Officially Started Them on Raw!

[ldg]

They're really moving now! I think they like that turkey! :lol3:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

They're really moving now! I think they like that turkey!

Well...maybe they overdid it on the turkey or something, because none of them have eaten well since yesterday breakfast

  .  Canned OR raw. 

.  And, naturally, today is weigh-in day, so it's probably really going to show.  I'm baffled. 

Yesterday "lunch" I figured maybe they weren't as hungry because they'd had a morning snack of raw turkey.  That made sense.  But then figured they should really be hungry last night for their 10 p.m. meal, but seemed like there was a lot to toss out (more than usual), and, to tell the truth, I was too tired to roll out meatballs, so I just mixed the same equivalent (a very small amount) into their food, since they were having chicken anyway.  Actually, I put the turkey on their plates first, then covered it with their wet.  Didn't mix it in or anything, so they could eat it or not.  Took quite a bit of convincing (toppings) to get them to eat at all, and then I honestly couldn't tell if they ate the turkey or not, but I think they got some of it.  BTW, did NOT do this with Sven again, because at lunch, he once again would NOT touch his food, so didn't want to take any chances with him.

Then this morning I thought they would be really hungry, and it was a repeat of last night, only bfast was Soulistic Aqua Grill (their all time favorite), and since it's fish, I repeated how I did it last night, figuring the fish smell would outweigh any turkey smell.  I had to sprinkle Sir Piggy Darko's with FortiFlora to even get him started. 

So...lesson learned by me.  Too soon to mix into their food.  Must make meatballs and thoroughly coat with FD chicken until further notice.  No matter how tired I am

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Ok, today at lunch we were back to turkeyballs rolled in FD chicken powder.

Callie:  ate none (of the raw)

Darko:  ate both of them

(with assistance from FD liver)

Stinkpot:  ate one (with  assistance from more  FD chicken)

Sven:  ate nothing at all

, however, before we left for lunch out today, he did eat 4 dime size pieces of chicken breast, and would have eaten more if they had been available.   Since he wanted more, i quickly put some dollops of NM turkey in his bowl and brought it to him, but that was a no go in a big way.  I hope that chicken didn't upset his tummy

, although I can't find any evidence of that anywhere.  But ever since we've been home, he's just been laying in his bed next to my computer, and I can't even get him to purr.  My poor baby.  I just HATE CRF

.  And the sad thing is, his anti-nausea meds are in this meal that he is refusing to even sample, so he's getting NONE of them.  (at least he got his morning dose.)

 

[feralvr]

OH Sally I had the same issue when I tried to mix the raw with canned. It turned out to be a real problem for my cat's and they started refusing to even eat canned with NO RAW I had to sprinkle Fortlflora to get them to eat their canned meals too. It was terribly frustrating. That is why I am doing the raw separate from their meals now. It has been working. I am slowly trying to add raw into the canned breakfast meals again. The cat's will tell us when we are moving too fast :lol3:

Sorry Sven is feeling under the weather today Hope he feels better very soon and eats so you can get his medicine in him :rub:

 

[ldg]

Aw.... for your babies to eat their canned happily again, and mega for Sven to just EAT! :rub:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have no idea what happened last night for their last meal.  Sorry, I'm drugged to the max on migraine meds.  But, this morning was a complete bust.  Don't know if the can of food was bad or just what, but once again, no one ate from it

.  But, interestingly, Darko went up to the bowl and immediately ate his two little turkeyballs

.    And Sven downed the hatch with his food...he doesn't eat what everyone else eats...and he didn't even need any Flortification (FloriFlora).  He was a very good boy this morning

I did weight them this morning before bfast, and here are the results:

Callie:  the same  7.5 lbs

Darko:  gained .2 for a total weight of 14.1 lbs

Stinkpot:  the same  9.0 lbs

Sven:  the same  6.2 lbs

I could have sworn they would have all been down since that little issue of my mixing the raw into their food and their little food strike, so happy  it didn't affect them adversely

Went on Pet Food Direct today and ordered a bunch of Weruva and BFF since it's not available where I shop.  Hope they like it, as I won't be able to return it

.  Made sure it was NOT pate...basically reviewed that thread about a "good grain-free slices with gravy" and went off that. 

  Well, if they don't like it, our Vet Tech that took care of Svennie while we were cruising can use it, I'm sure.  (she takes care of ferals)

 

[ldg]

Oh hun! I'm so sorry you're suffering from a migraine.

Good news that no one lost weight!

