Spooks Raw Diet Adventures.

[Canadiancomforts]

*Many thanks to LibraryChick for the sample and all the help she has given me the last little while with Spooks Raw diet.*

I wanted to have an almost journal like area to post Spooks Raw diet adventures. LibraryChick gave me some samples from her supplier to try out with Spook last week (I think). He has been very upset about this lack of kibble in his life.

LibraryChick gave me 3 different samples, Ground Pork with Bone, Organs (don't know what animal type) and a mystery bag of meat and bones (she forgot if it was turkey or another kind).

Week one:

Week one saw us with Pork and organs. The first 48 hours were interesting to say the least. Spook looked high and low for kibble. Thankfully he does not know how to open a closet door. I started feeding two times a day, but noticed that he was eating EVERYTHING but all his raw, I'm talking about old pasta from under the stove that he pawed out, guinea pig poop from the guinea pigs cages, you name it he tried or did eat it.

Yesterday I cut down on how much and started feeding three times, technically the same amount but instead of 2 big meals he gets 3 smaller ones. Today is day two of this and I am noticing:

A. He is eating almost all his Raw
and
B. He is not looking for extra food or what he thinks is possible food.

I placed an order via LibraryChick with the company she buys from.
In this order he will be getting:
10lbs of 50/50 ground chicken with bone and organs
10lbs of Ground duck with bone.

The 50/50 of chicken has too much organs for him but if I combine the duck and chicken it should balance out.

According to my math, at 4% and his weight he should get 9.6lbs a month of raw. Each meal is 1.9oz (x3 a day), now this will change as he gets older.

Lunch today he ate 1.1oz leaving only 0.8oz, which because its mid day I put back in the fridge to be added for tonight.

Since putting him on the new diet I have noticed a drop in water usage, but since I had a dog on raw and a ferret on raw in the last 4 years, I do know a enough to know that this is normal.

I'm going to take some pictures at supper time with my scale and what not so I can post it on here for other people to learn from.

LibraryChick is also letting me have 1lb of ground whole fish, how often and how much should I feed to him?

[Beth_Laubenthal]

I feed fish once every week to once every 2 weeks. Fish is not really something a cat would naturally eat. I just feed it to balance the omega fats.

[onetwo]

Hey Comf! Lucky started on raw yesterday. He is terribly upset about no kibble. He too is eating everything. Mostly piggy hay and cardboard from his scratcher. I found a bit of up chucked water and hay on my rug today (this is very very rare for him). He ate a bit of chicken breast for breaskfast yesterday, some pork ribs and organs that I tried grinding up. Mixed a bit of the wet canned food to encourage him to eat and he ate a bit. Completely refused his dinner last night. Refused his breakfast and lunch today. Mixed a bit of baby food meat into his uneaten lunch and he licked at it a bit. He is BEGGIN for food everytime I move. He also hasn't pooped or peed since I cleaned the box early last night. I'm a bit worried. Is he just being stubborn? Do I need to tough love this out?

[librarychick]

Onetwo, you should probably start your own thread for those questions. You would probably get mote help that way that being said, cats need to eat a minimum of once a day. I'd try giving him some canned food with tiny pieces of raw mixed in. Without knowing more about your cat I can't really give more advice...

Erin, as far as the fish goes my cats only get fish twice a month. It's a treat meal for them, not a staple. The fish oils help with their coats, which is why they get fish at all.

[Beth_Laubenthal]

Cats need to eat a minimal of at least 2 times a day.

No, do not use tough love. If you allow your cat to go without eating for a period of time, it can be deadly to them.
Check out these two websites:
Practical Guide

Here's Crazy Auntie's feeding schedule from her website:
http://catcentric.org/wp-content/upl...g-Schedule.png

Here is her website:
CatCentric.org - CatCentric.org: A raw feeding, feline nutrition, health and general cat care blog, article and resource site.

Hope that helps.

[onetwo]

Sorry Becky. I just thought since we were talking on facebook that I could sneek in a quick question without having to start my own thread (which I haven't learned how to do yet)! lol I'm not too internet savy, I'm still learning.

[Canadiancomforts]

LOL I don't think I can help yah Onetwo since I am still learning cat raw myself.

