What if I add scrambled eggs (cooked) as a topper?

[mrsgreenjeens]

Callie is suddenly refusing any and everything raw

.  My little carnivore is on strike.  So, out of desperation I opened a can of Fancy Feast Mornings that I had rec'd as a sample somewhere along the way and she went crazy for it.  Plus, I had a heck of a time keeping the boys away from her as she scarfed her food down.  I haven't seen her eat with such gusto in a very long time, which kind of made me sad

. 

So, since it's either canned or nothing right now, and believe me, I have tried every protein I have, defrosted duck hearts, chicken hearts, ground chicken mix, pork mix, beef mix, turkey mix (all HT), Primal beef/salmon, Radcat lamb, and used every topper known to man...I ever pulled out the parmesan cheese to no effect.  BUT, the FF Mornings has wheat gluten in it, which I really HATE to give her, so I'm wondering what you guys think about me just scrambling up an egg (or poaching) and either mixing some in with

a)  FF classic feast to get her to at least a reasonable amount of that (because it's betteringredients than the FF Mornings)

    OR

b)  raw to see if I can get her back on track

I have tried giving her just the slightest bit of raw buried under a mountain of S & C's, which she, thankfully, still likes (dry), and she absolutey won't have anything to do with it., so I'm not mixing any into the canned yet, since right now I just want her to eat, period. 

Also, if you think this is an ok idea, which way DO you think I should cook the egg?  And if I scramble it, should I use maybe Avocado Oil to keep it from sticking, and keep the yolks runny or what?  I'm still giving her 1/2 capsule of egg yolk lecithin daily BTW, as shedding season is in full swing down here.

Oh, any other suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[ritz]

I think using egg as a topper is okay.  You should definitely scramble lightly the egg white (binds biotin otherwise), and if you're concerned about salmonella then scramble the yolk.

If it is a texture issue, maybe hard boil the egg and cut it up?

 

[ldg]

Sally, whenever Spooky has an issue with bad constipation (which has happened.... 3 or 4 times over the past year+), she goes on a raw boycott. The first time I went nuts trying to get her to eat, and then just decided to start over. I fed her canned, and just slowly mixed in TINY amounts of ground HT raw stuff. And I don't mean like a teaspoon - I mean like a 1/8 teaspoon in 1.5 oz of canned food.

Lazlo gets fussy frequently. He used to love WL chicken - now he doesn't. He loved WL salmon - now he doesn't. What does he reliably love? Fancy Feast. :lol3: (Knock wood). I always have some here because I buy heaps of it on sale for the feral cats. Keep the cans in a rather warm spot (for the ferals, it was nice and warm on cold winter days!). But when the cans are warm, there's an oily kind of stuff that can be poured out of the can - and it is the PERFECT "topper" for Lazlo. I drizzle it on his raw, and he gobbles it up with gusto.

So for your Callie, try the eggs. Try different ways - see if she likes them, and any particular way, especially since you want her to have the yolk for hairball prevention. It'd be a lot easier if she likes them boiled - then you can make a bunch at a time. :lol3:

But for right now, don't feel bad feeding her Fancy Feast if that's what she wants. And put some cans in a warm place, so you can drizzle some of the oily stuff on the boy's raw, and let them enjoy it too.

I want my kids eating healthy - but I want them to enjoy it too. Ever since I gave Tuxie Fancy Feast on his Gotcha Day as a treat, and he got diarrhea from it, I make sure to feed them a touch of canned here and there so they CAN eat it without having a reaction. Other than when Spooky goes on boycott, I don't feed it as a sole meal - I mix it with water and drizzle it on their food as part of a meal every couple of weeks. I also keep Beechnut chicken babyfood here to offer as a meal for a cat not feeling well - or use as a topper.

I mean - do vegetarians with kids never let their children have chocolate or ice cream?

