Kittens are so much easier to feed raw food!

[franksmom]

So I have been trying rather unsuccessfully to transition my four year old ragdoll to raw. I have got him to the point where he will eat maybe 3 oz ( spread out over 2-3 feedings) of wet (weruva), with freeze dried chicken on top and me standing there encouraging him to eat. I have to supplement with dry(origiin)  because he will not eat more than 3oz a day- he actually doesn't eat a whole lot of dry either- btw has been checked by the vet is just a very very picky eater and really doesn't like to eat. I tried mixing in a little bit of raw with his wet food and he has puked every time. I am going to just keep him on his wet/dry combo now and maybe try another flavour in the future. One question that I have is that the vet said that some cats just always throw up raw. He has thrown up the nature's variety chicken and ziwi peak dried raw venison- do you think he will ever be able to eat it?

I just got my new kitten and she came eating a mixture of wet and dry. I just came back from the vet and he is an advocate of raw and said it was fine to try it out. I had two patties in the fridge for my dog's dinner (it is nature's variety for both cats and dogs). I broke up a little piece and she lunged for the whole patty and ate almost all of it (I didn't want her eat too much for her first try). It was really amazing how simple it is to get a kitten to eat raw food. I am going to give her some more for dinner. I am still going to keep out the kibble for the time being because she is only 13 weeks and needs all the calories she can get, but will eliminate them when she gets a bit older. 

 

[vball91]

I hear you. Older cats can definitely be more difficult to transition to raw. I love to hear how easy it usually is to transition kittens to raw. It's like they instinctively recognize it as good food!

I love and am jealous that you have a vet who is pro-raw. Out of curiousity, did he say why he thinks some cats always throw up raw? Did he mean just in the beginning or forever?

 

[franksmom]

He was saying in his experience some cats just can't eat raw and will always throw up no matter what you try. Frank has thrown up every time I have even given him a small speck of raw and even the freeze dried raw, so maybe it is true? I will try again with him when I get a new flavour but I am starting to think that raw just will not work for him. I now have 2/3 pets on raw and I may just have to stick with forcing frank to eat wet food twice a day and let him eat a no grain dry food. The vet says he doesn't think cats should eat dry food, but in Frank's case he said that is probably the best option because of his food issues  

Also dogs are so much easier to switch to raw food. My 16 year old dog took to raw right away. The vet also said dogs usually do not have the same vomiting issues as cats. I think some cats, like my Frank, are so picky they make themselves throw up to spite their owners haha

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

As far as Frank goes, did you put him on Probiotics and a Digestive Enzyme BEFORE trying to convert him to raw?  I'm just wondering if that might help him not throw it up

. 

One of mine throws up chicken liver, and just today threw up a mix of elk and venison, which was a totally new protein mix.  I wondered how it would be received, since cats don't normally eat LARGE animals, but since mine do like beef, thought I'd give it a try.  My guy liked it, but apparently it didn't like him, poor baby.  And it hit him so fast he threw it up right on his place mat WHILE he was eating.  Luckily for me...made clean up really easy.  So then he decided he was hungry again and pushed his brother aside and proceeded to polish off his turkey while I was cleaning up his "leavings"

.  But so far, they have been able to eat everything else.  Neither of the other two have had issues, but I did start giving them the Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes prior to starting raw, and we continue even now, a year later. 

 

[franksmom]

As far as Frank goes, did you put him on Probiotics and a Digestive Enzyme BEFORE trying to convert him to raw?  I'm just wondering if that might help him not throw it up

. 

One of mine throws up chicken liver, and just today threw up a mix of elk and venison, which was a totally new protein mix.  I wondered how it would be received, since cats don't normally eat LARGE animals, but since mine do like beef, thought I'd give it a try.  My guy liked it, but apparently it didn't like him, poor baby.  And it hit him so fast he threw it up right on his place mat WHILE he was eating.  Luckily for me...made clean up really easy.  So then he decided he was hungry again and pushed his brother aside and proceeded to polish off his turkey while I was cleaning up his "leavings"

.  But so far, they have been able to eat everything else.  Neither of the other two have had issues, but I did start giving them the Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes prior to starting raw, and we continue even now, a year later. 

Yes I put him on both probiotics and digestive enzymes for two weeks before I tried a tiny bit of raw. I feel it bit better that the vet told me this can happen in some cats because I was at wits end trying to figure out how to get him to eat it. I do think raw is best, but maybe not be for Frank. I may try to give him a bit when I get some different brands for Ava in a few weeks, but I am coming to terms with the fact that he may just never eat raw and I need to focus on trying to get him to eat as much wet food as possible.