She's Repelled By The Food

[sabrinah]

I made my first batch of food a couple weeks ago using Alnutrin and following the directions that came with the sample. I tried to do a partial bake on the chicken but ended up cooking it almost completely (oops) but since she likes cooked chicken just as well as raw chicken I figured it would be ok.

She's repelled by the mix.

Not only will she not try it separately, she won't eat her canned food if I mix a super tiny bit in to it. I'm talking less than half a pea sized amount. If I put it on the side of her bowl she won't eat at all. If I put it on a separate plate next to her food she's content to starve herself until the offending food is taken away, even if that means 24+ hours. I got her to try a tiny bit once by covering it with Stella and Chewy freeze dried, but ever since then she's incredibly skeptical of the S&C and reluctant to eat it hydrated anymore. I've been leaving a tiny bit of the mix a few feet from her bowls but she just pretends the entire area doesn't exist.

I'm not sure how to proceed. Do I just keep leaving a little out with each meal and throwing it away? It's painfully wasteful.

 

[Neo_23]

I’m not sure how to solve the problem of her not eating it but I just want to point out that since the chicken is cooked it won’t have the same nutrients as raw and your recipe will not be the same. I don’t think you can consider it a “complete meal” anymore. (I’m pretty sure that’s right but someone correct me if I’m wrong).

But next time I’m sure it will work out better.

Have you tried giving her raw meat before besides freeze dried?

 

[sabrinah]

Yes, she likes raw chicken. Im not trying other meats until I can get her eating the chicken. I bought a fair amount when it was on sale and it's taking up a lot of freezer space!

I only made a pound since it was my first attempt and I figured I was likely to screw it up. Since I know she likes cooked chicken I was hoping my screw up would actually make it easier to get her to try the new food. She still has nearly 2 months worth of canned food so I was hoping to get her eating a couple raw meals a week, which would use up the messed up batch, then one raw meal a day with a good batch, then all raw once I'm out of canned and can make the food successfully.

 

[sabrinah]

This is getting frustrating. I added a tiny bit of raw into her wet and she ate it twice. Yay! Last night she preferred to starve apparently. This morning she's content to starve again. I don't do the whole throwing away a bunch of food if she doesn't feel like eating it and open up something else. That's expensive and wasteful. Unless it makes her physically ill, I do not throw out food. She gets what I put in her bowl and that's that until next meal time when I dump the bowl and fill it again with the exact same thing. As a result, I have a generally not picky cat, minus increasing sensitivities to foods that do actually make her sick. Apparently, homemade is the exception to not being picky. I'm going to keep mixing it in whether she likes it or not, and she'll get hungry enough to eat it eventually. At this rate, I might actually have to buy more canned. I thought my 2 month supply would be more than enough while she's transitioned to raw.

I've implemented a new rule that I won't put out dry until the wet is gone since I won't be able to leave the raw out all day for her to graze on like she does now. Well, that's assuming she ever eats it.

 

[orange&white]

In 2008 when I first started raw, two of my cats took to it right away, but the third cat took 2-3 months. You can try some stinky toppers like parmesan cheese, bits of sardine, bonito flakes, tuna water, etc. I hear that Fortiflora, sprinkled on food like salt (not using an entire package) is irresistible to most cats.

 

[sabrinah]

In 2008 when I first started raw, two of my cats took to it right away, but the third cat took 2-3 months. You can try some stinky toppers like parmesan cheese, bits of sardine, bonito flakes, tuna water, etc. I hear that Fortiflora, sprinkled on food like salt (not using an entire package) is irresistible to most cats.

Toppers don't work with my kitty It doesn't matter how much she loves it by itself, she won't eat it on or near something she doesn't like. She loved bonito flakes until I tried to feed them to her near the homemade food (near, not on. Not even on the same plate), ever since then, she won't eat them. She loved Stella and Chewy freeze dried until I tried putting some rehydrated over a tiny tiny bit of homemade. Now she won't eat it rehydrated anymore. I also crumbled it dry over the homemade, which has resulted in her refusing to eat any at all that she didn't actually see me take out of the bag. The only fish she likes is salmon, but even that isn't enough of a bribe. She loves her dry but she won't eat it if it's mixed with homemade. She doesn't go crazy for parmesan but I'll give it a shot with dinner. I'll have to put out a little bit of dry for her since she opted out of dinner and isn't eating breakfast. It's not good to completely starve.

If it wasn't more than likely dangerous I would sprinkle some fish food on it. My fish eat even more variety than the cat and dog so I certainly have more than enough to spare. My dog has stolen and eaten containers of fish food twice now I believe, and the only side effect was stinky breath. He does weigh nearly 30 pounds more than her though. Actually, I have frozen krill...There's no additives or anything, so maybe those could work as bribery...

