Cat now bored with raw, need advice

[hersheys mom]

Hi,

Hershey Rose was a feral I adopted last September. She eats raw that I make from Dr. Pierson's recipe. The first few batches I made were white meat chicken. Then I added dark meat the next few batches. She wasn't as interested. Recently I added pork as a second protein. She was fine with that for a while, but is now bored with it. I went and got some lamb yesterday, but she wanted no part of it. I can't afford rabbit or lamb, but the lamb was medalion samples (glad I didn't buy any from the market). The last batch was 2 whole chickens, minus bones because my grinder would not do bones (waiting for refund so I can get a Tarin), chicken hearts, gizzards and liver, pork, eggs, bone meal, Taurine, E & B complex, salt, etc. But now she leaves about 1/3 of it in the dish. She is still getting the same amount of food she has been getting since November when I started her on raw,  1.5 oz 3 times a day. She looks fine, not overweight or underweight. Can anyone give me a way to "spice up" her food so she gets interested in it again?

Also, my other cat, who has been raised on Friskies and Whiskas canned food (before I adopted her) won't eat any healthy foods (Merric, Inova) but wants her junk food. I am trying to mix some of the better food in with the cheap stuff but she won't eat it. Eventually I want her on raw also. Has anyone converted their junk food eater to raw that could give me some advice

Thanks,

Lei-Ann

 

[vball91]

Have you tried giving them chunks/strips of just meat? That might make meals more interesting. Of course, you might run the risk that they will like frankenprey better than ground like LDG's cats.

Also, she might be eating less because she needs less. The only way to know is to track her weight. If she is maintaining her weight on less, that might be the right amount for her.

I also have a junk food gravy licker (Fancy Feast and Friskies). I found it very difficult to get her to eat any of the better quality canned. It was actually easier to get her to eat raw. Maybe because it's so different. The only decent canned she will eat with any regularity is Hound & Gatos which I have to mix with water to make it all gravy like. I also use toppers galore on any food I would like her to eat. With her, she can reject something a few times and then suddenly decides she likes it, so don't give up after one attempt. She is always suspicious of anything new, so I will swipe a little on her nose/mouth to make her lick it off and try it. Sometimes she will decide she likes it!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I agree completely with everything vball91 said.  Maybe Hershey Rose just doesn't need as much food now.  If she was a feral, she might have been in the "eat everything I see" mode and now realizes that food is going to be dished up 3 times a day no matter what, so she doesn't have to scarf it all up if she isn't hunger

.  None of mine eat 4.5 oz per day, not even my 13 lb guy, although I think most of LDG's do, so that just goes to show that each cat is different.  I have found that one of mine really likes chicken heart "strips", added to his ground mix, so you could see if she likes them that way, and if she doesn't then you can just toss them into your grinder with the rest of your stuff.  If you could get her to eat the gizzards, especially, they would be good for her teeth

.  Mine won't touch them, naturally

(and only one likes the hearts un-ground)

As to your other cat, the junk food addict, why NOT just mix a teeny bit of raw right into her fancy feast?  I'm talking maybe  1/8 of a teaspoon to start?  Then if she accepts that, then slowly increase the amount of raw until she's eating it?

One of my furkids who had been eating raw for a year just went on strike, so I had to put her back on fancy feast and start over

.  This was just 2 weeks ago, and luckily, it only took a week or so for her to come to her senses, but she is still requiring just about 1 teaspoon of FF on top of her raw now to eat. Funny thing is...she isn't eating the FF, just wants it on her plate, the goofball

 

[ldg]

When you started her on raw, was it commercial with bone? Because boneless is going to weigh less. If my cats eat 4.5 ounces of raw a day using eggshell as the source of calcium, if I included 10% bone, they'd be eating roughly 5 ounces of food a day. If they were eating 4.5 ounces with bone, if feeding boneless, they'd be eating (about) 4 ounces a day.

Is she really active? How long has she been eating just 3 ounces a day? Is she losing weight?

And if that's all she's eating per meal... will she eat a 4th meal? :dk:

FYI, mine really don't like eating the same thing every meal - let alone every day. For six years, they ate the same kibble, same wet food, day in day out. We started on raw, and all of a sudden, they want variety. :dk: Obviously it's much easier to rotate what they eat if you're feeding frankenprey or commercial raw.

Will she eat chunks or minced meat? Maybe you can rotate more proteins easily by just including SOME frankenprey, and still feeding mostly ground?

Do you have anything to add as an enticement? (A "topper")? Freeze dried liver? Freeze dried chicken or salmon? The store you bought her canned food from ought to carry freeze dried plain meat treats. These can be crushed/crumbled into powder/small pieces to put as a topper on her food.

Also, are you sure the chicken or pork you purchased recently isn't enhanced? She may not like it if it was - may be too salty. (The way to know is to check the sodium level - if it's more than 100mg per 4oz serving, it's enhanced). I know many have a hard time finding pork that isn't enhanced. I don't have a hard time, but other than from a locally owned specialty shop, I can't find turkey of any kind that isn't enhanced - unless it's organic and extremely expensive.

