# Cats And Raw Diet



## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

In addition to the hoodlum dogs, I also started the cats on the raw diet. They started two days after the dogs and unlike the dogs, I had some picky felines.

Disclosure: I have 7 cats. Of the seven, four of them took to raw right away. One needed coaxing for one day, one needed coaxing for a bit longer and one adamantly refused to even consider such a thing. (By coaxing I mean I had to add a bit of canned food on top to get them to "accidentally" eat the raw food.)

This is how it went for the first six days. I fed them herring, sardines, salmon, skinless/boneless chicken breasts, liver, and I threw on some chicken wings. (This was over the six days, not in one day.)

The first time I put out the chicken wings, three of them went to town. Two thought the wings were toys. One wanted to eat it but kept slinking off thinking he was doing something he shouldn't. The other, stubborn cat, refused any and all of it, "Give me my canned, lady!"

Yesterday, day 6, I was preparing the bowls. I had put four bowls down on the towels for the four cats who were now eating raw, exclusively. I was getting ready to prepare "need some coaxing" cat's bowl and stubborn cat's bowl, (which at this point was primarily canned food with a couple of bites of raw hidden within), when I looked down and what did I see? Just WHAT did I see?

"Need some coaxing" cat was eating the raw and so was stubborn cat! Her bowl wasn't even ready yet and she was eating. She was eating RAW! :biggrin:

After a few bites, they both demanded their canned food, so I got "need some coaxing" cat her bowl that had raw with a tiny bit of canned on top and she ended up eating more raw than canned. Stubborn cat ate mostly canned after that.

Tonight...this was a milestone for two reasons. First, it was the end of the first week on the switch. Again, I put down the four bowls for the "good" cats and was again preparing the other bowls. (One cat will eat raw but she's older and is still not interested in the chicken wings, (her teeth are fine).) 

And again, I looked down and saw "need some coaxing" cat eating raw. I looked for stubborn cat and she was, land sakes, the girl was eating the chicken wing! She went from, "Uh, no, I think NOT" to "gimme the chicken wing, nom, nom, nom" in less than two days! 

So it was another milestone tonight because not one single cat had one single bite of canned food tonight. I am so thrilled I don't even know what to do with myself.

Most of them gnawed on the chicken wings except the older one. I did put one in her bowl but she didn't touch it. Again, she's older, and I know people will say to check her teeth but they are white, clean and her gums are pink. She's 12, though so I'm thinking I might have to grind it up just a tiny bit to get her to eat it. Does that sound right or is that no good? What about eggshell....would that work?

Anyway, I'm delighted. In one week I went from four saying, "OH YAH!" and three saying, "Uh....not so fast" to all seven eating totally raw in seven days.

(And might I add, my animals eat better than I do now.)


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

Ur lucky. I still havent been able to convince my one cat raw is best. She refuses to eat it. I have tried coaxing, bribing, tough love..nothing. Sigh I wish I could get her to eat raw.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm so pleased for you, thats great. Actually, you should be raising your arms to the sky and praising the powers that be! Mine will eat a little raw chicken and Nutro. Full stop. I've spent a bloody fortune on upteen different tins of meat, kibbles, fish, anything to tempt her delicate taste buds, but forget it, how she survived in the shelter is beyond me. Reminds me, I've got 2 full bags of Orijen to take to the animal shelter, at least those cats will appreciate it.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

I tried to do raw as well with my kitties. They too were very picky. We went with blue wilderness (duck). Its grain free. They love it so much!
Plus the week we decided to switch they were all on sale for 12.99 a bag.


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

I still can't get our cat P.J. to warm up to raw. 

A friend of mine gave me some ground necks I might try again with him.

I wonder if putting it in a little baggie and floating the bag in warm water before serving would help?

I think I accidentally spoiled P.J. by warming up his canned food for him every day. OOPS.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

spookychick13 said:


> I wonder if putting it in a little baggie and floating the bag in warm water before serving would help?


That's how I got them to stick their noses to the food. I put the bag of raw goodness in to some warm water and let it sit there for a couple of minutes. I then served it up.

To get the others to eat raw--listen, stubborn cat didn't even want to eat the canned food, she only wanted kibble. I took their 24/7 buffet away--no more all day eating of kibble. I didn't even do that gradually, I just took it away the first day after breakfast, before going to work. 