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't sweat it. I'd play with the eggs, to see if there's a way she likes/prefers them and if they work as a topper. But I'd also consider just starting over with Callie, and veeeeeeeery slowly reintroducing raw in her canned food. :dk:

Since Spooky's last issue with constipation, I've decided she needs some pumpkin regularly in her diet. She hates pumpkin. So she was eating Fancy Feast for a little while, and I added a teaspoon of pumpkin into it. That worked. Then I added ground raw - she eats 1.5 ounce meals, and I started with 0.25oz of raw. That worked, and she ate it. When we got up to 1 oz of raw, the teaspoon of pumpkin, and the balance FF, since I normally feed mostly frankenprey, I then stopped the ground raw, and minced whatever meat I was feeding. I started with 0.25oz, just like with the ground - and she ate it up. We're up to 1.25oz minced meat, her teaspoon of pumpkin, and really just a touch of FF to finish the meal, and she's still excited for her meals. :cross:

I'll let any of them go one or two meals without eating. But after that... if toppers aren't working, I use the Beechnut babyfood (with calcium added) for a meal or two if necessary; sometimes FF or babyfood as a meal or part of one, or babyfood as a topper, or FF mixed with water as the topper. :dk:

...and I don't feel guilty about it. :lol3:

 

[otto]

It's reassuring to read threads like these. Queen Eva is in one of her phases that turns meal times into battle grounds. I was just about to update my own thread on this.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

It's reassuring to read threads like these. Queen Eva is in one of her phases that turns meal times into battle grounds. I was just about to update my own thread on this.

I feel so guilty when I see how MUCH she is enjoying her FF.  Like maybe I have been punishing her this past year by "forcing" her to eat raw

.  But she used to like it, I'm sure of it...she used to get really excited at meal time, meowing, running to her spot and digging in

.  Lately she has been doing all that except the digging in part.  She sniffs her bowl and then just sits back and looks at me like "where's my food?"  And I have tried everything as I explained above. 

Well, we did have a little breakthru tonight.  Tinky didn't quite finish his, so I just set his bowl down near Callie, and she polished it off. 

Wasn't much in there...maybe .10 oz, but it's a start anyway.

 

[ldg]

They go through phases. :nod: Spooky was one of my best raw food eaters when we first transitioned. She ate anything and everything and loved it! Then she got constipated, and it's been enjoy-it-go-round since then. Right now, she's loving her mostly-raw mix. But when she went off food, and I finally broke down and fed her FF, she LOVED it! And yes, those moments make us wonder.... but what kid wouldn't love to eat ice cream for breakfast every day, Captain Crunch for lunch, and donuts for dinner?

Lazlo's a nut. At times, he'll meow and meow and meow at meals, and he'll dive in and love it. The next meal? It's all I can do to figure out how to get him to eat 2/3 of it. Because of Sheldon, I have to feed red meat meals 50% red meat / 50% white meat. So once a week they have venison and turkey breast. Last week, Lazlo ate NONE of the venison, so I gave him more turkey breast to make up for it. So this week, I gave him no venison, and only turkey breast. He wouldn't touch it. So I tried all venison. And he ate all of it. :lol3: (Thank goodness for the ferals, seriously!).

So please try not to feel guilty like she hasn't enjoyed her food all this time. As you say, you remember when she loved it. She will again! :rub:

Yes, we want to see them really enjoy their food. But you've dealt with seriously picky cats - so you know that sometimes it doesn't matter WHAT it is, they're not necessarily happy about it.

...and don't forget the "offering what you know she doesn't want and then offering her what you want her to eat" trick. That isn't fool proof, but often works here. :lol3:

 

[vball91]

mrsgreenjeens, I just tried an experiment on my own fussy eater. Aria has not been eating much of her raw egg yolk, even with heavy toppers, so your post made me curious. Maybe she'll like it cooked instead? I lightly scrambled an egg in a little butter and gave her about 1/4 of it. She sniffed, sniffed, sniffed it in case mommy was trying to pull a fast one on her. Then she gave it a few licks, one little nibble and walked away.

I tried putting a little dried shrimp topping on it. She licked off all the dried shrimp and then walked away again.

 When I checked on it 15 minutes later, it was mostly gone.

So I have no idea what to think. Did she like it or not?  I hope your experiment goes better with Callie.

 

[otto]

...and don't forget the "offering what you know she doesn't want and then offering her what you want her to eat" trick. That isn't fool proof, but often works here. :lol3:

Dang I forgot about that! :lol3: My Tolly invented that! It worked pretty well for him. I wonder if it will work for Queen Eva..........