...and if your kitties like fishy food, they'll LOVE BFF! :lol3:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

today's lunch went well...didn't put any raw out since I wanted to make sure they ate well, which they did.

tonight we were back to little turkeyballs rolled in FD chicken powder, and Stinkpot ate his, but no one else did, although they didn't seem to mind that they were there, at all, so that's still good.  Tonight was the 3rd day with turkey, so tomorrow we're going to try NM chicken.  So far, Stinkpot is the only one who really seems ok with all the meats.  Callie tries to lick them, and Darko will occasionally eat them, but not always.  Sven has absolutely no interest in them, but at least he likes chunks, so I may just need to order Frankenprey for him.  In the meantime, I'll keep offering him pieces of whatever we're having, and do the same with the others, as well as offering the meatballs to everyone too.

Signing off for the night

 

[ldg]

Glad they had a good lunch - it's easier to keep offering them raw when you know they've eaten well. :nod:

 

[feralvr]

I have no idea what happened last night for their last meal.  Sorry, I'm drugged to the max on migraine meds. 

hno: YEP - raw feeding can bring on a doozie of a migraine.... Hope you feel better :cross:

Went on Pet Food Direct today and ordered a bunch of Weruva and BFF since it's not available where I shop.  Hope they like it, as I won't be able to return it .  Made sure it was NOT pate...basically reviewed that thread about a "good grain-free slices with gravy" and went off that.  :cross:   Well, if they don't like it, our Vet Tech that took care of Svennie while we were cruising can use it, I'm sure.  (she takes care of ferals)

YAY!!!!!!!! I really DO think the cats will love the Weruva and the BFF. Glad you saw Robin's thread and that helped you make your decision. I am sure that will help entice the kids into eating canned. I love the shredded meats too - it is more like real raw food as far as the texture!

 

[feralvr]

Glad they had a good lunch - it's easier to keep offering them raw when you know they've eaten well. :nod:

YEP - Makes this SO much easier to offer the raw when you know they have had a least one good meal in them. That is why I ended up with the downstairs canned/ upstairs raw plan. It just blows my mind how we have to come up with different techniques for all of the different cat's needs and wants. Just mind boggling. AND then all of the sudden what WAS working DOESN'T work anymore. More mind boggling and of course, more migraine meds.....

You will get there Sally - one day at a time - such LLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG process, though.....

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Went on Pet Food Direct today and ordered a bunch of Weruva and BFF since it's not available where I shop.  Hope they like it, as I won't be able to return it

.  Made sure it was NOT pate...basically reviewed that thread about a "good grain-free slices with gravy" and went off that. 

  Well, if they don't like it, our Vet Tech that took care of Svennie while we were cruising can use it, I'm sure.  (she takes care of ferals)

YAY!!!!!!!! I really DO think the cats will love the Weruva and the BFF. Glad you saw Robin's thread and that helped you make your decision. I am sure that will help entice the kids into eating canned. I love the shredded meats too - it is more like real raw food as far as the texture!

Well, the Soulistic is also shredded, and that's what they are eating now..but I wanted to have something different for them, since that's all they've had now for a month, and there are only so many flavors they like (4, I think)  And Soulistic is also grain free, so I feel good about feeding it, but as I said, just want something else too. 

So, this morning we tried NM chicken.  With Soulistic shredded chicken canned food (man,that food smells good enough to eat

).   Anyway, no body expressed any real interest in their little meatballs, so I got the brilliant idea of sprinkling them with FD tripe, because they go nuts for that stuff!  So I sprinkled away, and it worked like a charm, except I forgot that Darko doesn't like the tripe (at least ONE of my cats has discriminating taste

), so I ended up driving him away from his entire meal

.  After I realized what I had done, I quickly retrieved his meatballs from his bowl and gave them to Stinkpot, but the damage was done.  No amount of FortiFlora in the world would bring him back.  I tried to make up for it be giving him some S & C salmon and chicken cubes, but he wasn't too interested in them....probably still trying to get that horrible tripe smell out of his nose

.

