HR is laying golden eggs - help?

[hersheys mom]

Hi again. A few weeks ago I posted that I made the recipe on catinfo for Hershey Rose and she loved it. However, her stools were rock hard, indicating too much bone marrow. I did not use real bones, but used the amount of bone meal specified in the recipe. I posted the problem and was advised to add more meat without any bones or bone meal, which I did. I added 3 lbs chicken breast (with all the goodies except bone meal) to 6 lbs of the food I had made. That didn't help. I then added another 3 lbs of chicken to the mixture. So she now has 12 lbs of raw with bone meal measured for 6 lbs. She is still laying rock hard golden eggs. I tried putting extra Omega-3 oil in her food at feeding time, and since she likes her raw soupy, I always add water to it before serving it to her. But still, 5 days after feeding the new mixture, she has rock hard poop, with a mustard yellow tint (probably from the chicken breast, as her mixture is now half thigh and half chicken breast with some pork thrown in for variety. She is making normal size stools for her, which is about 1/2" -3/4" (surprising for a 11 lb cat?) but I can't even break the poop up with the scooper. If I took a hammer to them, they would probably turn to dust. Her bottom is not red or irritated, but I can see she is not passing as much waste as she usually does. Anyone have any suggestions? This has been going on for about 3 weeks now. Nothing I do seems to help.

Note to those not familiar with Hershey Rose - she is a feral Burmese and cannot be handled. She will rub against my legs, roll around and show off for me, suffer an occasional pet, but usually hisses or bites when touched.

Thanks,

Lei-Ann

 

[lilas]

I'm new to the raw feeding world and have been having problems of my own, but question: Does she cry out when she poops? Does she seem distressed? If she doesn't seem like she's having difficulty passing, then perhaps there is not as much to worry about? 

When I switched my cat to raw, the amount of poop went down to every other day and the consistency also changed. but, like I said, I am new to this way of feeding and am still learning.

 

[korina]

My 2 cents are worth 1 cent here.

Are you watching her drop them live?

If so are you saying its golden colored and dry coming out? I think that is important.  I was getting constipation paranoia but I just try my best to catch them in the act.  I was finding dry turds in their litter (wood pellet), as I observed what looked to be moist stool, I can only figure the sawdust from the litter is drying it out.

Right now it seems they need to make 3-5 "pushes" to get it out.  No crying, and they are vocal bengals.

Also no smell, no joke.  Its amazing I can hover over them and not smell a thing, but commercial food poop will stink up the room for a few hours.

Since I have kittens I have the benefit of seeing them go if I just hang out.  When I get home or in morning is typical.  Since they are kittens and want to follow you all the time, when i wake up or come home they wake up and got to go.

Maybe you measured the bonemeal wrong and got way too much bonemeal in there?

Maybe try another type of non bone calcium like egg shells?  Or buy a grinder and grind real bone.

Instead of diluting the raw, why not feed boneless for a day or 2?

I am sort of doing the same thing by providing 1-3 cans a week.

Not to say that is an effective colon corector but it makes sense.

A meal of sardine or tuna (cooked) could do the trick.  Again this could flush the system, but not from lack of calcium but by upseting the digestive system it so I am sure I will get a couple of well deserved

Good luck and keep us posted

PS- look at the comparison picture of canned vs raw poop on catinfo, sounds gross but put on gloves and squeeze one of the golden treasures, see how it crumbles, in the middle of the page http://catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood

 

[ldg]

Well, with the addition of that much meat, she's definitely not getting the right amount of calcium.

But basically I agree with the others. If there's no little bits of fresh blood on her poop (indicating she's over-straining to get it out), it's probably normal raw poop. :dk: Don't forget - when you first introduced her to raw, she was still eating canned food.

 

[hersheys mom]

I'm new to the raw feeding world and have been having problems of my own, but question: Does she cry out when she poops? Does she seem distressed? If she doesn't seem like she's having difficulty passing, then perhaps there is not as much to worry about? 

When I switched my cat to raw, the amount of poop went down to every other day and the consistency also changed. but, like I said, I am new to this way of feeding and am still learning.

No, no crying, bottom looks fine. Just haven't seen them this hard. Maybe I'm just a panicky mom!

 

[hersheys mom]

My 2 cents are worth 1 cent here.

Are you watching her drop them live?

