Hi all, I would love some help transitioning my cat to raw feeding. To give you some background, her name is Aria, and she's about 7 years old. We adopted her when she was about 1 year old from my husband's mother who had taken her in as a stray, but Aria did not like the other 2 cats already in the house. Interestingly enough, when I took her to the vet, she had already been spayed and was pretty healthy so we don't think she was a stray for long. We think she got left behind in a move which happens way too often in our military town. His mother checked all the usual places and posted Found signs/ads, but no one claimed her. When I was visiting one day, I started petting her, and she was so affectionate and cuddly and seemed so interactive, I instantly fell in love with her despite never having had a pet before.
Anyway, for almost 6 years, we have been fortunate that she's been very healthy. She had one upper respiratory infection when she was about 3, but other than that no issues until this past December. Early December, she had a urinary issue of some kind but that went away in a few days. Then right before Christmas, she started eating a lot less and then stopped eating altogether. That same day she had some vomiting and diarrhea so I took her to the vet right away. The vet did X-rays, lab tests and treated her symptoms with pain med, anti-nausea med, antibiotics and fluids. After 36 hours, she started eating and drinking normally and recovered 100% as far as I can tell and is slowly regaining the little bit of weight she lost while she was sick. The X-rays and lab work were all unremarkable except for slightly elevated lipase levels. The vet thinks she might have had pancreatitis but since the fPLI test wasn't done (nor was that suggested), it's not very conclusive. I've since learned that elevated lipase levels can be caused by a lot of things. The vet also suggested switching her to the very expensive kibble that they sold which she said would be better for a cat with pancreatitis. Now that I know better, I've lost faith in this vet (who is new to us because we moved about 6 months ago).
So in my research about cat diseases, I discovered how species inappropriate most commercial pet foods are. I was really quite horrified to learn that I had been feeding her junk food and that that may have contributed to her illnesses. Now that I know better, I want to feed her the best diet that I can. I would love to get her to 100% raw but really would be happy to get at least 50%. I have started feeding her raw tidbits of chicken (less than 10% so I'm not concerned yet with supplements although I have ordered some). I am feeding her approximately 80% canned, 10% raw, 10% kibble right now. All canned and kibble are various grain-free, low starch, high protein, low carb ones with the cans also being BPA and carrageenan free. I am trying out various ones because she doesn't seem to like most of these healthier options. She wants her Fancy Feast/Friskies gravy.
So here are my issues:
1. Before I knew better, I screwed up and fed her a lot of seafood flavored foods because that's what she seemed to prefer. Dr. Pierson is so right about the addictive nature of fish! It's difficult to get her to eat non-seafood flavors now. How do I transition her off? She will eat some raw chicken once in a while. She does seem to like raw egg yolks. She loves raw shrimp of course (and raw squid and cooked shrimp, crab and lobster - all of which are once in a while treats). How bad is non-fish seafood for cats? I couldn't find a lot of info about this. I know that a lot of fish is bad for various reasons, but how much of that applies to non-fish seafood?
2. How do I get her on a 3-4 times a day feeding schedule? Aria is used to having kibble available all day/night and getting fed canned 3-4 times a day. She prefers canned and eats kibble only when there's no canned. She never eats a lot in one feeding. She eats about half an ounce to an ounce tops of canned/raw in one feeding. I could put out 2 ounces of her favorite foods, and she will only eat an ounce tops. 2-3 hours later, she's ready for more food. I tried removing the kibble entirely and have been successful during the day but night is a problem. The first (and only) 2 nights I tried this she woke me up at about 2am both times because she was hungry even though I had fed her right before bed. I started putting out a tiny bit of kibble before bed to tide her over, and that seems to be working. Although I would love to remove kibble entirely, I also need sleep! I have ordered some Wysong Epigen 90 to be her only kibble which I will keep at less than 10% of her food while I transition her to raw. Is there a way to change her eating habits so she will eat more and be able to go 8 hours without a meal? And is that even desirable to do given her clear preference for small but frequent meals? I'm fortunate in that I work part-time and mostly from home, so my schedule does allow for this, but feeding less frequently would be much easier for raw. Also, I do travel occasionally for work, and I need to make feeding easy for my husband when I'm gone.