When I got home from work, they were hungry. For two of them, I only needed a bit of canned food on top to get them interested and eat some raw. They didn't realize they were eating raw until it was too late.

For stubborn cat, I had to feed her canned food for a few days-she would not eat raw and don't even THINK about giving her any. I started by sneaking in one to two bite sized pieces of boneless/skinless chicken breast, buried deep within her bowl of canned food. 

The first time, she ate around it. (I was laughing maniacally...outsmarted by a cat.) The second time, she accidentally ate one piece and then again, she ate around the other piece.

Now, I knew you weren't supposed to have a cat go more than 24 hours without food but I figured they could miss breakfast a time or two and live. So, to get stubborn cat to do anything and to get the others off of the tiny bit of canned food, I did not feed them breakfast on the 4th, 5th or 6th day; they only got dinner. I did make the dinners bigger but it wasn't too much. This meant that by dinner time, they were truly hungry and not just eating to eat.

On the 4th and 5th days, I saw changes and stubborn cat ate pieces of her raw food that had been hidden in the canned. I guess she realized it wasn't so bad for her to go ahead and eat raw on the 6th day before I was ready to give her the bowl of food specifically for her.

They have to eat something. They cannot be fasted like a dog but they also need to actually be hungry if they are addicted to another food. I don't know how you all tried to get the cats to eat raw but give them what they want and hide tiny, bite sized pieces of raw, (start with only one or two small pieces), in their food...and I mean, HIDE them. If you do a good job of hiding it, they may find themselves eating a piece of raw meat before they are fully aware what is going on. They may spit it out, (need some coaxing cat did this a few times), but eventually they'll eat a piece or two. 

Then you just up the amount, very, very, very slowly until they don't realize there was a change and are eating raw. 

In my case, I know I was lucky. I've heard it can take months or even years to get a cat to go over to fully raw. The hard part of it is, you cannot withhold food from them, they have to eat. That makes the process take longer in some cases. I can only guess that it may be due to the fact that I have other cats and the need some coaxing cat and stubborn cat saw the others eating raw and just followed along...eventually. That very well could be why I was so lucky it didn't take so long.

I also do not expect them to embrace raw, full on, 100%. I figure I may have setbacks...it could have been a fluke. But I'm going to keep trying to give them raw first. If they don't eat it or don't eat enough, I'll have to give them canned food as well...BUT, even when I do give them the canned food, I am still sticking pieces of raw hidden in that canned food. 

Dinner is in an hour. We'll see what happens but no matter what, I'm not giving up. If they embrace it, you bet I'll be raising my arms to the sky and thanking the powers that be. I did that yesterday. If they don't, I'll keep at it because I know, they will do it even if they take a step back a couple of times.

P.S. It is frustrating to be logged out when I'm the middle of a reply. I've learned to "select all" and "copy" before hitting "submit reply" so when I have to log back in, I don't have to rewrite everything.


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

lol I tried everything you said on mine and nothing worked. If there was even a tiny spec of raw in her canned..she would turn it down


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

k9capture_16 said:


> lol I tried everything you said on mine and nothing worked. If there was even a tiny spec of raw in her canned..she would turn it down


Have you tried tuna? Sardines? Mackeral? Herring? I got some of those in a can, (spring water, not olive oil), and the cats were in to that. That is what stubborn cat was chowing down on the 6th day, some canned sardines and herring. 

I've also heard to try pouring some of the liquid from the canned fish or even some of the bloody water from the bag of raw over their canned food...or mix it in. 

Like I said, I have read where it can take months or longer for some cats to finally accept it. If you can, keep trying.


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

You're soooo lucky! I've been trying for two months with my kitties...no luck. They look at me like "What the heck are you thinking? Where is your _brain_?!"
I think they're addicted to kibble. I have them on canned food for breakfast and dry for lunch and dinner followed by a bedtime treat. I'm going to switch them slowly to homemade canned food for their breakfast then canned for all their meals. Then I'm going to hide raw oh-so-subtly in there and work it up to only raw. I'm hoping that works. *crosses fingers* 
Darn cats. They're so picky and don't realize I'm trying to do what's best for them.


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

LOL I have tried EVERYTHING...from canned fish, raw fish, cooked chicken (no bones obviously) raw with bone and without, beef, pork, turkey lol. Nothing she will eat.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

I think the first step is to wean them off of that dry food. If you can get them to eat canned food only, it will be a little easier (in most cases), to get them to eat some raw.

