I am trying switching to raw, sphynx doesn't eat

[SuperLisk]

She just smells it and doesn't eat even though she must be hungry. Should I feed her other stuff or wait until she is "forced" to eat it?

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Unfortunately you can’t really force a cat to eat something they do not find palatable. Fun Friday Cat Fact of the Day 5-20-22

The certainly can be stubborn when it comes to what they like and don’t like. @SuperLisk I know our one girl is even picky about the texture of her wet food.

 

[Yoda mom]

@SuperLisk , hugs, many years ago I tried raw was as no go.. absolutely refused. so switch to kibble and wet canned.

members will surely chime in @Xandria , @Condo commando and others

 

[Auraleigh]

Mine would not touch regular raw chicken so I switched my girl to a brand called instinct raw. It is a frozen cat food that is thawed before serving. When I prepare it I run it under lukewarm water till it is fairly thawed and then I mash it wish a fork inside the bowl. She loves the chicken flavor but is not too fond of the rabbit. Sometimes she turns her nose up to it and other times she is fine with it. I noticed that both of my cats get fuller from smaller portions resulting in quite a bit of weight loss. Hopefully a suggestions close to raw helps you find what works best for your cat!

 

[SuperLisk]

Does it help to not feed her anything else and wait until she is hungry enough to eat the raw?

 

[Catzzzmeow]

I personally wouldn’t take that approach. Rule of thumb is feed them the highest quality food they like and tolerate and you can afford. It isn’t fair to them to force them to eat what you want them to eat and them not enjoy it. They rely on us to provide the best care and joy…imagine you eating something you don’t like only because it is all you have. They are dependent on us for love, affection, care and nutrition.

 

[Yana and Osiris]

I prepare raw meals (meat/yolk/vegs) once a week. Speaking or raw meat, i first scald it so it's hot enough to kill possible bacteria but still raw inside. Osiris loved chicken but wasn't pleased with raw beef on the first sight, here is my workaround, I added some of wet cat food gravy and he licked his bowl clean. To prevent angry comments like "don't force your cat" , he does love beef, that was anew to him, now he is crazy about it without any gravy mixed in.
Some live on dry food or canned food exclusively. All options work here. Just like us, humans, we have preferences, intolerances and allergies. You don't have to force your cat. I started raw feeding him now and again, when our breeder told us it's good for nutrition. Plus I don't trust food brands, they be changing formulas. But it's just my opinion. I just feel like my cat needs them real vitamins sometimes. I'm experienced with mainecoon cats and other breeds, so I imagine it's same for bald ones.

 

[SuperLisk]

I got a new sphynx baby kitten and she does eat the raw food, my older baby sometimes joins her and eats some of it but only the poultry raw stuff. The younger baby may help my slightly older baby to go full raw soon

 

[Yana and Osiris]

Any reason why you want to stick to raw feeding may I ask?

 

[Cydney]

Hi! I found a great site for transitioning to raw. I will link it as soon as I find it. But pretty much, if sphynx baby is on kibble get her to wet by doing 75%dry 25%wet for 3 days, next 3 days do 50%dry and 50% wet. Also you need to start getting him/her on feeding schedule. You can find out how much your baby should be eating based off age and the back of a can. Then 75% wet and 25% dry and eventually all wet food. Once they are off of dry food and onto wet. Feed them this for 2 weeks at least! Then! You can chop up tiny pieces of a white lean meat such as chicken breast, turkey thigh, rabbit.. but I am talking like 2 pieces and mix that in the wet food. Do this for again 3 days.. and then slowly keep adding one piece at a time. You can go as slow as your cat needs. Make sure the wet food is completely covering the pieces and also don't put too much wet food out where she chooses how much she eats. Give her a small portion so she will eat the whole thing. Over time , you will eventually get her to get used to raw meat and can get her to just raw meat. As soon as she is eating ONLY raw .. is when you need to start adding something like alnutrition, high quality salmon/sardine oil (not Cod)


Hope this is helpful and I will be linking all my info in a bit

 

[Cleopatra Beers]

Cleototally refused to eat raw food of any kind. Marcus came to us on raw, but it was a raw chicken diet. I had gotten really sick about a year before that with a nasty bacteria, campylobacter, that almost killed me. It grows in raw and undercooked chicken. So between Cleo’s refusal, and my not wanting to risk another infection, we only feed cat food that's either canned or dry.