help with transitioning to raw food

[TortieCat]

I've been adding a little bit of raw food to my cats meals to slowly transition them to raw/canned diet. The younger cat (3 yo) is doing great, she loves the raw food and doesn't have any troubles eating it. She eats both freeze dried (Northwest Naturals) and frozen raw (Primal). I give her canned food for breakfast and lunch, and raw for dinner.

However, the older cat (6 yo) is a bit more difficult. So far he eats only the freeze dried (Northwest Naturals, which I rehydrate for them) - a few pellets added to his canned food. If I try to add a little more than a few pellets, it makes him puke. I've read that some people add probiotic and digestive enzymes - should I try them and which ones would you suggest? Should I keep giving him only few pellets at a time and try to increase the amount after a week maybe, he might need more time to get used to the new food? They've been eating canned food for years now, no kibble but they get Ziwi air dried sometimes.

 

[Tobermory]

Does he eat fast and eat it all at once? Iris used to vomit her morning meal. After I split it into two, smaller feedings, 30 minutes apart, the problem stopped. I also add the probiotic Proviable to her meal, but in the evening, as I didn't want her vomiting it up.

I wouldn't recommend the probiotic FortiFlora. It's a great way to encourage your cats to eat because they love the flavor, but it has only one strain of bacteria. The good ones have several.

 

[TortieCat]

He’s a slow eater and sometimes doesn’t finish all of his food. I can try dividing his dinner into two meals, but they other cat will be demanding a second dinner too then

with Proviable, do you use the DC version? How much do you give your cat and how often? Just sprinkle it on the food?

 

[Tobermory]

they other cat will be demanding a second dinner too then

I run into that problem, too. Mocha is all, "Why is she getting a second meal? I thought you loved me as much as you love her." And she sits there and looks pathetic.

with Proviable, do you use the DC version? How much do you give your cat and how often? Just sprinkle it on the food?

Yes, I use this one:
https://www.chewy.com/nutramax-proviable-probiotics/dp/101471
I sprinkle the contents of one capsule into her food and mix it well.

I use this one because the vet said he uses it for his cats. Also, it has seven strains of bacteria.

 

[TortieCat]

"Why is she getting a second meal? I thought you loved me as much as you love her." And she sits there and looks pathetic.

Yes that’s exactly how my Shelby is!

Thanks for the suggestions. I hope Proviable will help, it’s probably good for him to have a probiotic anyway. As long as he can eat some raw food, that’s better than none. We will work on increasing the portions slowly so he’s comfortable with it.

 

[Tobermory]

Iris doesn’t vomit any more, thankfully. I have to think that splitting her meals and the probiotics played a part. Hopefully it will help your guy.

In case you haven’t seen it, there’s a thread with member tips for encouraging kitties to eat. You might try some of the toppers that are suggested.
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[TortieCat]

wow that’s a lot of great suggestions for toppers! Thanks! I’ve been using crushed kibble/or freeze dried treats powder and Bonito flakes sometimes to entice them to eat, now I can try new things too

 

[KelWhit]

I know I'm late to the post but I have two cats that I recently transitioned to raw from kibble and canned wet. Bob took to the raw after a week of adding it into his wet food. Frankie (9lb cat who is naturally thin) was more particular and was more difficult to transition but I think the raw was giving him a belly ache. I also think he was having hairball issues that he didn't have when he was eating kibble and wet food. They (the internet searches i've done) say that their stomach acidity is lower when eating commercial foods and it can take months for them to get used to the raw. I used Animal Essentials digestive enzyme (plant based enzyme) and that seemed to work well to get him to eat the raw. From my experience, I used the Digestive enzyme for about a week, he was eating a solid 3 ounces/day and then he started vomiting that meal (that had the enzyme in it) so I stopped it right away. Now, when his appetite is low, less than 3 ounces/day, I will add a sprinkle of the enzyme to his food. Coincidence or not, it appears to help him eat more but I haven't made it part of his daily feeding, I just use it as a supplement. Please also note that I make my raw food using raw chicken thighs with egg & liver (and other supplements) it's not a commercial food. You might want to research the difference between plant based enzymes and animal based, I chose plant because it sounded like it might work best for Frankie. good luck

 

[TortieCat]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've been giving him Proviable for a few days now and it seems to be helping, he's keeping his food in I'll looking Animal Essentials as well, I didn't know there were different types of enzymes available.

 

[KelWhit]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've been giving him Proviable for a few days now and it seems to be helping, he's keeping his food in I'll looking Animal Essentials as well, I didn't know there were different types of enzymes available.

I'm glad you found something that is working. There are two enzymes, as I said, I was worried about the animal based because I've only fed chicken, turkey, duck and rabbit. I didn't want to chance Frankie having a reaction to beef or pig and make matters worse.