Three year old now a grazer! Also MEGA picky! Start over? New proteins?

[pinkman]

Well, things are going pretty well.

Lox will sometimes have left-overs, but otherwise well. She'll eat some plain raw meat, tolerate SOME krill/salmon oil, and found out - will tolerate sardines also. I'm still not fully transitioned to 100% raw, that's a bit too immature of a goal right now.

However - she did strip most of the meat off of her "cave man" snack which is a small chicken drumette with bone. She did get some of the marrow she loves - her dinner tonight will be just plain meat and maybe 1.5 ounce of Fancy Feast to offset the calcium.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

"cave-man snack"

Love it !  Glad things are getting back to normal with the new eating places

 

[pinkman]

Yep! I am not in a huge rush for her to eat 100% raw. ANY raw, whether it be snacks, or a bit in canned food is beneficial. 

Regarding the cave-man snack - I shoulda taken a photo because there's nothing more adorable than flecks of red marrow stuck on her white whisker pads. My serial killer!

 

[pinkman]

Update - Lox is eating around 60-70% raw now.

Tonight I think I gave her too much, so she didn't finish her meal. Not to mention I added some egg yolk to it so that probably made her dinner more filling than usual. Drats!

Regarding supplements - I found a good solution to get her to eat the salmon oil... I just split their dose into two, instead of giving their full dose in the morning. Simple. 

Once HT is back in session I am going to try some new proteins - pork and goat. Maybe that will give her some spice in her life.

 

[ldg]

I never mentioned that? I split the dose of salmon oil into two as well. They really balk at the whole dose in one meal.

Glad to hear she's got her appetite back.

 

[pinkman]

I remembered you mentioning it - that's why I did it! LOL.

I've been also adding a drop or two of Rescue Remedy to her on her dish before adding all her food... It's only been a couple days so we'll see if it benefits her nervousness. Overall though, she's been doing a lot better than when I first made this thread. I think the freezer-perch is helping a lot.

In a few days one of Jackson's essences should come in... I'll spray that too as I have Feliway unplugged.

 

[ritz]

Glad things are proceeding reasonably well. Another supplement you might consider is l-the anime. It contains some of the same properties as green tea. It is a natural relaxant. I'm cautiously optimistic--seems to be helping Ritz somewhat.

 

[pinkman]

Update:

Lox is on 15 to 20% canned food + raw. You could say the canned food is pretty much a kind of topper for her. I've giving salmon oil, lactoferrin, probiotics, and been pulsing coconut oil. I will probably pulse the lactoferrin and salmon oil too (l-lysine on days without lactoferrin, and sardines for days with no salmon oil). Still just experimenting mostly.  Lox at most takes three sittings to finish a meal, but most times two sittings. 

Other new toppers I've tried include ground up turkey hearts - which works pretty well. 

In a couple weeks I'll be ordering another batch of HT, going to be trying out some new proteins.

I received Jackson's essences a couple days ago, the next update I will include how I feel about that also.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Glad to hear things are going well.  I'll be anxious to hear about the Jackson's essences

 

[pinkman]

Well, I am not sure if it's because of the essence (Safe Space) but the two seem to be co-existing pretty well AND Lox's appetite has been well also! But I have to admit I made more changes to her diet:

1. Pulsing supplements weekly, minus probiotics. I use salmon oil for a week, then feed sardines with their food (which I'll talk about in a bit). Same with the lactoferrin. Both cats get lactoferrin for a week, the following week they do not get any lactoferrin. Bagel does, however get L-Lysine during the week he does not get lactoferrin.
2. At minimum, two meals a week are now a modified-PMR meal using eggshell. During the week they do not get the lactoferrin or salmon oil, I tend to increase the modified PMR meals. The two proteins I work with are usually chicken, and pork.
3. New freeze-dried toppers. Besides using Whole Life freeze-dried chicken, bonito flakes, and freeze-dried lamb green tripe, I have started to use freeze-dried PORK from Grandma Lucy's mixed with Fresh is Best freeze-dried DUCK HEARTS.
4. Mixing supplements (lactoferrin, salmon oil) with 1/8th can of Fancy Feast. Self-explanatory but worth mentioning. 
5. Using Jackson Galaxy's essence "Safe Space" 1x daily in the environment and water bowl. Not sure how much this is effective, but I'm going to use it until it runs out.

Once the blizzard is gone I have a trip to Flushing planned - there I can probably get some duck, lamb, silkies, etc. Will update again.