Something else I wanted to add as the cats are eating dinner right now:

I leave the food out for an hour. I put the towels down, I put seven bowls for seven cats down. The ones who want to eat right away will eat. The ones who want to take their time about it or start off with an attitude, will wait. 

Some will eat a couple of bites and walk off but if I leave it down, they come back.

For example, need some coaxing, (Blondie is her name) and stubborn cat, (Shadow), both tried to pull that, "I'm only eating two bites of raw today."

Fine. Suit yourself, but you're going to have to wait an hour before I even consider getting up and making you some canned food bowls.

And what happened? Within a half an hour, (after walking in to the bedroom, walking to the sliding glass door, running around the house, walking in to the living room, jumping up on the couch), they came back and started to eat the raw food again. We have just a little under a half an hour left before I pull the food up off the floor and back in the fridge.

At the moment, I am seeing three completely empty bowls, two bowls with under half the food left and two bowls with a bit more than half. I see most of two chicken wings consumed, three pulled out of the bowls and one on the floor, (off the towel...where it was dragged by none other than miss stubborn herself, Shadow), and one wing intact.

Only one cat didn't eat today...the older one so I may throw some fish at her later. Today's menu was tilapia, (from yesterday), some beef, (thin strip beef) and some beef heart. Top each bowl off with a chicken wing. 

Anyway, get them off the dry food first then work on the other stuff, would be my suggestion.


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

Mine is on canned food only...lol


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

PJ eats only canned as well, thankfully. I have given him canned mackerel and sardines, and he's cool with that.

I will keep trying on the ground chicken necks, I'll soak the baggie in water, etc.

Thanks for the tips.

Silly kitties.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

spookychick13 said:


> PJ eats only canned as well, thankfully. I have given him canned mackerel and sardines, and he's cool with that.
> 
> I will keep trying on the ground chicken necks, I'll soak the baggie in water, etc.
> 
> ...


Hey, if he eats canned mackeral and sardines, you can do this. Today, for example, my oldest cat decided that the tilapia, organs and small amount of beef were not her thing so I opened a can of sardines, poured some of the spring water/sardine juice on her bowl of raw and added tiny bits of sardine to the top. She ate. She didn't eat a lot but she ate.

I would suggest trying some boneless meat, cut in to chunks first before doing the bone. (Someone may chime in and tell me all the reasons I'm wrong, I'm certainly not an expert on this, I'm only sharing what worked and to me, getting them to eat raw was most important...once I get them eating that and stop asking for the canned or kibble, then I can worry about what order to feed what.) 

I started off with skinless/boneless chicken cut in to very small pieces. I believe the first time I used sardines or herring from the can, (in spring water only), they all ate it, even the stubborn one. For times when they're being picky, try some of the juice from the can and little bits of fish on top...see if that gets them to eat some raw.

Again, I'm not an expert, just sharing what worked for me. And this is not to say it will work for everyone. Just like dogs, all cats are different.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Hey spookychick, I just read on a website about tricks and tips to getting cats to eat raw that one thing you can try is organic cat nip.

I have some cats that won't even consider the chicken wing, (I know they really just started and I'm not expecting over night miracles here), but I think I'm going to give that a try. I have some catnip around here and they are insane for it every time I open that drawer....so maybe it will work getting them to accidentally gnaw on some chicken bones. 

But I thought of you and thought maybe that's something else you might want to try--sprinkle some catnip on top and see if they find themselves eating a bite or few of raw. (They also mentioned trying some Parmesan cheese....hey, what the heck, right?)

I'll try it tomorrow night and let you know how that went...if you read this by then.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

One thing to consider w/ cats is food temperature. I have one cat that won't teat food just out of the fridge. I have to run warm water over it for about 2 minutes to warm it up some. If it's room temp, no problem. The other cat will eat regardless of food temp.


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

SerenityFL said:


> Hey spookychick, I just read on a website about tricks and tips to getting cats to eat raw that one thing you can try is organic cat nip.
> 
> I have some cats that won't even consider the chicken wing, (I know they really just started and I'm not expecting over night miracles here), but I think I'm going to give that a try. I have some catnip around here and they are insane for it every time I open that drawer....so maybe it will work getting them to accidentally gnaw on some chicken bones.
> 
> ...


Awesome, keep me posted. PJ does indeed love the catnip.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

The outcome of my experiment with catnip sprinkled on top of raw like a seasoning:

The older cat didn't eat the chicken bone but she tried so I consider that a success. She still has to work up to bones but the fact that she tried tells me it can work.

