# Update on Tilly.



## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Okay, so we finally had some success!!!
We went to this pet store that I really like... really good prices. We bought a ton of different cans, Weruva, Holistic Select, Evo, natural Balance, Wellness, Chicken Soup, etc. 
We also picked up a different dry food as well since she didn't show any interest in the Science Diet the SPCA sent her home with. I was leaning towards Evo, Orijen, or Tase of the Wild when we went, but they had a special on Felidae Grain Free food... it was buy a bag of the Salmon formula, and get a bag of the regular formula free.. so we figured two varieties for the price of one fit the situation. 
Anyway, so we left and came home... and we took a plate and put some ground beef on it in little bits, broke up some sardines and put them in one corner of the plate, some chicken cut up into little pieces, and some tuna.
We also put some of the science diet in one bowl, and one bowl that had some of the Grain Free Felidae (not salmon, just regular) in it, and some (half of a 3 oz can) Natural Balance Duck and Sweet Pea mashed up in one side of it. 


Well, to our suprise she ate all of the wet food, and then started eating some of the felidae. We took most of the other half of the 3 ounce can and mashed some raw beef into it, and a tiny bit of the tuna and sardine into it. Not much at all, I knew I couldn't overdo it. She ate all of it! 
I'm so happy she's eating. There was a little tiny bit of the canned food left after that, so I mixed it up with the remaining Felidae as well as some of the tuna that was left, and we microwaved it for about 10 seconds, and left it up there for her. I don't care if she doesn't eat that, as she already ate enough. I'll go dump it in about an hour if she hasn't eaten it and try again in the morning. 


An all canned food diet is pretty pricey, so I think that we are going to be doing more ry food than we'd like for now. I'm thinking two small meals of canned morning and night, and try to turn that into to raw meals gradually. When we've got that down to being raw meals, we'll phase out the kibble in the afternoon. But this is OUR plan. Tilly might have other ideas...


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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

Great:biggrin: I'm really glad to hear she doing better and eating! I admire your dedication! Way 2 go!


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Yay that's great! An all/mostly canned diet is way better than an all/mostly kibble diet for sure! The best thing is that she's eating the canned with raw and fish in it, so that *might* make it easier to transition her to raw. Yay for Tilly eating! :biggrin:


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Okay, and as promised, here's some pictures of her. 






































And finally eating!

Yeah Rann, we are aiming for two of her three meals a day being canned, but using those meals to try to get her used to raw. She already ate some of it with some raw beef and canned tuna and sardines mixed in, which was much better than I had thought she would do. Is it terrible if she has some of the grain free Felidae though?


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

nah it's fine if she has some of the grain free Felidae as well. The thing with cats is that they aren't big water drinkers because in the wild, they'd get most of their moisture from their food. So when they only/mostly get dry food, they usually end up slightly if not severely dehydrated which can lead to other health problems as well. That's why it's good to feed them canned or raw food because it's got all that moisture in it, keeps those kitties hydrated!

Which cat forum did you join?


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Heres a great informative site that goes in depth regarding nutrition.
Feeding Your Cat   Know the Basi


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> nah it's fine if she has some of the grain free Felidae as well. The thing with cats is that they aren't big water drinkers because in the wild, they'd get most of their moisture from their food. So when they only/mostly get dry food, they usually end up slightly if not severely dehydrated which can lead to other health problems as well. That's why it's good to feed them canned or raw food because it's got all that moisture in it, keeps those kitties hydrated!
> 
> Which cat forum did you join?


That's what I've been reading, so I'm really glad she is taking to the canned food because the shelter said she's been eating dry only and she was there for a whole year.
This morning I gave her half a little can of Wellness 95% Venison, and probably about 30% ground beef and it was a success!! I hope I can trick her into eating pieces soon, but we're taking baby steps. 
She seems to only like "loaf" style canned food, rather than chunks and gravy style, which is slightly disappointing. 

