Kitten On Transitioning To Raw Food, Does Not Poop

[srplzngl]

Hello,
I am transitioning my kitten to a commercial frozen raw food diet. Last week I switched his food from kibble to a grain free canned food slowly. And I started to switch that into raw food three days ago (by increasing the amount of raw food while decreasing the canned day-by-day). But he didn't pooped today. And his stool was really hard yesterday and a day before. Yes it was hard even on first day but I was gave him a really small amount. I know that raw food affects stool volume and frequency but can it be that fast? Normally he is pooping 1 or 2 times a day.
Or I might be giving him less food than normal while trying to adjust the amounts of the raw and canned. Can it cause constipation?
I gave him pumpin puree but it didn't work.
And he is urinating a lot but in large amounts. Can it be about more water consumption? Because I am adding lots of water in his food to make it less cold (should I gave raw food cold to my kitten?).

 

[Pucks104]

Our kitties are fed raw and they urinate several times a day and poop once everyday or two. I think raw food suits their digestive process resulting in little waste. It is the same for my raw fed Havanese. I also add Fermented Goats Milk to their breakfasts daily which contribute probiotics and more moisture. I think the extra moisture in the food keeps them well hydrated and their urinary track flushed while resulting in very little solid waste. Louie and Newman have been doing very well on a raw diet. I hope your kitty does also.

 

[Callaloo]

Hello,
I am transitioning my kitten to a commercial frozen raw food diet. Last week I switched his food from kibble to a grain free canned food slowly. And I started to switch that into raw food three days ago (by increasing the amount of raw food while decreasing the canned day-by-day). But he didn't pooped today. And his stool was really hard yesterday and a day before. Yes it was hard even on first day but I was gave him a really small amount. I know that raw food affects stool volume and frequency but can it be that fast? Normally he is pooping 1 or 2 times a day.
Or I might be giving him less food than normal while trying to adjust the amounts of the raw and canned. Can it cause constipation?
I gave him pumpin puree but it didn't work.
And he is urinating a lot but in large amounts. Can it be about more water consumption? Because I am adding lots of water in his food to make it less cold (should I gave raw food cold to my kitten?).

I've read that cats can become constipated when first transitioning so some people add psyllium husk powder to the recipe to help loosen the stool up a bit.

Also the food should be served at room temperature. When cats hunt and eat fresh meat it is warm. Some cats will refuse to eat cold food and it may even upset their stomachs. You can heat the food either by putting the food in a plastic container or ziploc bag and submerging it in hot water, or you can mix hot water into the food if you and your cat don't mind it being a little watery. The second method also helps bring out the aroma of the food to make it more enticing to your cat. Supposedly microwaving kills the nutrients. I don't know if that's true but I avoid it.

 

[Pucks104]

I put Louie and Newman's food in a sealed baggie and place it in a bowl of very warm water for a few minutes prior to feeding them. This gently warms the food and they always finish off every morsel!

 

[Azazel]

What raw food are you feeding?

You made a lot of changes to his food in the span of a week, it’s normal for his bowel movements to become irregular for awhile until he gets used to then new diet. This may be gross but can you post a pic of the stool?

Adding extra water is good and wouldn’t cause constipation. Constipation is usually caused by stools not retaining enough moisture.

The temperature at which raw food is served also has no impact on constipation. I feed raw food cold straight out of the fridge.

 

[ams827]

Hello,
I am transitioning my kitten to a commercial frozen raw food diet. Last week I switched his food from kibble to a grain free canned food slowly. And I started to switch that into raw food three days ago (by increasing the amount of raw food while decreasing the canned day-by-day). But he didn't pooped today. And his stool was really hard yesterday and a day before. Yes it was hard even on first day but I was gave him a really small amount. I know that raw food affects stool volume and frequency but can it be that fast? Normally he is pooping 1 or 2 times a day.
Or I might be giving him less food than normal while trying to adjust the amounts of the raw and canned. Can it cause constipation?
I gave him pumpin puree but it didn't work.
And he is urinating a lot but in large amounts. Can it be about more water consumption? Because I am adding lots of water in his food to make it less cold (should I gave raw food cold to my kitten?).

I tried the raw food diet as well- transferred my adult cat over slowly and always added water (they were freeze dried raw bits that needed a little rehydration). My cat's stool turned sort of a greyish color and then she stopped going altogether for 3 days. Had to bring her to the animal ER, where she received an enema.

