Food trial: Is raw (or home-cooked) an option?

[burkey]

One of my cats, George, has eosinophilic granuloma complex (EGC) and we're in the process of trying to determine the cause of his issues.  We were gearing up to start a food trial this weekend, only to learn that the food the veterinarian has prescribed is in short supply. (Royal Canin Selected Protein Rabbit...I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, anyway)  So now I'm looking into other options.

The biggest question I have is, can a single protein source be fed exclusively for a minimum of 6 weeks, when feeding raw (or home-cooked)? Ideally, a good 10 weeks is what we're looking at here before slowly introducing new foods.  His current diet is primarily chicken based, with occasional turkey and fish....grain-free canned & kibble. All poultry is definitely not an option for the food trial, and I'd like to avoid fish too.  Can it be done?  And with what single protein... rabbit, lamb, or ?

I don't even know if George would take to raw. He's coming up on 8 months old, and when we adopted him about a month ago, he was a certified kibble addict. With a lot of effort and bribery, we've come a long way these last several weeks, but we're still only at about 60% wet/canned, and 40% kibble on good days. Anyone have a kibble addict happily take to raw without a lot of persuasion? During the food trial, I won't be able to use any bribery tactics.

I'd like to get him started on food trial very soon, as he's already had more than his fair share of steroids to help his condition... I really want to eliminate (or at least reduce) that if we can get to the bottom of things. My preference would be to start with a commercially prepared, single protein raw diet. We could stick with that if he's doing well, but I'm not opposed to learning how to properly prepare it myself. I don't yet have the knowledge needed to do it properly yet, but I imagine in a few weeks time I would be ready to hit the ground running...

So to summarize... can single protein raw be used for a 6-10 week food trial? Which (non-poultry) protein would you recommend? Which commercially prepared brand/variety to start while I learn the ropes? Am I crazy thinking I'll have little issue getting a kibble addict to eat raw? 

Thank you tremendously in advance for any advice you can offer.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Hmmm. Commercially prepared does pose a problem as most manufacturers add stuff to their meals.  I first thought about Radcat, but in looking at it more closely, I see they add eggs and salmon oil, so that's probably not good.  (and you would have to use lamb as the protein as they only have 3 - chicken, turkey or lamb)

As to whether or not George would take to raw immediately or not, that's the million dollar questions.  Some cats take to it right away and some don't. 

I saw GoHolistics comment to you, though, about the RC canned rabbit, so is that back on the table now? 

Now, back to raw, you could order ground up rabbit or venison from a farm in Pennsylvania that lots of us raw feeders use to include the organs and bone, and we could help you with the supplements to make it nutritionally complete, so all you would have to do is order it (it comes frozen), and mix it up, package it into usable sizes and refreeze it.  Trouble is, if he doesn't like it, then you've got to start over again.  Supposedly most cats love the rabbit.   You could use the RC kibble as a topper to entice George to eat it.  I used to make little raw meatballs out of the raw when my guys first started on it, thenI would roll them in crushed treats so  my cats would understand this was food

  They finally got the hint, but they'd been eating kibble for longer than George.  Anyway, here's the website for that farm where you can order raw ground animals to be shipped to you:  https://www.hare-today.com/.   You can email Tracy, the owner, with any questions about it and she's really good about answering. 

 

[ritz]

mrsgreenjeens has some excellent suggestions.  I would try HareToday's ground raw.  Most of the proteins come in different grinds--very fine to coarse, so you might want to go with fine because (I think) it most closely approximates the texture of canned.  Good customer service.

Mypetcarnivore might be closer to you (they are in Indiana) than HareToday (Pennsylvania); shipping costs can add up.  I personally have never used them, but I think based on my memory from other posters, they are pretty good.    https://www.mypetcarnivore.com/inde...tegory_id=28&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=130

 

[burkey]

Thank you very much for the replies!

Yes, using the information GoHolistic provided in the thread on the main nutrition board, we also called Royal Canin and there are definitely no supply issues at their end. I don't know what's up with my vet stating it was currently not being produced...because Royal Canin clearly stated that info is incorrect. We are going to request his prescription and buy it at the local Petsmart, which has plenty in stock.

So... we've come full circle and are back to using RC for George's food trial. From the get-go I wasn't too thrilled about using it, but it leaves less room for error and I keep telling myself it's highly unlikely he'll be eating it forever.

The information provided about raw has been extremely helpful, though. We had always planned to give it a try once we'd fully transitioned him to wet. So depending what, if anything the food trial reveals...raw is still on the table down the road.

Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions and giving me options to think about. It is very appreciated.