Done The Grinds, Now Wishing To Transfer To Whole...

[Balki]

Hi everyone! We've been feeding our nine (yes, nine) cats a raw diet for several years now. We've been doing a lot of grinds (bone in) with organs but we've been interested in switching over to more of a whole prey style for dental health and to avoid some supplementation. If I understand right, feeding whole pieces cuts down on the need for added taurine/vitamins etc.? Am I correct?
My concern is my cats eat fast. Right now, one cat is eating a partial blend of grinds and whole meat chunks (not bones) as she was raised this way. She's 3. My concern with the others is that they'll choke on the bones somehow. I'm aware of feeding larger pieces so they HAVE to chew, but I still worry about that last bite somehow being too big and that somehow they'll swallow it whole and choke. Worrier here.
I don't even feed things like chicken hearts or gizzards whole (I cut them up) because I still worry that someone will inhale one and choke. I gave one of my girls a chicken heart and she chewed it up a few times then swallowed, and I heard this weird noise as though it was stuck in her throat. She wasn't choking or gagging but the noise worried me.
One of my boys (he's almost 10) has dental problems and the vet told me several years ago that he had stomatitis. So far the only teeth he's lost have been the small front ones. He doesn't have a correct bite to begin with. Since he still has many of his teeth I'd like to preserve them, but I'm worried about him not being able to chew bones or meat efficiently. I'm also worried that there will be much competition as the cats get fed twice daily and are former free feeders and still can get defensive with one another over food. I feed them with plenty of space between but our house isn't all that huge.
Any help for someone who probably is worrying too much? I love my cats and want the very best for them but the thought of one of them choking scares me bad enough to keep me from feeding them what would probably benefit them the most.
Help!!

 

[dhammagirl]

Hi Balki.
Wow, 9 cats! I only have three and feel like I have my hands full.
My youngest, Zeke, is a voracious super fast eater, and I've managed to get him to lose almost 4 pounds on a raw diet. In the morning I give him a fairly big chunk of rabbit with bones, 2.5 oz. And once a week or so a whole mouse approximately 1.8 oz, a whole chick, and for a special occasion, a whole extra small guinea pig, like 4 to 5oz.
He wasn't raised eating this way, and like you I was worried about him choking. When I first started giving him the bigger chunks, I stayed to observe. He doesn't use his paws to hold the chunks or whole prey. The first few times, he did indeed gag and choke. He'd swallow, or try to swallow, a way too big piece, hock it up, and have another go at it. After about a week, he got the hang of it and hasn't had any problems.
The big chunks and whole prey take longer for him to eat than ground, but it's still almost shocking how fast he can eat the big stuff! His teeth look great!
Another cat, Bilbo, has lost almost all his teeth due to resorptive lesions. So, I don't even consider giving him big pieces. But he loves the ground turkey without bones as well as the whole carcass ground rabbit. Any bone pieces that are too big just get left on his plate.

Start with whole hearts, gizzards, liver, and boneless chunks of various sizes. That way if, or when, they try to swallow a too large piece, there's no bones to worry about damaging the throat.
Observe, don't panic. It takes a little time and practice for them to figure out the best way to get that delicious meat in the belly!
Even your kitty with the off bite will work it out.
Start small, working up to larger pieces.
As to competition between them, well, my three barely tolerate each other, and Zeke would eat all their food if he could. They each get fed in a separate area, but I've only got three.
If some of your kitties are busy with chunks or whole prey, that might help with the competition.

Good luck!

 

[missmimz]

Has your cat with dental problems had dental work done? You can't fix his issues with whole prey or PMR. stomachitis can't be cured any other way than to pull his teeth, so you should go that route with him. You don't want to just let his teeth fall out, that's painful.

 

[orange&white]

Hi everyone! We've been feeding our nine (yes, nine) cats a raw diet for several years now. We've been doing a lot of grinds (bone in) with organs but we've been interested in switching over to more of a whole prey style for dental health and to avoid some supplementation. If I understand right, feeding whole pieces cuts down on the need for added taurine/vitamins etc.? Am I correct?

Some people feel that whole prey, or large chunk, feeding requires no supplementation. I've always hand-chunked all my cats' food, but still supplement Taurine, Vitamin E, B-Complex, Lite Salt and egg yolks according to recipes at catinfo.org and feline-nutrition.org.

The first few times, he did indeed gag and choke. He'd swallow, or try to swallow, a way too big piece, hock it up, and have another go at it. After about a week, he got the hang of it and hasn't had any problems.

It is not uncommon for cats to have to "learn" how to eat bone, and alarming to watch them get a piece caught in their mouth or regurgitate a big piece then start over on it. You do need to supervise them eating at least at first. They will generally manage it on their own and learn quickly how to chew bones to small enough pieces, but you want to be there just in case.

I don't even feed things like chicken hearts or gizzards whole (I cut them up) because I still worry that someone will inhale one and choke. I gave one of my girls a chicken heart and she chewed it up a few times then swallowed, and I heard this weird noise as though it was stuck in her throat. She wasn't choking or gagging but the noise worried me.

I raised my senior cat on mostly kibble for his first 4 years, and he never has figured out how to eat a whole piece of bone, even a little chicken wing tip. He does love whole gizzards and hearts though. Cats don't thoroughly chew their food the way we do. Just a few cuts with their molars slices boneless meat enough for them to swallow, and hearts/gizzards are soft and won't cause any damage. Their stomach acid does most of the work on everything they eat.

I'm also worried that there will be much competition as the cats get fed twice daily and are former free feeders and still can get defensive with one another over food. I feed them with plenty of space between but our house isn't all that huge.

Yeah, that is a challenge with 9 cats. I only have two, and the senior eats in the kitchen and the kitten eats in my bathroom. The senior is on a weigh loss diet, otherwise I would feed both of them as much food as they wanted 3 times a day. If none of your cats needs a special diet for weight loss, or other health issue, then I would put out more food than they will eat and pick up the leftovers after 30 minutes.

Be prepared though....with whole pieces of food or very large chunks, some of your cats may decide to start walking all over your house carrying meat in their mouth. Some of them may like to play with their food like it's live prey before eating. Can be messy. Some people feed their cats in the bathtub or just shut the bathroom door so the cats are eating on an easy-to-clean hard floor. Don't know how that would work with 9 cats...maybe you could set up X-large cat carriers for feeding stations.

 

[maureen brad]

I think your cats could certainly adjust to whole foods with one exception. Your stomatitis kitty will not do well with bone. Stomatitis is horrifically painful and, I learned the hard way that the only thing to do for it is have all the teeth pulled. When I adopted Remy (RIP) I found out he had Stomatitis, my vet pulled 18 teeth even though having joined Stomatitis groups I knew the best thing was full mouth extraction, my vet didn't want to put him thru that so, one year later he needed more teeth pulled and so on....the only relief came when finally the teeth were gone. I know you want to save the teeth but, cats with this problem suffer , a lot, from chronic pain, eventually steroids do damage to the cat...anyway if I were you I would not let that cat chew bones, or huge chunks of meat, that kind of thing is good for cats with no dental problem but will do nothing to help a stomatitis kitty, quite the opposite