Raw diet for a 3 mos senitive stomach kitten

[koobe]

Originally Posted by sharky

I will say this Rad cat stuff is evidently very tasty , I got some samples and 3 out of 5 ate it...

For some reason, I just have my mind on Rad cat raw food. I think it is because it is made by someone who started raw with their own cats, which gave me a better feeling about it.

I think for now, I will keep buying Rad Cat raw food so I don't have to worry about mixing the right portion. When I find out Cheetah's stomach gets raw food well, then I will look into making my own.

 

[koobe]

Last night, I gave them their first dinner portion raw food (Rad cat), about 1.5 oz.
I waited for 2 hours before I put the dry food bowl down again. I heard the digesting time for raw and other food are very different, so I think that is a good idea.

They had a small canned food late snack about 4 hours later.

This morning stool for both looks normal. YAY!

 

[koobe]

I gave them a few tiny pieces of pork liver last night. They both love it. Will have to see if Cheetah has loose stool today, but so far so good on the raw trial.

 

[ryffian]

I just finished reading through this thread and I'm eager to find out how things are going with Panther and Cheetah! Koobe, please come back with an update.

 

[koobe]

Originally Posted by Ryffian


I just finished reading through this thread and I'm eager to find out how things are going with Panther and Cheetah! Koobe, please come back with an update.

Hi Ryffian, Thank you for your message.

I just have a set back in raw feeding for Panther. I have tried different meat with them for the past 3 weeks. Panther was very open to new food, like lamb, sardines etc. But Panther threw up 2 times last week. I think I am giving too much food, I was feeding canned mixing raw (like 3oz every meal) for most meals and some dry for free feeding. So I reduced the amount feeding in each meal. These 2 days, Panther was not that interested in the raw. He will eat about 1 oz each meal. But since he is 6.2 lbs, he needs more than that. He has not been a big fan in canned food since I have been having him. So basically he has been waiting for me to set the dry food down. Yesterday, I do not have to work, so I insisted on giving them raw food for the whole day. Panther was still eating little of it. I finally give him 1.5 oz of pouch food last night, so he has something to eat. He only finished it when I crushed a snack into it. I did not leave any dry throughout the night, hoping he will get hungry in the morning. So this morning at 6 am, I put down some dry, Panther ate maybe 1.5 oz of it. Then since I have to go out, I put down some dry food. I came back 3 hours later, he ate a lot of it, I would say about 1/4 cups of it.

I have seen websites suggesting remove dry food AT ALL during the transitioning to raw. But this does not work for me, since I work very long hours for 3 days of the week. I do have to leave some food at home for free feeding. What I am worried is that Panther will just refused to eat in the morning and just wait for me to lay down the dry food before I leave for work, which is about 30 mins later. I am looking into buying an automatic feeder. So it will only open about 6 hours after I leave home. That way Panther will know he is not going to get any dry until mid day, so he will HAVE to eat in the morning, or nothing. Panther has been less active, but I do not see it as being sick. He is still running and playing, I can tell it is just because he is eating less food.

Regarding Cheetah, he has not been a big fan of dry food. I basically switched him out of kitten canned food because of his sensitive stomach. He was loving canned food and will eat A LOT (he can eat 3-4 oz in a meal) after his diarrhea was gone. After I started mixing raw food, he will eat all the raw and leave some canned in the plate. Now he really prefers raw more than canned. Yesterday, I put down a plate of canned, and he walked away even without trying. The funny thing is, when Panther is eating less raw, Cheetah is also eating less too. Now he eats, maybe 1.5-2oz of raw each meal. Which 6 oz of raw is about right for his age and weight (I would say he is about 6 lbs now). I am guessing he is getting used to "I get full with less raw food". Cheetah has been having firm stool before the transition to raw and has no problem at all with stool during and after the transition. Cheetah has been as active as he has been even with eating less raw.

The only thing I have changed in these 2 days is I started not warming the raw. One thing to add, I bought some commercial raw before I am sure I am doing right with making my own raw. They were okay with it. But now they hate it since 2 days ago.