My cat is not into raw food anymore!!!

[maraozza]

Hello from Canada!

I have a 3 yr. old cat, who is partially fed raw diet. I decided to start feeding him raw meat diet after reading a book “Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life” by veterinarian Elizabeth M. Hodgkin, and of course after spending a lot of time on this site, reading members posts, finding different helpful information from experienced raw feeders, who are so kind to find extra time to share their knowledge and experience with newbies like me!

Ozzy (my precious cat:cat is eating different proteins, mostly homemade meat chunks or poultry hearts supplemented with eggshell calcium, taurine,egg yolks and fish oil. Occasionally, he gets commercially prepared rabbit ground meals from “Bold Raw Cat” (it’s made with high % of bone, so I have to balance it with plain meat.) Also I bought bag of raw freeze dried cat food “Feline Natural”, it’s produced in New Zealand.
He was willingly eating his raw food; it was all gone in few minutes. He liked re-hydrated freeze dried food too. One of his feedings was a canned food, other two were raw.
I was very thrilled, happy Mom, until recently, when he decided, all of a sudden to change his mind… :jaw:

Now, he doesn’t want to touch re-hydrated freeze dried raw, and he is leaving most of the raw food on the plate (mainly his late dinner –before bed time). Generally, It seems like he is not enjoying his food, but he used to eat it with such a gusto! I’ve tried different toppers – without big success. He always finishes his canned food though!

So I want to ask, how other members were/are dealing with similar situation?
What do you think, I must do? Maybe, my kitty gets tired of raw food and I must take step back and be happy with one raw feeding and two canned? I am worried, that he is not eating enough at night, when he walks away from his plate hardly touching his raw meal.

Any advise will be highly appreciated!

 

[ldg]

Well, I don't know that I can help, because I think my cats would prefer canned food, but in my transition, my goal was 100% raw food, so I phased out the canned food.

A few months into the raw diet, one of my cats got really constipated. I was feeding a food that was too high in bone content. She basically stopped eating - so I just "started over" with her. I put her back on canned, and VERY SLOWLY reintroduced raw. I went at her pace. In the first transition, we got to 100% raw in about 2 weeks. In this "re-introduction" transition, it took about 3 months to get her fully back on raw.

But if he prefers canned at this point... you really have a couple of options as far as I can tell:

1) Feed him as much raw as he'll eat, and make sure he eats enough by offering canned for the rest;

2) Start over. Feed him canned and no raw, and reintroduce it again after a break of however long you want.

If he starts eating as much raw as you want him to at some point and then this happens again... you have a decision to make. Either just go in the cycles he sets, or transition him to all raw, so canned isn't an option for him and he "forgets" what he's "missing." :lol3:

Sorry I couldn't be of more help!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Well, it sounds like he is still enjoying his other raw meal, correct?  Just not eating the final meal of the day?  Could it be that he simply isn't hungry, or are you saying that you take up his raw at the end of the day and put down canned and he does eat that (sorry, not sure exactly what is happening).  If it appears he is simply not hungry at the end of the day, maybe that's all it is...he's just had enough to eat during the day

.

I can tell you with my experience, they will LOVE something one day, and then completely HATE it the next.  And only one of mine likes the dehydrated stuff RE-hydrated.  They all like it in the dehydrated form (must remind them of their kibble days

), but if I rehydrate it, then I have to break it up really small and mix it into some ground raw, so why bother?   But, I do still feed canned once in awhile, simply for convenience sake.  About once every 2 weeks or so I have to be somewhere in a hurry, and I can always count on them scarfing up canned food!  With the raw, it's always a crapshoot whether or not they will gobble it up or sit around waiting for me to put toppers on it, move the bowls around, etc. But even with "spoiling" them with that infrequent "treat", it doesn't turn them off raw.

One thing I just learned recently though, is not to feed too much at once.  Now I just start out with .5 oz in my picky's bowl, then when he finishes I add one small spoonful at a time and he's eaten more lately than he has in a long, long time...finally! 

 

[maraozza]

Well, I don't know that I can help, because I think my cats would prefer canned food, but in my transition, my goal was 100% raw food, so I phased out the canned food.
A few months into the raw diet, one of my cats got really constipated. I was feeding a food that was too high in bone content. She basically stopped eating - so I just "started over" with her. I put her back on canned, and VERY SLOWLY reintroduced raw. I went at her pace. In the first transition, we got to 100% raw in about 2 weeks. In this "re-introduction" transition, it took about 3 months to get her fully back on raw.
But if he prefers canned at this point... you really have a couple of options as far as I can tell:
1) Feed him as much raw as he'll eat, and make sure he eats enough by offering canned for the rest;
2) Start over. Feed him canned and no raw, and reintroduce it again after a break of however long you want.
If he starts eating as much raw as you want him to at some point and then this happens again... you have a decision to make. Either just go in the cycles he sets, or transition him to all raw, so canned isn't an option for him and he "forgets" what he's "missing." :lol3:
Sorry I couldn't be of more help!

