My cats now eat raw but...
 

Well it's official, Kira and Jadzia are now raw meat eating machines! I've been giving raw since mid-November 3-4 times a week. The rest of the week, it's Wellness canned food. I feed them in the morning and late afternoon when I get home from work. I always keep a bowl of dry Wellness Core just in case they need food during the day.(As if they are starving cats!):laughing:

They really loved Wellness Core in the beginning but now that raw and canned are their main staple, they don't touch the dry food, especially Jadzia. She doesn't want anything to do with it. She'd rather wait for the other stuff. Kira will sometimes eat a little dry food but not very much. I know dry food isn't ideal but I can't help feeling as if I've created little monsters! What if for some reason hubby and I have to spend the night somewhere else (maybe a romantic getaway!) and I can't find anyone to come to my house, morning and evening to feed my carnivors? I live in the country and my friends/coworkers don't live nearby. I have to admit, in such a case, dry food is very convenient but now they won't eat it!:frustrated: I guess I don't have any choice, I must never leave my cats! Any suggestions?

Tell us pleeeeeease how you did it. Tried raw again with my cats this weekend and they chose to go hungry:mad:. They currently eat Wellness canned, Go Natural canned and Orijen kibble. Two will eat some cooked meat, Jasper won't touch anything real. I had foster kittens on raw and they prefered it to any cat food, but it was easy with them. Started them on raw at 4 weeks. It is the adults I am having problems with.

[QUOTE=Helene4;545099].... and I can't find anyone to come to my house, morning and evening to feed my carnivors? I live in the country and my friends/coworkers don't live nearby. I have to admit, in such a case, dry food is very convenient but now they won't eat it!:frustrated: I guess I don't have any choice, I must never leave my cats! Any suggestions?[/QUOTE]

How about an automatic timed feeder with ice-packs to keep the food cool? If you could get someone to come once a day (which they should anyway for litter box duties), then they could put some food in the feeder for the second meal.

And congratulations on the diet switch, that's awesome!!

[QUOTE=Love4himies;545125]Tell us pleeeeeease how you did it. Tried raw again with my cats this weekend and they chose to go hungry:mad:. They currently eat Wellness canned, Go Natural canned and Orijen kibble. Two will eat some cooked meat, Jasper won't touch anything real. I had foster kittens on raw and they prefered it to any cat food, but it was easy with them. Started them on raw at 4 weeks. It is the adults I am having problems with.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried putting just a miniscule amount (like the size of a pencil eraser) in with their canned food? Then slowly - very slowly! - increase the amount of raw. Some cats are more stubborn than others, but if you take things at a snails pace you should eventually win out. Since a couple are okay with cooked meat, can you gradually start cooking it less and less?

[QUOTE=sugarcatmom;545151]Have you tried putting just a miniscule amount (like the size of a pencil eraser) in with their canned food? Then slowly - very slowly! - increase the amount of raw. Some cats are more stubborn than others, but if you take things at a snails pace you should eventually win out. Since a couple are okay with cooked meat, can you gradually start cooking it less and less?[/QUOTE]


Yes I did that this weekend and have tried that while I had my foster kittens, but just didn't have the time to fight with the adults when I had 10 cats in the house to deal with. For Jasper who is an orijen lover, I have even tried putting a tiny piece of raw meat on his kibble and hand feeding him, kibble by kibble, got only one piece in him. I also did this with Sweet Pea and managed to get two pieces of kibble with some raw on it before she realized what I was doing, then she quit eating:frustrated:

Added little raw to Puddle's Wellness and she sniffed it, took a couple of licks, then tried to bury it:yell:. Puddles will eat cooked meat sometimes since changing her food to Wellness so I am making some headway with her.

I will not give up, I still want them on raw.

[QUOTE=Love4himies;545125]Tell us pleeeeeease how you did it. Tried raw again with my cats this weekend and they chose to go hungry:mad:. They currently eat Wellness canned, Go Natural canned and Orijen kibble. Two will eat some cooked meat, Jasper won't touch anything real. I had foster kittens on raw and they prefered it to any cat food, but it was easy with them. Started them on raw at 4 weeks. It is the adults I am having problems with.[/QUOTE]

I started feeding them raw beef and pork once a week when they were a bit over 2 years old. They will be 4 years old this spring. At that time, they had dry food, rarely canned. Jadzia always liked it more than Kira. Miss Kira was a little fussy, she preferred ground pork over beef, not chunks, etc. They didn't like raw chicken. Funny, the recipe I make now is ground-up chicken thighs with a lot of chicken chunks and they both love it. Kira took a little more time to try the chicken recipe, a matter of hours, but that was it. No fuss.

I didn't have trouble converting them, but is it because they were relatively young when I started feeding small amounts of raw meat? Is it because they hunt mice in summer and have occasionally eaten one so they know what raw is? Who knows? I guess I'm lucky. I am grateful it wasn't difficult because I don't have the patience to try all sorts of tricks to get them to eat raw.

Have you tried different kinds of meat? Have you tried canned salmon, tuna or mackerel? It might help if they eat something different than cat food but not as drastic as raw meat.

My next step is to get them to eat raw chicken wings. I've heard it really helps keep teeth clean. I am using Petzlife dental gel but I would prefer if they chewed on bones instead. Maybe that's where I will hit a snag!

Anyway, good luck!:fingerscr

[QUOTE=Helene4;545192]I started feeding them raw beef and pork once a week when they were a bit over 2 years old. They will be 4 years old this spring. At that time, they had dry food, rarely canned. Jadzia always liked it more than Kira. Miss Kira was a little fussy, she preferred ground pork over beef, not chunks, etc. They didn't like raw chicken. Funny, the recipe I make now is ground-up chicken thighs with a lot of chicken chunks and they both love it. Kira took a little more time to try the chicken recipe, a matter of hours, but that was it. No fuss.

I didn't have trouble converting them, but is it because they were relatively young when I started feeding small amounts of raw meat? Is it because they hunt mice in summer and have occasionally eaten one so they know what raw is? Who knows? I guess I'm lucky. I am grateful it wasn't difficult because I don't have the patience to try all sorts of tricks to get them to eat raw.

Have you tried different kinds of meat? Have you tried canned salmon, tuna or mackerel? It might help if they eat something different than cat food but not as drastic as raw meat.


Anyway, good luck!:fingerscr[/QUOTE]

Puddles and Sweet Pea will eat canned tuna and salmon, Jasper may lick at tuna, neither will eat raw salmon. Puddles and Sweet Pea will eat cooked beef, chicken and pork, but only if it is freshly cooked, no left overs, no siree, not good enough for them. I don't eat meat every day so I don't have fresh meat to serve them daily. Jasper thinks meat is for other animals to eat :frustrated:. Sweet Pea was a stray for at least 4 months prior to her being rescued (she was showing up at a back yard feeding station) so you would think she would eat raw meat??
Part of the problem is me too, very busy and just don't have the energy to fight with them to get them to eat. It took months of frustration and tears to change Puddles's food to Wellness from a junk grocery store brand and her kibble.