Transitioning to frozen raw

[Columbine]

I've had Asha on a mix of high quality canned (90% meat on average) and freeze dried raw for a while. She loves both types of food and isn't what I'd call a picky cat - though she definitely has favourites which change from time to time.

I've gradually been working on my family about switching to frozen instead of freeze dried raw, and was so excited yesterday when they finally gave in.

I duly bought and defrosted a little frozen raw and offered it to Asha tonight. No dice. She took a few suspicious bites, then rejected the food. Later on I tried mixing it half and half with her favourite canned. Same deal

Is this normal? Asha took to the freeze dried raw right away with no hesitation. The frozen raw is identical to her freeze dried in terms of recipe. Just to be sure, I just gave her the freeze dried version of the raw I offered her. Clean plate, no hesitation :confuse3:

Do I give up on frozen, or keep trying? I've never done this before. I just want to do what's best for her.

(I'm not even offering Shadow the frozen raw - he wants nothing to do with the freeze dried and, at 13, I figure he's too old to change. I've got him off junk food onto decent canned, but I don't think I'll get any further with him.)

 

[lisamarie12]

Congratulations on switching over. As you've probably noticed on this raw forum, as well as that other forum, it can take months to transition a cat over to what you want kitty to eat.

There's always Forti Flora if you can get it, I think you are in the UK?

I have a similar situation to yours, my Molly will eat FD but not the thawed raw, despite trying different brands. I did get her to eat, however, some thawed RadCat by sprinkling some of her fav FD raw on top, it worked! RC is too expensive for me though so I could not continue.

You may want to try different treats, a FD treat or maybe another flavor of the FD raw that kitty has not had.

As far as your your older kitty Shadow, you just never know, it could happen, I have read older cats that have been transitioned to raw, one as old as 15.

 

[Columbine]

Thanks for the support

Yeah, I can get FortiFlora in the uk, but I'd rather not use it if I don't have to (not mega thrilled about 'animal digest').

I think I'll try the FD topper trick first. Is it ok to mix a little raw in with canned if I can get her to accept it that way?

With Shadow, it's taken Asha's arrival to persuade him to even try the good food. I've had to compromise, even so. He's a fish fanatic. I'd prefer not to feed fish, but I've come to the conclusion that I'd far rather he ate good food with fish than junk food of any kind. It's definitely the lesser of two evils imo.

 

[lisamarie12]

Yeah I agree, not thrilled with animal digest, however, as a means to an end and last resort if all else fails.
My cats used to eat canned and raw in one sitting, meal, I never had a problem.
If you can find a way to lessen the fish meals for your male cat, that might be a good thing, I get a bit concerned when I read about male cats and UTIs on predominantly fish based diets.

 

[Columbine]

Of course, I absolutely agree with you. Of the foods Shadow eats, 4 are fish free, 2 are max 20% fish, 1 is 35% fish and 1 is fish only (kept as a special treat).

I just figure high meat and grain free is better than carby sheba and gourmet flakes in gravy or whiskas pouches. To me, it's the lesser of two evils. He had crystals once 10 years ago, and has had no problems since (despite his junky diet - I just didn't have the knowledge back then). He's also virtually off his kibble now (royal canin urinary s/o) On balance, I think he's doing pretty well. I'm paranoid about his fluid output - I'll definitely catch any potential problems early.

 

[lisamarie12]

Oh, okay - I misread your last post, thought Shadow was only eating fish. Sounds like Shadow has come a long way from his previous diet, carry on then, carry on......

 

[abby2932]

I transitioned my cats from canned to frozen raw by gradually mixing the new food in with the old. I started with 25% raw + 75% canned. It took about 2 weeks for me to finally serve 100% raw. You should try doing that with the freeze dried food and the frozen raw. Just add a little bit more frozen and less freeze dried (or canned if you want) each day until she's eating all frozen (thawed) raw.

 

[Columbine]

That's a great idea. I tried offering canned with a tiny bit of raw on the side a few hours ago. That was a fail too - ate the canned then played with the raw I guess I'll keep trying and hoping.

The plus side is the dogs adore it, so at least I have two willing receptacles for the rejects :lol3:

 

[LTS3]

Try crushing up the freeze dried raw and coating the frozen raw with it. Freeze dried raw tends to be stinky and how a food smells is important to a cat. You can also mix a little canned food with gravy with the frozen raw to make it more appealing.

 

[Columbine]

L lisamarie12 Looking back, my post about Shadow's food was unclear. I'm not surprised it caused confusion :anon:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone

We have progress this morning. I gave Asha a mixed meal- roughly 20% raw well mixed with canned. She was stop - start about it, but has virtually cleared the plate I think the dog coming in and hovering hopefully helped though :lol3:

I'll definitely keep trying - this morning has really encouraged me

I did offer Shad a tiny bit of raw, and he looked at me like I'd lost my mind :lol3: Oh well - he's come so far already that I won't force the issue with him at the moment. He's always rejected the FD raw too...

