Need help and encouragement

[goholistic]

I've spent a number of hours (days?) over the past six months reading up on a raw diet and just never felt ready to take the step. Recently it seems I've come across more threads where people are having trouble with raw - either their cat(s) decide they don't like it anymore or start vomiting it up and a "re-introduction" has to take place. This really discourages me. It needs to be easy. I cringe at the thought of another struggle...another challenge...to endure with these cats.

Sebastian, my pancreatitis/IBD kitty, is currently eating Royal Canin rabbit and green pea. RC has undergone some formula changes, and even though they say the canned formula is not supposed to change, this has me worried. Thus, I am revisiting the raw diet using raw rabbit.

I already have boneless ground rabbit and ground rabbit organs from Hare Today in my freezer. I read Dr. Pierson's recipe and I don't think this would work since she adds poultry to the rabbit, and Sebastian (for now) needs to be on a novel protein diet. One reason she adds poultry is because rabbit is very low fat. Well, this is also a concern because of Sebastian's history of weight loss and anorexia and trying to maintain his weight. Do I need to worry about an all-rabbit raw diet not having enough fat? 

I could follow a recipe using something like Alnutrin, but I'm hesitant to buy an expensive supplement right off the bat. My experiment with a cooked diet (using the expensive Balance It supplement) didn't go so well, and now I have a whole bottle of it I'm not going to use. 

@mschauer may have posted a recipe for raw rabbit using individual supplements, but I can't recall. I saved some clean, dry eggshells (for calcium), and my mom said I could borrow her coffee grinder.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed? Should I put down a little raw rabbit straight (no supplements) and see what happens? Or is it better to balance it and get the recipe right before introducing it?

I'm still getting Sebastian back on track after a flare from a change I made to his regime (he's very sensitive). 

 

[mschauer]

 
I've spent a number of hours (days?) over the past six months reading up on a raw diet and just never felt ready to take the step. Recently it seems I've come across more threads where people are having trouble with raw - either their cat(s) decide they don't like it anymore or start vomiting it up and a "re-introduction" has to take place. This really discourages me. It needs to be easy. I cringe at the thought of another struggle...another challenge...to endure with these cats.

Remember people post when they have problems. They don't post to say they aren't having problems. I'm pretty sure there are a lot more people not having problems than there are those having problems. 

Any suggestions on how I should proceed? Should I put down a little raw rabbit straight (no supplements) and see what happens? Or is it better to balance it and get the recipe right before introducing it?

Some cats will like muscle meat by itself right from the beginning but then balk when supplements and/or organs are added. Vitamin B complex has a pretty strong odor they may not like. Same with fish oil, of course. So it might be better to start with the complete food you want them to eat.

 

[peaches08]

Just a thought, what about no salt butter if you need to add more fat? Dr. P has mentioned bacon fat if you can find bacon without nitrates.

I can't speak for everyone else, but the only problem I had was with beef. And only Gadget. But that joker inhales food like he hasn't had a meal in days. It's just too rich a meal for him to inhale. I fed the chicken thighs recipe exclusively for over a year. I started by just giving a few tidbits of chicken. They were so enthusiastic about it that I never fed canned since the taste test. That's not what's normally advised for transitioning, but my cats were so sick on canned that I didn't care. I went through a gross coat with shedding and vomiting hairballs stage, but I got through it.

You know your cats better than I do. But if I were in your shoes, I'd probably give raw a shot. Even straight rabbit without supplements for a week or 2.

 

[cprcheetah]

Years ago I fed my siamese Little Foot ground rabbit raw as he had severe food allergies.  It didn't really affect his weight.   I think if you are worried about the weight increase the amount fed to 3%. 

 

[goholistic]

Thanks so much @mschauer! I'm going to check out that recipe right now. I think you're right in that people post when they are having problems and need help, but the way my life has been going, I'm probably going to be one of those people! 

Hmm...good thoughts @peaches08. I had eliminated butter from Sebastian's diet (I used to coat his gel caps with it) just in case he was sensitive to it. The fish oil I use says it is 95% fat, so I'm sure that helps. I'll have to do a little more research for hypoallergenic sources of fat...if such a thing exists. 

Thanks for the tip @cprcheetah. I'm sure increasing the amount would work when Sebastian is feeling good and actually eating, and hopefully that would make up for the days when he doesn't feel well and isn't eating much.