My Goal
Transform 4 cats that are hooked on Natural Balance canned and grain free kibble to a rotation of grain free canned and raw and possibly raw only further down the line.
Background
5 cats. 1 old grumpy CRF cat, not participating - he has his own special diet. 1 five year old cat adopted from the cat shelter I volunteer at - finicky eater with only a few teeth left. 1 four year old 20 pound Maine Coon - very finicky eater. 1 four year old 14 pound Maine Coon - moderately finicky, not too bad. 1 four month old ex-feral kitten rescued from my feral colony (mother killed by coyote, see my signature) - eats anything.
All except the kitten are hooked on Natural Balance canned, fed once per day. Also free fed kibble, Pinnacle Cat Peak Protein (grain free, holistic) formula from 12am - 6am (free fed over night only). Canned meal is 6pm.
So far, I've attempted to find other canned foods they will like, but I've not had much success. I'm lucky enough to have multiple high end pet stores that carry all kinds of raw and grain free canned, and will order pretty much anything for me. I've only just put new different canned foods in front of them at their normal canned feeding time - no real transitioning techniques. The 14 pound Maine Coon would eat one or two out of 8 or so different varieties I've tried. The kitten eats ANYTHING. The other 2, they don't eat anything but Natural Balance canned and the Pinnacle Cat kibble. The shelter kitty with no teeth eats only a little kibble, mostly the canned.
First Raw Feeding (1 hour ago)
Picked up some Rad Cat Turkey from a local store and thawed it over night. Warmed it slightly in a bag in warm water for 3 minutes and gave it a shot in place of the canned meal.
Of course, the kitten devoured it all. If only I discovered this 5 years ago when they were all kittens....
The moderately finicky 14 pound Maine Coon sniffed for a food 30 seconds, but did not eat. I mixed with a very small amount of Fortiflora and sprinkled a tad of Fortiflora on top (very small amount total used, like an 1/8 of a packet) and then she also devoured it. 2 for 2 so far!
The toothless shelter kitty was a little more difficult. She normally loves the Fortiflora, but wouldn't eat the raw even with about half a packet mixed in and a little on top. I pulverized a few pieces of kibble and sprinkled it on top, still no luck. But she was interested in me working with the kibble. So, I put a few pieces of kibble in the bowl with the raw. She sniffed and ate a few pieces of kibble and took a few bites of the raw! She was definitely more interested in the kibble, but would get a piece of raw now and then (by accident?). In process of eating around the raw to get to the kibble she ate about half of the raw. I consider that a major success. 3 for 3.
Zero luck with the 20 pound Maine Coon, no matter what I tried. She was not interested. She was smart enough to reach her paw in and pull the kibble out of the bowl to eat it. And when she got the raw on her paw, she had enough and walked away. She's a strange cat, not overweight at all, but very large. She likes turkey cat food, but not turkey. She likes beef catfood, but not beef. Tuna catfood but not real tuna. She won't eat any table scraps at all, not even cold cut meats that the others do flips for. She does like the Natural Balance canned and the kibble though. And she eats plenty of it.
I didn't push it too much this first night. 3 outta 4 aint bad! I will try again in 2 days with Natural Balance Chicken or maybe more turkey. Maybe both.
*Sidenote - All the cats except the kitten are recently getting over a small virus they passed around from cat to cat. One came back from the vet and 3 days later was sneezing and coughing. 2 days later, another was. Then another. They have all pretty much kicked the cold, only a random sneeze now and then (except the CRF kitty still has it bad, he got it last). I am not removing the dry food over night quite yet - not until they are ALL fully healed. Don't want to cause any added stress while they are fighting this bug. Instead of removing the kibble over night, before I put it down at midnight I am giving them an added meal of canned first. They all eat it, and then ignore the kibble mostly because they are full from the canned, although I'm sure they probably graze over night. They don't each much kibble over night, about a half cup to a cup per night between 4 cats (CRF cat doesn't like kibble, lucky me!)
SO, that's my story. I'm about to place an order with Hare-Today for 5 1 pound buckets of different meats/bones/organs (duck, rabbit, turkey, quail, and pheasant) and the supplement. I am also going to order the pro-biotic recommended in the other thread.
I'm open to comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, etc.
I do have 1 question - probiotic that I order, do I mix in before I re-freeze individual portions? Or add after it's thawed just prior to serving?
Thanks for reading
Transform 4 cats that are hooked on Natural Balance canned and grain free kibble to a rotation of grain free canned and raw and possibly raw only further down the line.
