Switching Up Proteins? When?

[rayne]

So, My sweet Bubba cat has suspected IBD, he had a pretty bad flare and was puking up everything we gave him ( kibble and wet ), after doing alot of research Hubby and I decided to start him on a raw diet. There was no "transition" as everything was making him sick. We bought Natures Variety Instinct Rabbit Medallions and he gobbled them down, no issues.
Its been 10 days now and all i can say is WOW! what a difference, no puking, no runny stools, no stomach gurgling, his coat looks better, his eyes seem clear and bright. I wish I would have done it sooner ( he's 12 ). I am hoping soon he will pick up some of the weight he lost as he went from 10lbs to 7.2lbs.
I had read about switching up proteins to keep him from getting bored, and he is already getting bored ( he loves a food for about a week then decides he hates it, lol ). So with switching up proteins I have some questions.
When? how long should i be feeding him one protein before I introduce another? I dont want to cause another flare or should I just get some kind of topper to change the flavor a bit?
should it be another novel protein like lamb or duck? or should I try chicken?
any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[lalagimp]

I don't really change it up. I'm not that creative and I have a recipe I work with , and any variations on it make me nervous that I'm not doing it right. My boys get rabbit and turkey mix I make myself. When I screw up and don't source enough turkey in time, I'll do chicken for half the poultry. During Thanksgiving, I didn't have the proper resources to make their batch, so we did the Nature's Variety raw chicken medallions, and they ate that for 2-3 weeks.
orange&white makes different batches of pork, poultry, beef
I think your options would be more limited if you did commercial raw, because it would depend on what the manufacturer's are providing in your area. I may have more options because there is a specialty pet store in town, but many places only have Nature's Variety and RadCat. I thought NV only has varieties in rabbit, and chicken.
I know if you wanted duck, you could use Darwin's online ordering, but sometimes their customer service is hit or miss in the Yelp reviews.
I'm personally not afraid of doing chicken just because it's the first meat to go when someone has a cat that ends up with allergies. If it happens, then I'll dump chicken, but until then it's readily available and the most affordable option. I think the reason though that I went with turkey instead of chicken in the boys' batches of food is because they have a weight issue and the turkey I get ends up being very lean, and when you cut it with rabbit, it's a lot easier to manage their calories.
For contrast - my girls are on canned and kibble and the first thing I usually buy them is chicken. They used to eat canned duck that was leftover from my boys before I transitioned them to raw feeding, and then I realized my girls were not even kidding about eating the canned food (wasn't in my budget until last year) and it saves me about $6 a case to get them chicken. Their kibble is chicken too... low carb, but chicken. They do get to try new canned foods just about every month through Chewy, as we review products for them on the blog and then do social sharing. This month is a Weruva variety pack.

 

[Ardina]

I would introduce one protein at a time in small amounts to test and see if he has a reaction. Most likely he's reacting to some grain or filler in the canned/dry, but he just might have an allergy to some meat protein.

So you could try some freeze dried raw chicken or other protein as toppers on his rabbit. Of course, if he gets bored of his current food, you may not have time to slowly test foods. But it would help you pinpoint what exactly he's reacting to. I'd agree with lalagimp, you don't have to avoid common proteins like chicken until you have good evidence that it triggers a flare.

 

[orange&white]

Rotating is recommended these days, but when I first started making raw for my pets, Dr. Pierson's recipe was about the only one available for cats. At that time, her recipe was completely raw (she's doing a partly-cooked thing these days) and it was all chicken thighs (with hearts, bones, liver and supplements). So in 2008, my cats ate nothing but Pierson's chicken thigh recipe for a couple of years. I'm not entirely convinced that rotating is 100% necessary, unless you're feeding one food only and the cat develops an intolerance to that protein.

These days, as lalagimp mentioned, I am rotating beef, pork, chicken. I'm feeding 3 cats and make 180 ounce batches which last about 12 days. The next batch I change the "base" protein (base = more than 50% of the mix). All my batches use chicken bones for calcium though, and include chicken liver and gizzards. The cats end up eating "Pork and Chicken" or "Beef and Chicken" or "All Chicken" mixes.

I would test other proteins in small samples as Ardina recommended and watch closely for any negative reaction before purchasing a lot of a new protein.

It's very possible that Bubba is only intolerant of cooked, processed foods with lots of man-made vitamins/supplements to make them "complete and balanced". It's good to hear of Bubba's great improvement on raw food!

 

[rayne]

I think I might try the freeze dried toppers with a different protein to see how he reacts. That way I can do it slowly and see how it affects him without making such a large investment in something he wont like. He is so picky,he's always been this way when it comes to anything wet. Kibble he'll scarf down until he explodes with wet he will like something for a week and then turns his nose up at it.
My Hubby likes to add crumble up treats as toppers, calling them "cat croutons" (lol). So I am looking for an alternative, as the treats are bad for him and more than 2 and he gets sick. I am thinking its something in the processed foods we were getting. So, I am really digging the idea of freeze dried toppers.

I had no idea if it was a protein or the additives/supplements they put in the food, we had switched to grain-free about a year ago, before that he would throw up, have loose stools, tummy gurgles and he would be incredibly itchy ( to the point of pulling out his fur ). When we switched to grain free he was still itchy but it wasn't as excessive, but the tummy issues were still there and he was getting more flares and longer duration of flares. Now with the raw, he has not even tried to itch, there are no scabs on his skin, he really seems healthier, and the tummy issues so far are doing well.
You may be right Orange and White, it could be what ever they were putting in the processed food.

I have not ventured to make homemade yet, I'm a little hesitant, so I'll keep with the commercial raw for now, as the Rabbit Medallions seem to be helping him. I just need to keep him interested in the raw food.

I am heading out today to pick up some freeze dried toppers at my local pet supply. Thank you so much Ardina, Orange & White and lalagimp for your helpful advice!

 

[orange&white]

I make unseasoned cracklins for cat treats. Cracklins, if you aren't familiar with the term, are little pieces of animal fat which you cook all the liquid fat out of on low heat until all the solid bits are golden brown and crunchy, then drain them on paper towels. The solid "cracklins" are composed of the protein fibers which hold the fat together. Quite a bit of animal fat remains in them too. Two of my cats love them; one won't eat anything that's been cooked.

Anyway, if you aren't vegetarian, you can turn your fat trimmings into natural cat treats.