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Wow, you know a lot about cat nutrition and feeding!
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Basic Raw Food Question
- Thread starter bridget graham
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Did a lot of research.....but learned a whole lot from the folks on this forum. Keep reading and asking questions....you will find a lot of people here willing to help. Sometimes we don't all agree on everything....but you will always find help here.
I told you these people are good. I have learned more about cat nutrition in the last year than in the previous 50+
Bridget, what exactly are you feeding (which protein, which Bravo meat...turkey, beef, rabbit,pork, lamb?), and how much are you adding to the BFF, since your cats aren't eating it? All of these things can make a huge difference in whether or not a beginning cat will eat.
Sometimes you have to literally start with 1/2 teaspoon of raw mixed into an entire serving of canned in order for them to eat. Then if they accept that, you can GRADUALLY increase the amount of raw. Shocking, right. But that's how these pickies can be. And it's perfectly ok to feed up to 15% of their diet unbalanced, so at that small amount, I wouldn't worry about adding supplements, but that's why I asked which Bravo product you are feeding, but also which protein, because there are certain proteins that most cats seem to like better than others when they first start out.
I have one cat who absolutely loves chicken, but the other two HATE IT. Conversely, I have another cat who LOVES Turkey, but the ones who loves chicken HATES turkey, and the other one can take it or leave it
. They will all three eat lamb, but none of them will eat rabbit, unless it is freeze dried. Doesn't matter what brand either. If it is fresh or frozen, forget it
Now, as far as pork goes, they will eat it on strips, but not ground. What I am trying to point out is...you just never know what goes thru their furry little minds when it comes to eating raw..
As to Call of the Wild, they either love it or hate it, is my experience. Wysong used to send out samples of it, so I would contact them and see if they still do. I just got one a month or so ago, so I'm thinking they still do!
Sometimes you have to literally start with 1/2 teaspoon of raw mixed into an entire serving of canned in order for them to eat. Then if they accept that, you can GRADUALLY increase the amount of raw. Shocking, right. But that's how these pickies can be. And it's perfectly ok to feed up to 15% of their diet unbalanced, so at that small amount, I wouldn't worry about adding supplements, but that's why I asked which Bravo product you are feeding, but also which protein, because there are certain proteins that most cats seem to like better than others when they first start out.
I have one cat who absolutely loves chicken, but the other two HATE IT. Conversely, I have another cat who LOVES Turkey, but the ones who loves chicken HATES turkey, and the other one can take it or leave it
As to Call of the Wild, they either love it or hate it, is my experience. Wysong used to send out samples of it, so I would contact them and see if they still do. I just got one a month or so ago, so I'm thinking they still do!
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I tried giving them some of the Bravo chicken blend burger, it doesn't have any added ingredients and I smelled it, it's basically odorless. They didn't it eat it at all when I gave it to them all alone. Then I tried mixing a small amount of it with a can of BFF and they didn't eat it. I saved that mix of food in the fridge and they were more receptive on the second try.Bridget, what exactly are you feeding (which protein, which Bravo meat...turkey, beef, rabbit,pork, lamb?), and how much are you adding to the BFF, since your cats aren't eating it? All of these things can make a huge difference in whether or not a beginning cat will eat.
Sometimes you have to literally start with 1/2 teaspoon of raw mixed into an entire serving of canned in order for them to eat. Then if they accept that, you can GRADUALLY increase the amount of raw. Shocking, right. But that's how these pickies can be. And it's perfectly ok to feed up to 15% of their diet unbalanced, so at that small amount, I wouldn't worry about adding supplements, but that's why I asked which Bravo product you are feeding, but also which protein, because there are certain proteins that most cats seem to like better than others when they first start out.
I have one cat who absolutely loves chicken, but the other two HATE IT. Conversely, I have another cat who LOVES Turkey, but the ones who loves chicken HATES turkey, and the other one can take it or leave it. They will all three eat lamb, but none of them will eat rabbit, unless it is freeze dried. Doesn't matter what brand either. If it is fresh or frozen, forget itNow, as far as pork goes, they will eat it on strips, but not ground. What I am trying to point out is...you just never know what goes thru their furry little minds when it comes to eating raw..
As to Call of the Wild, they either love it or hate it, is my experience. Wysong used to send out samples of it, so I would contact them and see if they still do. I just got one a month or so ago, so I'm thinking they still do!