Background
5 cats. 1 old grumpy CRF cat, not participating - he has his own special diet. 1 five year old cat adopted from the cat shelter I volunteer at - finicky eater with only a few teeth left. 1 four year old 20 pound Maine Coon - very finicky eater. 1 four year old 14 pound Maine Coon - moderately finicky, not too bad. 1 four month old ex-feral kitten rescued from my feral colony (mother killed by coyote, see my signature) - eats anything.
All except the kitten are hooked on Natural Balance canned, fed once per day. Also free fed kibble, Pinnacle Cat Peak Protein (grain free, holistic) formula from 12am - 6am (free fed over night only). Canned meal is 6pm.
So far, I've attempted to find other canned foods they will like, but I've not had much success. I'm lucky enough to have multiple high end pet stores that carry all kinds of raw and grain free canned, and will order pretty much anything for me. I've only just put new different canned foods in front of them at their normal canned feeding time - no real transitioning techniques. The 14 pound Maine Coon would eat one or two out of 8 or so different varieties I've tried. The kitten eats ANYTHING. The other 2, they don't eat anything but Natural Balance canned and the Pinnacle Cat kibble. The shelter kitty with no teeth eats only a little kibble, mostly the canned.
First Raw Feeding (1 hour ago)
Picked up some Rad Cat Turkey from a local store and thawed it over night. Warmed it slightly in a bag in warm water for 3 minutes and gave it a shot in place of the canned meal.
Of course, the kitten devoured it all. If only I discovered this 5 years ago when they were all kittens....
The moderately finicky 14 pound Maine Coon sniffed for a food 30 seconds, but did not eat. I mixed with a very small amount of Fortiflora and sprinkled a tad of Fortiflora on top (very small amount total used, like an 1/8 of a packet) and then she also devoured it. 2 for 2 so far!
The toothless shelter kitty was a little more difficult. She normally loves the Fortiflora, but wouldn't eat the raw even with about half a packet mixed in and a little on top. I pulverized a few pieces of kibble and sprinkled it on top, still no luck. But she was interested in me working with the kibble. So, I put a few pieces of kibble in the bowl with the raw. She sniffed and ate a few pieces of kibble and took a few bites of the raw! She was definitely more interested in the kibble, but would get a piece of raw now and then (by accident?). In process of eating around the raw to get to the kibble she ate about half of the raw. I consider that a major success. 3 for 3.
Zero luck with the 20 pound Maine Coon, no matter what I tried. She was not interested. She was smart enough to reach her paw in and pull the kibble out of the bowl to eat it. And when she got the raw on her paw, she had enough and walked away. She's a strange cat, not overweight at all, but very large. She likes turkey cat food, but not turkey. She likes beef catfood, but not beef. Tuna catfood but not real tuna. She won't eat any table scraps at all, not even cold cut meats that the others do flips for. She does like the Natural Balance canned and the kibble though. And she eats plenty of it.
I didn't push it too much this first night. 3 outta 4 aint bad! I will try again in 2 days with Natural Balance Chicken or maybe more turkey. Maybe both.
*Sidenote - All the cats except the kitten are recently getting over a small virus they passed around from cat to cat. One came back from the vet and 3 days later was sneezing and coughing. 2 days later, another was. Then another. They have all pretty much kicked the cold, only a random sneeze now and then (except the CRF kitty still has it bad, he got it last). I am not removing the dry food over night quite yet - not until they are ALL fully healed. Don't want to cause any added stress while they are fighting this bug. Instead of removing the kibble over night, before I put it down at midnight I am giving them an added meal of canned first. They all eat it, and then ignore the kibble mostly because they are full from the canned, although I'm sure they probably graze over night. They don't each much kibble over night, about a half cup to a cup per night between 4 cats (CRF cat doesn't like kibble, lucky me!)
SO, that's my story. I'm about to place an order with Hare-Today for 5 1 pound buckets of different meats/bones/organs (duck, rabbit, turkey, quail, and pheasant) and the supplement. I am also going to order the pro-biotic recommended in the other thread.
I'm open to comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, etc.
I do have 1 question - probiotic that I order, do I mix in before I re-freeze individual portions? Or add after it's thawed just prior to serving?
Thanks for reading
For a first meal, that's impressive! Mine didn't eat raw in place of a food at first. I had to mix a small amount of the Nature's Variety raw into their canned food meal. :nod: It was only when it became a larger percent of their wet food that I had to start using toppers.
and tears :sobbing: (thank goodness no blood 
) but it is SO worth going through the trials and tribulations, ups and downs to get there. My cat's coats are just GLEAMING, they are playful, happy and two of my cat's are now getting along 
In fact, that reminds me, I have a picture of the two sitting next to each other bird watching out the window 
Makes this journey possible when they are all NOT fussies :lol3: 
not guy..) What a great turnaround she made and FAST too!! 
