Cats on raw still have stool everyday?

I do not leave any food out.  Cats aren't cows , they don't need to graze all day, and having food available all the time is actually hard on their bodies!  http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/free-feeding-food-cats-are-not-cows  is an article about why cats don't need food available all the time.

Jemma Lucy said:

Also I forgot to add , I kinda feel guilty if i dont put out some dry kibble for them while im at work.. do you let your cats graze on any type of food while your not there?

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furryfriends50 said:

I do not leave any food out.  Cats aren't cows

, they don't need to graze all day, and having food available all the time is actually hard on their bodies!  http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/free-feeding-food-cats-are-not-cows is an article about why cats don't need food available all the time.

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I agree with you in not leaving food out - mine are all on schedule and fed raw.... however there are several things in that "article" that I do not agree with.... Such as being ok to leave a cat without eating for a couple of days - it is NOT ok for an obese cat, for example, or for fat cats - plain dangerous. Do not agree with feeding once a day on raw - too much acid production - my cats would vomit their guts out.
Do not agree that cats are more finicky when free-feeding than when on schedule - all my cats are more finicky now on raw than they were ever on kibbles.
On kibbles they would eat the same thing day in and day out for months or years without an issue - now they are finicky with meat if I repeat a meal, with new meats, or completely out of the blue - you just never know what is going to happen.
While there is good information in what she wrote, IMHO some needs to be taken with a grain of salt. My opinion FWIW.

Carolina said:

I agree with you in not leaving food out - mine are all on schedule and fed raw.... however there are several things in that "article" that I do not agree with.... Such as being ok to leave a cat without eating for a couple of days - it is NOT ok for an obese cat, for example, or for fat cats - plain dangerous. Do not agree with feeding once a day on raw - too much acid production - my cats would vomit their guts out.
Do not agree that cats are more finicky when free-feeding than when on schedule - all my cats are more finicky now on raw than they were ever on kibbles.
On kibbles they would eat the same thing day in and day out for months or years without an issue - now they are finicky with meat if I repeat a meal, with new meats, or completely out of the blue - you just never know what is going to happen.
While there is good information in what she wrote, IMHO some needs to be taken with a grain of salt. My opinion FWIW.

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There is some good information in there. Cats need "hunger" to empty their stomach contents, and their systems aren't designed for grazing.

I feed three meals. Morning (which would be before work), around dinner time, and then before bed. :nod: No kibbles at all.

very interesting article. It does have some good points but I think if I didn't feed my cats for 24hrs they would most definatly be quite vocal on the matter !!
i have been slowly tricking them to give up the 'junk food' of them off kibble by giving them less and less each day to free feed on and I am noticing a difference in their appetite, they are more willing to eat what I put in front of them !! i feed them wet food with a bit of raw morning and night. (i work nightshifts and evenings so the routine is a bit mixed up) they also have more energy and less stools.

Stumbled across this old thread, my cats been transitioning to raw for 3 days now and hasnt pooped today was a bit worried as he used to poop twice a day. 

I did read the thread and is there anyone who does actually give their kitty anything to help soften up their stool? I just dont want him struggling to pinch one off everytime lol.  Maybe im just over worrying, and like mentioned Im sure I would know if he was constipated...?

matt94gt said:

Stumbled across this old thread, my cats been transitioning to raw for 3 days now and hasnt pooped today was a bit worried as he used to poop twice a day. 

I did read the thread and is there anyone who does actually give their kitty anything to help soften up their stool? I just dont want him struggling to pinch one off everytime lol.  Maybe im just over worrying, and like mentioned Im sure I would know if he was constipated...?

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When my cat started on raw, he went about 3 or 4 days without pooping. And then when he did finally poop, it was TINY and certainly didn't look like 4 days of waste lol. But he's fine, he wasn't constipated, he just... had nothing in him lol. Now that he's been on raw a few weeks, things are a little more regulated and he poops at least every other day, if not daily. It is a big change to switch from commercial food over to raw - so their bodies do need to go through quite the adjustment and I think it just takes time for them to get into a "groove." Typically with raw, poop is controlled by bone content... so if things are too hard, you feed less bone; too soft, you feed more bone. Not really necessary to give extra supplements for that.

If we would have went past the 4 day mark with no poop, I would've been more concerned, but his behavior was totally normal so I figured things would solve themselves.

My male cat who pooped 3 x times a day on the vet food, is pooping less now. He is on NV duck formula canned and NV duck raw nibbles blended into his food

He is not fully on raw yet but they both get 2.5 raw nibbles in the am.

In fact he seems to go once a day which is a bloody miracle. I have been told because of the raw nibbles this will happen which is a shock for us both

 In the States, there are a number of companies and local places that grind whole animals. That's the best ratio.

The Raw Resources thread (stickied at the top of the forum) has links to sites that provide recipes for homemade raw ground food, and they'll have the right proportions (but you need a grinder). Some butchers will prepare ground for you if you give them the instructions for the meat/bone/organ ratio. The best guideline is 80% meat (including heart and gizzard as part of "meat," not organs), 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% "other secreting organ" - being kidney and/or spleen and/or pancreas, etc.

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So would a whole ground chicken/bone/organ be 10 percent bone? I guess i am a little worried I just started my male tabby cat on raw a few weeks ago, he still is eating a little bit of canned too, but he is not had a stool in a couple of days. He is doing great, more playful than ever, but i wonder if this is too much bone?

