Advice on taking the plunge into raw?

[lisahe]

 
Wow, this is really interesting.  I did make a small attempt to transition my cat to raw but she wasn't having any of it.  Reading this now, I do wish that I kept at it but she's the type of cat that doesn't like cat treats or table scraps.  Also, I have never heard of freeze dried food before!  And this is coming from someone who likes to read cat food reviews online for fun.  

I hope you guys don't mind me adding a few questions here.  For one, did you see any physical health benefits from feeding raw?  I know less smelly poops was mentioned.  Next, in regards to canned, freeze dried, and frozen raw, how would they be ranked from most expensive to least?  Finally, what kind of foods do you use as "kitty crack" to entice a reluctant eater?  Sasha usually goes for tuna water.  

@nwfn  I hope you keep updating us.  :]

I agree with @nwfn about the prices of raw foods: I feed Primal freeze-dried, too, and it comes out to roughly the same price as good canned foods. Perhaps the best thing is that there's no waste because the cats consistently like it, even twice a day. We do mix things up with turkey, chicken, and beef, but the cats are much more tolerant of repetitive raw food than repetitive canned food. The cats get a medium-sized serving of Rad Cat every day, too, and love it. Prices can vary a lot on Rad Cat: I was lucky to find a store near me that sells it at a price ($12.99 for the 1.5-pound container) that's not far off from Primal. The cats love Rad Cat and it really fills them up, so it actually seems like a good value at that price.

Our cats took to raw food pretty fast -- their first was Rad Cat -- but if you're thinking about trying again, I might suggest mixing a little freeze dried food and some water into your cat's favorite canned food. I do think for the opposite reason -- to get the cats to finish canned food! -- and it can be very helpful. If you do want to try introducing raw food again, perhaps adding a little tuna water would be helpful.

 

[LTS3]

I hope you guys don't mind me adding a few questions here.  For one, did you see any physical health benefits from feeding raw?  I know less smelly poops was mentioned.  Next, in regards to canned, freeze dried, and frozen raw, how would they be ranked from most expensive to least?  Finally, what kind of foods do you use as "kitty crack" to entice a reluctant eater?  Sasha usually goes for tuna water.  

Both my cats have shiny, soft healthy fur and high energy level. The vet always comments how healthy my cats are. He knows I feed raw food.

Pricing - It really depends on what brand yoyuu buy. I've found freeze dried raw to be pricier than frozen complete diet raw.

I used freeze dried raw and gravy canned food to get my DMH to eat raw food.

 

[nwfn]

My business trip was cancelled, so I increased Miss Chloe's intake of raw to 1 oz today and decreased her canned food from 1 can to 3/4 to compensate. No problems at all getting her to eat it. She still won't eat the raw alone, but now she won't start eating the canned food until I've mixed the raw in, either. Cats are weird.

After a week on 1 oz, I'll increase to 2oz and keep her there while I work through my canned food supply.

 

[Kat0121]

How long is too long for the food to sit out? Lilith and Sophie are on an all canned diet and I feed them in the morning before I go to work and again when I get home. They more often than not do not eat all their meal at one sitting. They will go back to the dish a few times during the day. I have tried to give them Nature's Variety raw bites before and they wanted nothing to do with them. I am considering buying some Primal from Pet Food Direct. How similar is it to the NV? I do want them on a raw diet and I think the commercial raw would be a better for fit all of us if I can get them to eat it. Health wise fir them and cost wise for me.  I bought a bag of Pure Bites freeze dried chicken and Lilith has become an addict. She LOVES them. Sophie, on the other hand won't even try them. She sniffed it, licked it a couple of times and walked away. I think I can get Lilith to eat the Primal Pronto if add some freeze dried turkey to it. Sophie's going to be the tough sell. For a first timer is the Pronto better than the regular nuggets?

 

[nwfn]

My cat likes to eat in smaller sittings throughout the day as well. My solution has been to increase her feedings from twice a day to four times a day. Now she eats what's put out within the hour most of the time. She's currently eating 50% raw mixed with 50% canned at each meal.

Do your cats eat canned food now? Mixing raw with canned helped me acclimate my cat to the raw. Primal Pronto is nice because it's easy to mix small amounts into the cat's food, especially when just starting out. Miss Chloe showed no interest in raw food at first, either, but she's fine with the 50/50 split she has now, and I'm going to keep slowly increasing the raw until it's 100% of her diet.

 

[lisahe]

 
How long is too long for the food to sit out? Lilith and Sophie are on an all canned diet and I feed them in the morning before I go to work and again when I get home. They more often than not do not eat all their meal at one sitting. They will go back to the dish a few times during the day. I have tried to give them Nature's Variety raw bites before and they wanted nothing to do with them. I am considering buying some Primal from Pet Food Direct. How similar is it to the NV? I do want them on a raw diet and I think the commercial raw would be a better for fit all of us if I can get them to eat it. Health wise fir them and cost wise for me.  I bought a bag of Pure Bites freeze dried chicken and Lilith has become an addict. She LOVES them. Sophie, on the other hand won't even try them. She sniffed it, licked it a couple of times and walked away. I think I can get Lilith to eat the Primal Pronto if add some freeze dried turkey to it. Sophie's going to be the tough sell. For a first timer is the Pronto better than the regular nuggets?

I wonder sometimes about the "how long is too long question," too. I think a lot of the answer depends on the kind of food: the ones that are treated to kill bacteria (NV, Primal, Stella & Chewy's) should be able to sit out longer than foods like, say Rad Cat. I still put Primal away after 20-30 minutes, though. One of our cats is a real grazer.

As for brands, my practical answer about Primal and NV is that our cats love Primal but hated NV! They sniffed and walked away from NV every time I tried to feed it to them but went for Primal frozen on the first try. They'd tried and liked Rad Cat and Stella & Chewy's before that so had already eaten raw food. Over time, they decided they liked Primal's freeze-dried food better than frozen so we switched to all freeze-dried, which is more convenient anyway. One thing about the Primal frozen nuggets: our cats refused to eat them in nugget form so I mushed them with some extra water, which they loved. I used to mix Primal frozen and freeze-dried in various combinations so they weren't always getting the same thing. Now we just serve them the freeze-dried stuff in various combinations, sometimes with a little Stella & Chewy's mixed in.

Like @nwfn, I also mix raw with canned but nowadays it's mostly to get the cats to finish off pate canned food they don't want. They seem to have evolved into wanting shredded chicken canned foods and whatever raw foods (except Nature's Variety!) we feed them. They've at around 1/3 canned and 2/3 raw now.

Good luck, @Kat0121

 

[ankitty]

My cats don't like NVI raw either. They love Primal nuggets.

 

[maureen brad]

I haven't read through all the posts so perhaps someone suggested this already. When I started raw and used Primal ibble I added some warm water and mashed the kibble up with a fork . That way it was more like the canned food they were used to. I also used Forti Flora and that really did the trick. I have read parmesan cheese sprinkled on the food will work too.

 

[lisahe]

 
I haven't read through all the posts so perhaps someone suggested this already. When I started raw and used Primal ibble I added some warm water and mashed the kibble up with a fork . That way it was more like the canned food they were used to. I also used Forti Flora and that really did the trick. I have read parmesan cheese sprinkled on the food will work too.

I mentioned mashing and adding a little water to Primal nuggets: it worked great for our cats, too!