Thank you, Laurie, for all your suggestions.
For now, I don't want to put him on 100% raw, for different reasons; so I will continue to feed him both, and not to worry how much raw vs. wet he consumes. Already, my family thinks, that I am too much obsessed with all this idea of raw feeding.
And I just remembered, how couple months ago, our kitty wasn't eating very well his canned food, so maybe, it is just his thing, and he will be back to his "normal appetite" again.:cross:

 

[maraozza]

Well, it sounds like he is still enjoying his other raw meal, correct?  Just not eating the final meal of the day?  Could it be that he simply isn't hungry, or are you saying that you take up his raw at the end of the day and put down canned and he does eat that (sorry, not sure exactly what is happening).  If it appears he is simply not hungry at the end of the day, maybe that's all it is...he's just had enough to eat during the day :dk: .

I can tell you with my experience, they will LOVE something one day, and then completely HATE it the next.  And only one of mine likes the dehydrated stuff RE-hydrated.  They all like it in the dehydrated form (must remind them of their kibble days :lol3: ), but if I rehydrate it, then I have to break it up really small and mix it into some ground raw, so why bother?   But, I do still feed canned once in awhile, simply for convenience sake.  About once every 2 weeks or so I have to be somewhere in a hurry, and I can always count on them scarfing up canned food!  With the raw, it's always a crapshoot whether or not they will gobble it up or sit around waiting for me to put toppers on it, move the bowls around, etc. But even with "spoiling" them with that infrequent "treat", it doesn't turn them off raw.

One thing I just learned recently though, is not to feed too much at once.  Now I just start out with .5 oz in my picky's bowl, then when he finishes I add one small spoonful at a time and he's eaten more lately than he has in a long, long time...finally! 

Yes, Sally, you are correct, he is eating his raw meals, just not with the same enthusiasm. And I was thinking that too,maybe, he isn't hungry so much at night and if he is sleepy, so he just prefers to go to sleep.
What do you think about his food intake, is it too much for 12.5 lbs male DMH cat: Morning - 2oz canned food
Dinner - 1.8 raw food( always finishing, lately in 2 attempts)
Late dinner- 2oz canned( for past 10 days was offered 1.8 raw instead, but lately was eating only 1/3 of it)

 

[ldg]

So... 2 oz canned, 1.8oz raw, and he was eating after that about 0.6oz of raw, for a total of 2 oz. canned, and 2.4oz raw?

It really could be that he doesn't need the full amount of food you were offering! They typically need less raw than canned, because so much more of it is available for energy.

How old and active (or inactive?) is he?

My 10.5 - 13.5 pound cats all eat in a range from 3.6 ounces of raw food (fed as 1.2 ounces at each of 3 meals) to 4.5 ounces (fed as 1.5 ounces at each of 3 meals).

My cats that size are from 5 years old to 10 years old. Funny enough, the most active of them is the largest (he's the 13.5 pound guy), and he's the one that eats just 4.2 ounces (on average) a day. So just like people, their metabolisms really range too....

 

[ldg]

I should add that on canned food only, they were eating about 5.5 ounces of food each: some ate closer to 6.5 ounces daily. :nod:

How long has he been eating raw?

 

[maraozza]

So... 2 oz canned, 1.8oz raw, and he was eating after that about 0.6oz of raw, for a total of 2 oz. canned, and 2.4oz raw?
It really could be that he doesn't need the full amount of food you were offering! They typically need less raw than canned, because so much more of it is available for energy.
How old and active (or inactive?) is he?
My 10.5 - 13.5 pound cats all eat in a range from 3.6 ounces of raw food (fed as 1.2 ounces at each of 3 meals) to 4.5 ounces (fed as 1.5 ounces at each of 3 meals).
My cats that size are from 5 years old to 10 years old. Funny enough, the most active of them is the largest (he's the 13.5 pound guy), and he's the one that eats just 4.2 ounces (on average) a day. So just like people, their metabolisms really range too....

He is about 3 years old( we don't know his exact age). He is living with us from last December, before that, he used to be outdoor cat. Now, he is taken outside for walks for 20-30 min, on weekends twice a day. He is very territorial cat, always on the move, checking all the windows, constantly looking outside, running up and down the stairs.
I started to give him some raw this summer, but only for 1.5 months,because later in the summer he stayed in a boarding facility for one month, where he was fed wet and dry.
So, we restarted again in the middle of September.

 

[maraozza]

Today was so-so day.

In the morning he had 2oz(60gr) of wet,

Dinner was raw chicken hearts - didn't touch them; after adding spoonful of canned, just licked the topping.

