Amount Of Raw To Feed?

[ChaoticEva]

Hello all!

So, I decided to start giving Raw to my cat, Banjo. I'm a little confused on how much he should be eating. He currently weighs 12.5lbs, but needs to be at around 11lbs or 10.5lbs. I heard he should be eating 158g, but then I have other places that are telling me that it's more than that or less than that. So I'm a little confused. I'm not feeding him Raw everyday, but I'd like to know how much I should be giving him. I'm trying out the Healthy Paws Venison diet. He likes the venison Instinct can food, so I'm hoping he'll like this one as well.

Any info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[dhammagirl]

I've managed to get my 20+ pound cat down to about 16.5 pounds with raw. As to how much to feed, I found it took experimenting. Weigh kitty, keep track of how much food you're feeding, approximate calories. If he's losing too much, feed more, if he's not losing weight or gaining weight, feed less. ( I weigh my cat once a week. This way I've found that about 3.4ounces of raw rabbit daily keeps him at his current weight. )

 

[orange&white]

The general rule of thumb for amounts of raw diet is 2-3% of the cat's ideal body weight.

So if you're shooting for 11 pounds (176 ounces) as a goal weight, 2% would be 3.5 ounces, 2.5% would be 4.4 ounces, and 3% would be 5.3 ounces.

After losing from 16.5 lbs to 15 lbs, my overweight cat was not losing additional weight at 2% until I changed his raw mixes to low-fat, high protein. After I did that he is slowly losing weight again at 2% of his ideal weight (12.5 lbs. - 4 ounces of food). He weighs 14.25 lbs now, with a goal weight of 12.5 lbs.

Venison is a great lean protein for an overweight kitty. Good luck with his diet!

 

[ChaoticEva]

Thank you so much for the info. I ended up giving him 113g (4oz) of raw. He's suppose to be getting 100g, but since it's his first time in a long time, I gave him a little extra. Now I'm worried because he seems hungry. Usually when I was giving him wet and dry food, I'd give him 185kcals a day. With the raw, it came out to about 120kcals. I know it isn't the same as wet and dry food, but it worries me a bit. Basically, what I need is some reassurance that I'm not starving him

 

[lalagimp]

I started my boys out at 5 oz each and then had to weigh them from there. When Stewart needs to lose weight he ends up on about 4-4.5 oz, and 5 oz was not cutting it for Tommy so we raised him half ounce by half ounce and found that he needs 6.5 oz of food right now. These guys are 12 and 13 lbs...well...Stew is now 13 as well as Tom... but his dad doesn't want him on a diet at this time.
If you weight them weekly and they are successfully losing weight you would end up seeing something like 1.5 -3 oz of weight loss per week. Try not to let them lose more than a half lb a month if you can. I like to weigh mine in the middle of the day during nap time because they just ate 2 hours before and have probably already been to the bathroom.

 

[ChaoticEva]

Every month I get him weighed at the vets, as he's on a weight loss program. Like I said, I won't be feeding him raw every day (I have about 24 cans and a small container half full of dry food) and I also don't want to only feed raw. We sometimes leave for a few days, and I know that most wouldn't be comfortable feeding my cats raw. And if he needs to be at the vets, I know for sure my vet would NEVER feed raw. I'll weight him tomorrow, see how much he weighs and then I'll weigh him weekly. I'm thinking of feeding him raw every other day. I know it isn't ideal and that I should stick to only raw, but I just can't at the moment. I have quite a few customers who feed wet/dry with some raw. So I'm guessing it can't be that bad and that I should still see some improvements eventually.

 

[orange&white]

Now I'm worried because he seems hungry. Basically, what I need is some reassurance that I'm not starving him

My cat on a diet begs all the time like I'm starving him. He would eat 8 ounces of food in one sitting (I've tested it) and then eventually be a 40lb Guinness book of records cat (not testing that one).

