Selective Eater (raw)

[F+V]

I've started giving my almost-6-month-old kittens raw food two weeks ago.
I made the first batch with fresh organic, pastured chicken, organs and eggs from the same farm. I was about to run out of the food, so as a temporary measure I went to a local supermarket's butcher to get chicken thighs and made another batch using the same ingredients as the last time except the chicken thighs. It's still better than commercial canned food, I thought...
Both of them ate the first serving (lunch) but one of them stopped eating (now dinner & breakfast). She still comes to their dining area to see the food but just turns around and doesn't eat it at all now. I don't think the chicken thighs were off, although they certainly didn't look fresh... and still one of them eats it. What do you think is going on? Has she become very selective about what she eats? Both of them used to eat a wide variety of canned foods without fuss... she's still energetic but is a bit skinny, so am worried.
I even tried to feed her with fortiflora sprinkled on top...

 

[lisahe]

This sounds to me like a case of a cat who's used to eating a "wide variety of canned foods" now being fed only one basic kind/recipe of food. Many cats get bored very quickly if they're only fed one kind of food!

Since you didn't mention recipes, just to check: are you feeding a prey model menu or adding supplements to the chicken so the food is balanced? That's always important but especially with kittens, who need lots proper nutrients for development.

 

[F+V]

Sorry, by a wide variety of canned food, I meant I've given them different flavors / brands but usually stuck to one kind for at least 3 weeks at a time... and mostly Hill's SD series.

I use the recipe on catnutrition.org with supplements... Let's see if she's hungry enough to eat it next time...

 

[F+V]

I switched canned foods because sometimes they developed diarrhea (Wellness Core) so I had to return them to store and put them back on Hill's..

 

[lisahe]

Sorry, by a wide variety of canned food, I meant I've given them different flavors / brands but usually stuck to one kind for at least 3 weeks at a time... and mostly Hill's SD series.

I use the recipe on catnutrition.org with supplements... Let's see if she's hungry enough to eat it next time...

That's a good recipe you're using, so that's a start! I do, though, really wonder if your kitten is looking for more variety in her food -- kittens basically need to be fed constantly, as much as they want, so I wouldn't want to wait to see if she's hungry enough to eat the homemade recipe the next time. Given that you said you're concerned about her being skinny, that's all the more reason to see if expanding her diet might help. (I also say this because our two cats came to us as ten-month-old kittens who'd been horribly underfed -- even in that condition they still didn't want the same food all the time. Some cats will eat the same thing every day for years but many will not.)

It's probably worth taking her in for a vet visit if she hasn't been in a while, just to be sure the diarrhea wasn't caused by parasites or something else that might be affecting her appetite.

Good luck!

 

[1 bruce 1]

I switched canned foods because sometimes they developed diarrhea (Wellness Core) so I had to return them to store and put them back on Hill's..

I've started giving my almost-6-month-old kittens raw food two weeks ago.
I made the first batch with fresh organic, pastured chicken, organs and eggs from the same farm. I was about to run out of the food, so as a temporary measure I went to a local supermarket's butcher to get chicken thighs and made another batch using the same ingredients as the last time except the chicken thighs. It's still better than commercial canned food, I thought...
Both of them ate the first serving (lunch) but one of them stopped eating (now dinner & breakfast). She still comes to their dining area to see the food but just turns around and doesn't eat it at all now. I don't think the chicken thighs were off, although they certainly didn't look fresh... and still one of them eats it. What do you think is going on? Has she become very selective about what she eats? Both of them used to eat a wide variety of canned foods without fuss... she's still energetic but is a bit skinny, so am worried.
I even tried to feed her with fortiflora sprinkled on top...

OK. The recipe you're making is a good one.
You said that the thighs "didn't look fresh". Most cats are picky for a reason, food that is maybe not fresh or even just "off" a bit will be ignored, and if consumed, will probably cause GI upset.
The dogs here will eat any old dead rotting thing or an ancient pile or horse crap and be healthier for it (and more disgusting ) but cats don't usually operate this way. They NEED fresh(er) food, and even food that is frozen fresh and thawed and used quickly is taken well.
Do you have a butcher that's local? Would you be willing to talk to them about saving you things like scraps?
Supermarket meats sometimes aren't handled as carefully as we'd like for a raw fed cat, because the assumption is the meat will be cooked 100% and any bacterial load will be killed off. Even though cats usually have a really good system for handling this stuff, some of them don't and they can't handle the load. Butcher shops are usually much better about this. (Butchers handle meat, that's all. Supermarkets handle meats, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits, packaged goods, breads, baked goods, canned foods, boxed foods, etc. etc. etc. so the work load is heavier.)

 

[LTS3]

Maybe the supermarket chicken tastes different from the fresh from the farm chicken. Mass produced chickens are fed differently than many small farms. The diet could affect the way the meat tastes.

 

[F+V]

Maybe the supermarket chicken tastes different from the fresh from the farm chicken. Mass produced chickens are fed differently than many small farms. The diet could affect the way the meat tastes.

That's what I thought... she started eating again though.
I won't buy from the supermarket again. They might have been sitting there for a long time and no longer fresh. Also, one of the kittens had bad breath for a few days while eating that food, although I cannot say that the food is the cause. It's really strange because the bad smell is completely gone now.

 

[Tobermory]

Were the thighs packaged or in the open case? I don’t like to buy from the case because I don’t like the idea of them sitting in the open with other meats and the door being opened several times a day. And, as you said, who knows how long they’ve been there. I want to see the expiration date.