Weight gain possible on raw?

[twylasage]

Hello,

As I mentioned in another forum, my 6 1/2 yr. old cat, Timothy, has been diagnosed with probable IBD. I prefer to try and get him stabilized using holistic products (currently adding Vitality Science products to his food) rather then the steroid advocated by the vet with the aim of getting him back onto home-made raw which is what his healthy sister currently eats. My concern is that Timothy is about 3lbs. under his ideal weight as a result of repeated bouts of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Should I try fattening him up with high-grade commercial food (canned only) first or combine both raw and canned until he reaches a healthier weight? Is it even possible to gain weight on 100% raw?

Truthfully, I'll be thrilled if I can get him to put on just a lb. and a half. He was on raw about a year and a half ago for about 8 months and did well though he lost weight while on it (weight he could afford to lose at the time). Why he went off a 100% raw diet is a bit of a story but I've always wanted to get him back on it and it's urgent now due to his IBD.

Recommendations?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

A cat can gain weight on ANY food, IF he eats more calories than his body can burn up.  So if he can tolerate the higher fat raw foods like lamb, then go for it.  Maybe you could add in some extra egg yolks for the calories.  Maybe one per day, or one every other day?

 

[ritz]

A cat can certainly gain weight on raw food--even if you don't want them to (here's looking at you, Ritz!)
What meats/protein can he tolerate? Lamb has a lot of fat on it, as does some of the more expensive cuts of beef. Chicken skin is more of the most calorically dense foods out there, so if he can tolerate bone, definitely use chicken wings as the source. Egg yolks are also high in fat.
Be careful, however: too much fat can make the poop runny in predisposed cats.

 

[abbyntim]

My cat Tim gained weight when I started transitioning him to raw. I had to really cut his calories to get him to lose weight. I've read, and was told by our holistic vet who is helping us with this transition, many cats don't need nearly as much raw as other foods to get the nutrients they need and can therefore gain weight.

To give you an example, Tim was eating almost 300 calories a day of various canned foods. He was holding steady at about 15 pounds and should weigh closer to 14. When I was transitioning ounce for ounce, he got up to about 15.5 pounds. Now on 65% raw, he's eating around 220 calories a day and very slowly losing weight; he just recently dropped below 15 pounds.

 

[zeroonezero]

I know this doesn't directly address your question but my cat goes through phases where she eats normally and phases where she will snub her food for a few days and I haven't really ever figured out why.   At some point I decided to try giving her some tripe (petkind tripe treats for dogs was the brand) because my friend said she got them for her dog but her cat loves them.   Turns out my cat loves them too, so when she's being picky I just break several tiny crumb sized pieces  (they are kind of jerky and they smell a bit smokey so it doesnt take much to get the scent on the food) and press them into the top of her food.   She'll usually go town on her food after that.  They are dog treats so I was a little reluctant to give them to her seeing as how dogs can eat practically anything compared to cats... but she hasn't had any diarrhea or anything from them and like I said, just a few crumbs and she's really happy to eat.  sometimes I add a little bit of diced sardine (like once every couple weeks) when she's being really picky but that doesn't always work (guess she needs to be in a fish mood haha).  If all that fails, I do keep some of the blue mountain buffalo kitten formula kibble (since I was under the impression kitten formulas tend to have more calories).  I will give her a little of that after she's finished eating or snubbing the wet (though I try to give her as little of it as possible since... it is kibble).    

I guess my point is it's all just how I try to coax her into eating more since I feel she under-eats if left to her own devices.  She's surely but slowly been putting on wait the past several months while eating mostly raw with this method.

Side note: my cat wont eat raw if I put any red meat in it, but she will eat cooked red meat, which is kind of weird.  I had extra fish at one point and threw a few large chunks of boneless lightly grilled salmon and just caught the day before yellow fin into the grinder with her food thinking it would add a little flavor to the raw chicken for one smaller sized batch and she wouldnt eat that batch at all either haha.   cats these days :-\  I guess it's all just experimentation to see what they'll scarf.

 

[ritz]

Ritz use to be addicted to Fancy Feast Classic, seafood flavor. Then I transitioned her to prey model raw. Now, she has no interest in my fish when I am eating it. Deli meat, now that's another story....
Also, FWIW: I buy (too many) dehydrated treats for Ritz. I make sure they are 100% meat/poultry; as long as they are, treats marketed to dogs are fine. Size is bigger, cost per ounce probably a little less. I avoid any kind of fish treat because Ritz is bone to UTIs (and addiction...). I use to buy liver treats (again, 100% liver) but was afraid I would end up giving her too much liver, which could cause stinky poo. And I was somewhat (needlessly probably) worried about toxicity; you'd have to feed a LOT of liver for it to reach toxicity--vitamin A I believe. Note too that some cats hate raw liver but love dried liver.

 

[zeroonezero]

Ha, I can relate to the deli meat... but my cat is very food aggressive in general with whatever I'm eating, even though she hardly ever eats it if she does manage to snatch it from me. 

She ninja'd some very heavily peppered spicy deli meat the other night (snuck up behind me on the head rest of the couch and swiped it en route to my mouth) and she was not to thrilled with her prize.

Ran around sneezing and making gagging motions for a couple minutes.  :-(  

 

[ritz]

Ritz had an encounter with a dozen eggs. In a plastic bag.
Omelet anyone?

 

[peaches08]

Yes, weight gain on raw is possible for the reasons mentioned (caloric dense).  Have you thought about ordering pork trim or beef trim from Hare Today?