamb and NV chicken, and they don't like that rabbit, and that's what we have. Well - the turkey. But I really think I need something other than patties. They like raw - but not commercial with other stuff.

I picked up some lamb at the store today. I handed out samples, and everyone liked it.

So dinner was NV lamb for Laz, Shel, Spook, and Tux.
50% NV lamb/50% chicken for Flowerbelle
100% NV chicken for Ming Loy, Billy, and Chumley.

Everyone got some cut up lamb on top - Tux and Shel more than the others.

Shel ate some of the NV lamb, but only about 1/4 ounce. So I cut up some more lamb for him. He ate half an ounce.

Spooky ate a few pieces of lamb at the trial hand-out. But when I started getting bowls ready, she went under the bed when I called for dinner. :lol3: She came out an hour later, and ate canned.

Billy did NOT touch dinner. I had to pick out the pieces of lamb for him. He ate those. In the end, I gave him canned.

Total Dinner intake:

Lazlo 1.34 oz
Shel 1.44 oz
Tux 1.56 oz
Spooky 0.70 oz
Flowerbelle 0.62 oz
And Bill didn't empty the bowl of canned I gave him. He ate 0.70 oz. Of course - I'm not worried about his eating, knock wood.

I really don't want to waste all this money. Everything was repacked so it fit in the freezer - it's not like I can return it. But I'm thinking about ordering Nature's Menu or Hare Today and supplements, and tossing this stuff to make room when the other stuff arrives.

Spook is still under-eating. :slant:

Well don't toss it!  Post it on craigslist or a local swap/shop or join a raw feeding list and offer it. Someone would buy it off you.  I have to say, you are so organized on what everybody eats!  Cats get bored, I know mine will stare at me and ignore the food when I offer chicken, she wants me to drop a mouse instead so I have to leave for her to eat.  She downs rabbit and organs immediately, duck she thinks about for a minute, cgh is usually eaten fast, chicken and turkey she might yowl at me a bit until she figures out nothing else is coming. 

Good idea - but as I don't have freezer space, someone would have to take it the day the shipment arrives (if I do this). I can mention it to the vet - I'm sure there are at least people feeding their dogs raw food. At worst, I can give it away. :lol3:

I'm organized about it right now only because I've been concerned about cats losing weight. The only one I'm worried about at this point is Spooky.

I desperately need freezer space to do this right! I think they're ready for meat... but I need space!

Laurie Hun, I have to agree with GoingPostal here.... And I have a suggestion..... This meat will last a long time frozen..... chances are, they will eat later in the game :nod: I bet that meat cost you more than the $75 you would spend in the freezer now.... or even $100 - for the one you have been dreaming about it. Time to consider getting it and storing that food in it. You will use it in the future. These kitties might not want it today, but in a couple of months they will... I have meats here with expiration dates of December.... I am not tossing them... I would think twice about that :nod:
Also: if you are ordering online, the more you order, the less you pay per pound in shipping - even 5lbs more make a huge difference, as the shipping charge is virtually the same for 12, or 20lbs, for example. Keep that in mind :nod:

Yeah, I KNOW. I'm searching for the freezer!!!!!

LDG said:

Yeah, I KNOW. I'm searching for the freezer!!!!!

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May the power of the Freezer Gods be with you, my friend :lol3:

It won't get any better,  there's never enough freezer space.  First I needed a freezer to feed raw, got one for free, then I really needed an upright freezer to make things easier to find, found a larger standup for cheap, but then I decided to feed a dog raw too so now both freezers are running lol! 

GoingPostal said:

It won't get any better,  there's never enough freezer space.  First I needed a freezer to feed raw, got one for free, then I really needed an upright freezer to make things easier to find, found a larger standup for cheap, but then I decided to feed a dog raw too so now both freezers are running lol! 

Click to expand...

OK..... you have gone ALL the way girl! plus, you have a what? Pit bull you are feeding there? Bit different than little kitty cats :lol3::lol3::lol3:
But.... It HAS to get better to Laurie.... She lives in an RV.... and she has an RV style freezer..... tiny tiny.... no space at all..... for anything.... A pack of NV Patties will take almost the whole thing
Bit different situation there