Is It Ever Too Late To Start A Raw Food Diet?

cynbarrie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
89
Purraise
19
I have recently been looking into a raw food diets, now that I am no longer a poor collage and can afford a higher quality food for my fur baby.
I currently feed her Blue Buffalo Indoor Health Chicken+Rice, and with my research so far have found that it would only cost me between 20-80 cents more per day to give her a Raw Diet.
However, my cat is now 6 years old (9lbs, healthy, no allergies) and I know how picky she can be about food. I have had luck changing brands of food, but if I get anything other than chicken of turkey flavor she will not eat it. She loves wet food as well, I feed her Nutro Perfect Portions Pate, but if I give her the cuts+gravy type she will vomit after she eats... I do not know why, even other brands she can eat the Pate version of a food, but the gravy variety makes her sick.
___________________________
Long story short... I want to give her the best diet possible, I feel that I can manage a raw diet for her well, but I do not know how to transition her to a totally new diet. Or if it is even healthy to do so at this point in her life.

Has anyone transitioned an adult cat from kibble to raw? How did you do it? Do you use a pre-made diet like Darwin's, or do you buy raw ingredients and make your own?
 

EmersonandEvie

Mom to Evie, Emerson and Dexter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
1,691
Purraise
2,769
Location
Northeast Georgia
Both of my cats were technically adults when I fed raw. I started out using Darwin's, then switched to making their food from a premade grind + necessary supplements that I bought online. I used the Darwin's introductory offer to make sure they would take to the new diet well, but I couldn't afford to feed Darwin's to 3 cats.

Hang in there! I know how daunting it can be. Be patient. Go check out the raw food forum at the top of the Nutrition forum here. We have quite a few raw feeders here and they will give you good advice and point you in the right direction. :)
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,270
Purraise
53,927
Location
Colorado US

movinintime

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
412
Purraise
746
Just again like humans, never too late to do the RIGHT thing as health is the cat's wealth, period. I will never feed anything but raw, as there's no way I can insure appropriate food to a cat any other way than the biologically species appropriate diet meant for cats. :)
 

lisahe

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
6,149
Purraise
4,968
Location
Maine
It's never too late!

I started feeding raw food (Rad Cat!) to our previous cat when she was in her last months of life. She was a very senior cat, probably at least 17. She wasn't eating much and I still hoped that maybe I could find something that would help her live longer. Although she didn't live much longer, Rad Cat was one of the very few foods she'd consistently eat. She was very sick -- she had kidney disease and most likely IDB that had caused lymphoma, too -- and very frail so I just fed her the Rad Cat, no transitions, nothing, because her digestive problems would interfere anyway. And she ate it the first time, despite having been fed mostly dry food (cheap, grainy stuff that probably contributed to her digestive problems) and Fancy Feast (much of it the cans with wheat gluten, which also probably contributed to her problems) for most of her life. The great thing about Rad Cat was that it was food she actually enjoyed at the very end. And then when we adopted new cats, they loved it, too.

Unfortunately, Rad Cat isn't around any longer but Edwina and Ireland eat Primal freeze-dried, Stella & Chewy's Selects frozen food, and two kinds of homemade cooked food.
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
There might be an ingredient in the cuts and gravy foods that your cat's tummy can't tolerate. Maybe the starches and gums used to thicken the gravy.
 

kittyluv387

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
3,368
Purraise
5,177
Of course not. 6 isn't old*** at all! Your cat could live to 20+ for all you know. :)
 
Last edited:

CHIKITTIES

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Messages
167
Purraise
182
My kitties started raw about the same age of yours (or even a year older?) so yes, not late at all! For us dry to wet transition was harder than wet to raw. We used RadCat only for transition and almost immediately moved onto homemade.

Just give her and yourself a time, be patient :goodluck:
 

sabrinah

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
968
Purraise
863
Location
California
It's never too late! I didn't introduce raw until my cat was 14 or 15. She was a little stubborn about it in the beginning but she learned to love it.
 

Tobermory

“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
9,135
Purraise
25,924
Location
Pacific NW
I transitioned Lily and Iris from kibble to canned in 2012. I adopted Mocha in October 2017. She had been fed Friskies canned at the sanctuary so had no trouble eating the canned Rawz I was feeding at the time. I transitioned all three to homemade raw in December 2017 when Lily and Iris were 13 and Mocha was 3. I was lucky; they all took to raw immediately.

I make their food using the recipe at catinfo.org with all of the individual supplements but substituting eggshell calcium for bone. That website, by a veterinarian who’s a feline nutritionist, is extremely helpful and full of invaluable information. She has a page on transitioning to new food, too: https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

I also make some of their food using EZ Complete, a commercial pre-mix supplement. And I’ve started to introduce some Stella & Chewy’s Selects, which is a commercial raw made with calcium carbonate rather than bone.

Before you start raw, you’ll want to do lots and lots of reading, especially if you decide to make food. And ask questions here, too! Lots of knowledgeable folks here on the forum.
 

daftcat75

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 7, 2018
Messages
12,641
Purraise
25,128
It’s not all or none. I would feed her one raw meal a day and see how that goes before switching her entire diet.

Raw and kibble should not be mixed. So if you are starting from kibble, make a new meal time for her and start slow. One portion a day starting at a tablespoon. Do not mix with kibble. The digestibility is very different. One raw meal per day. Watch for the poops the next day to determine whether to proceed (well formed poop), hold (soft but formed), or abort (liquid poops rarely firm up with repeated feedings.). If proceeding, add a tablespoon to the portion. If holding, keep the portion the same. If aborting, she still has her other meals.

Also not all raw is the same. So by converting only one meal at a time, you can evaluate other raw recipes or formulas without leaving her without a food she can eat. Now if you do find a raw she likes, that you can afford, and that she thrives on, there’s no reason why you couldn’t transition her other meals too.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

cynbarrie

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
89
Purraise
19
Thanks for all the advice and links to helpful articles!
As an update, Over the past month i have been offering Monkey pieces of raw unseasoned meat from whatever I have been cooking for dinner, Ground turkey/chicken, small pieces of whole chicken, and fish like tuna and salmon. She took these little snacks better than any treat I have ever tried to give her, and they sat with her stomach well!
So that boost my confidence in her actually switching her diet. I've spent the whole month comparing different brands and of pre-made raw diets, and decided to go with the Darwin's introduction plan. It has not arrived yet, but I am very excited to switch her diet!!
Thanks again for all the helpful tips!
 
Top