3. Not an issue you all can really help me with, but I'm also looking for a holistic vet in my area that will support and work with me on raw feeding.
Is there anything else I could be doing to give my cat a better diet? Sorry for the long post, and if you've read this far, thanks for any advice you can give me.
Anyway, for almost 6 years, we have been fortunate that she's been very healthy. She had one upper respiratory infection when she was about 3, but other than that no issues until this past December. Early December, she had a urinary issue of some kind but that went away in a few days. Then right before Christmas, she started eating a lot less and then stopped eating altogether. That same day she had some vomiting and diarrhea so I took her to the vet right away. The vet did X-rays, lab tests and treated her symptoms with pain med, anti-nausea med, antibiotics and fluids. After 36 hours, she started eating and drinking normally and recovered 100% as far as I can tell and is slowly regaining the little bit of weight she lost while she was sick. The X-rays and lab work were all unremarkable except for slightly elevated lipase levels. The vet thinks she might have had pancreatitis but since the fPLI test wasn't done (nor was that suggested), it's not very conclusive. I've since learned that elevated lipase levels can be caused by a lot of things. The vet also suggested switching her to the very expensive kibble that they sold which she said would be better for a cat with pancreatitis. Now that I know better, I've lost faith in this vet (who is new to us because we moved about 6 months ago).
So in my research about cat diseases, I discovered how species inappropriate most commercial pet foods are. I was really quite horrified to learn that I had been feeding her junk food and that that may have contributed to her illnesses. Now that I know better, I want to feed her the best diet that I can. I would love to get her to 100% raw but really would be happy to get at least 50%. I have started feeding her raw tidbits of chicken (less than 10% so I'm not concerned yet with supplements although I have ordered some). I am feeding her approximately 80% canned, 10% raw, 10% kibble right now. All canned and kibble are various grain-free, low starch, high protein, low carb ones with the cans also being BPA and carrageenan free. I am trying out various ones because she doesn't seem to like most of these healthier options. She wants her Fancy Feast/Friskies gravy.
So here are my issues:
1. Before I knew better, I screwed up and fed her a lot of seafood flavored foods because that's what she seemed to prefer. Dr. Pierson is so right about the addictive nature of fish! It's difficult to get her to eat non-seafood flavors now. How do I transition her off? She will eat some raw chicken once in a while. She does seem to like raw egg yolks. She loves raw shrimp of course (and raw squid and cooked shrimp, crab and lobster - all of which are once in a while treats). How bad is non-fish seafood for cats? I couldn't find a lot of info about this. I know that a lot of fish is bad for various reasons, but how much of that applies to non-fish seafood?
2. How do I get her on a 3-4 times a day feeding schedule? Aria is used to having kibble available all day/night and getting fed canned 3-4 times a day. She prefers canned and eats kibble only when there's no canned. She never eats a lot in one feeding. She eats about half an ounce to an ounce tops of canned/raw in one feeding. I could put out 2 ounces of her favorite foods, and she will only eat an ounce tops. 2-3 hours later, she's ready for more food. I tried removing the kibble entirely and have been successful during the day but night is a problem. The first (and only) 2 nights I tried this she woke me up at about 2am both times because she was hungry even though I had fed her right before bed. I started putting out a tiny bit of kibble before bed to tide her over, and that seems to be working. Although I would love to remove kibble entirely, I also need sleep! I have ordered some Wysong Epigen 90 to be her only kibble which I will keep at less than 10% of her food while I transition her to raw. Is there a way to change her eating habits so she will eat more and be able to go 8 hours without a meal? And is that even desirable to do given her clear preference for small but frequent meals? I'm fortunate in that I work part-time and mostly from home, so my schedule does allow for this, but feeding less frequently would be much easier for raw. Also, I do travel occasionally for work, and I need to make feeding easy for my husband when I'm gone.
3. Not an issue you all can really help me with, but I'm also looking for a holistic vet in my area that will support and work with me on raw feeding.
Is there anything else I could be doing to give my cat a better diet? Sorry for the long post, and if you've read this far, thanks for any advice you can give me.