I kept track of Nightmare's progress on his switching to raw on a different forum, so thought I'd post it here, in case it is helpful to anyone. If any part of this seems a bit random - some of it may be responses to other people's posts/questions.
January 12, 2012:
All the other cats eat raw, but well Mr. Nightmare has to have his canned, and will have nothing to do with the raw everyone else eats. I tried all the tricks posted on catinfo.org and then some when I switched everyone else to raw, but he just wouldn't have it.
I gave up on getting him to onto raw a year ago but after realizing just how much his canned food costs per month I want to try get him onto raw again.
So far:
He ate a 1 ounce piece of NV Lamb (premade raw) a week ago, but then refused that, even though it was mixed with a full 6 ounces of canned food.
He would not eat his can of food when it was mixed with a tablespoon of raw turkey. He tolerated eating 1 teaspoon mixed with his canned.
He would not eat plain cooked chicken mixed with his canned food.
Tonight I am trying some raw wild-caught Alaskan salmon.
He is named "Nightmare" though for a reason
January 13, 2012:
He will not eat mice unless he is the one that catches it. They frozen mice from pet stores are no good according to him.
He would not eat the salmon (it was 1/4 the size of a dime, and as thin as a dime). I put that tiny piece of salmon on the plate with his canned food. He would not eat the canned food until I put it moved it to a different plate as it was apparently fraternizing with the enemy. Storm ate the salmon after Nightmare had finished his canned so at least he was happy.
I'm considering putting Nightmare in the large dog crate for a while, to try switch him to raw. That way, no one else could steal his food, and he would have it available to him until he ate it. How I would get him into that cage, though, I have no idea. The cage is huge, probably 4.5 feet high, 4 feet width, and 5.5 feet length. So it isn't like he would be stuck in a tiny cage, he would have some room. I do think it would be much easier to try switch him to raw if he was in there - if he could cope with being locked up as he is used to roaming where ever he wants.
January 14, 2012
I picked up samples of the three flavors of Rad Cat raw - turkey, chicken, and lamb. While I would not want to feed this to him all the time (expensive) if he will eat it, it may give him a taste for raw.
I'm glad the store had one ounce samples of each of the types - I didn't want to buy a full 8 ounces of each kind to find out he wouldn't eat that either!
Tonight I'll defrost the Rad Cat chicken for him and see how that goes.
January 15, 2012
He ate the chicken Rad Cat! I want to try get him into a kennel soon as all the other cats were trying to steal his food last night before he had finished.
January 16, 2012
Nightmare is in the large kennel now - I trapped him tonight.
Moving everyone around and getting Nightmare into his cage...well I don't want to do that again
I fed Nightmare the remains of his canned food (used some in the trap) as well as a few tiny pieces of salmon and then lamb Rad Cat. All of which were on seperate plates in case one was offensive and would 'infect' the rest. I mixed a few drops of Rescue Remedy in with his canned food to help him get over the shock and calm him down.
He had been trapped once in the past (to get neutered) so I didn't think he would fall for it again. Well tonight he walked right on in so I guess I had no reason to worry! Now to try make sure he isn't scared of the trap in the future...maybe once he is back out of the kennel I can feed him next to the trap? Just to keep him used to it.
January 21, 2012
Nightmare didn't eat the Rad Cat lamb but did eat the turkey. I don't know if he didn't like the lamb, or if it froze before he got around to eating it. With it having been 10 degrees out the night I fed it to him it would have frozen to the plate quite fast. He also ate some wild-caught Alaskan Cod. I am starting to run out of fish (what I have I got for free) so I may quit offering him that.
I bought a 16 ounce container of the three types of Rad Cat - lamb, turkey, and chicken. I also got a few cans of tuna in case I need that for a bribe to get him to eat the raw.
I have been trying to get him to eat frankenprey as well as whole prey but he will not eat it. My hope is that once he is on all premade raw he will be willing to try tiny pieces of meat, so I could slowly work him up to frankenprey.
January 23, 2012
Last night Nightmare ate ~1.5 ounces of ground turkey mixed with a tiny bit of sardines. He also had 3 ounces of canned food.
The rest of the farm cats split 5 pounds of ground turkey that was mixed with two cans of sardines and two cups of water, so I just took a tiny bit of that and put it on Nightmare's plate.
Today Nightmare had 2 ounces of turkey Rad Cat and 3 ounces of canned food. I put the Rad Cat on a seperate plate and sprinkled a tiny bit of fish food flakes on top to get him to eat it. The Rad Cat is the same texture as canned food which is probably why he is willing to eat it.
I don't know how I'm going to get him on prey model raw (which the others eat) if it is a texture issue that he has. He will eat chunky canned food (Nature's Variety Homestyle) so maybe it would work to cut the meat into small cubes and mix it in with it. I guess I should just be happy he is eating raw now
January 25, 2012
Nightmare ate 3 ounces of turkey Rad Cat before he even touched his canned food! I didn't put anything on top of the raw either - he ate it plain. He also ate a dime size piece of chicken liver and a quarter size piece of raw chicken. Hopefully it continues to go this smoothly!
