Boo is suddenly having issues with raw

At first it was just the beef that made Boo sick. He started not wanting any raw and would refuse to eat any flavor. So I started giving him canned to make sure he actually ate. I gave him strait canned for about a week and decided to try to get him back on raw again. I mixed a small amount of raw chicken with his canned and a little latter that night he threw up. I have given him a few more days on wet. Tried again just a little bit of raw chicken mixed with the canned, and again the same thing, he threw it all up. He is hungry after he vomits and has an appetite as long as it is wet I put down, not raw. I don't understand why he was eating it fine for so long, and now it makes him sick.

Are you feeding plain raw chicken or commercial raw that has chicken in it? Is it possible that the food has gone bad?

It is commercial raw. It has not gone bad. I buy it weekly and only thaw enough for the day. I have two other cats eating it as well, and they are fine.

Could it be hairballs?

That is a mystery to me too. I am sorry I don't have any good ideas/suggestions as to why. It is odd that Boo was eating the exact same chicken before (right?) and has been fine for a long time? What kind of raw chicken are you giving him, commercially made? or real raw fresh chicken? Hopefully others will have some food for thought on this one.

Sorry about Boo.  I agree; puzzling.

I would call the manufacturer and ask someone high up in the food department if ANYTHING has been changed in the product, including additives.  As I understand it, manufacturers do not have to put on new labels until they run out of the old labels.

Boo may be more sensitive than your other cats.

Ritz has a point, that's certainly worth a try.

Have you tried offering him just a small piece of plain raw chicken? I mean - like a small bite-sized piece? What happens with that?

I have not tried to give him just raw chicken. I can try that and see what happens. It is nature's logic chicken. Last time the chicken was nature's variety so maybe that is it. He has had nature's logic rabbit before and was fine. If it is the brand I wonder if that is why beef made him sick, it was nature's logic. I have nature's variety venision and I have to go buy some more soon because I am almost out of that. Should I try another brand or try just plain chicken?

For right now, I'd just try a small piece of plain chicken. At least that will help you figure out if the problem, somehow, is related to the raw chicken - though it's most likely something in the ingredients, because it was a different brand. But best to start with just the one thing, I think!

Agree 100% with LDG:  for now, just plain ordinary chicken.  And if you feed organs, also from chicken.

Some cats can't handle ordinary chicken, but can if the chicken has been feed grain free, organic feed.  Just another thing to consider.

CatNamedPanda said:

I have not tried to give him just raw chicken. I can try that and see what happens. It is nature's logic chicken. Last time the chicken was nature's variety so maybe that is it. He has had nature's logic rabbit before and was fine. If it is the brand I wonder if that is why beef made him sick, it was nature's logic. I have nature's variety venision and I have to go buy some more soon because I am almost out of that. Should I try another brand or try just plain chicken?

Click to expand...

I will mention now that I see you used Nature's Logic is that four of my six got sick on that brand. Although, that was in the beginning of my transition but no other product made them sick like that. It was the NL rabbit and beef. I tried both with no luck. I have not bothered to try them since.

Also, Otto just posted a thread in Raw about Nature's Variety Organic Chicken recall with the USE BY date of 10/4/13. Not sure if you have fed that or not. I feed that regularly. I imagine each cat could react differently to a brand that has changed something or even had a recall.

Nature's Logic is, at most, only 60% animal product. The other 40% is 'other stuff' and any of that could easily be the cause of poor Boo's reaction.

From NL's website for feline chicken formula:

INGREDIENTS: Chicken Meal, Millet, Chicken Fat, Pumpkin Seed, Yeast Culture, Spray Dried Chicken Liver, Dried Egg Product, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Montmorillonite Clay, Dried Kelp, Cheese Powder, Spray Dried Porcine Plasma, Dried Tomato, Almonds, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Carrot, Dried Apple, White Fish Meal, Egg Shell Meal, Dried Pumpkin, Dried Apricot, Dried Blueberry, Dried Spinach, Dried Broccoli, Dried Cranberry, Parsley, Dried Artichoke, Rosemary, Mixed Tocopherols, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium Bifidium Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus Coagulans Fermentation Product, Dried Pineapple Extract, Dried Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma Longibrachtium Fermentation Extract
 

As has been suggested - go fresh! Then you know exactly what you're feeding.

Best regards.

AC

NL raw has cottage cheese in it. . .maybe he's sensitive to dairy? http://www.natureslogic.com/products/cp_rf_chi.html

He finally decided to eat the bite sized piece of chicken I gave him. So far so good. He would not touch it until today.

"Progress not prfection"

I guess I just need to avoid nature's logic with him, and try to slowly work him back to eating raw again.

Well..... Here I am!
I am having the exactly same issue with Mac.
He was doing WONDEFUL with raw - no problems whatsoever. Was eating for a while too. Was for a while on partial NV, then I transitioned him to homemade, and he did beautifully. All of the sudden, with no warning whatsoever, he started throwing up - EVERY MEAL.

I thought it was hairballs, or that he was eating too fast. So I tacked those possibilities. I increased the egg lecithin and SEB. Nah.
I cut the meat really tiny and fed really slowly. Nah. I put the meat in a slow feeder. Nah. Elevated the plate. Nah. I fed by hand, a 1/4 of the meal at a time. Nah. Nothing worked - if it was raw, he would throw up. Plain meat, balanced meat, full meal, or a tiny bit.

Meanwhile, if I fed a meal of freeze dry chicken, which is cooked chicken breast he did just fine even if he ate really fast. I am baffled.

Left him on FD chicken, balanced for a couple of days, giving him SEB and Egg lecithin in case of that being a hairball - didn't throw up once.
Fed him a meal of raw, cut really tiny on a slow feeder..... He ate so slowly he threw up before finishing eating

So I gave in and bought his favorite cans - EVO and TIKI cat chicken - have been feeding that since last night and no vomiting :dk:

I will put him on canned for a couple of weeks to reset his system and slowly transition him to raw again. I am giving him probiotics and Enzymes to speed up his ability to digest proteins. Until then I will remain curious as why is this happening all of the sudden with a cat who was doing so darn well.

He is doing awesome otherwise - he is NOT sick. Happy happy. His body just seems to not want raw and rejects it at the moment it hits his digestive system, which goes against his nature, obviously :dk:

Carolina, how weird that he was doing so well and then started having issues. I wonder what could possibly be causing this.

It is so confusing and frustrating. I am actually scared to try to get him back to raw. Honestly I am happy there has been no vomit to clean up. He did keep the single little bite down so there is progress. I am going to just take it very slowly and only move him up a bite sized amount at a time and see how he does. The issue also seems to be he doesn't want it. He knows that is what has been making him sick, and he does not want to touch it. I was lucky he actually ate the little piece of chicken. I am really hoping it is just something in nature's logic upsetting him, but he was fine on nature's logic rabbit so I don't know. Tomorrow I think I will try mixing just a tiny bit of nature's variety lamb in with his wet. He liked it before, although I am going to have to work to get him to touch it. He smelled it in the girls bowls today and turned his nose up. If it would have been wet he would have gobbled it down.

Hopefully we can both get this sorted out for our kitties.