So, in 2 hours he was hungry again( he saw us having dinner). I offered him raw lamb this time - again sniff and no action at first. Sprinkled it with freeze dried liver to make him eat about 1 oz (30gr).

I am guessing, my boy is officially became a picky eater and doesn't likes following meats: chicken, turkey, lamb, chick. and duck hearts, liver. He likes only rabbit, beef and quail, for now. :scratch:

 

[ldg]

Aww.... There are a number of people battling with picky cats - and really, it doesn't seem to matter whether food is raw or canned. Picky kitties can be so frustrating!

 

[maraozza]

Update on my finicky eater.

Lately, he is eating only bone-in meats, like half quail, chicken neck, or rabbit breast. So, if he has two pieces in front of him – one is with bone and other is boneless, he’ll munch on bone-in piece and won’t touch plain meat.
Last week, I bought a meat grinder, thinking, if I’ll offer him other texture, he’ll be more interested, but he wasn’t (strangely, he still likes his commercial ground rabbit).


So for now, I am trying to figure out, how to add the much needed plain meat to his diet. My last thoughts are to slightly cook or roast it. It’s not ideal, I know, but for now, I don’t know what else to do to keep his diet balanced.

 

[oakshimmer]

Hello,

I am glad I came across your post because I am having a similar issue with my once non fussy cat. She is on a diet of 100% raw, but as of late she started snubbing certain protines. She started to hate chicken, then she started hating lamb. I was getting very frustrated too because my cat really needs to eat raw because she is a IBD sufferer and the RAW diet is the only diet she can really tollerate. Anyway, I also posted in regards to this problem and I was also told to try toppers and such. My cat would eat toppers but sometimes eat only the toppers and leave a lot of the meal behind.

LGD gave me a wonderful idea though, I mentioned in my post that my cat loved beef offal. LGD suggested I mix offal juice to her meal if I had a blender or juicer. Well unfortunatly I don't have either but I still attempted to mix the beef offal with her other protines and sure enough it worked! She ate it again with ghusto. It seems that whatever meat she was snubbing, she would gladly eat as long as it was mixed with the offal.

So my suggestion would be maybe you could mix some ground raw into his canned food. Maybe start with a little at first to see how it goes, the continue to increase little by little. You never know it might just work! I just thought I would share my similar issue and solution in hopes that maybe you too can find a fix to this frustrating problem. Good Luck!

 

[maraozza]

Hello,

I am glad I came across your post because I am having a similar issue with my once non fussy cat. She is on a diet of 100% raw, but as of late she started snubbing certain protines. She started to hate chicken, then she started hating lamb. I was getting very frustrated too because my cat really needs to eat raw because she is a IBD sufferer and the RAW diet is the only diet she can really tollerate. Anyway, I also posted in regards to this problem and I was also told to try toppers and such. My cat would eat toppers but sometimes eat only the toppers and leave a lot of the meal behind. :frusty: LGD gave me a wonderful idea though, I mentioned in my post that my cat loved beef offal. LGD suggested I mix offal juice to her meal if I had a blender or juicer. Well unfortunatly I don't have either but I still attempted to mix the beef offal with her other protines and sure enough it worked! She ate it again with ghusto. It seems that whatever meat she was snubbing, she would gladly eat as long as it was mixed with the offal.

So my suggestion would be maybe you could mix some ground raw into his canned food. Maybe start with a little at first to see how it goes, the continue to increase little by little. You never know it might just work! I just thought I would share my similar issue and solution in hopes that maybe you too can find a fix to this frustrating problem. Good Luck!

Hi, Oakshimmer! Nice to meet you and thank you for your reply!

I've read some of your posts and was following your kitty's story. It’s very unfortunate that you both went thru so much, but I am sure that everything is going to be just fine, because you are great kitty momma and you are doing everything for your furry baby. She is one lucky girl to have you! And vice versa!

I've tried to mix his ground raw with his wet food, and he'll eat it only if the amount of raw is not significant, otherwise he wouldn't touch it, or if he is very hungry he'll eat around the raw(how he does that, it's pure magic to me.) But I need him to eat enough muscle meat in order to balance his diet.

 

[oakshimmer]

Hi, Oakshimmer! Nice to meet you and thank you for your reply!

I've read some of your posts and was following your kitty's story. It’s very unfortunate that you both went thru so much, but I am sure that everything is going to be just fine, because you are great kitty momma and you are doing everything for your furry baby. She is one lucky girl to have you! And vice versa!
I've tried to mix his ground raw with his wet food, and he'll eat it only if the amount of raw is not significant, otherwise he wouldn't touch it, or if he is very hungry he'll eat around the raw(how he does that, it's pure magic to me.) But I need him to eat enough muscle meat in order to balance his diet.

