Raw diet questions and concerns...

[jim peterford]

Hey all! It's been a while but I figured I'd give an update. The raw diet is going really well! I have been exclusively feeding rad cat and recently threw chicken into the mix with no problems from what I can tell. Lindy is still not gaining weight, most likely due to her thyroid issues and I am planning on discussing further options with my vet to get her back to her old self.
Noelle on the other hand gave me a bit of a shock last night when I weighed her and discovered that she was hovering close to 10 pounds! She was always around the 8 and 1/2 pound range so I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. She seems fine overall, just heavier. I was wondering if this could possibly be her "healthy weight" because she always used to have a bit of a dip in her sides towards her rear which is now filled in a bit, or if maybe the prednisolone is causing her to gain... I would hope not since she is on such a low dose. I am reluctant to lower the portions of food I give them since it's only a total of 6oz per day for each cat, which isn't a lot. Maybe I need to keep her more active, since when I'm at work she just tends to lay around all day. Not really sure what to do.. Again, hoping that the raw diet helped get her up to this and maybe she was underweight before. Any thoughts?

 

[ldg]

THANK YOU for posting an update! I was going to bump the thread, in fact - I've been wondering about y'all!

I'm so glad they're doing well on the raw!

As to Noelle.... I'm not sure any of us can really answer that question about her weight. :dk: Sorry to say it, but the vet is really the best person to make that determination. That said, I have a 10-pound cat that was stable at that weight at 3 ounces of raw food a day. However, she should weigh about 8 pounds. The raw feeding guidelines are that you should feed your kitties - depending on age and activity level - between 2% and 4% of their body weights. Mine are mostly older and not very active, so most of mine are eating right around that 2% (one is eating less, actually). As she needs to lose weight, I'm slowly cutting back the amount of food she eats. Instead of getting one ounce at each meal now (I feed them 3 times a day), she gets about 0.9 ounces, and in a few weeks, I'll cut that back to 0.85. That will be a total of 2.5 ounces - which would be 2% of her body weight IF she were an 8-pound cat. Hopefully it'll help get her down to the weight she should be.

 

[jim peterford]

Oh I'm glad you didn't bump the thread! I feel bad I haven't been posting as much lately! :lol3:
I'll try to post more updates, I'll see what the vet says about her weight and maybe make an adjustment here or there.

 

[carolina]

THANK YOU for posting an update! I was going to bump the thread, in fact - I've been wondering about y'all!
I'm so glad they're doing well on the raw!
As to Noelle.... I'm not sure any of us can really answer that question about her weight. :dk: Sorry to say it, but the vet is really the best person to make that determination. That said, I have a 10-pound cat that was stable at that weight at 3 ounces of raw food a day. However, she should weigh about 8 pounds. The raw feeding guidelines are that you should feed your kitties - depending on age and activity level - between 2% and 4% of their body weights. Mine are mostly older and not very active, so most of mine are eating right around that 2% (one is eating less, actually). As she needs to lose weight, I'm slowly cutting back the amount of food she eats. Instead of getting one ounce at each meal now (I feed them 3 times a day), she gets about 0.9 ounces, and in a few weeks, I'll cut that back to 0.85. That will be a total of 2.5 ounces - which would be 2% of her body weight IF she were an 8-pound cat. Hopefully it'll help get her down to the weight she should be.

My cats weigh 11.5, 13 and 17lb 6.5oz - they eat 4.8oz a day, divided in 3 meals of 1.6 oz each. The 17lbs biiiig kitty is very, and I say VEEEERRRYYY slowly (like turtle speed :doh3 losing weight. The others are mantaining. If they ate 6oz they would all be gaining :nod:
Keep it up!!

 

[ldg]

Don't feel bad, life happens! I'm just glad they're doing well! :rub:

 

[jim peterford]

Ok then, so up until now I've been feeding 4 times a day. I'm thinking about cutting that to 3 since that seems to be what a lot of people do, and according to the percentage rule feeding 3% of noelles current body weight would have me actually cutting her back a little bit. I'm thinking about feeding Noelle 1.75oz 3 times a day for a total of 5.25oz per day and see how she does. It's not cutting much so hopefully she doesnt lose a lot of weight. I just don't think she should gain much more, especially since she gained close to a pound in a little over a month... Lindy I am going to leave at 6 oz a day for the time being since she is not gaining due to her hyperthyroid but I have a consultation set up to get her the radioactive iodine and I am super excited that this will hopefully be the end of her thyroid issues. I feel bad doing only 3 feedings now, normally I would be feeding right now and they are kinda looking at me like "Daddy, where's the food?"

