Starting cats on raw

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby mnp13 » April 17th, 2007, 11:47 am

I will never take my cats completely off of kibble because they stay home when we go away for weekends, however, I'd really like to get them on some raw food. I'm having a hard time getting them to show any interest, let alone actually eat.

With all of the kibble recalls, I'm getting more and more wary - like everyone else I'm sure!!!

any suggestions on how to get them more interested?

For those of you who don't have cats, unlike dogs, you can not "wait out" a cat. If they skip to many meals they can end up with fatty liver - which is usually fatal.
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Postby a-bull » April 17th, 2007, 12:11 pm

Pick meats a cat would eat in the wild, (no, don't go out killing Robins). :wink:

Fish, poultry, etc.

Although a domestic cat might enjoy a can of beef wet catfood, beef, pork, etc. are not meats a cat would naturally eat.
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Postby mnp13 » April 17th, 2007, 12:59 pm

I'd love to start them on fresh killed raw... starting with the damn squrrils in our attic.
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2007, 1:03 pm

I have studied raw for cats a bit as I am thinking of doingit myself BUT it is much harder to properly feed a cat a raw diet. There are certain substances that they HAVE to have to mantain proper health. Taurine I think is one of them.
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Postby a-bull » April 17th, 2007, 1:05 pm

On April 17 2007, cheekymunkee wrote:I have studied raw for cats a bit as I am thinking of doingit myself BUT it is much harder to properly feed a cat a raw diet. There are certain substances that they HAVE to have to mantain proper health. Taurine I think is one of them.


How 'bout kitty vitamins? Would that help??

I give my old cats vitamins because, well, they're old, lol. I'll check and see what's in them.
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Postby a-bull » April 17th, 2007, 1:07 pm

On April 17 2007, mnp13 wrote:I'd love to start them on fresh killed raw... starting with the damn squrrils in our attic.


That would do it. :D

If you think about it, cats don't really eat veggies, etc. naturally, which is why they have difficulty digesting them.

Cats also get most of their fluid intake from their food---so yeah, a little mousey or two or a squirrel would actually work, it's just gross, lol.
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Postby mnp13 » April 17th, 2007, 1:09 pm

Taurine was the missing nutrient in early cat foods that was causing death. When you cook meat the taurine is destroyed, so they had to add it back in to the kibble. That is why you can't feed cats dog food, it doesn't have enough taurine.

(I got "yelled at" for letting my cats eat the EVO that I got for the dogs, that's the only reason I know that.)
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Postby a-bull » April 17th, 2007, 1:15 pm

I checked the vitamins, Michelle~They do contain Taurine, it's like the third ingredient. Not sure if it's as much as they need though. :|
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2007, 1:19 pm

See with a dogs diet, it does not have to be 100% complete EVERY day, just as long as the diet as a WHOLE is complete. With cats, it is a different story, they need a complete diet EVERY day.
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Postby mnp13 » April 17th, 2007, 1:32 pm

no matter what, I'd be giving them kibble as well. They both free feed on that. I'd like to get them on meat as well though.
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2007, 2:15 pm

I have put a few things down for them......pork, chicken livers. They licked around on it, ate a bit of it but were not that interested. But, my catrs are fat, spoiled brats so you may have a different outcome.
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Postby Jenn » April 17th, 2007, 2:23 pm

That's pretty much the same response I've received when I've tried it, EVEN with the cat outside. Unless it's the canned Mackeral, or the ocassional Tuna fish treat, those get immediate responses. Otherwise, sniff, maybe lick, look at me like I'm a fool, then strut off. ;)
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Postby TinaMartin » April 17th, 2007, 3:15 pm

With cats its a lot harder. Ours didn't want to do it either. We found that he tended to go for strong smelling items most especially tuna so that is where we started. Once he got the hang of it we added other things but still gave him he crunches
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Postby Wyldmoonwoman » April 17th, 2007, 4:39 pm

My cat is funny too, I fed her raw smelts, she wouldn't touch them, raw chicken livers and she walked away, but for some reason she loves raw beef, and not ground beef, it has to be good filet mignon or prime rib and she likes heart, and even when I give her some raw, she will not eat an entire meal. My cat has killed animals, but she never eats then, she will play with a dead mouse and lose interest or put it on my bed
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Postby Jenn » April 17th, 2007, 4:50 pm

My cat has killed animals, but she never eats then, she will play with a dead mouse and lose interest or put it on my bed


Oh man, I thought the yard full of little mole looking baby things was bad, or the dead mouse on the front door, not to mention the many dead lizard prizes I've received ~ but THAT is nasty!!
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Postby Wyldmoonwoman » April 17th, 2007, 5:04 pm

On April 17 2007, 4:50 PM, Jenn wrote:
My cat has killed animals, but she never eats then, she will play with a dead mouse and lose interest or put it on my bed


Oh man, I thought the yard full of little mole looking baby things was bad, or the dead mouse on the front door, not to mention the many dead lizard prizes I've received ~ but THAT is nasty!!


Nasty doesn't even describe it...I never expected it to be on the bed and I sat on it with my naked butt...THAT IS NASTY
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 17th, 2007, 5:10 pm

Mine kill baby snakes & lizards but they don't eat them. They kill birds too but they eat parts of the bird and leave the damn feathers ALL over my house. :x
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Postby Jenn » April 17th, 2007, 5:15 pm

On Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 4:04 PM, Wyldmoonwoman wrote:
On April 17 2007, 4:50 PM, Jenn wrote:
My cat has killed animals, but she never eats then, she will play with a dead mouse and lose interest or put it on my bed


Oh man, I thought the yard full of little mole looking baby things was bad, or the dead mouse on the front door, not to mention the many dead lizard prizes I've received ~ but THAT is nasty!!


Nasty doesn't even describe it...I never expected it to be on the bed and I sat on it with my naked butt...THAT IS NASTY


lmao yes, that is nasty!
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Postby TinaMartin » April 18th, 2007, 1:27 pm

Cinder never roamed so I was lucky to not get any surprises. :)
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Postby concreterose » April 18th, 2007, 4:34 pm

Michelle, there's a yahoo group that has some pretty good tips on switching cats to raw. They have some really good info in their files.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawpaws/

One of my cats refuses to eat raw no matter how I bribed him. After three months of trying different bribes, I gave up and just put him on wet food.
My other cat will ONLY eat raw chicken, and it has to be whole thighs chunked up, chicken necks, or a chicken recipe I make him. He will NOT eat the pet mix (everything ground up with organs) that I get the dogs.
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