 

[maraozza]

Well, the thing is, he was eating his raw meals perfectly well for 2-3 month, once a day ( other 2 was grain-free canned). For one week or so, he was eating freeze dried raw Feline Natural instead of his second canned meal. He liked everything - chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, chicken or duck hearts, even liver, without any toppings. You put the plate down in front of him and in 3-5 min it was empty( OK, sometimes he was leaving a few pieces, only to finish them a little later).

So, when half of the FD raw was gone, out of the blue, he stoped to like it, and wouldn't eat it even mixed with his wet. But he was still eating his raw dinners.
A week later, I decided to add new protein to his diet and bought Carnivora's Elk patties. He very carefully sniffed his plate and walked away. I added his favorite toppings, took the plate away and offered it again later several times, but it wasn't working, he didn't want to be even close to this thing. So, I said, OK, never mind, he just hates elk, he prefers more traditional proteins.
Next day, his first feeding was wet, as usual, and when time came for his second feeding, which was raw, he ate only 2 bites, leaving most of it, so we had a small deja vu ( me putting different toppings and offering it to him, and him constantly walking away from the plate). The next day was the same, he wasn't interested in his raw meals anymore! It looks like Carnivora jinx him!

These days he'll eat rabbit, quail, some chicken necks, sometimes beef...

Today we went to the vet office, so I bought a few packs of Fortiflora (the Magic Powder ). I sprinkled it over his raw turkey and he ate 1/3 of it. I guess, you can call that progress...
I

 

[oakshimmer]

Hmmm that's funny actually. My cat decided to hate some of Carnivora's meats as well.

So that is really interesting. She started to hate their chicken so I tried the rabbit. She pretty much flat out refused the rabbit and did not even try it. Then she started to snub Nature's Variety Chicken too. The only thing that she really loves is the Carnivora's beef offal. So of course I mix that into the meats she hates and then she will eat her meal.

Have you by any chance tried the Carnivora beef offal? Or maybe even just some plain beef liver from the butcher? At least so far the "magic powder" might be a solution. Maybe I should get some.

Have you tried any other brands of foods? As a tip though, I tried to get my cat to eat the pets4life brand and it was a major fail! Just a tip. It seemed like there was a lot of veg in that brand which is why I think my cat hates it so much.

 

[maraozza]

No, he didn't try any beef offal yet. Does it contain tripe too? I remember, you mentioned, it has strong smell. He used to eat chicken liver, but not anymore.
He tried rabbit and also turkey from Bold Raw for Cats , and he likes it. In fact, now he'll eat Bold Raw rabbit, but refuses to eat my prepared ground mix. The bad thing is, that this brand has very high bone content: 30% or 40%, so you can't call it balanced. That is why I can't feed him their product very often.

After reading so many positive reviews about the Stella and Chewy's products on this site, I took the risk and ordered some FD from the US. The shipping cost is a bit high, so keeping my :cross:, that he'll like it!

 

[oakshimmer]

I don't believe it has tripe in it.

From what I do know it does have beef liver and I think lungs and heart. My cat swears by it but she was put off by it at first. Now it is her favorite meal. I wanted to get some stella & chewys as well, but since she has been so darn fussy I put it off. Let me know if your kitty likes it!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

My extremely picky raw eaters like Stella and Chewys in the dehydrated form only.  They won't eat it if I rehydrate it, and they don't like it as toppers.  As I said, mine are extremely picky.  They don't like gizzards, chicken, turkey, rabbit, duck, except one likes duck hearts, goat, only like one brand of lamb (Radcat) .  And one of mine hates Fortiflora

.  The other two love it,though, so I can usually get them to eat something using that.  But sometimes the pickiest just won't eat period.  Makes me so nervous, but he's never been much of an eater, even with kibble, then with canned, and now with raw.  But he maintains his weight and his last check-up was super, so I guess he's doing AOK.  Plus he's got tons of energy...where he gets it I have no idea.  He can't be sneaking food, because I don't leave any out! 

Oh, BTW, on the dehydrated S & Cs, I called the company and asked if that was ok, and they said as long as the cats drink water, it's ok to feed dehydrated, or as long as you feed it only as a snack, it's ok.  So that's what I do...feed as a snack to try to whet their appetite so they'll eat "properly"  Ha!  doesn't always work

...but at least I know they are getting some GREAT nutrition with their snacks

 

[maraozza]

So, couple days ago I finally received a package with Stella and Chewy’s FD.

OMG, now I know why it is everyone’s favorite here! This stuff is really good, smells great and must be very tasty. My cat is crazy about it, and he’ll eat it in every form. I am mixing it with ground meat or using it like crumbled toppers on his meat pieces, and it’s working, he is eating his raw again, willingly and with pleasure!

It’s so unfortunate, that you can’t find Stella and Chewy’s products here in Canada.