January 26, 2012
Yesterday he had 3 ounces of Rad Cat turkey and then 2 ounces of canned food mixed with 1 ounce of finely chopped chicken gizzards. He ate it all
Today he had 4.5 ounces of Rad Cat turkey and one ounce of canned food mixed with one ounce of small - maybe 1/8 of and inch by 1/16 of an inch - pieces of pork. He ate all the Rad Cat, I left before he had started to eat the canned/raw mix, but he has probably eaten it all by now.
January 27, 2012
Tonight: 4.5 ounces of turkey Rad Cat mixed with 2 ounces of cut up raw chicken. He ate it all No canned
January 28, 2012
I am SO proud of Nightmare right now!
He ate 3 ounces of Lamb Rad Cat mixed with 3.5 ounces chopped up pork!
January 30, 2012
I fed him four ounces chopped up pork - half with Lamb Rad Cat smeared on top, but the other half was just plain meat. He ate it all and purred while eating it
Yesterday (Jan 29) he had 4 ounces of chopped up beef with 2 ounces of Rad Cat put over top of it, and he ate every last bite and licked his plate clean.
Tomorrow is going to be the challenging day - getting him to be willing to eat small bones. Hopefully that goes over okay. It will be 4 ounces of cut up chicken ribs (that have plenty of meat on them of course), 1 ounce of liver, and then Rad Cat smeared on top of it.
January 31, 2012
He ate it all!
February 1, 2012
Today: 4 ounces pork (bigger chunks this time) with one ounce of Rad Cat.
Tomorrow: Cut up beef heart and no Rad Cat. Two things that are going to be hard: he has never eaten beef heart before that I remember, and although I'll take a bit of Rad Cat with me, I am not putting it on top of the raw unless he refuses to eat it.
February 2, 2012
He ate it all! Fairly good sized chunks of beef heart that had nothing on top to try trick him into eating it.
He took the biggest pieces and ate them on top of his carrier. I think he is starting to get it and really does recognize chunks of raw meat as food!
February 4, 2012
He ate a four ounce piece of chicken breast (with bone) and an ounce of kidney tonight. I didn't cut it down at all, it was the same size that I gave to everyone else. So tomorrow night after he eats I am going to let him out of the crate, he is as ready as he'll get, and also must be getting sick of that cage!
Now to switch Baldy to raw
January 12, 2012:
All the other cats eat raw, but well Mr. Nightmare has to have his canned, and will have nothing to do with the raw everyone else eats. I tried all the tricks posted on catinfo.org and then some when I switched everyone else to raw, but he just wouldn't have it.
I gave up on getting him to onto raw a year ago but after realizing just how much his canned food costs per month I want to try get him onto raw again.
So far:
He ate a 1 ounce piece of NV Lamb (premade raw) a week ago, but then refused that, even though it was mixed with a full 6 ounces of canned food.
He would not eat his can of food when it was mixed with a tablespoon of raw turkey. He tolerated eating 1 teaspoon mixed with his canned.
He would not eat plain cooked chicken mixed with his canned food.
Tonight I am trying some raw wild-caught Alaskan salmon.
He is named "Nightmare" though for a reason
January 13, 2012:
He will not eat mice unless he is the one that catches it. They frozen mice from pet stores are no good according to him.
He would not eat the salmon (it was 1/4 the size of a dime, and as thin as a dime). I put that tiny piece of salmon on the plate with his canned food. He would not eat the canned food until I put it moved it to a different plate as it was apparently fraternizing with the enemy. Storm ate the salmon after Nightmare had finished his canned so at least he was happy.
I'm considering putting Nightmare in the large dog crate for a while, to try switch him to raw. That way, no one else could steal his food, and he would have it available to him until he ate it. How I would get him into that cage, though, I have no idea. The cage is huge, probably 4.5 feet high, 4 feet width, and 5.5 feet length. So it isn't like he would be stuck in a tiny cage, he would have some room. I do think it would be much easier to try switch him to raw if he was in there - if he could cope with being locked up as he is used to roaming where ever he wants.
January 14, 2012
I picked up samples of the three flavors of Rad Cat raw - turkey, chicken, and lamb. While I would not want to feed this to him all the time (expensive) if he will eat it, it may give him a taste for raw.
I'm glad the store had one ounce samples of each of the types - I didn't want to buy a full 8 ounces of each kind to find out he wouldn't eat that either!
Tonight I'll defrost the Rad Cat chicken for him and see how that goes.
January 15, 2012
He ate the chicken Rad Cat! I want to try get him into a kennel soon as all the other cats were trying to steal his food last night before he had finished.
January 16, 2012
Nightmare is in the large kennel now - I trapped him tonight.