Beth, I agree with the no tough love but at the same time going 24 hours with out kibble and trying raw only those 24 hours should not hurt them. Right?

[librarychick]

Originally Posted by onetwo

Sorry Becky. I just thought since we were talking on facebook that I could sneek in a quick question without having to start my own thread (which I haven't learned how to do yet)! lol I'm not too internet savy, I'm still learning.

That's ok, I didn't realise it was you

To start a new thread starting from the main page:

-On the black menu bar at the top click on 'Forums'
-Scroll down to the forum you want to post in and click on the title(To post here, in the raw forum, you would scroll down to the 'Health & Nutrition forum', then look under it to find the 'Raw Food Diet' subforum)
-Just above where the posts start there is a gray button that says "New Post" with a picture of a pencil. It's on the left hand side. Click that.

Don't worry about making mistakes, or asking questions, someone will answer to help you out

Originally Posted by Canadiancomforts

LOL I don't think I can help yah Onetwo since I am still learning cat raw myself.

Beth, I agree with the no tough love but at the same time going 24 hours with out kibble and trying raw only those 24 hours should not hurt them. Right?

Generally no. In your case Erin he'sa kitten and he's physically not able to starve himself for that long...as you noticed he'll eat anything if he gets hungry enough. Although that can be a problem in itself.

With adult cats they can, and will, starve themselves if nothing that they see as food or appetizing is offered. Some adults can go longer that 24 hours safely, but it's not a risk I would take.

If an adult stops eating it's body starts feeding on stored fat cells, just like us. Unlike us cats store any chemicals or harmful agents they can't digest or deal with in those fat cells. So, when they begin digesting their fat a flood of possibly harmful chemichals can be released into their system. Chubby cats are especially prone to this because they have more fat stored. The flood of chemicals can cause liver and kindey failure. It's called hepatic lipidosis, also called fatty liver disease.

So, short answer...no it isn't safe to 'tough love' an adult cat. They HAVE to eat at least once in 24 hours. When you're transitioning to raw the best way to go is to frist switch the cat to all wet food, no kibble. Then even if they won't eat the raw for one meal you can safely mix some ground raw into the wet food and accustom them to eating it that way.

Here's an awesome article from a fantastic website specifically addressing transitioning and how to avoid hepatic lipidosis: How Can My Cat Avo8id Hepatic Lipidosis?

[Canadiancomforts]

Well that's good to know. See when I was doing raw with Mr. Bean (ferret) they flat out told me to tough love him. And it worked really well. Spook eats 90% of his raw through out the day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner). Its good to know that one should not tough love a cat though.

I have noticed that Spook is not eating as much the last 24 hours and I found out why, one of his baby teeth have fallen out! He has one more canine to lose and its a little sore, which is probably why he isn't eating as much. I've made his food more mushy which has helped a lot.

Side note, tomorrow I am going to give him a little raw egg, just to try out, not a whole egg but a little of it.

[Canadiancomforts]

Week 2-3:

Spook has been doing AMAZINGLY. I ran out of the samples Librarychick gave me a week ago, so I popped into T&T Supermarket (an Asian supermarket) and bought some prechopped chicken legs (with backs attached), some Chicken hearts, some chicken liver, Chicken gizzards and chicken feet.

I stuffed the chicken feet into the freezer because he's not quite there yet.

I prepackaged all the chicken into 3 meals a day.
Morning:
Chicken heart and chicken gizzards
Lunch:
Chicken gizzards, chicken liver, chicken hearts (figured this is a meat so there should be no harm in him having it so often).
Supper:
Some of the chopped chicken (a leg, spine whatever I tossed into the bag).

This was his diet for the last week. This week I ran into my deep freeze and found some old (freezer burned a little, only 1 year old) chicken legs with backs attached. I must have bought this last year as the due date was Feb 12 2011. I thawed it, chopped it into daily feedings and bagged it all.

I am very proud to say I have not had to chop anything into mouth size bites. The only chopping I do is for meal size amounts. (about 2-3oz right now the little piggy).

He is doing amazing. I have some frost burned steaks that I am going to try out next week (once all his chicken is all gone).