Natures Variety Instinct medallions

[krashballz]

I just gave my two 10 month old kitties NV instinct chicken medallions for the first time this morning. I just gave them 1 medallion (1 oz) each plus their canned food to see if they'd eat it. And boy did they! I'm pretty excited that we're on the road to raw food now. The only hesitation they showed before eating it was that it was still cold. The directions say that for safety, the food should still be cold to the touch when served. My question is can it be warmed up even a little bit? I thought I'd read somewhere on TCS about someone that warmed it up in a pan on the stove for just a few seconds. I guess I could call NV, but I thought I'd ask here first. Also, if anyone has opinions about the NV medallions, I'd be interested to hear them. I tried other raw foods first (Stella & Chewys, Honest kitchen, & Rad Cat), and my little monsters wouldn't touch them. So I'm happy I found something they'll eat!

 

[vball91]

Hooray that they liked the NV medallions. I would warm them in a baggie in a bowl of warm water to get them to room temperature. I would not use any cooking method.

The NV is a good food, a little high on bone so watch for any signs of constipation. You can always reduce the bone percentage by feeding a little extra plain meat.

 

[lisahe]

Also, if anyone has opinions about the NV medallions, I'd be interested to hear them. I tried other raw foods first (Stella & Chewys, Honest kitchen, & Rad Cat), and my little monsters wouldn't touch them. So I'm happy I found something they'll eat!

I'm glad to hear your cats liked it, Krashballz! I fed an NV beef medallion to our two cats yesterday for the first time and they loved it. I mushed with a little water, both to raise the temperature a bit and make it softer; today I mixed one in with some soupy Stella & Chewy's and they loved that even more. I mush Primal frozen nuggets with water, too: our Ireland seems to hate the spongy texture of the formed frozen raw foods. Ireland, BTW, hated all the freeze-dried foods when I first introduced them but will now eat them plain if I serve them. These cats love variety so I try to give them varied combinations of frozen and freeze-dried. (If there were a chef's hat emoticon, I'd add it!

)

 

[krashballz]

Those are both good ideas! My boy cat Aleister doesn't like mushy food so I'll warm his in water before I cut it into chunks. And my girl Grace likes mushy pate like food, so mixing hers with water would be great. I was starting to get discouraged when they just wouldn't even acknowledge the other brands I was trying. I really want to feed them raw, But it was like they didn't even realize it was food when I gave it to them! One more question about feeding raw- it IS ok to keep giving them some canned food too, right? As long as I'm portioning it all correctly? I'd like for them to continue with canned in case I go out of town or something.
That way it'll be easier for someone to come in and feed them for me.
Oh, vball91 , Aleister has had problems with diarrhea nearly all his life and that's part of the reason I wanted to change them to raw food. I'm hoping it will help him. But thanks for the heads up about constipation. I didn't realize bone would do that.

 

[peaches08]

You can alternate canned and raw. 

 

[krashballz]

peaches08 Thanks!

 

[lisahe]

I feed our cats raw and canned foods and they seem to be doing very well on the combination: they get about 1/2 and 1/2, depending on what I remember to take out of the freezer. One cat usually eats a little more raw, the other usually eats a little more canned. Good luck!

 

[krashballz]

depending on what I remember to take out of the freezer.

Lol yeah, I'm 2 days into it and I already forgot to take some out of the freezer! Thank god for canned food! Haha
So do you give 1/2 & 1/2 on the same day? Or give only canned on certain days, only raw on others? Can you put raw & canned on the same plate? I was kind of hesitant because of cross contamination, but I guess they're eating it anyhow, so it wouldn't make much difference.
My kitties weren't as gung-ho for the raw this morning. They ate it, but didn't finish it. I may try putting a topper on it every few meals so they stay interested.

 

[lisahe]

I know, the freezer! Even the guy at a local pet food store, who feeds raw to a big dog, said he sometimes has problems with this!

Yes, I give 1/2 and 1/2 just about every day. The freeze-dried foods -- Primal and Stella & Chewy's -- are great for when I forget to take something out of the freezer, though Ireland doesn't like those as much. When nothing's defrosted, they get more canned plus some freeze-dried until something thaws. Today Ireland's not very excited about her custom blend (chef's choice is apparently not her choice!!) of Primal food, either, though they both ate up their little blobs of Rad Cat earlier. (I give them that every now and then as a treat... they love it.)

I don't usually put raw and canned in the same dish because I try to pick up and wash the raw food dishes quickly. (I work at home so this is relatively easy, though I do still forget!) That said, I sometimes use canned or raw as a topper if I think they'll eat everything all at once.

I'm wondering, too, what will happen with "stay interested"... So far, Edwina laps up any kinds of raw food I feed her, which is great because she's the one with the weird stomach, but Ireland gets picky. In the end, though, I'm just grateful it was easy to wean them off dried food and Friskies after the shelter!

 

[krashballz]

In the end, though, I'm just grateful it was easy to wean them off dried food and Friskies after the shelter!