 

[carolina]

Ok then, so up until now I've been feeding 4 times a day. I'm thinking about cutting that to 3 since that seems to be what a lot of people do, and according to the percentage rule feeding 3% of noelles current body weight would have me actually cutting her back a little bit. I'm thinking about feeding Noelle 1.75oz 3 times a day for a total of 5.25oz per day and see how she does. It's not cutting much so hopefully she doesnt lose a lot of weight. I just don't think she should gain much more, especially since she gained close to a pound in a little over a month... Lindy I am going to leave at 6 oz a day for the time being since she is not gaining due to her hyperthyroid but I have a consultation set up to get her the radioactive iodine and I am super excited that this will hopefully be the end of her thyroid issues. I feel bad doing only 3 feedings now, normally I would be feeding right now and they are kinda looking at me like "Daddy, where's the food?"

Awwww..... I know!

I also started Bugsy at 6.75oz I think..... He is now at 4.8oz..... He is 17lbs 6.5oz :dash:
He does look at me like: "mom, where is the rest?" :lol3:
But the, he is SOOOOO excited for the next meal - it is Party time!!!

By the way, have you figured out how you are going to do while she is in the hospital? Can they do the raw feeding in there?
She needs to stay there a while, right? Are they going to defrost and feed?
Perhaps you might want to introduce her some freeze dry raw - such as Stella & Chewy, to make it easier and to ensure she will eat while she is in there - that way they can just rehydrate, or, worst case scenario, if she gets really fussy, they can even serve it dry, kind of like kibbles......

 

[jim peterford]

She will only have to be hospitalized for 3 days and then she can come home. That was a concern of mine at first, but I figured for 3 days she can eat the food they have at the hospital. If it were any longer I would consider working something out but I think for 3 days she'll manage :lol3:

 

[jim peterford]

Long time no see to a lot of you! Hope you are all still here... Quick question... I've been feeding all three flavors of Rad Cat for a while now, (turkey, chicken and lamb) and my girls have been doing pretty well except for a few of Noelle's IBD/Pancreatitis flare ups which I still can't pinpoint the cause of ... Anyway, both my girls are not too crazy about the lamb. Noelle likes it better than Lindy does but I am afraid the high fat content may be one of the triggers in setting off her condition. I eliminated all artificial foods including the pill pockets used to give her meds. She will actually eat the pills out of my hand when packed in a little of the Rad Cat! I thought that maybe I had found the cause of her flare ups but she had a slight set back today and I am wondering if the fat in the lamb has something to do with it. I don't know though... This is so frustrating... If it comes down to it and I decide to eliminate the lamb from their routine, is there any problem with just feeding chicken and turkey on alternating days? I don't want them to get tired of it, but I can't seem to find any other high quality raw food that doesn't have ground bone or a whole bunch of ingredients that are not ideal for kitties. Any suggestions? Comments?

 

[vball91]

Hi Jim, just read this whole thread. How about using eggshell for calcium? Would Noelle be ok with that? Also, just out of curiousity, why is bone not recommended for cats with pancreatitis?

If Noelle is ok with eggshell, you could do the ground from your butcher or frankenprey pieces of meat with Alnutrin with eggshell calcium.

As for the lamb, if you think it could be triggering Noelle's pancreatitis, I would cut out the lamb for a while and see if it is a culprit.

 

[carolina]

Long time no see to a lot of you! Hope you are all still here... Quick question... I've been feeding all three flavors of Rad Cat for a while now, (turkey, chicken and lamb) and my girls have been doing pretty well except for a few of Noelle's IBD/Pancreatitis flare ups which I still can't pinpoint the cause of ... Anyway, both my girls are not too crazy about the lamb. Noelle likes it better than Lindy does but I am afraid the high fat content may be one of the triggers in setting off her condition. I eliminated all artificial foods including the pill pockets used to give her meds. She will actually eat the pills out of my hand when packed in a little of the Rad Cat! I thought that maybe I had found the cause of her flare ups but she had a slight set back today and I am wondering if the fat in the lamb has something to do with it. I don't know though... This is so frustrating... If it comes down to it and I decide to eliminate the lamb from their routine, is there any problem with just feeding chicken and turkey on alternating days? I don't want them to get tired of it, but I can't seem to find any other high quality raw food that doesn't have ground bone or a whole bunch of ingredients that are not ideal for kitties. Any suggestions? Comments?

Jim, you should be fine without the lamb.... All you can do is try.... I would try and see how she does. Keep in mind you can alternate every meal to make things more interesting.
To make it easier, defrost that tub in cold water and make little ziplock baggies with enough for 1 meal for each cat - then flatten it and put it back in the freezer. That way you just need to defrost enough for one meal at a time and they will eat something different every meal.
Since the others eat lamb, make the lamb meals for 2 cats only, and (assuming you have three). Chicken and turkey you make the baggies for three cats.

 

[ritz]

Thanks for the update.

Quail is a type of bird, maybe she'd be okay with that.

Rabbit too?

You can get both in international supermarkets, and ground/whole through Hare Today (the ground might be with bone (:  )