Transitioning from an RX Diet to Raw

[cattreats]

I will be very honest with you right now. I am 100% pro raw... IF done SAFELY. But if not, I rather have the cat on kibbles. Raw is not a diet to be cutting corners. An overweight cat who drops too much weight too fast can go into hepatic lipidosis FAST. And that is deadly. So, if weighing the cat is too much, especially when she has a scale at the house, when that can be matter of life and death, the only thing I can tell you is consider this very carefully.... The last thing you want is this kitty to get sick for going off food.... And it will happen if she continues to eat this little and drop this amount of weight.
If I were you, I would have a serious talk with your mom about this, with ALL this diet takes- it is a disservice to sugar-coat, IMHO, and go from there. If she is not up to it, then you have a decision to make; either you take the cat with you to feed raw, wait for another time and feed kibbles for now, or continue to feed raw and deal with the consequences.... But be careful....
Sorry for my complete honesty here, but this is for the health and well being of your cat. 

Don't apologize, I appreciate all of what you say. I really do. I'm just as concerned and frustrated right now myself, if not more. I honestly wasn't aware of the serious risks, which is my fault. What could you recommend to get her to eat more? She did eat more if it was kibble or wet food, but this (according to my mom), she just eats a little and is done. She doesn't complain or ask for more either until way later. So she either really isn't hungry (which I don't know why), or she doesn't like it and just chooses to eat less because of it.

 

 

 I'm going to have to agree with Carolina. 

 If she's not eating enough - and acting hungry when offered food, but not eating enough....
Aren't you moving into a new home? Rather than get new kittens, what about bringing your cat home with you? 

 Sorry - I don't remember the backstory here.

Well my mom said that she only acts hungry at "meal time" which is multiple times a day. Like she won't ask for food, but gets excited when my mom brings the food out. But, again, she only eats about 1/4 of a medallion's worth of food at each meal, and my mom said that she won't go much higher than a full medallion's worth even if she tries to do more and more meals.

I left my cat with my mom when I moved out because I couldn't bring her with me to where I was staying at. As I've mentioned, my boyfriend and I are moving into an apartment together at the end of the month that allows pets, and I would bring her. But, after leaving her for over a year, she's really attached to my mom (of course when I visit she loves me and hasn't changed), and she's the only "part" of me that I left with my mom. I would feel guilty taking that away and leaving my mom alone. Seeing as she was so crushed when I left in the first place. I know that isn't much of an excuse, but it's hard to really do that now. And my cat is easily prone to behavioral problems from stress (she wanted to mark everything after we moved to a new apartment), and I can only imagine how stressed she'll get from a 7+ hour drive to a new home with me, who she hasn't lived with in over a year. 

On a side note: I'm talking to my mom right now via Facebook. She's willing to add something to her food to help her eat more. I recommended a grain-free wet food since she does seem to take to any yummy smelling wet food (as most do). Will she still get a lot of the benefits of eating raw if she was eating something like half raw and half grain-free canned?

 

[Willowy]

Oh, yeah, half raw and half grain-free canned would be awesome!

I was thinking she didn't eat canned food well either. If she does eat it, that's definitely a great idea.

 

[cattreats]

Oh, yeah, half raw and half grain-free canned would be awesome!

I was thinking she didn't eat canned food well either. If she does eat it, that's definitely a great idea.

She was on a prescription diet that seemed to make her vomit if she had more than like a teaspoon of the canned food. So she was on all kibble with a tiny amount of wet. Before she got on that Rx diet, she never seemed to have issues with canned food that I remember.

So I told my mom to go get Nature's Variety grain free canned (which is the brand of raw that's being used, I figured just stick to the same brand), and she's going to do it! She's just going to make a mixture of about 50/50 and hopefully the canned will entice kitty to eat more and not lose weight so fast. *fingers crossed*

Thanks everyone for the replies and information. I really appreciate it and I hope that I didn't come off as irresponsible. Honestly if I still lived there, she'd be on homemade raw, but ... :/

 

[ldg]

It doesn't seem irresponsible, it's just many people don't know about the dangers of losing weight too fast in kitties - their livers just aren't built to manage a flood of fat, and it can be life threatening. If your mom thinks various aspects of feeding her - including weighing her - are too difficult, I can't imagine how she'd react to having to syringe feed your kitty to keep her alive. :slant: Unfortunately it seems she didn't let you know for some time that kitty had an issue eating.

Nature's Variety wet happens to be a very good food for kitties with sensitive tummies, and it's a GREAT replacement for the prescription diet - along with the raw, it should continue to maintain the proper urine pH. :nod: It's limited ingredients, with no carrageenan, another plus. If it weren't too much trouble for your mom, I'd suggest picking out the peas and carrots - they're whole and there aren't many of them. But it's not necessary. You'll see how she does with it.

BTW, I am pretty sure the NV medallions are around 2 ounces. If the recommended feeding amount is 2-4 medallions, that would translate to 4-8 ounces of food, which makes sense for an adult cat. If she's eating one medallion a day, she should probably be eating about 2/3 of a 5.5 oz can of food in addition to that.

 

[Willowy]

The 3-pound bags have 48 medallions, and 3 pounds is. . .48 ounces. http://naturesvariety.com/InstinctRaw/dog/chicken There's 65 calories per ounce. So that's really a tiny amount! Unless she weighs only 5 pounds :lol3:. The 5.5-ounce cans have 222 calories. So if she needs 15-20 calories per pound and she should weigh 10 pounds, that would be 150-200 calories a day. . .one medallion and half a can? I think that's what I would start with. I hope this works for her!

 

[carolina]

The 3-pound bags have 48 medallions, and 3 pounds is. . .48 ounces. http://naturesvariety.com/InstinctRaw/dog/chicken There's 65 calories per ounce. So that's really a tiny amount! Unless she weighs only 5 pounds :lol3:. The 5.5-ounce cans have 222 calories. So if she needs 15-20 calories per pound and she should weigh 10 pounds, that would be 150-200 calories a day. . .one medallion and half a can? I think that's what I would start with. I hope this works for her!

that's if she lost 3 lbs in just these couple of weeks... Let's hope not.... She was 13 lbs to begin with.... Let's hope she is still close to that :cross:

 

[Willowy]

that's if she lost 3 lbs in just these couple of weeks... Let's hope not.... She was 13 lbs to begin with.... Let's hope she is still close to that :cross:

Yes, that would be way too much to lose that fast! I meant, aren't you supposed to feed the amount for her ideal weight? And the OP did say the kitty was overweight. So I was guessing at 10 pounds being ideal. . .but mostly using it as an example of how to calculate caloric need .

 

[carolina]

Yes, that would be way too much to lose that fast! I meant, aren't you supposed to feed the amount for her ideal weight? And the OP did say the kitty was overweight. So I was guessing at 10 pounds being ideal. . .but mostly using it as an example of how to calculate caloric need .

In theory, yes.... but in all honesty with what is going on.... I would feed for the actual weight. You do not want this kitty to lose any more weight right now.....

 

[cattreats]

I asked my mom to weigh her, but haven't heard back about that one.

She's going to buy canned food and try to entice her to eat more raw with it. She said she'd start at 75% raw and 25% canned because hopefully just having some canned there will be enough to get her excited. Otherwise, she's going to do 50/50. At least she's doing that much.