I hear that! Getting mine off the dry food wasn't hard. Getting them to eat raw has been more frustrating than I'd like, but not like some of the stories I've heard.
Thanks for your help with this! Sorry that I have a million questions, but I think I'm better safe than sorry
Now I guess I need to figure out how much to give each cat. They're both 10 mos. old. Grace is her ideal weight at 8 lbs. Alei is 11.5 lbs, and his vet said he needs to be around 10. I disagree with her though. He's a big kitty. He doesn't look fat, he's pure muscle. They're both really active cats. I know they're active even when I'm not home because I see the evidence (more like carnage haha) of their "crazies" when I get home! Lol The NV website says he should get 4.4 oz of medallions a day if he's only eating that. I know he should have 4-5 oz of canned food per day if he's eating only canned. He acts like he's hungry all the time. So now I'm just trying to get the ratios correct as far as ounces:calories without starving my babies.

 

[lisahe]

Now I guess I need to figure out how much to give each cat. They're both 10 mos. old. Grace is her ideal weight at 8 lbs. Alei is 11.5 lbs, and his vet said he needs to be around 10. I disagree with her though. He's a big kitty. He doesn't look fat, he's pure muscle. They're both really active cats. I know they're active even when I'm not home because I see the evidence (more like carnage haha) of their "crazies" when I get home! Lol The NV website says he should get 4.4 oz of medallions a day if he's only eating that. I know he should have 4-5 oz of canned food per day if he's eating only canned. He acts like he's hungry all the time. So now I'm just trying to get the ratios correct as far as ounces:calories without starving my babies.

I find the whole calorie thing really tricky, too! Particularly since the cats were underfed and 10 months old when we adopted them: the cat vet told us to give them "unlimited calories" because they were so skinny. They're now about a year and two months old and weigh 7 (soft squishy cat) and 8 (solid muscle cat) pounds, which looks about right on their frames; the vet seemed happy with their size when we took them in last week for microchips.

They still eat a lot and are very active indoor cats (we call them crazies, too!) but I'm watching/waiting for their metabolism to slow! For reference, they'd been eating about two large cans of food a day; now I give them roughly a can a day plus almost a full day's portion of some combination of raw foods. They seem to be eating a little less, on average, now. It's taken time but they've gotten a little better with self-regulating after very obviously not getting fed enough in their previous home.

 

[krashballz]

On our last visit January 31, their vet was telling me to give them all the food they want since they're growing kittens. I didn't because I know that around 8 mos their metabolism starts changing, and they aren't really "growing kittens" anymore. So, I regulated what they ate and started timed feedings. I guess it's a good thing I didn't take her advice on feeding them since barely 2 mos later she's telling me they're overweight! Lol

 

[lisahe]

Krashballz, just curious to know if your cats are still enjoying the raw food... And not gaining weight that will get you in trouble with the vet!

 

 

[krashballz]

Hey, lisahe ! Thanks for asking- Yes, they are still loving it. I've also added Rad Cat turkey to their rotation. They LOVE that one. I got some of the lamb yesterday. They've never had lamb so I'm excited to see how that goes today. As of right now, there's no weight gain (yay!). Grace has way more energy (Lord help us all lol), & Aleister looks different. He weighs the same, but he's...sleeker, for lack of a better word. He looks like a freakin panther when he walks! His coat is so shiny & you can see every muscle as he moves. So I really believe adding raw to their diet was the right thing to do. Oh! Another thing- ever since they started eating the Rad Cat, Alei eats his rabbit fur mice. Like, he literally eats them like they're food. I've had to really watch him cuz I don't wanna end up with a vet bill for surgery to remove rabbit fur mouse tails lol He never did this before, so I can only assume it has something to do with the animal smell of the fur...? And now they aren't toys, they're dinner. Did your cats ever do anything weird and "wild cat-ish" like that?

 

[lisahe]

Hey, @LisaHE! Thanks for asking- Yes, they are still loving it. I've also added Rad Cat turkey to their rotation. They LOVE that one. I got some of the lamb yesterday. They've never had lamb so I'm excited to see how that goes today. As of right now, there's no weight gain (yay!). Grace has way more energy (Lord help us all lol), & Aleister looks different. He weighs the same, but he's...sleeker, for lack of a better word. He looks like a freakin panther when he walks! His coat is so shiny & you can see every muscle as he moves. So I really believe adding raw to their diet was the right thing to do. Oh! Another thing- ever since they started eating the Rad Cat, Alei eats his rabbit fur mice. Like, he literally eats them like they're food. I've had to really watch him cuz I don't wanna end up with a vet bill for surgery to remove rabbit fur mouse tails lol He never did this before, so I can only assume it has something to do with the animal smell of the fur...? And now they aren't toys, they're dinner. Did your cats ever do anything weird and "wild cat-ish" like that?

I'm glad there's no more weight gain and that your cats love Rad Cat turkey, too, @Krashballz!-- I think that's our cats' very favorite food. They like the chicken and lamb, too, but not as much; I think the lamb's much richer (higher fat) anyway so haven't bought it again. It sounds like your cats are similar to ours: our Ireland is also sleek and muscular, Edwina is the squishy one. However! Edwina's the one that's really into the raw food and the one who chews the tails off the mice. The moppy mouse that came home from the shelter with them lost its tail (gnawed off an inch at a time) early on, then we noticed other tails were disappearing, too. I have to admit I didn't believe talk that cats would do things like that -- and just be wilder overall -- after eating raw food but now that I've seen it, I do! Have fun with those energetic beasts!