Hello all.
I started my 13 year old outdoor cat on a frakenprey raw diet just over 3 weeks ago.
Previously she had been getting dry food twice a day, and wet packet food once a day, but also got a chicken neck or wing now and again in place of the wet food. Plus she would catch a rat sometimes and eat it, though I haven't seen her do that for a few years now. So I was pretty optimistic about her making the switch and tried going straight to a raw diet.
But she was rather hesitant about it. At first I could get her to eat with a bit of coaxing, but after a couple of days that got harder and harder and then she refused to eat it at all. In hindsight I think I was fussing a bit too much. So I went back to just packet food for a couple of days (I was happy just to see her eating), then started slowly introducing raw meat and reducing the packet food over a week and half. Now she's going ok on just raw food most of the time, sometimes a very little bit of packet food to get her started.
I just took her in for a senior check up, and no real problems. Blood work and urine sample were all good. She's a little overweight (5.9kg / 13 pounds), but at the moment I'm concentrating on just getting her comfortable with the new diet. She also has a little tartar buildup on her teeth, but the vet wasn't worried, just said to make sure she gets some chunky meat to eat.
One thing I'm really unsure of is bone content. Everything I read mentions watching her stools to judge, but she's an outdoor cat and I never see that. She doesn't tolerate being locked in with a litter box, having always had access to outside. She has always been a very timid cat and hates not having an escape route.
I know the general rule of 80/10/5/5, and getting the meat and organ ratios is easy, but I'm not quite sure how to judge how much actual bone is in the meaty bones, or how to know if it's too much or too little for her. She also doesn't seem to like too much of a meaty bone at once, so I'm thinking I might need to feed a portion every day to reach the ~10%.
I've bought a whole chicken and duck, and cut them up into meal sized portions, but the bone content varies. Plus I have some chicken wings and necks. I would like to get some rabbit and quail or such, but I haven't found anywhere to buy those yet.
This week (from Sunday) so far she's on 71% meat (including heart), 12% meaty bones (though not sure how much actual bone), 9% organs, 8% packet food.
I started my 13 year old outdoor cat on a frakenprey raw diet just over 3 weeks ago.
Previously she had been getting dry food twice a day, and wet packet food once a day, but also got a chicken neck or wing now and again in place of the wet food. Plus she would catch a rat sometimes and eat it, though I haven't seen her do that for a few years now. So I was pretty optimistic about her making the switch and tried going straight to a raw diet.
But she was rather hesitant about it. At first I could get her to eat with a bit of coaxing, but after a couple of days that got harder and harder and then she refused to eat it at all. In hindsight I think I was fussing a bit too much. So I went back to just packet food for a couple of days (I was happy just to see her eating), then started slowly introducing raw meat and reducing the packet food over a week and half. Now she's going ok on just raw food most of the time, sometimes a very little bit of packet food to get her started.
I just took her in for a senior check up, and no real problems. Blood work and urine sample were all good. She's a little overweight (5.9kg / 13 pounds), but at the moment I'm concentrating on just getting her comfortable with the new diet. She also has a little tartar buildup on her teeth, but the vet wasn't worried, just said to make sure she gets some chunky meat to eat.
One thing I'm really unsure of is bone content. Everything I read mentions watching her stools to judge, but she's an outdoor cat and I never see that. She doesn't tolerate being locked in with a litter box, having always had access to outside. She has always been a very timid cat and hates not having an escape route.
I know the general rule of 80/10/5/5, and getting the meat and organ ratios is easy, but I'm not quite sure how to judge how much actual bone is in the meaty bones, or how to know if it's too much or too little for her. She also doesn't seem to like too much of a meaty bone at once, so I'm thinking I might need to feed a portion every day to reach the ~10%.
I've bought a whole chicken and duck, and cut them up into meal sized portions, but the bone content varies. Plus I have some chicken wings and necks. I would like to get some rabbit and quail or such, but I haven't found anywhere to buy those yet.
This week (from Sunday) so far she's on 71% meat (including heart), 12% meaty bones (though not sure how much actual bone), 9% organs, 8% packet food.