Frustrated and Ready to Try Raw

[2crazykittens]

OK so for a little while now I have been humming and hawing about weather I should try raw for my kittens. I am not afraid to try new things, but I am a little confused by the options and best feeding guides etc. Just yesterday I had to take little Simon back into see the vet for what looks like the start of yet another granuloma.

He was only off his Pred for 11 days for it to return. He is on them again now, and from what I understand is the next step is a diet trial.

I refuse to feed my kitten the vet food. IMO it is garbage. About the same quality as a supermarket brand food and way over priced. Simon currently eats Friskies wet, sometimes Fancy Feast wet and some Freshpet. I know that the Friskies is a big NO but he likes it, then again he likes to eat romaine too and is not a very picky eater.

I have gone over my budget and have really thought over what I can reasonably afford to feed my 2 kittens. Can't just feed one cat the good stuff and not the other. I have narrowed it down to the Natures Variety and the Primal raw and Freeze Dried Raw. I have heard that both food is good but I am concerned about the bone ratio in both. I really don't want any issues while feeding raw and apparently the NV brand might be too high in bone for some kitties. Is the Primal the same as far as that is concerned?

I would like to possibly start with the Primal since it is the cheaper one right now, and I am not sure my cats will take to it right away or not. Also, would it be okay if they still ate some grain free canned food of some kind while on the raw, I ask because I don't want to worry about occasions when I can't be there to dish out raw, or if we run out or something like that. I was hoping to keep some canned in their diet just in case.

Advice please.

 

 

[furmonster mom]

Well, I feed raw frankenprey style, so I'm not really sure about the commercial brands.  I'll let others speak on that count

As for keeping some grain free canned on hand, there are a couple schools of thought.

The first is, yes, go ahead, because it's good to have the flexibility.

The other is, no, because you may end up with finicky kitties who will hold out for the "good stuff".

I used canned food for my transitioning phase, but once they were transitioned, they haven't had any commercial food at all.

When it comes to feeding raw when you're gone, there are several techniques that folks use.

Some will freeze the patties, and put them in one of those timed feeders.  By the time the feeder opens, it's thawed and ready to be consumed.

Others will have a brave friend come over and feed them.  This works pretty well if you are using commercial raw patties, or freeze dried raw.

I'm overly ambitious, and I have a really brave friend. 

  I actually package my frankenprey meals up with my Foodsaver, and my friend thaws them (if needed) and feeds for me.

 

[burkey]

I'm somewhat in the same boat as you are. My 9 month old cat, George, has EGC. We're in the process of trying to pinpoint his allergen(s) and he has been on a food trial using Royal Canin PR (pea & rabbit) for almost 6 weeks now. It has not alleviated his EGC even a little bit. It has also been impossible to maintain his weight on this food, because he self regulates and will not ingest enough to meet the needs of a growing kitten. He has gained only 4 ounces these last 6 weeks, where he should probably have put on closer to a full pound in this time frame.  I agree 100% with you, the veterinary allergen diets are complete JUNK. I almost didn't do it, but ultimately reasoned myself into it because it would only be for a few months before I could move him back to healthier foods. I didn't think about his caloric needs at the time, thinking I'd just feed him as much as he wanted....not realizing he'd choose to eat a bit less than he should.

The foods he was previously eating (NVI canned, Wellness grain-free canned, and Wellness core kibble) all contain peas. The vet isn't concerned that the food trial also contains peas, but this far into it with no improvement, I'm pretty convinced he's allergic to either peas or something non-food related in his environment. I am looking into ways to get him off the peas, while still maintaining a hypo-allergenic diet and bringing his weight up. I am considering Hounds & Gatos, Addiction, and home/raw options. My biggest hurdle is that he is a certified kibble addict, and most/all low allergen dry diets contain peas. We've been able to get him to eat some wet since adopting him in January, but we are no where near 100% yet. But, I need to do something before too long and just keep my fingers crossed that George will agree to it.

