Just another "starting raw!" thread

[southpaw]

He actually took a couple bites of the pork with NO canned mixed in

And then he walked away LOL but at this stage of the game, a couple bites is good enough for me!

By the way... I'm a bad mom and forgot to give him his Reglan dose last night.... still no vomiting.

Now I just need him to start putting some weight back on, I think we're on the right track!

 

[carolina]

He actually took a couple bites of the pork with NO canned mixed in :shocker: And then he walked away LOL but at this stage of the game, a couple bites is good enough for me!

By the way... I'm a bad mom and forgot to give him his Reglan dose last night.... still no vomiting. Now I just need him to start putting some weight back on, I think we're on the right track!

All the way around!!!!
And don't worry - he will put on weight :lol3:

 

[ldg]

He actually took a couple bites of the pork with NO canned mixed in :shocker: And then he walked away LOL but at this stage of the game, a couple bites is good enough for me!

By the way... I'm a bad mom and forgot to give him his Reglan dose last night.... still no vomiting. Now I just need him to start putting some weight back on, I think we're on the right track!

OK - I'm sorry you forgot to give him the reglan. But that there was no vomiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[southpaw]

OK - I'm sorry you forgot to give him the reglan. But

that there was no vomiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I've been a REALLY bad mom now! After my little oopsie with forgetting that one dose, I started thinking about it and I've taken it a step - or two, or three - further. He actually hasn't had any Reglan now since then.

So he's gone two full days without it and still NOOOOO vomiting!!

AND, we had a breakthrough: he ate an entire meal with no bribes added!!

  The rest of the day he needed a little persuasion, but I'm so glad he took that big step!

I think I'm going to buy some freeze dried treats, smash them up into a powder and see if a sprinkling of that will entice him enough. I would rather do that then the canned, since the canned still has some extra ingredients in it. We'll see! I'm feeling very hopeful now though!

 

[carolina]

Oh no, you have been a very good mom! Yey!
Raw does an incredible job for Ibd, it really does.... IMHO, there is nothing quite like it... And it works fast! With Bugsy it was a small miracle... From the first day.... Amazing!
Ok, on the freeze dry, the purest you can go, is the whole life brand.... It is 100% pure, no additives, nothing added.... For an Ibd kitty, a safe route.... They sell it on Amazon, small and big bags- I buy the huge ones, since I know I need it on a daily basis....
Good luck, and great job!

 

[southpaw]

I just wish we would have started this diet, like.... 10 years ago!

Holy cow, I wonder how many headaches could have been prevented then. My vet did not think this would work. She was starting to worry it might be cancer, but honestly with how well he's been responding to this... I think he really just needed a good ol' diet change.

I see you all referring to the Whole Life brand a lot!! These PureBites would be similar/just as good, would they not? http://www.purebites.com/ProductsCatEng/productsbeef_cat.html

I can get them from work at a discount so that would be ideal of course LOL. I think they should work fine since they say it's just 100% whatever meat source. Because you're right, Carolina... with an IBD kitty I definitely don't want to give him anything that has too many other ingredients thrown in.

It always made sense to me that raw was the most logical thing to feed him, but even I was really not expecting it to go this well.

 

[carolina]

I just wish we would have started this diet, like.... 10 years ago! :lol3: Holy cow, I wonder how many headaches could have been prevented then. My vet did not think this would work. She was starting to worry it might be cancer, but honestly with how well he's been responding to this... I think he really just needed a good ol' diet change. I know, right?
Same here... But the important thing, is that we started! I cringe today when I see a kitty suffering with IBD and parents trying all these never-ending treatments.... Sometimes some go to the bridge.... And a change of diet could help them so much, sometimes completely turn their lives around...

I see you all referring to the Whole Life brand a lot!! These PureBites would be similar/just as good, would they not? http://www.purebites.com/ProductsCatEng/productsbeef_cat.html
I can get them from work at a discount so that would be ideal of course LOL. I think they should work fine since they say it's just 100% whatever meat source. Because you're right, Carolina... with an IBD kitty I definitely don't want to give him anything that has too many other ingredients thrown in. yep, they would be fine.... I would take a look at the discount ounce per ounce though, as those bags are tiny! Also, make sure to get different meats - especially chicken, and not use too much of the liver... I am not completely sure, but if you are going to do frankerprey, I am sure relying on that for enticement can add to the liver percentage.... and you don't want to feed too much liver due to toxicity issues....


It always made sense to me that raw was the most logical thing to feed him, but even I was really not expecting it to go this well. I was different.... I never thought about it... I was quite against it... but boy I am so glad I did it! I am sure this is pretty much saving Bugsy's life!

 

[southpaw]

I feel like it is saving Jinx's life, too.

He's lost a good bit of weight in the last couple months, which we hadn't actually noticed, but now that I know he's down over a pound... it's so painfully obvious when  I look at him. And it would have just gotten worse and worse if we didn't get a handle on this.

Nothing too exciting to report today. Still no vomit - that makes 1 week! Yahooo!!!!