Moving everyone around and getting Nightmare into his cage...well I don't want to do that again
I fed Nightmare the remains of his canned food (used some in the trap) as well as a few tiny pieces of salmon and then lamb Rad Cat. All of which were on seperate plates in case one was offensive and would 'infect' the rest. I mixed a few drops of Rescue Remedy in with his canned food to help him get over the shock and calm him down.
He had been trapped once in the past (to get neutered) so I didn't think he would fall for it again. Well tonight he walked right on in so I guess I had no reason to worry! Now to try make sure he isn't scared of the trap in the future...maybe once he is back out of the kennel I can feed him next to the trap? Just to keep him used to it.
January 21, 2012
Nightmare didn't eat the Rad Cat lamb but did eat the turkey. I don't know if he didn't like the lamb, or if it froze before he got around to eating it. With it having been 10 degrees out the night I fed it to him it would have frozen to the plate quite fast. He also ate some wild-caught Alaskan Cod. I am starting to run out of fish (what I have I got for free) so I may quit offering him that.
I bought a 16 ounce container of the three types of Rad Cat - lamb, turkey, and chicken. I also got a few cans of tuna in case I need that for a bribe to get him to eat the raw.
I have been trying to get him to eat frankenprey as well as whole prey but he will not eat it. My hope is that once he is on all premade raw he will be willing to try tiny pieces of meat, so I could slowly work him up to frankenprey.
January 23, 2012
Last night Nightmare ate ~1.5 ounces of ground turkey mixed with a tiny bit of sardines. He also had 3 ounces of canned food.
The rest of the farm cats split 5 pounds of ground turkey that was mixed with two cans of sardines and two cups of water, so I just took a tiny bit of that and put it on Nightmare's plate.
Today Nightmare had 2 ounces of turkey Rad Cat and 3 ounces of canned food. I put the Rad Cat on a seperate plate and sprinkled a tiny bit of fish food flakes on top to get him to eat it. The Rad Cat is the same texture as canned food which is probably why he is willing to eat it.
I don't know how I'm going to get him on prey model raw (which the others eat) if it is a texture issue that he has. He will eat chunky canned food (Nature's Variety Homestyle) so maybe it would work to cut the meat into small cubes and mix it in with it. I guess I should just be happy he is eating raw now
January 25, 2012
Nightmare ate 3 ounces of turkey Rad Cat before he even touched his canned food! I didn't put anything on top of the raw either - he ate it plain. He also ate a dime size piece of chicken liver and a quarter size piece of raw chicken. Hopefully it continues to go this smoothly!
January 26, 2012
Yesterday he had 3 ounces of Rad Cat turkey and then 2 ounces of canned food mixed with 1 ounce of finely chopped chicken gizzards. He ate it all
Today he had 4.5 ounces of Rad Cat turkey and one ounce of canned food mixed with one ounce of small - maybe 1/8 of and inch by 1/16 of an inch - pieces of pork. He ate all the Rad Cat, I left before he had started to eat the canned/raw mix, but he has probably eaten it all by now.
January 27, 2012
Tonight: 4.5 ounces of turkey Rad Cat mixed with 2 ounces of cut up raw chicken. He ate it all No canned
January 28, 2012
I am SO proud of Nightmare right now!
He ate 3 ounces of Lamb Rad Cat mixed with 3.5 ounces chopped up pork!
January 30, 2012
I fed him four ounces chopped up pork - half with Lamb Rad Cat smeared on top, but the other half was just plain meat. He ate it all and purred while eating it
Yesterday (Jan 29) he had 4 ounces of chopped up beef with 2 ounces of Rad Cat put over top of it, and he ate every last bite and licked his plate clean.
Tomorrow is going to be the challenging day - getting him to be willing to eat small bones. Hopefully that goes over okay. It will be 4 ounces of cut up chicken ribs (that have plenty of meat on them of course), 1 ounce of liver, and then Rad Cat smeared on top of it.
January 31, 2012
He ate it all!
February 1, 2012
Today: 4 ounces pork (bigger chunks this time) with one ounce of Rad Cat.
Tomorrow: Cut up beef heart and no Rad Cat. Two things that are going to be hard: he has never eaten beef heart before that I remember, and although I'll take a bit of Rad Cat with me, I am not putting it on top of the raw unless he refuses to eat it.
February 2, 2012
He ate it all! Fairly good sized chunks of beef heart that had nothing on top to try trick him into eating it.
He took the biggest pieces and ate them on top of his carrier. I think he is starting to get it and really does recognize chunks of raw meat as food!
February 4, 2012
He ate a four ounce piece of chicken breast (with bone) and an ounce of kidney tonight. I didn't cut it down at all, it was the same size that I gave to everyone else. So tomorrow night after he eats I am going to let him out of the crate, he is as ready as he'll get, and also must be getting sick of that cage!
Now to switch Baldy to raw
