New, looking for reassurance and some questions

Hello.  New here, I posted in the new cats on the block section introducing my little guy.  Ive followed this website and catinfo.org and decided to start him on raw when I brought him home.  Loki is a 4 month old modern blue point siamese whom I brought home on July 28th.  During his first week with me I kept him on canned food (Fancy Feast grilled chicken) while he was adjusting to his new life.  He would always get bloated and gassy after eating, I then started noticing runny stools after the 4th day and decided it was time to make the switch.  Not having my grinder yet I decided I would just half the batch and chop it myself.  For now I'm using Alnutrin for the supplementing till I feel more confident.  Using the type and recipe they suggest for without bones and I use chicken liver and chicken thighs.  I added a little bit more water then suggested and I was wondering if that is an ok thing to do?

He took to the raw instantly.  It was cute watching him learn how to deal with the tiny chunks of meat.  He couldnt figure it out at first.  I did mix in a little bit of his canned to the raw for the first few days as to not shock his system too much.  I was hoping that because he is still young that his body would handle it quite well.  His bloated gassy problem is gone.  Pooping much less, since the switch he's pooped once.  And while it wasnt the very dry, crumbly texture Ive heard about (thinking because I was still mixing in some canned), it was solid and not runny anymore.  It did take 2 days though for him to poop, I was starting to panic!  Also it wasnt very much, and last night I notice him trying to go but produced nothing. Otherwise that he's not showing any other symptoms of constipation, but as a precaution I'm mixing in a small amount of Miralax into his breakfast and waiting to see how that goes.

Basically at this point I'm just looking for reassurance that I'm doing everything right, I'm so worried of doing something wrong and harming him. Wondering if probiotics should be added, or anything else for that matter that would benefit him.  I do crush up L-lysin 250mg and mix it into his food everyday, he's battling a slight URI.

Oh jeez, how funny.  As I'm writing this he actually did his business, but again its not much.  Maybe a 1 1/2 inches in length.  Is this normal for a kitten of his age and size (4 lbs) when on raw?  I apologize for my paranoia , I'm definitly an over worried cat parent!

Thanks everyone!

Proud Momma to Loki

In general, cats fed raw poop considerably less than cats fed canned or kibble. Ritz (female) poops about three times a week, regularly formed poop.
Probiotics is a good idea. This is one that some of us use. Others are fine: do get one for humans as they tend to be more potent.

Thank you so much!  I will definitely get that and start it right away.  How do you go about using it?  Crushed up in the food?  Or can I actually mix it into my batches?  I make up 6 lbs, which I will be doing on Sunday in fact.  Oh and whats the general rule on how much to use?  Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I do things correctly .

Proud Momma to Loki

I believe you should add the probiotic at every meal, I would not add it to what you make up and freeze.
I simple break open one capsule and sprinkle the powder on Ritz' food. I've used different brands, and she's never not liked it.

Poops on raw are way less in volume...and yes it can throw you for a loop thinking, "OK, is there more feces in the cat which would be bad?"  And sometimes that's the case, and it sounds like you're taking measures just in case (Miralax).  Several members here have broken open the raw-fed poops and found it was nothing but poop-crusted hair.  That's a good thing.  See, on raw the cat isn't getting a bunch of fillers.  No fillers = less poop.  Notice also the smell of the poops don't take your head off like on dry or canned.  I forgot how bad cat poop could smell until I rescued an abandoned cat recently, even after picking the litter box, the litter itself stunk.

You can absolutely add more water!  I do this with my own out of paranoia and never having owned boys before.  So long as you are adding the right amount of Alnutrin with calcium to the meat, you're fine.  Also, at his age he gets to eat as much as he wants.

Absolutely follow Ritz's advice about when to add the probiotics.  You don't want them deactivating in the freezer or oxidizing.

Keep asking questions as they come up! 

That's too funny Peaches ! I too have, probably irrational, fears since this little one is my first male cat.  In my search for a new kitty I was specific in wanting female only, but ended up with him and so happy I did.  I definitely make sure he is well hydrated the best that I can, luckily he drinks water quite a bit more then I expected.  As you may know, I was originally concerned with his drinking habits because I heard that most of the time cats on raw sometimes go days between a drink.  Ive come to realize that it must just be a like of water coupled with very high almost non stop energy, the summer, and the med he was taking. He's been med free now for around a week and while he still goes to the bowl a couple times a day, its much less then before and looks like only a few laps at a time.

Far as the poop thing.  I have stopped the miralax completely about a week ago, he's going once a day and I think I have achieved the famous "Victory Poop".  And Peaches, I too broke apart his and saw the same thing, just hairs!  It was almost gratifying to see since that's telling me his food is being used in his body instead of the majority being expelled. Funny thing too is he was taking an antibiotic during the time I first posted, and stupid me, I wasn't even thinking about how that can cause some digestive issue's.  All is well now, he's off all meds and thankfully his cold has finally retreated.

Thank you Ritz for that info, I haven't yet, but plan on ordering some probiotics next week.  Just to be clear though..for now Loki is still a kitten so he gets around 8 ounces a day split up into 3 meals.  I noticed u said every meal, so does that mean I should be sprinkling a pill on the 3 separate servings? or just on top of 1 of the servings per day?  Just want to be sure so I don't over dose him.

I'd try splitting up the capsule, one half for one meal, skip the second meal, and then the 2nd half. It doesn't have to be exact, you can eye-ball it.
PS: and Ritz loves eyeballs, too (lots of liquid); she ate the whole chicken head....

Do you guys follow the 2% feeding guide? Finding it to not be near enough food. Even my cat that isn't a pig, looks at me after eating 2 oz serving like "that's it?"

For myself..I don't really follow any guidelines.  I think it varies too heavily on the individual cat.  Being that mine is a kitten I would typically let him eat as much as he wanted per serving time, but he has issue's with getting gassy and bloated if he eats too much in 1 sitting (to the point I got scared for a few hours thinking he was developing FIP, till I realized that it went down later on), so I have to monitor that.  Over time I've learned that 8 ounces of his raw is working well for him split in 3 meals.  He's not losing any weight and no more gas in his tummy, but it was a bit of trial and error.   He never begs for food between meals either so I take that as a good sign that his amount is doing well for him.  Although, he knows when the time is coming so usually about a hour prior he will start letting me know.  I guess its his way of making sure I don't forget.