Here is some good information posted by Abby2932 on a different thread:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/283372/how-should-i-start-my-15-week-old-kitten-off-on-raw

If you are using chicken bone as your bone-in meat, here is an approximation of some of the percentages of bone in each piece:

Back  ~44% Bone

Breast  ~20% Bone

Neck with skin  ~36% Bone & ~39% Skin and Separable Fat

Neck without skin  ~59% Bone

Thigh  ~15% Bone & Cartilage

Wing  ~46% Bone

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Thighs have the lowest proportion of bone-to-meat, but still more than 15%. Depending on the parts you use, you can "dilute" the mix with additional boneless meat to bring the percentage down to 10%.

I would begin to worry after the third day with no stool. Have you tried adding plain canned pumpkin (a tablespoon or so) to his food? About a teaspoon of coconut oil would be helpful in fighting constipation as well. My cat has no problem with eating either of these. I add the pumpkin to his food regularly and feed him the coconut oil by hand very sporadically.

Here's an even better thread:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263570/composition-of-proteins-bone-skin-fat

Hi im new to the animal world, ive just gotten a kitten shes about 14 weeks old now and ive had her for 2 weeks. She was previously on an all kibble diet and was desexed a week before i got her. I had her on an all raw diet at first and she liked it but didnt poop until day 3 and then again a few days later. I got worried as she wasnt eating and hadnt pooped for a while and got some "holistic" kibble which she ate at first but now has no care for it and prefers her raw only. However she hasnt pooped for about a week but expresses no sign of discomfort , she lays under my doona most of the day but it seems to be because its so cold in our house as its winter and im in VIC australia. Ive given her some pureed pumpkin a few times now which is said to help but yes she hardly passes number 2s.....
We also have a 2 yr old boy and 5 old boy (humans) who love to smother her ans do get a bit rough but the most theyve spent together at a time is 5 minutes and they bother her atleast 5 times a day

So basically im a bit lost

Kitty Purrry said:

So basically im a bit lost

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Also she doesnt eat very much but seems to be growing fine maybe about half a small chicken leg , half an egg yolk and about 2 teaspoons of pumpkin& zucchini puree

Kitty Purrry said:

Also she doesnt eat very much but seems to be growing fine maybe about half a small chicken leg , half an egg yolk and about 2 teaspoons of pumpkin& zucchini puree

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Congratulations for taking in your kitten! It's true that raw-fed cats generally don't tend to poop very much--ours are fed a combination of raw, homemade, and canned foods but still don't poop once a day. Have you asked your vet about your cat's litter box habits? I'd strongly suggest that since it sounds like your kitten isn't using her box very often.

I'm also wondering about what you're feeding your kitten now: is she only getting chicken legs, egg, and the vegetable puree? Are you adding supplements to her diet? Or is she also eating a complete food that you buy? If you're not, it very likely may not be balanced.

The home page for the raw/homecooked forum on the site has links to various resources on raw feeding that can help you find a balanced diet for your kitten. She needs all sorts of nutrients, properly balanced, to develop and grow properly!

LisaHE said:

She needs all sorts of nutrients, properly balanced, to develop and grow properly!

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First of all thankyou very much. It wasnt all i was feeding her she had other things like liver, kangaroo etc and other veggies and supplements too but i took her to the vet todat because i woke up and she was bleeding from the mouth and we decided to let her go instead of put her through horrible surgeries as she had contracted a blood parasite either from a tick/mosquito/lice but atleast she is no longer in pain. Been an incredibly emotional day and i hope you can pass on to others the symptons which at first it looked like stomatitis but was not unfortunately, which was irregular eating habits/loss of appetite and irregular behaviour.. weak and lethargic ,not wanting cuddles. I hope everyone with cats on here that they live long happy, healthy lives take care )

Kitty Purrry said:

First of all thankyou very much. It wasnt all i was feeding her she had other things like liver, kangaroo etc and other veggies and supplements too but i took her to the vet todat because i woke up and she was bleeding from the mouth and we decided to let her go instead of put her through horrible surgeries as she had contracted a blood parasite either from a tick/mosquito/lice but atleast she is no longer in pain. Been an incredibly emotional day and i hope you can pass on to others the symptons which at first it looked like stomatitis but was not unfortunately, which was irregular eating habits/loss of appetite and irregular behaviour.. weak and lethargic ,not wanting cuddles. I hope everyone with cats on here that they live long happy, healthy lives take care

)

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I'm very, very sorry to hear about your kitten and the parasite.

May I ask what is frankenprey? I live in the country and I'm seriousely thinking of growing my own live food for my litties.

Frankenprey essentially means that you are trying to "create" a whole prey animal out of pieces from other animals.  (Other people may have slight variations on the definition.)

What that means:  A mouse (natural prey for a cat) is 80% meat 10% bone and 10% organs (about 5% liver, 5% other organs).  So you are trying to recreate those ratios with other animals (like Dr. Frankenstein almost created a "human" out of body parts of other humans).  You can use chicken, pork, beef, lamb, duck, rabbit, kangaroo, etc etc.  Whatever meats you can purchase, you want to create a diet for your cat which is 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organs.

I will envy you if you decide to raise meat rabbits, ducks and chickens!    Out of those three, chicken is the one I can regularly afford.  My cats mainly eat chicken, pork and beef.  Rabbit and duck are "special occasion" ingredients for my cats since they're a lot pricier.