I've not fed raw (yet, at least...but I'm looking into it), so I can't speak to whether or not mixing raw with the occasional commercial food is appropriate or not. But I can tell you that if you are hoping to discover whether or not your cat's granulomas are caused by a food allergen, you absolutely cannot mix foods during a food trial. You need to pick one food (whether raw, commercial, or prescription) with minimal ingredients that he's not likely to have ever been exposed to previously, and stick to it for usually 2-3 months. No treats, no crumbs of human food off the counter...nothing but that one food. It's tough, but it's the only way to really get a grip on whether or not the granulomas are food related.

Best of luck to you and Simon!  I know from first-hand experience that pinpointing the cause of the EGC can be really difficult.

 

[lisahe]

 
I have gone over my budget and have really thought over what I can reasonably afford to feed my 2 kittens. Can't just feed one cat the good stuff and not the other. I have narrowed it down to the Natures Variety and the Primal raw and Freeze Dried Raw. I have heard that both food is good but I am concerned about the bone ratio in both. I really don't want any issues while feeding raw and apparently the NV brand might be too high in bone for some kitties. Is the Primal the same as far as that is concerned?

I would like to possibly start with the Primal since it is the cheaper one right now, and I am not sure my cats will take to it right away or not. Also, would it be okay if they still ate some grain free canned food of some kind while on the raw, I ask because I don't want to worry about occasions when I can't be there to dish out raw, or if we run out or something like that. I was hoping to keep some canned in their diet just in case.

Advice please.

 

I'd never heard of EGC until this thread but wanted to say I've been feeding our young (about 14 months) cats Primal foods along with a variety of canned foods and occasional Rad Cat  for about a month. They love Primal. I serve them a mixture of frozen and freeze-dried, all mushed together (they definitely do not like it served as nuggets!) and probably a little wetter than the instructions would say. I'm not sure about bone but am only feeding turkey and beef/salmon because chicken/salmon has higher phosphorous levels. They've tried a little Nature's Variety frozen raw chicken but weren't thrilled; I've got a sample-sized pack of beef medallions in the freezer for them to try later. They also sometimes get a little Stella & Chewy's, which they like.

These cats are Siamese mixes and one in particular seems to have stomach issues and food sensitivities so they don't get grains, potato (this seems to be a real problem), or much fish and carrageenan. That limits the canned choices quite a bit so their rotation has Hound & Gatos, Tiki, Weruva (Cats in the Kitchen), Nature's Variety Instinct, Nutro Natural Choice, and Wellness Core (only occasionally because of carrageenan). Oddly, they're much, much pickier about getting variety in their canned foods than their raw foods so I've -- so far, anyway -- been able to get away with just mixing up varied combinations of the two Primal recipes. About 1/3 to 1/2 of their diet is now coming from raw foods.

Let me know if you want other tips on Primal. I'd been hesitant to try Primal because it has quite a few ingredients but it's available locally and it seems to agree with the cats' palates and stomachs -- even in combination with the canned foods -- so I think we're all very happy.

Good luck!

 

[2crazykittens]

Thank you @LisaHE!

I took the plunge today and bought 2 trial sized bags of the Nature's Variety Chicken and Beef. I thought I would first see if they would even eat it at all before I go and buy a big bag of the stuff. I thawed out a chicken medallion and waited till this afternoon to try them on a quarter each of one. I even bought them both a brand new glass kitty bowl for the special occasion.

I thought that for sure Simon (my skin allergy kitten) would be the first to gobble up the new food, considering he usually eats everything and anything I give him but to my surprise he licked at it but did not actually eat it. My more pickier kitten Mumsy ate both his serving and Simons!

I guess he knows whats good for him.

Later I followed the snack for the kittens with a teaspoon of sardines in water and I placed another small dollop of the raw on Simon's dish to give him another go at it. Sure enough he ate it up. It might take a little time for Simon to get into the raw which really surprises me. Mumsy seems well on his way to being a convert.

I plan to start making raw a part of their daily diets, but I also want to have some canned in there too so I can have back up food, or in the event I have to be gone and require to board them at the vets where I don't think they would feed raw. I live alone in a city with just my husband so unfortunately we don't have anyone we know that  could come by and do the feedings for me.