If so are you saying its golden colored and dry coming out? I think that is important.  I was getting constipation paranoia but I just try my best to catch them in the act.  I was finding dry turds in their litter (wood pellet), as I observed what looked to be moist stool, I can only figure the sawdust from the litter is drying it out.

Right now it seems they need to make 3-5 "pushes" to get it out.  No crying, and they are vocal bengals.

Also no smell, no joke.  Its amazing I can hover over them and not smell a thing, but commercial food poop will stink up the room for a few hours.

Since I have kittens I have the benefit of seeing them go if I just hang out.  When I get home or in morning is typical.  Since they are kittens and want to follow you all the time, when i wake up or come home they wake up and got to go.

Maybe you measured the bonemeal wrong and got way too much bonemeal in there?

Maybe try another type of non bone calcium like egg shells?  Or buy a grinder and grind real bone.

Instead of diluting the raw, why not feed boneless for a day or 2?

I am sort of doing the same thing by providing 1-3 cans a week.

Not to say that is an effective colon corector but it makes sense.

A meal of sardine or tuna (cooked) could do the trick.  Again this could flush the system, but not from lack of calcium but by upseting the digestive system it so I am sure I will get a couple of well deserved

Good luck and keep us posted

PS- look at the comparison picture of canned vs raw poop on catinfo, sounds gross but put on gloves and squeeze one of the golden treasures, see how it crumbles, in the middle of the page http://catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood

I did give her boneless for a few days, but she still has harder poop than she first did when I put her on raw. But now I have a problem with her eating anything but raw - the healthy canned food she would eat several times a week she won't touch now - just wants the raw I make. Maybe the fact that she is feral and back on her "normal" diet of raw meat she doesn't want anything else. Cats. Finicky little devils!

 

[hersheys mom]

Well, with the addition of that much meat, she's definitely not getting the right amount of calcium.

But basically I agree with the others. If there's no little bits of fresh blood on her poop (indicating she's over-straining to get it out), it's probably normal raw poop.

Don't forget - when you first introduced her to raw, she was still eating canned food.

Laurie, why is she not getting enough calcium? Is is too little bone meal in the mixture now? I mixed the added chicken with the Omega-3, B complex, taurine, etc. just left the bone meal out. Today I defrosted and mixed up a new batch, 2 parts with the bone meal, one part without. Do you think I should add more bone meal? She seems to be fine other wise. No physical problems, just curious why the color of her poop changed to the golden color when it was brown when she first started raw. But then, you are right, she was still eating canned food. Now she won't touch the stuff. Just wants her raw. Also, she won't munch on a chicken wing or sardine. Is that weird? Minja still won't eat "healthy" canned food, and if I mix a bit of raw in her Friskies she won't eat at all. But she loves to drink my coffee!

Lei-Ann

Mom to a feral and a food monger - glutton for punishment

 

[ldg]

Laurie, why is she not getting enough calcium? Is is too little bone meal in the mixture now? I mixed the added chicken with the Omega-3, B complex, taurine, etc. just left the bone meal out.

.

Exactly. The recipe has the right proportion of meat and bone. Calcium and phosphorus work together: meat has phosphorus and bone (or bone meal or eggshell powder) have calcium. The correct calcium-to-phosphorus (Ca) ratio is considered 1.0:1 to 1.5:1, though most target 1.1:1 to 1.3:1. By adding 3 pounds of meat to 6 pounds of prepared food, you've diluted the ratio by 50%, so it's completely off balance. When one of my kitties gets constipated from too much calcium, I feed one or two meals of just meat, which is probably better than diluting the entire batch by that much. That's just not safe to feed long term.
.

Today I defrosted and mixed up a new batch, 2 parts with the bone meal, one part without. Do you think I should add more bone meal? She seems to be fine other wise. No physical problems, just curious why the color of her poop changed to the golden color when it was brown when she first started raw. But then, you are right, she was still eating canned food. Now she won't touch the stuff. Just wants her raw. Also, she won't munch on a chicken wing or sardine. Is that weird? Minja still won't eat "healthy" canned food, and if I mix a bit of raw in her Friskies she won't eat at all. But she loves to drink my coffee!

Lei-Ann
Mom to a feral and a food monger - glutton for punishment

It changed color, because you were feeding canned, and now you're feeding primarily chicken. I don't feed ground, and I alter the proteins at each meal. But chicken or turkey breast results in very light yellow poop, lamb or beef results in very dark brown poop. So my cats have multi-colored poop. If I fed them only chicken breast, they'd have light golden poop.