 

[auntie crazy]

It's not necessarily that she no longer "likes" a certain food as much as she's probably just tired of eating it meal after meal. Instead of feeding her an entire batch of one meat until it's gone, why not mix up three or four different batches and feed her something different for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Cats are driven to eat a variety of foods (when they're not artificially addicted to a particular product) - it's called "the monotony effect" - so why not indulge her with three or four different meals every day? 

AC

 

[ldg]

Oh - something that occurred to me after I posted. My cats go off their food when they don't feel well - hairballs or constipation being the main culprits if there are no other symptoms. It is shedding season. I don't see her, don't know her patterns, don't scoop her box, don't know her grooming habits... but just wanted to put it out there.

 

[hersheys mom]

Have you tried giving them chunks/strips of just meat? That might make meals more interesting. Of course, you might run the risk that they will like frankenprey better than ground like LDG's cats.

Also, she might be eating less because she needs less. The only way to know is to track her weight. If she is maintaining her weight on less, that might be the right amount for her.

I also have a junk food gravy licker (Fancy Feast and Friskies). I found it very difficult to get her to eat any of the better quality canned. It was actually easier to get her to eat raw. Maybe because it's so different. The only decent canned she will eat with any regularity is Hound & Gatos which I have to mix with water to make it all gravy like. I also use toppers galore on any food I would like her to eat. With her, she can reject something a few times and then suddenly decides she likes it, so don't give up after one attempt. She is always suspicious of anything new, so I will swipe a little on her nose/mouth to make her lick it off and try it. Sometimes she will decide she likes it!

Yes, have tried strips of meat on both cats. Hershey Rose, my raw eater, ignores just raw chicken strip, and won't touch chicken thigh bones as munchies. She seems to remain the same weight so I guess she is okay, as right after I posted this she went back to finishing her meals.

Your junk food gravy licker is related to my Minja. Instead of mixing Hound & Gatos (which she hates), I mix good food (Merricks, Inova) in with the Friskies Shreads and she eats it. The plan is to keep adding less Friskies. As for raw, even mixed in the Friskies she won't touch it. But I will continue trying.

 

[hersheys mom]

I agree completely with everything vball91 said.  Maybe Hershey Rose just doesn't need as much food now.  If she was a feral, she might have been in the "eat everything I see" mode and now realizes that food is going to be dished up 3 times a day no matter what, so she doesn't have to scarf it all up if she isn't hunger

.  None of mine eat 4.5 oz per day, not even my 13 lb guy, although I think most of LDG's do, so that just goes to show that each cat is different.  I have found that one of mine really likes chicken heart "strips", added to his ground mix, so you could see if she likes them that way, and if she doesn't then you can just toss them into your grinder with the rest of your stuff.  If you could get her to eat the gizzards, especially, they would be good for her teeth

.  Mine won't touch them, naturally

(and only one likes the hearts un-ground)

As to your other cat, the junk food addict, why NOT just mix a teeny bit of raw right into her fancy feast?  I'm talking maybe  1/8 of a teaspoon to start?  Then if she accepts that, then slowly increase the amount of raw until she's eating it?

One of my furkids who had been eating raw for a year just went on strike, so I had to put her back on fancy feast and start over

.  This was just 2 weeks ago, and luckily, it only took a week or so for her to come to her senses, but she is still requiring just about 1 teaspoon of FF on top of her raw now to eat. Funny thing is...she isn't eating the FF, just wants it on her plate, the goofball

I have tried giving her chicken hearts, liver and gizzards separtately. No go. Minja is now accepting small amounts of good food mixed in with the Friskies but not raw. She won't touch it if she smells raw. I tried partially cooking the raw and mixing it in, but that didn't help either. And yes, most cats are goofballs when it comes to eating!

 

[hersheys mom]

Oh - something that occurred to me after I posted. My cats go off their food when they don't feel well - hairballs or constipation being the main culprits if there are no other symptoms. It is shedding season. I don't see her, don't know her patterns, don't scoop her box, don't know her grooming habits... but just wanted to put it out there.

Thanks Laurie. She isn't having any health issues, I think she doesn't like this batch because I put thighs in it. She like the white meat better. But she needs dark meat and a second protien, and her turned up nose at the lamb left me wondering what else I could substitute since I can't afford either rabbit or venison. She won't munch on chicken thigh bones, and neither cat will touch a sardine. How safe are wing and breast bones? I will start on new thread on this.

Lei Ann

 

[harleydiva]

Don't where you are located....but I just found a local coop that delivers around the midwest that offers 5# of whole ground rabbit for $2.95 pound.  Happy cats at my house.....rabbit is their favorite (and the one meat I can always count on them eating).

 

[ldg]

Actually, chicken thigh bones are too large for most cats - especially as a starter bone. The rule of thumb is "no structural bones" from larger animals. So from chickens, the preferred bones ARE wing (just the two smaller pieces) and ribs. My cats, even though they were eating strips of meat, didn't know what to do with the bones - and I offered them wings. So I cut them up into bite sized pieces, and they went at it. And when you offer any bone, it has to have meat on it - they're not interested in just eating a bone, like a dog would be. This is why wings are perfect - meat, skin and all.