I like the Primal better because it has a lower bone percentage in it. It is in the range of 8-10% vs Nature's Variety's 15% which can be too high for some kitties to handle so I have heard. If the boys get through the trial bags and stay interested, I will be trying out the Primal next.

 

[lisahe]

I'm glad to hear your cats would eat the Nature's Variety! It sounds a little like our two: Ireland was slow to adapt but Edwina loves all of it and is more than happy to eat Ireland's leftovers. I started mixing frozen and freeze-dried Primal to entice Ireland to eat it (initially she wouldn't eat plain freeze-dried though has changed her mind) and now she loves it so much that they both whine as soon as they see me take the bowl out of the refrigerator. Ireland doesn't like the Nature's Variety nearly as much: I fed them a little of that (chicken) last night, as a snack, and she walked away, but of course Edwina was more than happy to eat all of it! I think Nature's Variety smells a little icky and wonder if Ireland might think so, too.

I also don't plan to feed solely raw food, largely for convenience reasons like you mention. We'll see what happens in real life, though, since these cats seem quick to decide they don't like certain canned foods!

Good luck with Simon! I hope the new food helps him! Let me know how they like the beef: I haven't tried that one on our cats yet!

 

[pisces7386]

 
I took the plunge today and bought 2 trial sized bags of the Nature's Variety Chicken and Beef. I thought I would first see if they would even eat it at all before I go and buy a big bag of the stuff. I thawed out a chicken medallion and waited till this afternoon to try them on a quarter each of one. I even bought them both a brand new glass kitty bowl for the special occasion.

I thought that for sure Simon (my skin allergy kitten) would be the first to gobble up the new food, considering he usually eats everything and anything I give him but to my surprise he licked at it but did not actually eat it. My more pickier kitten Mumsy ate both his serving and Simons!

I guess he knows whats good for him.

When we started our kitties on raw we had the same thing happen! Our little girl, who has always been finicky, slurped her whole dish in record time. Our little boy was the exact opposite. With the canned food he would try to jump up to get the first mouthful before his dish made it to the floor but for the first few days with raw he would eat all the canned out of the dish and leave the meat chunks. Now they both love their raw... as long as we switch up the flavor every three to four days

 

[lisahe]

How many flavors and/or brands do you have in their raw rotation, pisces7386?

 

[2crazykittens]

Any chances that a cat could have allergies to a raw protein?

Just thought I would check because I want to avoid possible allergens in Simon's new diet. This whole allergy thing is causing me mental anguish! I just want to help out the little guy.

I did change up his litter to Swheat scoop. Not sure how well that will go over being that it is a grain based litter. But I am unsure what he is allergic to at this point so I thought I would at least eliminate the clay litter for the moment and get him onto at least a more natural one for the time. So far there have not been any issues with the boys using this new litter.

I also found a whole line of earth friendly cleaning supplies called Eco-Max.

They have tons of variety as far as types of cleaners like dish soap to carpet cleaners, all hypoallergenic and earth friendly. I figure it can't hurt to try those out to see if it relieves any possible issues with Simon.

We are still in the process of changing the diet. I have decided that I am going to stick with the raw diet for all the pets, but will be using Fancy Feast Classic line as the alternative food since it is grain free and gluten free and is also good for diabetic and non diabetic cats.

I know a lot of vets and people say Fancy Feast is like Kitty crack, but I read the ingredients and think that it sounds like a pretty good choice when comparing price to other grain free lines. So this is what I can easily afford along with the Raw.

I really hope that I can narrow down what is causing all this stress for the cat. Only time will tell.

 

[pisces7386]

We feed homemade raw. We use alnutrin with calcium to make it  with turkey, pork and venison. Our cats have a chicken allergy, otherwise we would have that in the rotation too. He likes the pork the most so we switch back and forth with that and the other two ( pork, turkey, pork, venison, pork, turkey, pork, venison)