He has stopped meowing at me every time I walk in the kitchen. I stopped him by saying "I love you too" and giving him pets or a hug, or by saying "Oh, you want to play?" and picking up a feather toy. He finally figured out that I'm an idiot who doesn't know that he's meowing for food...so he stopped. He does sit by his empty saucer and look plaintively at me when it's not meal time and I'm in the kitchen. He only meows when he sees me pulling out the cat food tubs three times a day, which he recognizes.

Weighing Banjo weekly will give you peace of mind that he is eating enough. If you see extreme weight loss in a short period, feed him a little more. Otherwise, it's normal for overweight cats to attempt to guilt-trip you into more food when their calories get cut back.

 

[ChaoticEva]

I thought I'd give all of you an update.
Banjo has been loving the Venison. Last week I only gave him the raw once, until I figured out a plan. I'll be giving him raw 3 times a week (Mon to Wed) and 4 days a week it will be cans and very little dry food. I am currently giving him 4oz of raw. I also decided to add Quail into the mix. Hopefully I'll be able to add even more proteins eventually (like Bison, Rabbit, Turkey etc). I weighed him on Monday and he was at 12.2lbs. Though I weighed him another time, and it was at 12.8lbs, but I'll stick to the 12.2lbs for now, until I weigh him next time.
Thank you all for the help and encouragement!

 

[orange&white]

That's a really good report.

Don't worry about short-term fluctuations in weight. You just want the longer-term trend line going in the right direction. I "officially" weight my cats on Sundays, but do some sporadic mid-week weigh ins with Tangent just out of curiosity. Tangent's weight can vary 1/4 pound in a day, just on his pee/poop cycle. Raw-fed cats often only poop once every 2-3 days. He's really light on his feet after he poops.

 

[ChaoticEva]

I'm having some concerns now. My Banjo seems to have been licking himself a lot. To the the point of have a little sore. I know this happens when I give him the same protein for too long. But I've only been giving him the raw Venison for 3 days. And I've never heard of a cat having intolerance to venison. Could it be something in the raw? He also does this when he's stressed. But nothing has changed, so I'm not sure what's going on.

 

[orange&white]

The venison is a new food for him. If it is a novel protein (one he's never had) then it should take a long time for an intolerance to show up. If he's had canned venison cat food before then it is a possible venison allergy/intolerance. Are the canned foods new types/flavors?

 

[ChaoticEva]

He has had venison can food. Though not often. I've never seen him have this issue with the venison before. It's more often with either chicken or beef.
His has only a select few cans that he eats. Instinct : Rabbit, salmon & venison-Wellness CORE : Turkey & Duck, Chicken & chicken Liver (very moderate). I talked it over with my mother, and I believe that it could be stress related. We've been out of the house a lot more and we've been stressed out as well, due to a lot of changes happening with some family member. Since August 26th, we've been coming home later, not home during the weekends etc. I'm guessing that is taking a toll on him?

 

[orange&white]

Yes, it is possible that it is stress, not the food...or a combination of stress and a diet change all happening at the same time. Hopefully it's temporary and he feels better soon.

 

[ChaoticEva]

Do you think I should have slowly integrated the raw? Should I only give him 2 days of raw next week? I feel bad for the guy. :/ He also has some bald spots, where his leg would be. I guess that's due to always sitting on that "leg" or rubbing on objects.

 

[orange&white]

I think that right now since he's having some issues and you don't know if it's from stress-only or food-only or stress+food, I would keep him on the same feeding mix/schedule you are on right now and don't make further changes until you see if his condition is improving or getting worse.

I'd take him to the vet and get some cream or antibiotics for the bald spots. The vet is unlikely to be able to tell you if the cause is food or stress, but he should be able to prescribe something that would help heal the bald spots. Food allergy tests are only about 50% accurate, so I'm not sure if they're worthwhile and there isn't any test for stress. I'd just see if the vet can give some relief while you try to pinpoint the issue.