We've started raw for our 2 kittens...

[JenFid]

Hey everyone!

So yesterday was the first day both Mulder and our Maine Coon girl Ponzu had raw food for each meal (morning around 7am, home from work about 4:30-5, and before bed around 11pm). Throughout this week we've been doing some raw, some wet, but leaving their kibble out during the day.
They both, and Mulder especially, were eating their wet food really well, so we took the kibble away, hopefully no free feeding while we're gone will make them more pliable to eat their raw

I am getting our raw from a local pet food raw specialty store. It's all locally sourced and ground/froze right on site. I chatted with the gal there, she suggested to start them on a raw/cooked mix and transition out the cooked bit by bit (they do cooked meals there too). So I left the store with a pound each of cooked and raw turkey and chicken, and she gave me a bunch of 1 ounce samples of different meat (rabbit, elk, beef, pork, quail, even cornish game hen!).

I made a handy little feeding chart that has each cat's total oz eaten for each meal, and then a grand total for the day. Hubby weighed Ponzu last night and she was 5lbs, Mulder wast just at 4lb at the vet last week.

So what I've noticed is Mulder doesn't eat huge amounts like I've heard some of your kittens, with 12-16 oz a day! Maybe he's just not 100% used to the raw yet? So far yesterday and this morning he generally eats 1.5-2 ounces each meal. I had him at just over 5oz for his total yesterday, while Ponzu was over 7oz.
We are enticing them both by sprinkling a bit of lysine on top and also crumbling and mixing in their favorite freeze dried chicken treats. This morning we mixed some of their wet food in since the turkey hasn't quite defrosted yet (hubby confirmed he at about 1.5oz). We will probably start the turkey tonight for their evening meal.

Any tips or advice? For only eating 5ish ounces Mulder doesn't act like he's starving or hungry. He just turned 13 weeks yesterday. Should I maybe try to add in an extra feeding between their evening-night meals? Or is that a normal amount to eat for a kitten not going through a growth spurt? Most guides say kittens should eat 5%-10% of their body weight but then I see some here feeding what's almost 25% I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right!

We do love the raw, with the Royal Canin they were both on, it was always immediately apparent when they used the litter box...last night we didn't notice one smelly poop!

 

[Calicocious]

Sounds like you're on the right track. Not free feeding is a good start and the sooner you eliminate the kibble the better. Let them guide you for how much you're feeding them. Keep an eye on weight and as they go through a growth spurt they'll want more food. Each cat will be individual in what's right for them.

 

[MollysMom]

You said that he is eating wet food too in addition to the raw? I would see what you can get him to eat, maybe give him wet food with the raw and see if he eats a larger amount. 5 oz isn't that much, I just remember that mine were eating closer to 10 oz at that age.

 

[JenFid]

I did mix in some of his wet and that encouraged him to eat more. Ponzu is taking better to it, she ate about 9oz yesterday with nothing mixed, he did closer to 6 this time. It seems adding in a mini 4th feeding helps too so I'll keep doing that. I'm tracking his weight as well. He had a nice full tummy after last night's meal, hopefully he'll keep warming up to it

 

[Xandria]

Are you warming the food, by the way? Some kitties find cold food a little hard on their tummies.

Don't give up though. It'll get there!

 

[JenFid]

He didn't ever have problems with his wet from the fridge, but I have been putting in a small splash of hot water and mixing it up to take the edge off.
We'll keep at it!

 

[MelissaAlice]

I didn't think that pork was good for kitty bellies .. someone correct me if I'm wrong?

Elfie is 3 years old, and she eats about 5.5oz a day.
Toothless is closer to the ages of your little ones, but she's being very picky about the whole raw switch thing ...

 

[JenFid]

I heard that as well. The pork was actually cooked, the little sample things they gave me were only a couple oz each, so they each had half mixed in with their wet. No stomach upsets that I've noticed so far. I wouldn't have bought it for them but figured the small sample might be interesting.

So we blew through the 4lbs of cooked/raw chicken and turkey, plus the little samples, and that was including the wet we were mixing in. I think Ponzu liked the turkey better, Mulder didn't seem excited by one more than the other, except maybe the quail, but we're talking almost a $4/pound difference, lol.

We're all out now though so it's back to wet until tomorrow, I think I will buy a 5lb tub of chicken. You can order in bulk there and it's much cheaper, so I think my next experiment will be bulk turkey with alnutrin mixed.

They're eating well enough that I feel confident sticking with it. @MelissaAlice are you doing anything special to convince Toothless?

 

[MelissaAlice]

I've tried adding things and taking them away.
I've tried cold, warm and hot.
I've tried mixing it with wet, if the mix is too heavy on the raw she touch it.
I've tried broth, no broth and everything in between.

I'm very frustrated!

 

[JenFid]

Oh no, sounds like you are having a lot more problems than me! Since we were temporarily out, they got just wet food for their early evening meal and Mulder wolfed an entire can @_@ I picked up some ground turkey and mixed it up with a sample pack of Alnutrin and gave that to them for their night time meal. They seemed to like it ok, but he only ate about an ounce this morning, then another ounce of just wet.

He's only been with us 2 weeks this Thursday, but there's no question he's settled in. Maybe I should just keep mixing the wet for a bit longer - we use Life's Abundance which they both seem to really like (no more Royal Canin for sure).
I thought kittens were supposed to be easy!

 

[Calicocious]

It can be a challenge getting them on raw. I keep Stella and Chewys freeze dried raw on hand in case I run out instead of wet food. Once they have canned again it can be hard to get them to go back to raw. Whatever they add to the canned is just too tempting!

 

[JenFid]

Oh that's a good idea! I'll have to look into that. We are planning on keeping wet food on hand in case of emergencies/power outages etc, but freeze dried would be great too.
He's doing a bit better, eating a lot more with each feeding with the wet/raw turkey mix. He also likes to break up his meals...he'll eat some, then leave, lick himself, and come back about 5 minutes later, so I've learned not to pick up the bowl right away. We'll just keep reducing the amount of wet until they're both off completely.

 

[Xandria]

Wet = crack LOL

I keep meaning to pick up some Stella and Chewys for our emergency kit. Hubby and I have a month's worth of emergency freeze dried food and water (extra for Max), but I keep forgetting to top it off with food for Max!!! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Calicocious]

A good backup to have on hand. Even one or two meals of wet is enough to bring back the stinky poo! And hard to get them back on raw again, wet=crack alright lol