Raw food diet solved health problems but created behavior issues

[bowiefinn]

Hi all! My 5 year old Black domestic shorthair, Bowie, has suffered from Irritable Bowel Disease for the last few years. He experienced vomiting, loose stool accompanied with blood and mucus, and eventually lost some of his fur. After trying medications and prescription diets, a holistic vet turned us onto feeding Natural Instincts, a raw, frozen food. As we have two cats we transitioned them both to this diet with great success! All of Bowies symptoms are completely gone and both the cats look and feel better than ever. Unfortunately for us, they have both turned into voracious monsters. We feed them each an ounce twice daily and another half once a day. Feedings ideally would occur at 530 am, 5 pm and bedtime snack about 9 or 10. Our other cat, Finn, wakes us up about 1 am each night crying until we feed him. We have tried thorough it out but he will literally cry for hours and hours, night after night. Bowie, meanwhile, has taken to opening the garbage can ( even though we put bricks in the bottom AND it has a slide lock) to forage for food an even roped the metal panel off of he bottom of our ancient refrigerator. Bowie is about 13 lbs and the bet says overweight, we were originally supposed to feed him even less but couldn't take his crying, too. Finn weighs a out 10 lbs. we have thought about incorporating dry grain free food but the vet says its a bad idea. We are really coming to he end of our rope! We play with them every night before third snack an still they wake us up. Has anyone else lived through this or have any suggestions? Any help is welcome as we are out of ideas! Thanks and if anyone needs more detail to consider please just let me know!

 

[revenwyn]

Why only an ounce? I thought cats were supposed to have 6 ounces a day?

 

[mschauer]

They each only get 2 1/2 oz a day? Are you sure that is enough food? Mine get a little over 5 oz a day each. 

 

[sugarcatmom]

Hi bowiefinn! You must be in Western Canada. I also feed my cats Natural Instincts, amongst other raw diets, and I agree that I don't think 2 1/2 oz per day is enough food. How did your vet determine that amount?

 

[ldg]

The general feeding guideline for raw food is 2% - 4% of the cat's bodyweight.

My cats are older and not so active.

My 7 pound 9 year old gets 3 ounces of food a day.

My 13 pound, 10 year old boy gets 4.5 ounces of food a day.

This is less than most people feeding raw provide. Active cats require more food. Most people typically feed an 8 - 12 pound cat 5 - 6 ounces a day.

I think your cats are bothering you because they're not getting enough food!

 

[raintyger]

I vote for too little food, also. My Poppy gets 4 ounces/day plus a freeze-dried liver snack. She's a little chubby, so I'm thinking decreasing a little, but by that I mean take it down 1/8-1/4 oz per day, 3.75-3.875 oz. total per day.
 

 

[bowiefinn]

Oh. My. God. I feel soooo horrible right now, I just went on the foods site and it has a feeding guide calculator and Bowie should get 4.5 oz and Finn should get 3.5. The vet said they needed to lose weight but no wonder they are insane they are starving!!! I will feed them more staring today, I trusted the vet so much I never even questioned the amount as simple as that solution would be. It will be a little more expensive but totally worth it!!! Anyone had luck supplementing with grain free dry food or just stay raw? Thank you all soooo much!

 

[Willowy]

If he has IBD I wouldn't even try any kind of dry food. If you can't give him all raw, a grain-free canned food might be OK, depending on what triggers his IBD.

 

[ldg]

It's really the safest just to feed the raw. Keep feeding at their meal times, but just split the total amount you're going to feed them into 3, giving them an even amount of food at each meal.

I expect they'll find this satisfying (in the right amount). The first full night's sleep I got was when I switched my cats to raw - the first day they were at 100%, was the first night no one woke me up wanting food!

 

[raintyger]

...I trusted the vet so much I never even questioned the amount as simple as that solution would be.

I got similar bad advice from a vet, something like reduce food by XX%, which turned out to be a really small amount. They also said to feed her kibble to clean the teeth. Probably why I'm not listening when the vets advise against a raw diet.

 

[mschauer]

Don't feel bad, you were following your vets instructions. Keep in mind the guidelines on the web site are only guidelines. Every cat is different. You may need to feed less or more. Also if Bowie needs to lose weight he should be fed the amount he would need if he were at his ideal weight. So if he and Finn should be about the same size, feed them both the same amount.

