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Hi everyone,
I have been doing a lot of research on cat food and have found both your site and others like catinfo.org to be helpful. I have been transitioning my very picky 4 year old ragdoll, Frank Sinatra, onto wet food. I have always been concerned with his diet and used to feed him orijin and wellness pouches until I moved back home and he got hooked on prescription Science Diet that my sister's cat ate (my mother also claimed he was far too skinny and was looking healthier on the new "junk food"). Sadly the older cat died a few months ago and I put my foot down that Frank would no longer eat food that I consider junk (I also do not want him to die at 14 like our other cat).
Frank has always been very picky and I used to have to hand feed him wellness wet food when he was younger. Even with the Science Diet he wasn't a huge eater. He is now eating Weruva, Hound and Gatos, and Tiki cat with his favourite freeze dried chicken placed on top (he will not eat it otherwise). He will not eat more than an oz. at a time, but today he has already bothered me three times to feed him, so I think the transition is going ok. I will have to give him some orijiin this weekend as my friend is cat sitting him and there is no way he will eat wet food for her nor will she go to the same lengths I do to get him to eat (but I will ask her to try).
Ultimately, I would like to feed him a raw diet but I am very skeptical that he will ever eat it, due to his crazyness about food. He is super weird when he is eating and always has been. He seems to have difficulty chewing and it always takes him forever to eat a small amount and if he gets any stuck in his teeth he will shake is front paw and refuse to eat anymore. I have asked three different vets about this and they all say he does not have any dental disease and are not sure why he does this. One vet said it might be cerebral palsy or maybe even had oxygen deprivation when he was born (he is the runt)- other than being a very weird animal he is very healthy so I am not sure if any of these apply. He just had a check up and the vet said he didn't need a dental, but maybe I should make them do one anyway to see if they can find anything wrong? Has anyone had any experiences with cats behaving like this?
My next question is about what type of commercial raw food to buy in Canada? I found the thread on Canadian suppliers (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248687/canadian-raw-food-suppliers) but I am unsure what is the best brand. I would like something like "Felines Pride", which appears to be the best American brand. Carnova (http://www.carnivora.ca/) seems good but I am worried that they do not add extra taurine and other supplements like the recipe on catinfo.org- I emailed them this question and they haven't responded, so I am kind of irritated. Spring Meadows Natural Pet Food is the only cat food that appears to be a member in good standing of the Canadian Association of Raw Food Manufacturers- is this important? They seem like a good company but again do not seem to add extra supplements. There seem to be a lot of really good ones further down on the thread, are any of these better? I will also be getting a new kitten in the next two months or so and I would like to get him eating raw right away even if I have to still feed Frank canned, so I want to figure out the best brand to buy.
For the kitten I want him to get used to eating raw right away and I was wondering if I could give him raw chicken wings, because I want him to get used to chewing on them for dental health?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks for any help you can provide!
I have been doing a lot of research on cat food and have found both your site and others like catinfo.org to be helpful. I have been transitioning my very picky 4 year old ragdoll, Frank Sinatra, onto wet food. I have always been concerned with his diet and used to feed him orijin and wellness pouches until I moved back home and he got hooked on prescription Science Diet that my sister's cat ate (my mother also claimed he was far too skinny and was looking healthier on the new "junk food"). Sadly the older cat died a few months ago and I put my foot down that Frank would no longer eat food that I consider junk (I also do not want him to die at 14 like our other cat).
Frank has always been very picky and I used to have to hand feed him wellness wet food when he was younger. Even with the Science Diet he wasn't a huge eater. He is now eating Weruva, Hound and Gatos, and Tiki cat with his favourite freeze dried chicken placed on top (he will not eat it otherwise). He will not eat more than an oz. at a time, but today he has already bothered me three times to feed him, so I think the transition is going ok. I will have to give him some orijiin this weekend as my friend is cat sitting him and there is no way he will eat wet food for her nor will she go to the same lengths I do to get him to eat (but I will ask her to try).
Ultimately, I would like to feed him a raw diet but I am very skeptical that he will ever eat it, due to his crazyness about food. He is super weird when he is eating and always has been. He seems to have difficulty chewing and it always takes him forever to eat a small amount and if he gets any stuck in his teeth he will shake is front paw and refuse to eat anymore. I have asked three different vets about this and they all say he does not have any dental disease and are not sure why he does this. One vet said it might be cerebral palsy or maybe even had oxygen deprivation when he was born (he is the runt)- other than being a very weird animal he is very healthy so I am not sure if any of these apply. He just had a check up and the vet said he didn't need a dental, but maybe I should make them do one anyway to see if they can find anything wrong? Has anyone had any experiences with cats behaving like this?
My next question is about what type of commercial raw food to buy in Canada? I found the thread on Canadian suppliers (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248687/canadian-raw-food-suppliers) but I am unsure what is the best brand. I would like something like "Felines Pride", which appears to be the best American brand. Carnova (http://www.carnivora.ca/) seems good but I am worried that they do not add extra taurine and other supplements like the recipe on catinfo.org- I emailed them this question and they haven't responded, so I am kind of irritated. Spring Meadows Natural Pet Food is the only cat food that appears to be a member in good standing of the Canadian Association of Raw Food Manufacturers- is this important? They seem like a good company but again do not seem to add extra supplements. There seem to be a lot of really good ones further down on the thread, are any of these better? I will also be getting a new kitten in the next two months or so and I would like to get him eating raw right away even if I have to still feed Frank canned, so I want to figure out the best brand to buy.
For the kitten I want him to get used to eating raw right away and I was wondering if I could give him raw chicken wings, because I want him to get used to chewing on them for dental health?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks for any help you can provide!