We need to take it slow with them, especially my eight year old cat. He has been eating really crummy kibble for years and I didn't think he would eat wet food at all. Last week I tried giving him a grain free dry food and he wouldn't eat it, then I tried the wet food and he slowly started to eat it. I still have to give him some of his dried food because he won't eat the whole 10 ounces of BFF or Weruva that he's supposed to eat every day.
The kitten has been a little picky but after a few days she stopped pawing at the dry food bag and begging for kibble, so that's exciting! I think she's getting better nutrition with the BFF. I initially started this switch because she had diarrhea and blood in her stool and now that the grain is out of her diet she's fine.
I'll see if Wysong can give me a sample.
Thank you!
Weruva is approximately half the calorie count of most foods, so 10 oz. might not be that bad...I don't know the calorie count on BFF.
I was thinking the exact same thing
Do you have them on scheduled feeding, or are you still free feeding with the kibble still? If free feeding at all, you should probably stop in order for this to work. It's much easier to convert them to raw if they are already used to eating only canned. That's not to say it can't be done, but it's easier. And feeding kibble and raw in the same meal is not good for their digestive system as they digest at different speeds, which messes things up (I'm not very scientific in my explanation, but hopefully you get my drift) It's ok to use a teeny bit of crushed kibble as a topper (maybe one piece of kibble) to entice them to eat raw, but that's about it, and we usually use something else, if humanly possible.
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The eight year old is ten pounds, down a little bit from last year. The cans of [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Weruva and BFF say one ounce per pound. I am feeding them in three meals per day and the only thing that I leave out for longer than 15 minutes are the wet foods. He only gets dry food when he won't finish the wet stuff but it's only a tiny bit because he is eating most of the wet food. Adopting the kitten might be the reason why he lost weight this year, he hates to be inside for very long and he really doesn't like having her trail him. Now I'm separating them so that I can keep track of what they're eating. He is used to free feeding on dry food so the kitten and the food switch are all a big change for him. He's been a good grazer in the past though, no gorging. Every now and then he's starving when he comes inside and he will eat so rapidly that he pukes. He's the boss though, we let him do what he wants and come and go as he pleases. If he did the binge and purge more frequently I would change things but it's pretty rare.[/color]
If that's a good weight for him and he's actually lost a little weight, then that's probably the right amount of food for him. The feeding guidelines are usually too high for adult indoor neutered cats, and most of us got by calories instead. However, since your cat spends so much time outdoors, he probably needs more calories.
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Once I get them on food that I think is best for them I'll talk to my veterinarians about how many calories they need. My kitten won't stop eating and she's still growing so it's hard to tell how much she needs.
Kittens need as much as they can eat.
FYI, my adult cats, ranging from 10 to 14 pounds, all ate about one 5.5 oz can of food a day to maintain their healthy weights. On raw, they need about 4.5 ounces of food a day. (Raw is much more bioavailable, so they need less of it).
FYI, my adult cats, ranging from 10 to 14 pounds, all ate about one 5.5 oz can of food a day to maintain their healthy weights. On raw, they need about 4.5 ounces of food a day. (Raw is much more bioavailable, so they need less of it).
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Noted. Thank you!Kittens need as much as they can eat.
FYI, my adult cats, ranging from 10 to 14 pounds, all ate about one 5.5 oz can of food a day to maintain their healthy weights. On raw, they need about 4.5 ounces of food a day. (Raw is much more bioavailable, so they need less of it).
I'm kind of surprised that the vets haven't given more nutrition guidance.
The majority of vets, unless they have specialized in nutrition, or holistic issues, have had very little education in nutrition. Many vet schools are subsidized by commercial pet food companies, in the form of free food, and even participating in their training. The majority have little or no knowledge about raw feeding, and will just "parrot" the information given by the commercial pet food companies. My former vet, for example, pushes Hills Science Diet (they sell it). Pick up a bag of Hills.....the ingredients list will make you gag.
I don't know how attached you are to your current vet.....but there are quite a few holistic vets listed in Austin. You could call the offices and just ask if the practice is supportive of raw feeding....many holistically oriented vets are.
http://www.veterinarians.com/services/holistic/tx/austin
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Also, even vets who do know a bit about nutrition are usually oriented toward dog nutrition. . .most vets know a lot more about dogs in general. A holistically-oriented, cat-specialist vet would probably have the best nutrition advice. . .but I would still want detailed reasoning for any advice they did give. Knee-jerk "feed this not that" is never good advice, even if the end result is the same as the detailed advice.