I joined catforum.com but i'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hope. Which one did you join?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

CorgiPaws said:


> This morning I gave her half a little can of Wellness 95% Venison, and probably about 30% ground beef and it was a success!! I hope I can trick her into eating pieces soon, but we're taking baby steps.
> She seems to only like "loaf" style canned food, rather than chunks and gravy style, which is slightly disappointing.


Really glad to hear that she is eating, and raw mixed in is fabulous!

I would try doing as much canned sardines mixed in because they have bones included. Or canned mackarel if you can...bones are the hardest part of a raw diet for a cat.

"Loaf" style canned food isn't necessarily worse for them than the gravy and bits kind. It's all basically the same thing...just watch the ingredients and make sure she is getting as much meat as possible in her diet.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

danemama08 said:


> I would try doing as much canned sardines mixed in because they have bones included. Or canned mackarel if you can...bones are the hardest part of a raw diet for a cat.


She won't touch sardines or mackeral yet, but it is only day two of her eating, so we're just happy with the little progress we've made. I continue to offer it to her before each meal though. I can get away with mixing a little bit of the mackeral in but she won't eat the little pieces of bones in it. 




danemama08 said:


> "Loaf" style canned food isn't necessarily worse for them than the gravy and bits kind.


I know the loaf style isn't necessarily worse, it just seems like it woud be easier to get her to eat chunks of meat (our goal) if she were used to eating chunky food to begin with. Whereas right now we are only getting away with ground. I mixed ground beef in with her lunchtime meal and she ate it again, but left the little chunks of chicken i mixed in.


We are keeping the meat content as high as possible. We only bought higher quality cans to begin with, and add as much meat as we can get away with. tomorrow I'm going to try not mashing it up and mixing it so much and see if I can try to move her towards eating the raw meat without the canned... and from there, try to get her used to chunks. I'd be happier if she was eating all ground meat with a bone meal powder than try to work on her "chunk" issues on commercial cat food.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

I joined thecatsite.com . It's ok for the most part, I'm not nearly as addicted to it as I am this site, but it does get quite a bit of traffic.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I'll have to check out that forum.
Tilly went to the vet today. She's in good shape other than has really crummy gums. (but I thought kibble kept animals mouths clean? lol) I know that raw would fix this, but she wont take to it get so we had to get this stuff to rince her mouth twice a day, and she goes back in one month.
I think I actually like this vet though. He's not holistic, which I was hoping for a holistic vet, but he seems really down to earth and honest. A lot of vets would have pushed us into a full dental today, but he suggested trying something else first, and I don't get the impression that he's a money sucker. He also said that since we rescued her, there was no charge for the visit today, just paid for the mouth rinse. 

Ellie goes in on Monday and I am going to call and see if I can bring the other kids in, not for a checkup or anything, but just to make them a familur face.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

did you tell him about the raw diet for her?


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Maybe I'll check out that one you're on, a lot of the people on this one seem to all be ignorant dolts when it comes to nutrition or almost anything healthwise and it's starting to grate on my nerves. Some people on there are good raw feeders who actually know what they're talking about but they aren't very vocal and don't stand up for themselves :frown:


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> did you tell him about the raw diet for her?


He asked me what she was eating, and I told her that she is on a mostly canned diet, with some grain-free kibble, and we have hopes of putting her on raw. 

He didn't comment on the raw at all, positive nor negative, but he did comment about staying away from grains and "plant stuff" as much as possible. He gave us a small lecture on cat nutrition, he did mention keeping some kibble in the diet is good to clean teeth (which i don't agree with) but that canned should be as much of her diet that we can afford it to be (which outside of raw, we do agree with)

He's not perfect, then again no vet is, but at least he didn't lay into me for wanting to go raw, unlike grissom's old vet who thought lifetime antibiotics and steroids were a better option. At least if this vet doesn't agree with what i'm doing, he's not trying to change my mind. 
She goes back for a checkup in one month to see if her teeth are any better. *fingers crossed*

Ellie goes in on Monday for her new pet exam... I'm hoping she will be one of those cats who takes to raw right away, so I can maybe have a conversation with him about raw feeding and see where he stands on the topic.


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