Help With Raw Diet

[gusandjohn]

I was trying to think of a way to help cut the cost on my 2 cats food bill because it's costing to much lately and want to feed them the healthiest food I can. Currently my 2 males around 1 years old (both) are eating wellness grain free canned in the 12.5 ounce cans. The himayalan/Siamese guy has a sensitive stomach and this is the first food that he can digest properly and it really cut down on bowel movements they were on royal canine wet and dry before sensitive digest, and he would have about 8 bowel moments a day that were not solid and really stinky both cats had gas and they would dry heave that all stopped with wellness grain free canned, but they have been neutered now and they got bigger appetites after the neuter. They used to eat one 12.5 ounce can a day now they want more and it's to expensive to give more than one can a day I pay $4 a can Canadian so it's about $120 a month I really don't want to double that cost I found pets go raw is sold at my pet store and they have free samples I took a few home to try and read the website about feeding guidelines and it seems like it would actually cost me less to have them on this diet and it's better for them they say it's human grade meat in 1/4 pound patties with all the nutritional vitamins that they need daily already added to the patties so it's a full diet just with the patties. Now I have tried them on it and they won't eat it, so I tried to hand feed them it and they took a few bites and walked away, I than hid it in their canned food and they walked away once they ate the canned layer and found it so than I just mixed it with the canned stuff and they refused. Is this a normal cat reaction to it? I did go back and got another sample in turkey to see if they might not like the flavour and still have it in my freezer, anyone have any ideas for me on how to get them eating it or should I just give up, if I give up on the raw diet I plan on switching to orijen dry and stay with wellness grain free canned food, I bought a small bag of orijen cat and kitten and they liked it and they had no issues with it.

 

[maureen brad]

It can take awhile to transistion a cat to different food. I believe there are links regarding that on this site. I order Purina Fortiflora (feline) from Amazon and while it is a probiotic I just sprinkle some ( like salt or pepper) on the food. I have found most cats ( I have 3) will eat anything that has this on it. I also use it to hide crushed medicine tablets in food. It is not a great probiotic but used once in awhile for this purpose it is handy to have around the house. Some people use Nutritional Yeast i just have had better luck with the Purina Feline Fortiflora.Some people also crush temptations treats to attract a cat to eat a new food. You do have to have patience. When I switched cats to raw one of my cats was 9 years old, it took a year for him to completely switch He was a kibble addict.I went first to canned and then raw. Good luck to you!

 

[lalagimp]

It does usually end up costing less to make your own than using quality canned. I thought the giant cans of Wellness would be a cost effective item, but I just looked at the label and that's way too low in calories for me. I think my cats would do the same thing. The 5.5 oz cans we use are 200 calories and that big can you've got says it's under 400 calories for the turkey and salmon flavor. There's no payoff.
Right now the boys are on rabbit and turkey raw, and it's not the cheapest way I could do it. The girls are on kibble and canned... less than 1/2 cup of kibble per day(it's over 500 calories per cup) and 1 5.5 oz can. If I could make them raw chicken instead of canned chicken, I know could save money. The cans are anywhere from $1.88-$2.30 depending on what sales are running.
I'm not ready to try the girls on raw because I only just recently got Amalie to eat wet food. When Yue had her dental cleaning she ended up with bloody gums so I took out the main dish in the feeder and put out the split dish, with canned on one side and kibble on the other, and over a few days worth of time and just having it out and associating it with the food dish, did Amalie start to try it. I couldn't force her to eat canned when she had several dental extractions and stitches in her gums, and I couldn't force her to eat raw when they told me at the vet that her urine showed struvite crystals.
Another option you could look into, and I haven't tried it yet but I have my sample ready, is to use EZComplete with cooked meat. I think they may ship to Canada. I was able to send $1 to them via paypal and received my sample the following week.