 

[korina]

From adult cat perspective, I wish I could help, my raw eaters are 7 months old.

When I got them, I was on board with raw, but was worried about Aafco nutrients, so I continued my breeders suggested mix, 50/50 Friskies and Bravo beef (used the friskies first 2 days).

And what caused me to transition and give all the canned to my adult cat who lives in my other home was their rejection of the canned.

I came home a few times and the raw was gone, and the wet food was behind.

So I would follow everyone elses advice, but if FF is what she want, negotiate (cats always win so give in).

I would do the same.

Or combine it with what I think Laurie is suggesting, put the fancy feast in the bowl, let her attack it, her salivary glands and stomach should turn on (assuming their brains work like ours), then pull it away put a wallop of raw mix, or better yet, a single protein (take your duck hearts and chop em up) and spread it over the top, forcing her to pass by it to get to the FF.

All my cats seem to be more hungry when I get home, vs the morning, you could also do a FF can in the morning (hold some back so its 30% of her calories) then at night add that part taken out with some ground.

And don't feel guilty, thats my job, can't tell you how it cuts me up to have gotten kittens that adapted and hopefully will be fine for life.

But it would not be without this site though, without a community and companies like HT, at best I would still be mixing bravo with canned food.

Good luck

PS- I use this in medical situations, you can try duck fat, they sell a fancy one for 16$ for a 16 ounce jar on Amazon, half an ounce is 120 calories if I recall, so very little is needed.

I have only cooked fried eggs with it. 

 

[otto]

How are things going with Callie, Sally? Queen Eva is back to normal appetite thank goodness. Which doesn't mean I don't have to use toppers sometimes, because I still do, but usually just to get her to finish a portion, she starts okay.

But when I tried to let her tell me how much she needed to eat and not fuss over her leavings, she lose weight, so I am back to toppers to help her finish.

 

[ldg]

:cross: Yeah, how're things going?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Oh, thanks for asking.  I tried hard boiled eggs, and someone was interested in them, but not Callie.  So I tried poaching an egg just until the whites were cooked, and Tinky really liked that, but not Callie

.  And, with a little prompting (AKA Fortiflora), Darko ate some of that, but Callie didn't like it no matter what

But the good news is...she's back to eating some raw

.  I forget exactly what happened, but one day I think I put some plain raw and some canned on top (didn't try to mix them or anything), and she dug down and ate the raw and left the canned.  So I gave her more and she ate it.  She's so weird.  She still likes just a bit of canned on top, but she doesn't really eat it

...she just wants it there.  I think she just wants the boys to know she has something special that they don't have

    But she is eating HT ground chicken now, which no one else likes, so she's getting something all her own anyway, she just doesn't realize it.  My three are ALL on their own planet

.   They don't seem to like variety (at least in ground, which is all that Callie and Tinky will eat right now).  What's with that???????????? 

I tell you, Darko is getting really strange.  He absolutely loves chicken hearts, and he'll eat pretty large pieces of them, but he won't eat anything if there's ground chicken on his plate.  Isn't that weird, because the ground chicken includes chicken hearts

.  But if there is ground chicken on his plate, no amount of toppings in the world will get him to eat.  And now, Tinky loves HT ground Turkey, and pretty much hates ground chicken too, because if I try to sneak in a little chicken, he doesn't devour his food like normal...he becomes very suspicious

.   And NONE of them will go near HT ground pork.  Good thing I only bought one pound to try out on them, huh?  And the last several things of Radcat lamb I have had to toss, because no one will eat them.  I'm going to contact the BARF local group and see if anyone wants my remaining 6 - 7 24 oz containers, because I don't want to just throw them out , and they expire in June.

 

[ldg]

Oh Sally, I'm sorry - but you had me cracking up. You have the most OPPOSITE cats ever! Though I will say - mine love chicken frankenprey, but NONE of them liked it ground. Even Billy, Chumey and Ming Loy - who pretty much eat anything, weren't in love with ground HT chicken - or any of the commercial varieties. :dk: No clue what's up with that!

But I'm so glad Callie started eating raw again, or you'd probably be pulling your hair out by now! KNOCK WOOD. !!!!!

 

[ldg]

Oh - and you know the moment you sell or give away that Rad Cat lamb, it's what they'll want, right?