I'm very tempted to try Fortiflora, I'm just worried it'll be a waste of money if it doesn't work.

 

[orange&white]

Bribes didn't work with my 3rd kitty either. So he ate processed cat food while the other two ate raw. One day he decided to try the raw and I was finally able to get rid of processed foods. I think he had to watch the other cats enjoying it for a long time before he decided it was food.

You could split this batch of cat food and give to your dog over several days and try a new batch for your cat. Your dog doesn't need all the supplements that cats need, but a little won't harm him. My dog Charlie eats any leftovers the cats don't eat.

 

[sabrinah]

I would have to order Alnutrin to make more. I wish I could get more than one sample. Maybe I'll take a few steps back and feed just a little raw chicken, then just a little liver, then the two mixed together, then the full balanced mixture. I'm wondering if she just doesn't like liver? There's no way around that though so she has to get over it if that's the case. I tried cutting up organs for her a couple times and she would try it.

 

[orange&white]

There was a thread a few months back about a "holdout" cat not wanting to eat the new raw diet. One person said they stuck a pea-sized bite of the food in their cat's mouth and the cat then realized it was food. Another person did the same thing and put a dab of food in the cats tongue when it was yawning. That worked for both of them...wish I had thought of that when nothing but time was working with my holdout. Might or might not work, but I thought it was an interesting solution.

 

[sabrinah]

I did shove a little in her mouth wrapped in a bonito flake. She was not pleased with me. I can try it again though. I wish I could just leave it out all day. I think doing that would make her more likely to give in and eat it.

 

[Neo_23]

Did you try fortiflora? I swear it is a magic potion. I got my cat to eat her disgusting smelling herbal medicine with it.

 

[sabrinah]

I haven't tried it yet. The price is painful. If the parmesan cheese doesn't work tonight I'll order it.

 

[Neo_23]

I haven't tried it yet. The price is painful. If the parmesan cheese doesn't work tonight I'll order it.

I felt like that when I first ordered it too but it’s saved my butt several times so I totally agree with Dr. Pierson that it’s worth it to have it in the cabinet for emergencies. I think it might be cheapest on amazon?

 

[sabrinah]

Yea it seems to be cheapest on Amazon. I swear I give Amazon all my money, it's ridiculous. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and order it.

I'm not expecting her to magically want to eat a full homemade meal all of a sudden, but it would be nice if she would eat a pea-sized amount of raw mixed into her usual wet. I really can't afford to throw food away so I really hate having to.

Amazon doesn't seem to have just one box of Fortiflora for cats anymore? Only 2 and 3 packs, which I'm certainly not buying. What the heck?

 

[orange&white]

Hmmm...that is weird.

I see Walmart has a "free shipping" vendor, 30 pouches for $26.39.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Purina-FortiFlora-Nutritional-Supplement-for-Cats/43285044#read-more

 

[orange&white]

$28 at Chewys, but you have to buy $49 for free shipping.
Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets FortiFlora Probiotic Cat Supplement

 

[Neo_23]

Ah I forgot you are in the States so you have more buying options. Definitely go for Chewy or Walmart instead!

 

[sabrinah]

I'm stocked up on everything so I don't need anything from Chewy. I'll probably order it from Walmart. Thank you for the link!

If FortiFlora fails too, do you guys have any other suggestions? Should I give up, let her stay on canned, and give all the homemade to my dog? Pre-made raw or freeze-dried can't happen because that stuff is just too expensive. I can only use freeze-dried as a treat, that's it.

Also, how long can raw really stay out? Newer things say 15-30 minutes, but I've read older things with people saying they leave it for hours with no issue.

 

[orange&white]

I wouldn't leave raw food out more than 30 minutes, very maximum one hour. My cats eat in less than 5 minutes though and any bit of food or juice gets thoroughly "rinsed off" by the dog's tongue before the saucer gets washed.

When Farrell was a kitten, I always served more food than she would eat per meal, and picked up leftovers in 30 minutes.

 

[sabrinah]

My kitty is a grazer. She always eats some of the wet, takes a nap, then finishes it later. Sometimes the nap is 30 minutes, sometimes it's 3+ hours. When I leave in the mornings (the food has been down for 45 minutes at that point) she's eaten half the wet or less. Generally, it's gone by the time I come home and she's picking at the dry. She's always eaten like this though. She's never, ever finished a bowl in one sitting, regardless of how much is in it. Even if I only put half of the usual amount of wet, she'll still only eat half. I don't understand. With dry, she'll only finish it if I give her way less than the usual amount (experiment to see if she would finish it all). She always leaves a few pieces behind. It's like she always tries to conserve food, even though she's never had to worry about not having food. Instinct, perhaps?

I still haven't quite figured out how to make feeding raw work for her. On some days I could feed 3 times a day, but not every day. I suppose I should focus on getting her to eat it first.