Switching my cats to raw, how fast is too fast?

Hello there, I have been looking everywhere but have received conflicting answers to my question. I am an experienced raw feeder when it comes to canines, as I have been feeding my dogs this way for the past 6 years. However, up until now I've never personally had to make my cats food. I have had cats but they have always preferred hunting their own prey to eating whatever I put infront of them. Anyways, I moved away from home around a year and a half ago and in doing so I left my 14 year old cat with my sister and my dogs with my father. I have since seemingly adopted four furry felines as a package deal when I moved in with my boyfriend around six months ago. Two were his cats prior to meeting me, and two are one of said cats kittens he never ended up re homing. The cats are 2.5, almost 2, and the boys turned 1 a month ago.

I have spent these past months trying to convince him to let me switch them to raw, and after a long period of feeling like I was getting nowhere, I managed to break through yesterday. That is what leads me to my question? How fast is too fast when switching a cat to raw?

From pretty much everything I've read, most cats who have been on kibble since being bweaned take a very long time to eat raw, as they are fussy creatures by nature and they won't necessarily recognize the meat as food. Figuring this would happen,I sliced up part of a chicken breast and offered it to them just to gauge their reaction to the foreign food. All four of them LOVED it, and proceeded to ask for more. So I'm just wondering how I should go about this, as that's the only thing I can't find an answer to. I don't want to upset their systems by introducing it too fast, but if I can stop feeding processed foods the faster, the better. I know all about making sure everything is balanced, not feeding too much liver or supplements at once, (I usually try to do either prey model or whole prey if possible, we will see how the cats take to that when we get there. They are all avid hunters so it shouldn't be too bad but we will see.)

So can I just start right away feeding them the raw, or should I give them smaller meals of it along with processed foods at separate meals until their body's adjust? I don't want to shock their poor little systems, but I'm extremely happy that it so far hasn't been a fight with any of them. Though i am aware that may change, but I really hope it doesn't.

Thank you, I apologize for the very long, essay like post. I just prefer the control of raw feeding so much, and it makes me indescribeably happy that he finally said yes.

Welcome to The Cat Site and The Raw Side
If I understand correctly, your cats have hunted and presumably eaten at least some of their own food. If that is the case, I would first cut out the kibble entirely and substitute wet food and add some raw food. Try for 15% or less raw food for a few days (and more than 15% and you have to balance with organs and bone). See how it goes. If they leave the wet food and beg for raw, well then, increase the raw food to about 50% and hold there for at least a week. Write back then
Meanwhile, try other proteins to see if your cats like them and to see if they have an unexpected allergy. Their poop may also change, not necessarily in a bad way, but something to monitor: diarrhea or brick hard poop means something is proably off with the percentages. Try pork, beef, lamb (can be very fatty); rabbit and quail if you can get these/the price isn't too high. Also see how they take to liver and a secreting organ like kidney. Some cats love the stuff; some cats will eat them only if they are dehyrdated; some won't touch kidney but love dehydrated pancreas (yeah, go figure.....)
I started out feeding Ritz commercial raw and am now feeding prey model raw. I find PMR cheaper and more convenient than commercial raw but this is a personal preference.
Speaking from personal experience, I would not abruptly go to 100% raw. I "transitioned" Ritz from three cans of Fancy Feast classic to 100% commercial raw within a day or two. And while she loved the food (well, she loves ALL food.....), I do believe the "newness" contributed to her developing a UTI. But Ritz is very very easily stressed, so I'm not saying your cats will develop a UTI, just something to keep in mind.

Thank you for the reply! They've been eating mostly wet food as of late as I have been trying to put weight back onto one of them, he went missing for about two months and he still hasn't fully recovered as he was still growing when this happened.

I'm not worried about a change in poop as I know what it SHOULD be like, like I said I've been feeding my dogs raw for years. I was just worried about it as I do know cats are more susceptible to certain ailments when changing their food etc. I know they all like dehydrated liver as well as fresh kidney, as they have stolen both from times my father has brought my dogs up here to visit me.

As for a UTI I'm not TOO concerned about that as the best cure I've found for those in animals is Apple cider vinegar, which they get in their water daily anyways.

Thank you so much for your reply. They won't be getting anymore dry food at all as you really shouldn't mix raw and kibble anyway, at least not with dogs I know, and we shall see how the next few days go!

One other difference between dogs and cats is that dogs have some small ability to process plant/organic matter.  So a lot of folks who feed raw to their dogs include things like peas, potatoes, carrots, etc.  My personal opinion is that most folks still include too much of those things and I only include them occasionally as treats for my dog.

Cats don't need those things at all.  In fact, the enzymes that break down plant matter don't even show up in a cat's digestive system until far down the line, and only in very small amounts.  In other words, plant matter is the very last thing to be broken down in a cats system, and only for trace amounts (like from a mouses stomach).  So, most folks stick to an all meat/bone/organ diet for their feline friends.  Some folks also include a bit of yogurt, cheese, and/or egg yolk, either as part of the diet or as treats.

Transitioning with wet is indeed the recommended route.  Slow is usually good, but considering that your cats are hunters, you may luck out with a quicker time than most.

I never bother giving my dogs veg with their meals, although my one does love carrots as training treats, and I know cats are obligate carnivores so I wasn't planning on it adding veg to their food.

Thanks so much for the insite, I'm just going to offer both wet food and a small amount raw for now and gradually increase the amounts and the sizes of the meat chunks while cutting back on the wet food. It seems like the most reasonable way to go.

If your cats have hunted and currently do fine with wet food, you might simply be able to switch right away.  My sister's cat transitioned from 100% dry to 100% raw immediately with no problems.  He often gets out of the house and wanders out on his own, so we figured he's had experience with hunting.   Normally I wouldn't have wanted to transition him that fast, but he was in crisis mode with what looked like an incipent urinary tract blockage. 

Before anyone asks...my sister lives on an island, it was Friday at 6pm, and the only vet had just left for the weekend.  An emergency vet visit would have been a big deal involving a 4 hour trip by ferry, and the cat was still producing urine.  We gave him raw food with lots of added water, and his crying/licking behavior which had been happening off and on for months and getting worse with each attack, started improving within a few hours - and never returned.

Anyway back to the topic at hand:  just switch to raw, stop the dry food, and keep the canned around in case you need to backpedal.  Sometimes cats happily eat something for a few days and then start to refuse it.   And you can save the dry food for treats!

and/or dry food (crushed up) as a topping (read: bribe to get your cat to eat the raw).

Well today they didn't really give me a choice and refused to eat ANYTHING until I made them all raw meals, they looked at both the kibble and wet food like it would kill them theb and there.. I guess that settles that then, finicky creatures. I'll keep the processed around incase they start refusing raw as I do not want them deciding to starve themselves.