You might want to invest in a good baby scale if you don't already have one. Weighting them every week or so is a good way to tell if you are feeding the right amount. Weighting them regularly throughout their lives is a good idea also. Weight loss or gain is often an early sign of a problem.

 

[bowiefinn]

Well I feel a little better knowing it wasn't just me!  At least we made the jump to raw - our regular vet advised against it but the holistic was for it - it has made the biggest difference in our life and even more so in Bowie's!  He hasn't had to take ANY medication for months, it truly is amazing.  I am so glad all of you wonderful people are out here on this site, sometimes the best advice comes from those who have lived it, not those who get paid to say it!

 

[bowiefinn]

that is a really good idea about the scale!  thank you for that suggestion. i just talked to my boyfriend about all of this and we are both going to work harder to learn more about feeding raw and making sure we are feeding them the correct amounts. and if bowie IS overweight, he is definitely not GROSSLY overweight, so hopefully we can help him to loose a bit of weight but still be a happy, less destructive, cat!

 

[carolina]

So sorry you have been feeding that little and SO glad you ended up here! :bigthumb:

Having myself a cat with IBD with whom I tried EVERYTHING and NOTHING worked but raw..... no way I would change the diet after having having the success you had
There is no cure for IBD
IBD is a beast, and you, like myself are very lucky to have found something that works - Raw works - but not much else.....

So..... I would strongly advise to increase the quantities and feed them more. If you need, change them to a home made diet :nod: You can learn all about it right here at the raw forum, start saving money, and keep feeding raw :nod: But do whatever it takes to stay on raw.... long-term unmanaged IBD can have serious consequences...

My cats weigh about the same as yours, and they eat 4.8oz. They are on the low end of the feeding scale. I feed home made.
My IBD kitty, HUGE, but on a diet, eats the same amount and is over 16lbs, but he is eating to lose weight.....

Welcome to TCS!

 

[mewlittle]

Oh. My. God. I feel soooo horrible right now, I just went on the foods site and it has a feeding guide calculator and Bowie should get 4.5 oz and Finn should get 3.5. The vet said they needed to lose weight but no wonder they are insane they are starving!!! I will feed them more staring today, I trusted the vet so much I never even questioned the amount as simple as that solution would be. It will be a little more expensive but totally worth it!!! Anyone had luck supplementing with grain free dry food or just stay raw? Thank you all soooo much!

hay what site did you go on to do that calc? and were do you buy your raw pet food sorry if i'm asking a question i can't figure it out

and 2 oz a day no wonder there nuts lol and start doing what the site said 4.5oz and 3.5 oz

 

[whollycat]

So glad you got the great advice here that a mere 2-1/2 ounces a day just wasn't enough. Please don't beat yourself up over this, you were following your vet's advice (as crappy as it was

). Many folks think all vets are highly trained in feline nutrition, when the exact opposite is usually true. And most especially when it comes to a raw diet.

As Laurie and others said, each kitty is different due to age, activity level, and unique metabolism.

I will say when I first started feeding raw I didn't restrict the amount I fed--I still don't to this day. Abby, my 16-year-old rescue, was overweight at 18lbs (he's now a healthier 16lbs). 16 pounds might seem like a lot, but Abby is a big boy. Even without him being hungry, on our raw home-prepared diet he lost excess weight...but very slowly. It took him around a year or so to drop the excess weight. I'd heard that a raw diet can have that effect, but until I experienced this with Abby I had no idea how true it could be. His muscle tone improved and his weight just came down. Never did I restrict how much he was eating. Just saying that you might find the same happens with your overweight kitty. To this day people that see Abby guess he is half his age. Aw...gotta love that red-headed child of mine.

My other two: Maxie is a very large-boned Maine Coon and 8-years-old. He weighs in at around 18+ pounds. He is lean without an ounce of fat on him (been raw fed since he was about a year old). Izzy is a wee little rescue at around 7 pounds (always been on raw). She tends to be a wee bit on the tubby side, but as long as she holds at where she's at, we're okay.

My three go through approximately a pound of food a day (14-16oz), with varying amounts for each kid. Maxie is my biggest eater, Abby next, and then Izzy.