Adding raw to my 9 month old kitten's diet?

[rivertherb]

I have a 9 month old female Russian Blue kitten named River and I would like to work some raw into her diet. She does tend to have a bit of a sensitive stomach so I want to be a little bit careful with this. I am wondering what the best way to go about adding raw to her diet will be. She is currently fed 1/3 of a 3 oz. can of grain-free Tiki Cat twice a day (9 AM and 9 PM) and then she eats about 1/4 cup of dry grain-free Orijen throughout the day. She currently weighs 8.3 lbs. Today I introduced her to raw beef, a sample my local natural pet food store gave me because they said it is usually easiest to transition cats to raw starting with beef first. She didn't seem too crazy about the beef, but went for my dog's raw goat instead. Is there a different kind of raw I should try with her? If I do add some raw to her diet, how should I change the proportions of the other food I currently give her? I am new to this raw diet thing and any tips or advice you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated. 

 

[cicoccabim]

You can feed her 10% of her calorie intake unbalanced raw (which means that the raw is in "the same amount as treats"- small tryouts). Try chicken wings (not salted!), big bones with meat on (I feed venison bones with meat on- she gnaws on the bone like crazy! ), fresh chicken hearts, small pieces of liver and so on to see what she likes and what her tummy can handle. Heart and liver can sometimes cause upset tummys if given to much at the same time. Try small pieces. 

Many find that lamb is good for sensitive stomachs. 

Kittens are often quite easy to introduce to raw food. When you feel that you would transition her to all raw- part raw- use a balanced recepie and slowly increase the raw-decrease the wet food. 

 

[emandjee]

I think most people who feed raw made their transition from kibble to canned, then from canned to raw. I'm not so sure if leaving free fed kibble is a good idea for a kitty eating raw. Kibble is highly processed food, and tends to be much harder on the digestive tract for proper digestion and elimination. An obligate carnivore's GI tract is much shorter than ours, which is why raw food is ideal. Raw is easily digested and excreted out in a shorter time frame. This link can also help you understand more:

http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-feed-raw-and-dry-at-the-same-time

I think your girl would be fine with set mealtimes by now, I started mine when they were quite young, but I was home a lot then, too. They were fed mostly a diet of canned food and got 1/8 cup of kibble a day/cat when they were 4-5 months old. At 6 months, I weaned them totally off of kibble and fed them canned only 4x a day, then 3x/day at 7-8 months, and then to 2x/day which they still do, since I work 9 hour shifts 5 nights/week. Most cats do fine with 3 small meals a day, however. They normally serve it before leaving for work, after coming home, and right before bedtime.

If you really want your kitty to start eating raw, I'd first take away any free fed kibbles. Get her used to scheduled meals first, and get her used to eating canned food only. Once she's set in her mealtimes, try adding a few, small chunks of chicken thighs in her wet foods, or smear some wet food (pate types) on her chicken or beef chunk, for example. And go boneless, first. Once she likes to start chewing on the chunks, you can offer bigger pieces and then start offering some small bits of bones, like wing tips of a chicken, for example. Chicken necks and thigh bones are much bigger and harder, so I'd work from small bones up to chicken necks.

The scheduled meals and the scent of familiar wet foods and her hunger will at least work to your favor to at least make her attempt to eat it. Most young cats are much quick to adapt their likings to foods, too.

Before you offer raw, please make sure you've done extensive readings on the topic so you know that your kitty is getting a balanced diet, and realize ahead of time what you're getting yourself into. A lot of people don't fully do enough research, which can cause serious imbalances that can affect their health over time. Many also find themselves also second guessing things after their vet discourages a raw fed diet. Why do they? Are you aware the dangers of raw that can affect you and your cat's health? Being informed on this topic will help you find what is really the best you can do for yourself and your cat. Some people find that they simply cannot go raw, so they offer canned only or a mix of dry and canned. It's all a matter of personal choice, but education on the topic greatly helps, too.

Good luck!

 

[ankitty]

I transitioned to all wet food first and started including some raw. I started with 1/2 oz raw a day and increased to 1 oz, 2 oz, 3 oz each week. Now they eat raw and canned about 50/50.

I feed raw chicken, turkey, and rabbit, and I'd like to get some duck too. I believe these are close to what cats eat in wild. 

Also it helps to transition to scheduled meals.