Switching from commercial wet/dry to commercial raw. How to do it.

[datagrrl]

Good afternoon-

My kitten is three months old. She was born feral. I haven't had a cat since childhood, but her coat seems kind of rough and she sheds a lot. Not great for my husband's allergies.

I started reading a lot about diet and skin and coat. Since we only have the one, a commercial raw diet is within our means. We are still working at getting processed foods out of our lives, so I don't see us preparing raw anytime soon.

I picked up some freeze dried primal turkey feline today and a pint of raw goat's milk. I also grabbed a large can of TikiCat chicken.

I still have about seven cans of the Fancy Feast classic she has been getting, and a cup or so of the Iams Kitten Kibble. I ordered some Go! Online that should be here Tuesday.

Right now she gets a third of a can of Fancy Feast three times a day and kibble when she wants it. Free fed.

She is also still getting a tablespoon of baby food a day as a treat.

How should I start transitioning her? The girl at the store had suggestions, but I didn't write them down.

 

[raintyger]

Others can help you more than I can, but I do know not to mix kibble and raw. The kibble slows down digestion, so if the raw is in there are the same time there's higher chance of bacterial growth. So I would probably get the kibble out of the picture as the first move.

 

[datagrrl]

Thanks for the help. I will look into that. I had not realized it.

 

[lisahe]

I picked up some freeze dried primal turkey feline today and a pint of raw goat's milk. I also grabbed a large can of TikiCat chicken.

I still have about seven cans of the Fancy Feast classic she has been getting, and a cup or so of the Iams Kitten Kibble. I ordered some Go! Online that should be here Tuesday.

How should I start transitioning her? The girl at the store had suggestions, but I didn't write them down.

Datagrrl, a couple things about Primal, which I feed to our cats as 1/3 to 1/2 of their diet... I also started with freeze-dried turkey and it took the cats a while to take to it. One liked it okay from the start, the other refused to eat it. I then bought some of the frozen food (turkey) and started mixing frozen and freeze-dried: they loved it. Now, a few months later, they'll very happily eat just plain freeze-dried. (As they did today when I'd forgotten to defrost!) I usually mix up enough food for a few days and then just serve whatever I need. The cats are pretty open to various combinations of turkey and beef/salmon; today I bought a small bag of freeze-dried chicken/salmon and they loved that, too, so now I'll start adding that to the mixes. Good luck!

 

[peaches08]

I would think that she'd take to the raw easily since she's young.  Have you tried a piece of raw meat with her?  Or were you asking only how long it would it take to transition her properly?  I would think that wouldn't take much time at all again since she's so young.  Mine transitioned literally overnight since they were so sick on canned. 

 

[datagrrl]

No more, how to do it, like what ratios and I guess what is it okay to mix.

 

[lisahe]

Datagrrl, I think I started with about a half a nugget a day for each of our cats (they were around a year old when I started them on Primal) and then started giving them more each day until it got to be 1/3 to 1/2 of their diet. They'd already tried Nature's Variety (don't really like it) and Rad Cat (love it) so had already been introduced to raw. I never had to mix raw and canned in the same dish but some people do, particularly if their cats don't initially want to eat the raw food.

 

[laralove]

I transitioned my cat from Fancy Feast to homemade raw after cutting kibble completely out of his diet. I would mix a little of his raw with his wet, using less and less FF and more and more raw. After a couple of days or so he was fully on raw.

 

[datagrrl]

Thanks for you help.

I will return the dry food as soon as it gets here. I will order some other freeze dried nuggets. I guess I will try two wet meals and one Primal with the goats milk to start.

She far prefers the Tiki Cat to her Fancy Feast.

 

[stephanie42]

i'd first work on cutting the kibble out entirely, as others have mentioned.

you may want to mix some of the fancy feast she's used to in with a bit of prepared raw.  you may also want to prepare a bit of the raw by itself and offer it to her to see how she likes it - all of mine took right to freeze dried raw (primal turkey if i remember correctly).  i crushed up the freeze dried bits, mixed in warm water, and let it sit for a couple of minutes to rehydrate.  i often would add a bit more warm water and mix well.

each brand of freeze dried raw has a different calorie density; check the back of the bag to verify how many calories or how much to feed a cat of your cat's weight per day and split that up between three meals to find your 'per meal' serving.  then check the fancy feast you feed and split that into three meals - there's your fancy feast (or other canned) 'per meal' serving.  i started serving one canned and two raw since my cats took right to it; i quickly phased out the canned, offering it only once in a while for convenience (like when we went away).

one question: why are you considering rehydrating the primal freeze dried with goat's milk?  