And my Sven once again ate like a champ, nothing raw though.  Completely turned up his nose at that because it wasn't in chunks.  But He's hd me running up and down the stairs filling up his bowl several times.  (I use the term "filling" loosely, but I've been putting things into his bowl a little at a time, since he's very fickle)

 

[feralvr]

WONDERFUL that Sven has been eating like a champ Sounds like he is really enjoying seeing you run up and down the stairs to fill his bowl - but HEY - he IS eating and YOU are getting your exercise :lol3:

WOW - I guess I thought Darko was your easy raw eater - but Tripe :nausea: :sick:...... I guess he has his limitations :nod: BUT a very bright idea about trying the FD tripe as a topper - SEE ..... we are always coming up with more ideas on HOW to get them to eat this stuff :lol3: I have found with Perla that once she has it in her head NOT to eat because of my mistake in preparation - she has lost her appetite till the next meal too. But I also learned with her, than when she is hungry - she will ask by going into the kitchen and meowing...... DEMANDING service Gotta love the rincess: :heart3:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

  I haven't quite figured out WHO is the biggest raw eater yet!  Sven definitely likes chunks (no one else will eat them yet).  The other 3 go in cycles.  And tonight I just plopped their food on top of their NM chicken, and Darko dug down to eat the raw first

(at least I think that's what he was doing), Stinkpot only ate at all after the

tripe topper, then he definitely ate including the raw, and Callie wasn't hungry.  But she will at least give things a lick whenever presented outside of a mea, including the chunks.  I'm going to try strips of raw next to see if its an issue like Lucky and she just cant' get hold of them

 

 

[carolina]

:lol3:   I haven't quite figured out WHO is the biggest raw eater yet!  Sven definitely likes chunks (no one else will eat them yet).  The other 3 go in cycles.  And tonight I just plopped their food on top of their NM chicken, and Darko dug down to eat the raw first :jaw: (at least I think that's what he was doing), Stinkpot only ate at all after the :nausea: tripe topper, then he definitely ate including the raw, and Callie wasn't hungry.  But she will at least give things a lick whenever presented outside of a mea, including the chunks.  I'm going to try strips of raw next to see if its an issue like Lucky and she just cant' get hold of them  

That's awesome Sally!!
Yep, definitely easier for Lucky! She can't really chew big pieces yet.... but what was happening with the tiny tiny ones, was that she kept licking it, and as she did, she pushed them into the plate... Then when she ate them, she doesn't know how to chew well, so they just dropped from her mouth.... She is a mess altogether....

 

[ldg]

GO DARKO! And for your sake, I'm sorry they love the tripe so much - but hey - whatever works! :lol3:

Did you get a chance to try the strips with Callie! :cross:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Haven't tried strips yet because we haven't had any chicken for a meal lately.  (guess I could just defrost a breast and cut into strips and serve them.  That is IF I were a good meowmy

. )   But I thawed some chicken chunks this morning (tiny pieces), and Sven gobbled them up.  No one else was interested in them.

yesterday was a big bust over here.  And, so far, today is too.  I'm so depressed.  Except for Sven, no one is eating well.  So I didn't even bother trying to give them raw this morning.   Tried two different cans this morning, and barely any interest at all from the other three, not even with tripe

.  But thank goodness that my Svennie is still eating like a champ! 

My order from PFD should be here tomorrow, and am hoping maybe just the change in canned food will perk everyone up (Weruva and BFF, which I can't find locally...I'm sure someone must have it, but not that I have found) 

 

[feralvr]

OH NO hno: That is the PITS when you have two bad days in a row Such a difficult transition with many ups and downs :shame: and some day's they just don't seem to want or like what worked the day before. They make us crazy :lol3:

GREAT NEWS that Sven is eating good though - something positive for the day Hoping the other meals today went better :cross: AND more of these for your Pet Food Direct order of BFF and Weruva :cross: I am SURE they will enjoy the new varieties. Both are well LOVED at my place and I hope it will be the same for you :nod:

 

[ldg]

Oh Sally!

I hope that PFD order gets there early! And they LOVE it! Momma needs a break!

 

[brandy rowe]

Haven't tried strips yet because we haven't had any chicken for a meal lately.  (guess I could just defrost a breast and cut into strips and serve them.  That is IF I were a good meowmy

. )   But I thawed some chicken chunks this morning (tiny pieces), and Sven gobbled them up.  No one else was interested in them.

yesterday was a big bust over here.  And, so far, today is too.  I'm so depressed.  Except for Sven, no one is eating well.  So I didn't even bother trying to give them raw this morning.   Tried two different cans this morning, and barely any interest at all from the other three, not even with tripe

.  But thank goodness that my Svennie is still eating like a champ! 

My order from PFD should be here tomorrow, and am hoping maybe just the change in canned food will perk everyone up (Weruva and BFF, which I can't find locally...I'm sure someone must have it, but not that I have found) 

I do not know where you get your patience from!!!! With all of your non eating babies?? My Mario wouldn't eat this morning and I about had a fit