Upon doing some research- I realized that commercial raw diets do not always have the proper percentage of bone to protein, etc. The raw diet I was giving her (Stella & Chewy) is known to be high in bone content. Naturally, this would block any kitty up! Anyway, I switched her back to wet + kibble diet as she had always been pooping normally and I did not want to mess with a good thing.

Good luck with your sweet kitten, and if they don't go for longer than 48 hours a trip to the emergency vet is recommended!

 

[Azazel]

I tried the raw food diet as well- transferred my adult cat over slowly and always added water (they were freeze dried raw bits that needed a little rehydration). My cat's stool turned sort of a greyish color and then she stopped going altogether for 3 days. Had to bring her to the animal ER, where she received an enema.

Upon doing some research- I realized that commercial raw diets do not always have the proper percentage of bone to protein, etc. The raw diet I was giving her (Stella & Chewy) is known to be high in bone content. Naturally, this would block any kitty up! Anyway, I switched her back to wet + kibble diet as she had always been pooping normally and I did not want to mess with a good thing.

Good luck with your sweet kitten, and if they don't go for longer than 48 hours a trip to the emergency vet is recommended!

This is a good point. People often fail to realize that just because a diet is raw doesn’t mean it’s automatically healthy or beneficial. Many companies load raw diets with bones because it’s cheaper. Although bones are very nutritious and have dental benefits, they often act as unnecessary and cheap fillers in commercial raw food. Cats eat raw bones, yes, but not to the extent that some commercial raw diets are loaded with them. This can have lots of adverse effects such as constipation. Pet parents feeding commercial raw need to pay attention to ingredients and sourcing of food just the same as any other kind of commercial food.

If a company is unwilling to tell you how much bone is in their food then there’s probably too much.

 

[daftcat75]

Supposedly microwaving kills the nutrients. I don't know if that's true but I avoid it.

Not only does microwaving kill nutrients, it cooks raw food thus defeating the purpose of serving raw. You shouldn’t microwave cat food but you should never microwave raw cat food if you intend to feed it raw.

You should even exercise caution with how hot the water you use to warm up raw food to room temp or body temp. Enzymes naturally present in raw food that make it superior to cooked food are completely destroyed at 120F. This is approximately the hottest my kitchen sink will get up to if I put it all the way to hot. Your mileage may vary depending on how hot your water heater is set. Since I’m aiming for body temperature, I prefer to set my sink to 100F. I measured and marked this off with a candy thermometer in the water stream. But you can approximate this by knowing that most people like their bath water slightly warmer than body temperature. So set it there or slightly cooler. It takes a few minutes for me to thaw Krista’s food from the freezer to body temp. But it’s worth it seeing my IBD kitty excitedly turn in a clean plate every time and not return it on the carpet.

 

[kittyluv387]

You probably are over doing it on the water. But that shouldn't cause constipation. Raw does cause constipation in some cats. And it is normal for cats stools to get pretty hard on raw. What brand and flavor are you feeding? What the others said about commercial raw is true. Some of them have too much bone on them. If the first couple ingredients of the food is neck, back or wing then yeah probably has too much bone.

 

[mschauer]

It is heat that can affect the nutrients in foods. Using a microwave oven is just a method of heating. The low temperatures being discussed in this thread, just heating to room temperature at most, will have little or no affect on the nutrients in our raw foods. Thiamine is the most temperature sensitive vitamin and it takes a temperature over 100 F to begin degrading it. Other nutrients are far less temperature sensitive. Heat has no affect on the minerals in our foods.

Microwave heating actually results in less nutrient loss than other heating methods because of the faster heating time.

 

[daftcat75]

Microwave heating actually results in less nutrient loss than other heating methods because of the faster heating time.

Microwave heating is cooking the food. It's not just vitamins that degrade with microwaves but proteins including naturally occurring enzymes are denatured. The benefits of raw food are lost when you cook it and microwave heating is a form of cooking.

 

[mschauer]

Microwave heating is cooking the food. It's not just vitamins that degrade with microwaves but proteins including naturally occurring enzymes are denatured. The benefits of raw food are lost when you cook it and microwave heating is a form of cooking.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. We aren't talking about cooking the food. Just slightly warming it. Cooking requires far higher temperatures.

 

[daftcat75]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. We aren't talking about cooking the food. Just slightly heating it.

Microwaves produce the kind of heating that cooks food. There is no slightly heating with microwaves. It is denaturing proteins and breaking chemical bonds no matter how little time you put on the clock. Microwaves also create hot spots that continue to cook after the time is up.

It's your cat. The nutrient loss may or may not be significant. I don't have data on this. But microwaves cook food, and that's counterproductive to feeding raw.

 

[mschauer]