I can't even imagine how GOOD he must be feeling now!! Keep in mind he was vomiting AT LEAST once a day, so this is a monumental improvement.

Is there any meat that's similar to pork? He really LOVES his pork! He's doing pretty good with duck too, but pork is by far his favorite. I kind of want to try beef because it's cheap, but it seems like one of those hit or miss meats that he might really love, or he might really hate. I don't want a repeat of the bison lol, where no amount of bribing would get him to eat that nasty stuff!

Another benefit of raw: he doesn't have stinky cat breath anymore.

 

[ldg]

Wait - have you tried turkey yet? You could try breast meat OR leg/thigh meat. :nod: Mine like both breast and thigh. Mine like chicken breast, but really don't like chicken thigh that much - but they like turkey breast (NOT GROUND!!!) and thigh. :dk:

You could also consider trying to offer lamb. It seems to be pretty popular. I would recommend feeding it a little chilly - less smell that way at first. And if you have access to goat, it's less smelly than lamb... kind of between lamb and pork.

 

[southpaw]

Wait - have you tried turkey yet? You could try breast meat OR leg/thigh meat.

Mine like both breast and thigh. Mine like chicken breast, but really don't like chicken thigh that much - but they like turkey breast (NOT GROUND!!!) and thigh.

Hahahah so particular!!

  I have not tried turkey yet. He's had a little bit of cooked turkey and he likes that, but he pretty much eats anything once it's cooked, so who knows what he'd think of raw

Similar story with the lamb, he's had the NV Instinct lamb canned food before and he loved that - blech that was really stinky too lol - so maybe that would be a safe one to try. I want him to have as much variety as possible I just hate worrying about if he'll eat it or not!

 

[ldg]

:lol3: I have found that liking something cooked is no indicator of liking something raw. Spooky will eat the canned Instinct lamb all day long, but since she became finicky, she won't eat raw lamb.

 

[southpaw]

I have found that liking something cooked is no indicator of liking something raw. Spooky will eat the canned Instinct lamb all day long, but since she became finicky, she won't eat raw lamb.

They can't just make it simple, can they?!

  I just wish rabbit and lamb were cheaper because I'd like to try them. Maybe they could just be something to give on occasion and not really a staple - if he were to like them, of course... there is always that chance he wouldn't lol.

In other news... Today was RAWSOME!!!!

First, when I checked his litter box this morning, I found the most perfect little raw poops. LOL. Now, this is only awesome because he hadn't pooped in 3 or 4 days and I was kind of starting to freak out! I know they don't produce much waste on raw... but after a couple days... I figured surely he had SOMETHING in him to poop out.

  But, he settled my fears today, thank goodness!!

More awesomeness: he has been eating without any enticements.

He had chicken and duck today, so I didn't even have to pull out the beloved pork ahahaha. I did discover that he likes it better when I add water to it so it's a little more soupy. I have no problem doing that, as disgusting as it looks.

And no vomit!!!!

Seriously. Best, best, best decision ever.

 

[ldg]

Gotta do the poop dance! I know - I have 8 cats, and it's just WEIRD when we start pushing day 3, and I've only scooped like one poop in two days. I'm two months into it, and I still start to get a little panicky about it! :lol3:

And for your little carnivore! Yep - have to play with temps, textures.... glad you're finding what works for him!!!! :bigthumb:

Of course the BEST news is that there's been no more vomiting! :cross: Can you imagine how much better he must be feeling?

 

[southpaw]

Just popping in to say that things are still going well.

  The past few days have been very hectic for me (having 2 jobs SUCKS sometimes!) so I was a horrible mom and forgot to thaw out more raw. I thought we had enough thawed out to get through today, but apparently not (that, and one of my brat dogs is an opportunistic scavenger and wastes no time stealing Jinx's food if it's available). So most of what he ate today was canned Weruva and I'm just praying it doesn't make a reappearance.

Although I guess that would be a tell-tale sign that his diet DOES make a difference. Otherwise, we have been (mostly) vomit-free for the past 13 days! I say mostly because my mom did say he hacked up a hairball the other day... but I don't really count that because a hairball is certainly not the same as his IBD acting up.

We did regress a bit and he wasn't eating 100% raw as eagerly as he had been. But I wonder if maybe he was just getting sick of eating chicken, because I have been awfully generous with feeding him that, but a bit stingier with the pork and duck! I feel like I should buy some new proteins, but it's going to take him SO LONG to go through what I already have, I don't want to be TOO overrun with meat.

I did crush up some bison lung treats (that I already had for the dogs) and sprinkle that on his food... I think this had the exact opposite effect that I was hoping for. I never even thought "hey, he hated bison meat, maybe he doesn't want their organs either!" His dinner went from being mostly edible, to being completely inedible. D'oh! I have lamb lung too. Maybe that would be tastier for him. Too complicated sometimes LOL.

 

[ldg]

Yep, the only problem with raw is remembering to dethaw when you're busy! :nod: :lol3:

:cross: he kept his food down!!!!