Newly developed aversion to raw

[John Popp]

Just an update, I pulled Chongo's on demand food from the egg puzzle feeder yesterday and he ate all of his 3 meals of raw without fuss. This morning he nosed over his egg towards me certainly letting me know that's what he wanted for breakfast. Not happening buddy, and as soon as I get a better handle on where his consumption is without Kibble, I will add it back in.

Not really happy about having an 8 month old kitten without food for 8-10 hours each day, just don't want to deal with what eating Kibble means on the back end. My oldest Kibble lover has some kidney issues, which have largely been addressed by his diet. He's certainly not totally healthy but his blood tests have come back into an acceptable range and we aren't needing to do caveman dialysis on him regularly.

So all is somewhat better with the little guy and I'll take this opportunity to dial in what he likes and doesn't. I'll follow that up with some introduction of some canned food with more control so I can have him eating it without the GI issues. I'll start with some duck and pea canned and run from there.

My apologies about being somewhat of an alarmist on this, it had just reached a level that I was getting concerned. I'm still not sure I will be able to get him eating any canned food, just need to have a plan for when we take a vacation later this summer. Also want to make sure he has a varied diet and thus far varied has meant the other cats food and a preference for a single kind of Kibble. Assuredly it has to be more than that and as mentioned a more controlled method of resolving things.

Thanks much for the advice I can incorporate into finding resolution.

 

[Jacq]

Glad he ate his raw!

 

[admin]

Glad to hear it john...

 

[Sam]

What I am encountering is if I put the good healthy food out she eats a few bites and then walks away. She is testing me to see if I am going to break the fancy feast.... Once I just go about my day, 20 minutes later the food is gone

 

[SV Dad]

Well John, I just got around to reading this thread. The brothers have what I consider, sensitive stomachs. Lots of different foods set them off. You may have seen me recommended the wet and dry foods to other new owners. I have found the Royal Cannin, Fancy Feast, and Blue Wilderness are working for the boys. I didn't care about their size, I just wanted happy kitties. They are on the skinny side, but they are healthy. Rascal goes between cycles of light appetite to ravenous. Mayhem is just a light eater. Both of them have been treated for giardia a couple of times, but have been healthy for a over a year now. It may be something in the genetics, but when something works, it ain't busted, I ain't fixing it. They have dry available 24/7/365. They do eat it when they want a snack (helps keep their teeth clean), but they are quite lean.
I try to stay out of the raw food threads, as by my training, I know of the problems and risks I do not want to take. I respect the choice of raw. I do have to wonder, if the loose stools continue, if this might not be an option for the particular gastrointestinal make up of your cat. (Please don't flame me for feeding wet and dry.)

 

[John Popp]

What I am encountering is if I put the good healthy food out she eats a few bites and then walks away. She is testing me to see if I am going to break the fancy feast.... Once I just go about my day, 20 minutes later the food is gone

Oh yeah! Heaven forbid I see Chongo eating his raw food. No problem at all with watching him scoot his egg around for hours getting every last morsel of kibble. Training the humans again I guess.

 

[John Popp]

Hey RD, no GI issues at all with the raw and Royal Canin Kibble. The rest, not so much. Ideally I would like to have our cats eating canned, raw and kibble with equal vigor. Probably wishful thinking, but to date I can't find a canned food Chongo will tolerate. Fortunately I think I now have some good footing to mix things up.

I definitely do believe the brothers have some sensitive stomachs. It's almost like a switch you flip to produce methane and potentially the solution to the worlds energy problems. It's definitely a struggle as I haven't placed anything less than a top shelf food under any of my cat's noses for the last 15 years, and never did I have a cat that had more than the slightest reservation about eating it.

I totally understand the reservations of raw. No matter how organic, how range and hormone free it gets processed at a place that isn't likely to take the same care we do at home. For the teenager through the adult, it isn't an issue, but for the young and elderly something to think hard about. For me it's one of two stable parts in Chongo's diet and when it seemed to be fleeting I was concerned. Tonight he wanted more of his raw, so I was a happy camper and think I have an opportunity to branch out a bit without the GI issues.