 

[lisamarie12]

@LisaMarie12 Looking back, my post about Shadow's food was unclear. I'm not surprised it caused confusion

Thanks for the suggestions everyone

We have progress this morning. I gave Asha a mixed meal- roughly 20% raw well mixed with canned. She was stop - start about it, but has virtually cleared the plate

I think the dog coming in and hovering hopefully helped though

I'll definitely keep trying - this morning has really encouraged me

I did offer Shad a tiny bit of raw, and he looked at me like I'd lost my mind

Oh well - he's come so far already that I won't force the issue with him at the moment. He's always rejected the FD raw too...

Yay, wow! You've had better luck with Asha than I have had with Molly getting her to eat thawed raw, good for you!

 

[Columbine]

She's being very grudging about it, and giving me dirty looks now (after a 2nd successful canned/raw meal) :lol3: So happy she's at least trying for me though (me) [emoji]128574[/emoji] (her)

 

[Columbine]

Asha's consistently eating the canned/raw mix now - its usually between 1/5 and 1/6 raw. I just tried offering her a completely frozen raw meal. She jumped up to eat eagerly, then recoiled when she saw what it was, 'buried' it, then came straight back to me to ask for some 'proper' food :lol3: I guess I'll have to carry on with the mixing.

How quickly/slowly do I increase the frozen raw? I feed approx 6 times a day. One meal is FD raw at the moment. Over the rest of the day she gets about one portion of the frozen mixed into her canned meals. Does that sound reasonable to start with? Sorry, I'm new at this..just want to do it right.

 

[abby2932]

Just go at your cat's pace. If i remember correctly when I transitioned my cats, I made their food 25% raw/75% canned for both meals (I only feed twice a day) for 4 days.

Then it was 50/50 for both meals for 4 days.

Then it was 75%/25% for both meals for 4 days.

On the 13th day they were 100% raw. I gave my neighbor my leftover cams of cat food and have never bought it again.

My cat Malibu was very hesitant to finish his meals in the beginning when it was 25% raw and even when I bumped it up to 50% raw. He did always finish his meal but he would walk away for a few minutes and once i put it back in front of him, he finished it all. But once the food was 75% and 100% raw, he eats just as heartily as he did with canned food. He was 8 years old when I transitioned him.

It may take more time (or less) for your cat, it just depends on on their willingness so don't get discouraged.

 

[lisahe]

I'm curious, @Columbine as to why you want to switch your cat from the freeze-dried raw to frozen raw if the recipe is the same and only the form is different. (Or did I misunderstand something?)

I'm particularly curious because our cats used to eat and love a blend of frozen and freeze-dried Primal but then decided they prefer just freeze-dried... which made me very happy because I find it a million times more convenient. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if they change their minds again in another few months (or, heaven forbid, tomorrow!) just because, well, they're cats and they're always changing their minds about their food!

Anyway, just curious!

 

[Columbine]

Because I'm in the uk, and freeze dried raw for cats isn't readily available. The only one currently available is only sold in 40g bags and costs £3.25 for that tiny amount! The same food frozen is massively cheaper. If the FD came in sensible sized bags I wouldn't be bothering.

 

[lisahe]

Because I'm in the uk, and freeze dried raw for cats isn't readily available. The only one currently available is only sold in 40g bags and costs £3.25 for that tiny amount! The same food frozen is massively cheaper. If the FD came in sensible sized bags I wouldn't be bothering.

Oh, my goodness, that is a very compelling reason to switch! I would be driven, too. We're very lucky that our cats' food costs the same in either form. I guess mixing the two kinds of raw food could end up being a horrible waste of the expensive freeze-dried, but that has enticed ourcats to eat small amounts of the frozen stuff I so foolishly bought for them. Good luck!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

How's the transition coming along?  I remember OUR transition.  Aye, aye, aye.  I think what really worked for my three was to make little raw meatballs and roll each one individually in powdered Wholelife chicken.  1st they'd eat maybe 1 -2 meatballs (about the size of a pea

), then slowly progress to 10 - 12.  I can't remember what happened after that.  Probably started just plopping some down in their dishes and covering the entire plop with the powdered chicken and slowly decreasing that amount of powder.  Then we started changing up the protein and the whole process would have to start over again, as I recall.  Anyway, neither here not there.  Just curious how things are going.

 

[Columbine]

I'm not really making any progress Asha will eat a meal that has a couple of pea sized bits of raw mixed in (as I feed little and often, this works out at one mini meal of frozen raw over the day). She still won't touch the raw on its own, and she rejects any meal with a larger amount of frozen raw mixed in.

She still loves her FD though. I just can't afford to feed much of that because of the stupid way it's sold (see above ). Interestingly, she won't touch the frozen raw if combined with FD. I think that's because she likes her FD chunky, so there's very little camouflage. She won't touch the FD when dry, btw, so I don't think coating raw with FD powder will work.

Am I doing this right? How fast should o be trying to increase the raw percentage in the raw/canned mix?

 

[lisahe]

I think texture is why our cats prefer freeze-dried, too: the frozen Primal seems very even or smooth in consistency compared to chunked FD or even Rad Cat. One cat (the pickier one) likes carrying pieces of food away from her dish and FD is great for that.

I don't have an answer to your question other than "whatever it takes." Given Asha's reluctance, I'd probably go rather slowly.