4/14 First day on semi-raw food. It wasn't a hit

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NadjaAndSam

NadjaAndSam

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I made the semi-raw food from catinfo.org after Sam's ate his all time favorite Nature's Variety Rabbit, then his shot.
When I finished making the food I gave some to him, he sniffed it for a little bit and ate just a little :(
For those of you on this diet did your cats loved it at first bite? or did it take a while for them to get used to it?
I also have another cat but he is sleeping, when he gets up I will see if he likes it but I REALLy wanted Sam to love it at first bite to help with his high bgs.
Is it too soon for me to feel discouraged?
 
Maybe he wasn't hungry for some reason.

Keep an eye on him. As the insulin begins to take effect in the 3 hours post-shot, he should start to eat. If he does not, have other food available that he can eat; you don't want him to hypo due to no food.

If he won't eat anything, get your hypo kit ready: karo syrup, high carb food, etc. Something else may be happening causing inappetance and you need to be prepared. Sometimes diabetic cats can develop pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or hepatic lipidosis, resulting in inappetance and/or vomiting which can lead to a hypo if you give insulin without food. If 3 days go by with the cat not eating, you must go to the vet.
 
Mine didn't love it at first bite, either. Nor did they care for it when I mixed it in with their canned food. But they love the tremendously expensive Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw. (I think tins of Beluga caviar would be less expensive. Hahahaha!)

I'll get back to trying to introduce them to raw in a week or so. For now, I'm just happy that they are off dry food and are eating hi-protein, low-carb canned food.

Good luck to you!
 
Thank you for your tips :] I've noticed he isn't eating as much comparing to few days ago but he still eating. He loves rabbit Nature's Variety. He alwasy finishes his meals but I will keep an eye on him for sure. I had reduced his dose to 0.5u beacuse I was hoping he would eat the raw food which would make his bg to lower but maybe that's why he isn't eating as much ebcause he isn't getting enough insulin :/
so complicated!

Good luck Pumbaa on trying to get your kitties to eat rwa food again :d
 
As his diabetes becomes controlled, he will naturally eat less food as he can actually use the glucose produced when it is digested. And, when he eats less, he may need less insulin.

Also, the insulin may have allowed his pancreas to rest and heal and it is possible that it is helping some with the glucose, so less insulin may be needed.

This is why it is important to home test; so you can spot when you need to adjust the dose.
 
Thank you. right now he is getting more pinks and reds on the 0.5u with pzi. I'm talking to the folks at pzi to see if I should raise his dose soon especially if I find myself having to mix the raw food with the canned :/
 
I started with chunks in premix, which they loved. But I noticed they didn't need as much raw as they did with canned...I think canned is less nutrient dense. When I switched to Dr. Pierson's recipe, they at first loved it but then quit eating it as heartily. I added parmesan to get them to eat more, and two out if three cats got a bit chunky! I'm still playing with the amount of skin to use, and no longer need the parmesan. That's the beauty of making this recipe; I control it! I think the weight gain is due to too much skin, and me falsely thinking that 1/4 cup three times a day couldn't have been enough for my older kittens. 1/4 cup twice a day works for them just fine and their weights are normalizing.

My guys really like the fresh bone, and use to beg for the bones when I was deboning for the premix. Since moving to Dr. Pierson's recipe, they don't beg for them anymore.

Maybe parmesan or fortiflora? Good luck, it sounds like you're on the right track to getting your kitty healthy.

Suzanne
 
One of my civies didn't like raw food at first but after a couple day of sprinkling crushed up freeze dried raw on top of the (thawed) frozen raw, she was eating it just fine :smile:
 
My sugarcat had no problem with raw - but she is so hungry (always been food focused) so will eat anything. My civie was a different case. I started mixing 3/4 old food with 1/4 raw for a few days, then went to 1/2 and 1/2 and then 1/4 old, 3/4 raw, then the whole meal. I did them side by side rather than mixed in. It took a couple of weeks to make the switch. I also find that different proteins make a big difference for him. He isn't that fond of poultry meats - although he will eat raw chicken or turkey if I first sprinkle freeze dried chicken on top - go figure! However, he will quickly polish off red meats (lamb, venison, buffalo, kangaroo, beef). Rabbit he loves about 50% of the time. I always add warm water. The smell of warm meat is much more enticing. It's been 5 weeks on 100% raw now.

I use commercial raw but ones made locally. Check with the pet food store to see if they'll give you samples. Some manufactures give away samples to get you onto their product. That's how I got to serve a variety and see what they like. I try to alternate red with poultry/rabbit because I want them to get bones. The red meats available here generally don't have bone, although some have bone powder mixed in with them. Again the sugarcat will devour her chicken neck pieces and the civie doesn't know what to do with them.

You definitely serve less raw than canned. I buy the 1/2 lb packs (250g), and it's enough for 2 cats for the day. By volume it's less than canned. If you are making your own, a small kitchen scale is useful. Here is a link on amounts to feed according to cat size and activity level. http://www.reddogdeli.com/learn_about_the_raw.php?id=52&page=Things to know For me the packages work out to the right amount of food.
 
Thank you everyone!
I sprinkled parmesam on top of the raw food but Sam literally licked where the parmesa was, and didn't eat any of the food :-|
I have to look into other foods it's hard too because I want to eliminate some of the costs on food! He LOVES Natures Variety Rabbit but that sucker costs me 2.69 a can. It's getting very heavy on my pocket :/ he also eats duck, and licks the sauce from Merrick's cowbow cook out.
I haven't invested in a grinder yet and I don't know if I will anytime soon, I just used food processor.
With canned food he doesn't get too excited over red meat. He prefer poultry.

Thank you for that link. I didn't realize you serve less raw than canned, I thought he was supposed to eat the same amount of canned food! I wonder why the change?
I will also add warm water to his meal, this is a great idea!
 
the first time I fed raw, they all turned up their noses and I already invested in grinder and all supps (I make dr. lisa's formula).
so i tried about 6months later and they all ate it. I got 2 new kittie and they took to it right away. one of the, out of the blue, refused to eat it and would try and bury it. went on for 3 days. switched her back to canned with just a little of the raw in it. she ate it but for her, it was a long process of adding it in. too much and she would not eat.
the other vat., all of a sudden started throwing it up 6 hours later and refused to eat it. same thing. back to canned and adding in a little, but she adjusted more rapidly and now they all eat raw except my renal cats.
so sometimes it is a lot of trial and error with the amounts you add, tsp at a time sometimes
 
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