The stubborn cat also stuck her nose in the food with the catnip. (She'll eat raw but I can tell she's still wanting the canned food so she'll take her time, eat a few bites and then try to wait me out. I may have to give in because while she IS eating, I don't know if she's eating enough. But the catnip did interest her.)


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

I ended up having to buy a meat grinder and making mixes for my cats. Right now, we're still adding in canned food. The last batch I made was probably 75% raw and 25% canned. I'll be making another batch in a few days and I'll only add in one can. When I run out of that batch in a few weeks I'll make another of 100% raw, no canned. If they eat that successfully, I'll make the next batch very coarse. From there, I'll add in smaller chunks and then gradually increase the size of the chunks. Eventually we'll get to whole pieces....hopefully. 

My cats would not eat raw no matter what tricks I tried, and I tried them all! I started to get worried about a couple of them so I decided to let them set the pace. Less stress on them, less stress on me, and I know they're eating the amount they should be. I also like doing it this way because I know they're getting their organs. 

One of our cats, the cat my boyfriend moved in with, would NOT touch raw food no matter how much canned I added. If I put a teaspoon of raw in a bowl of canned he'd refuse to eat. Over a few weeks he lost way too much weight. I made the decision to keep him on high quality canned food. Not ideal, but it's better than crappy cat kibble.


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## k9capture_16 (Aug 23, 2010)

Well I bought some chicken wings in a last ditch attempt for mine. I will try them tonight warmed up using warm water and see if she will eat


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

k9capture_16 said:


> Well I bought some chicken wings in a last ditch attempt for mine. I will try them tonight warmed up using warm water and see if she will eat




You might want to try cooking the meat and then cooking it less and less in an attempt to eventually get them to eat it raw. That's what I'm currently doing and so far it's working....


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

RachelsaurusRexU said:


> I ended up having to buy a meat grinder and making mixes for my cats.


Rachel, I may end up having to do that for the older cat. Not because she wont' eat raw, she will....if I put fish on top...but I watched her the other night, very closely and discovered something.

She hadn't really eaten much of the raw I gave her and I, too, was thinking she's losing weight and I don't want it to be that fast so I made her a plate of canned herring. It's easy to smoosh that up in to smaller pieces.

I took her to my room, on to the bed and I sat next to her while she ate. I noticed, she doesn't really know how to chew. She was using her tongue like a little scoop and didn't seem to know what to do with the typical "bite size" pieces.

After she was done, there was still herring left on the plate so I called each cat up, one by one, and let them have a bit. I watched them closely as well and they all know how to pick up the bite size piece and put it in to their mouths and chomp on it. 

I'm beginning to think that the kibble she's had all this time was easy for her to scoop up with her tongue, such tiny pieces they are, and she's never learned how to actually pick up a "real" bite size piece.

Today they had pork, (holy cow what a hit that was! I couldn't fill up the bowls fast enough!), and even right now she's trying to eat it. I cut hers up in tiny, tiny pieces but I think I'm gonna have to grind it and then work her up in to bite size pieces.

I have no idea how much meat grinders are but I sure hope they aren't expensive. Thanks for the idea.


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

It works very well for my cats. You want to make sure you really look into a grinder before you purchase it. Most can't handle bone and even attempting to do so voids the warranty. This is the one that I bought, and it works great! Tasin TS-108 Electric Meat Grinder:eer::Venison::Home Use::RAW:et Food Makin It's the cheapest grinder I could find that will grind bone without a problem and a lot of people who use it bought it specifically for grinding pet food. Check out the reviews! 

Good luck!


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

SerenityFL said:


> Rachel, I may end up having to do that for the older cat. Not because she wont' eat raw, she will....if I put fish on top...but I watched her the other night, very closely and discovered something.
> 
> She hadn't really eaten much of the raw I gave her and I, too, was thinking she's losing weight and I don't want it to be that fast so I made her a plate of canned herring. It's easy to smoosh that up in to smaller pieces.
> 
> ...



I think this is Penny's problem! She always tries to lap food up. If she has to try and chew bigger pieces she looks at me and walks away. She just doesn't know how to eat small chunks of meat. She will, however, eat tiny pieces of raw meat if she's hungry enough and even then she chews oddly and takes a while to eat. I guess it will be a slow, slow transition for her.


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