 

[datagrrl]

The woman at the store suggested the goat's milk. I think primarily because my concern was skin and coat. Though it could be because water is free and she made $$ by selling me the goat's milk.

She owns the store and raw feeds five cats. She doesn't feed commercial raw. She also sells supplements and has classes if you want DIY.

I think the other reason was to make it more palatable.

I actually was phasing the kibble out first. I didn't mention that. I was planning on doing it with the bit I had left. She hasn't really been touching it.

I also need to do a better job of giving her a limited amount of time to eat her meals.

 

[laralove]

I let my cat free-feed on his raw. Since it's served cold (and sometimes colder than others, if it's still partially frozen), he likes to let it sit for a few minutes before he starts eating it. Periodically, he'll eat half and come back to the rest an hour or more later. No issues. And his coat is super soft and shiny. 

 

[roguethecat]

mine, too, free-feed on raw... (although the buffet closes when I go to bed).

what also helps, in addition to mixing with the beloved canned: toppers. I had success using Fortiflora (yes, I know it's crap but Rascal likes the smell) and crumbled freeze-dried treats.

 

[Kat0121]

I am trying to introduce raw to my 2 cats and my dog. I bought some of the Nature's Variety Instinct bites for cats & dogs chicken. I offered it to the cats just as is and they turned their noses up at it and looked at me like, "What the $%&! is THIS?" So I mixed some of it into their usual Fancy Feast pate and they got mad. They sniffed it and stood on the kitchen floor meowing at me in a very reprimanding tone. I had to dump it and give them the plain Fancy Feast pate. The dog on the other hand, inhaled the sample I gave her plain and also ate it up when I mixed more into her dinner. I really thought that the cats would love it and the dog would hate it. Shows what I know. 

     Any ideas on how to get the cats to try it? They do not eat any dry. 

 

[lisahe]

 
I am trying to introduce raw to my 2 cats and my dog. I bought some of the Nature's Variety Instinct bites for cats & dogs chicken. I offered it to the cats just as is and they turned their noses up at it and looked at me like, "What the $%&! is THIS?" ... <snip!> Any ideas on how to get the cats to try it? They do not eat any dry. 

Our cats don't like the Nature's Variety raw foods much, either! One of them (the one who eats more raw food) will eat a little if I mush it with a little water. But the other cat gives me that same look your cats did and walks away. I think it smells a bit odd so don't blame them for not wanting to eat it! The cats love Primal, Stella & Chewy's, and Rad Cat so I know their problem is with Nature's Variety food, not raw food in general. Good luck!

 

[stephanie42]

 
I am trying to introduce raw to my 2 cats and my dog. I bought some of the Nature's Variety Instinct bites for cats & dogs chicken. I offered it to the cats just as is and they turned their noses up at it and looked at me like, "What the $%&! is THIS?" So I mixed some of it into their usual Fancy Feast pate and they got mad. They sniffed it and stood on the kitchen floor meowing at me in a very reprimanding tone. I had to dump it and give them the plain Fancy Feast pate. The dog on the other hand, inhaled the sample I gave her plain and also ate it up when I mixed more into her dinner. I really thought that the cats would love it and the dog would hate it. Shows what I know. 

     Any ideas on how to get the cats to try it? They do not eat any dry. 

my cats loved nature's variety instinct kibble when i still fed it.  they also really enjoy many of the NV instinct canned foods.  but i never got them to eat their frozen raw stuff.  they tolerated primal's frozen raw and loved both primal and stella & chewy's freeze dried raw.

 

[Kat0121]

How would I go about introducing something like raw chicken or turkey necks? Would I cut them into smaller pieces and put them on top of their food or give them as a snack/treat? I see that Nature's Variety has chicken backs and turkey necks. Are those really any different that what I'd find at the grocery store?

 

[roguethecat]

 
How would I go about introducing something like raw chicken or turkey necks? Would I cut them into smaller pieces and put them on top of their food or give them as a snack/treat? I see that Nature's Variety has chicken backs and turkey necks. Are those really any different that what I'd find at the grocery store?

you can try cutting turkey necks into cat-approved portions. I found it extremely difficult (ended up just stuffing them into the grinder)... chicken necks are fine, though. Just cut them into as small a portion as your customer will eat and serve on a flat surface (I use paper plates because I can throw them into the green bin). Be prepared for the food to be dragged somewhere else to eat, though

.

 

[Kat0121]

I bought some chicken necks and cut them into small pieces.The cats sniffed them, licked them a few times and then wandered off. No interest. The dog, however, loves them. Maybe if I start the cats off on plain cooked meat like chicken breast then gradually switch to raw they will like that better. In the meantime, I do have someone who will eat what I bought.