Raw feeding

[Topsy Turvey]

Thanks for that Gillian.  Am going to give it a try.  Will let you know if they take to it!

[Gillian Harvey]

Gillian

Can you help?  My clan are fed dry food (they don't touch wet).  I am a bit hesitant to feed them raw as I have been told time and time again that persians have sensitive stomaches.  What do you think?  Should I give it a try?  Would appreciate your expertise.

Its right that Persians are particularly sensitive to the carbohydrates in most commercial foods (especially dry! but also wet foods that contain cereals, grains etc) - which is why a raw diet suits them better really. All my persians did really well on raw, once I'd changed them over gradually. They had previously been fed dry only too - so I changed them over slowly to wet food (choosing one that didnt contain cereals etc) over a period of several weeks, and then started introducing small pieces of raw meats to get them used to working their teeth and jaws - moving on to bigger pieces, then slowly introducing a balanced homemade recipe, and then bones.

So if you make changes gradually its fine for their tummies - have a look at the links I posted earlier in this thread and see what you think - if you need any help just give me a shout!

[Topsy Turvey]

Gillian

Can you help?  My clan are fed dry food (they don't touch wet).  I am a bit hesitant to feed them raw as I have been told time and time again that persians have sensitive stomaches.  What do you think?  Should I give it a try?  Would appreciate your expertise.

[Millys Mum]

Im not a regular wing giver like Gillian as i always forget to get them out the freezer 
The books i read say a couple of times a week is good

[Gillian Harvey]

I give them couple of times a week, but as MM said, you might want to start off with cubes of raw meat, as some cats have to work up to tackling bones!

[Maddiesmum]

MM how many do you give and how often?

[Team Svartalfheims]

However Jess would never have eaten it anyway he won't eat cooked chicken let alone raw, and our vet would rather Jess was kept on urinary food.

You'd be very very surprised. Mine won't eat most meat cooked (chicken is the only one they eat cooked) but will kill for raw meat. Slightest whiff of raw steak and they are  Mine ignore raw chicken wings though so they only chew bones when they have chicks and mice or on the odd occassions they have a rabbit.

[Millys Mum]

As long as the wings are raw they are ok  I started my lot off on small pieces of raw chicken, gradually increasing size until they were happy chewing,i then gave them the tip of the wing and worked up. Some are happy to start straight on wings but my lot had to be taught how to chew their food like they are designed to. Milly and Tabitha are still not impressed with the idea tho 

Charlie would probably love them

[Maddiesmum]

You know the chicken wings - how many do you give and how often?  Are there any problems with the bones?  Would like to give them a try with Charlie

[sheryl]

My Benglies are on raw meat.

[Millys Mum]

Have you tried 'accidentally' dropping a sliver of raw chicken, always works for milly 

Interesting what your behaviourist said about raw feeding, the books iv read always go for a dry diet so they can have access to food 24 hrs and its easy to hide for bored cats.
My lot are yet to try rabbit, the butcher never has any in when   i   my mum goes in

[Gillian Harvey]

His such a funny thing, he wo't touch meat even when we leave it out, he wants either his food, milo's food, cheese or tuna

LOL! I can relate to the cheese thing - mine would kill for a bit of cheese! 

[Leanne]

However Jess would never have eaten it anyway he won't eat cooked chicken let alone raw, and our vet would rather Jess was kept on urinary food.

I think you'd be surprised Leanne - he'd probably have your hand off for raw! Raw diet is actually the best diet to feed cats with urinary issues - as its what a cat would naturally eat and keeps urine at the correct pH. Mine quite like raw rabbit, I've got it from Worldsway before, http://www.woldsway.co.uk/  but their favourite is turkey.

His such a funny thing, he wo't touch meat even when we leave it out, he wants either his food, milo's food, cheese or tuna

[Gillian Harvey]

However Jess would never have eaten it anyway he won't eat cooked chicken let alone raw, and our vet would rather Jess was kept on urinary food.

I think you'd be surprised Leanne - he'd probably have your hand off for raw! Raw diet is actually the best diet to feed cats with urinary issues - as its what a cat would naturally eat and keeps urine at the correct pH. Mine quite like raw rabbit, I've got it from Worldsway before, http://www.woldsway.co.uk/  but their favourite is turkey.

[Leanne]

Our behaviourist wanted us to raw feed Jess rabbit and chicken, but I wasn't happy about it, (I have real issues with raw rabbit)

However Jess would never have eaten it anyway he won't eat cooked chicken let alone raw, and our vet would rather Jess was kept on urinary food.

A lady at work raw feeds her dogs though and swears by it, I don't have any links though - sorry!

[Gillian Harvey]

Heres some good links about raw feeding:

http://rawfedcats.org/

http://catinfo.org/  (this one is written by a vet)

Raw chicken wings are good for the teeth (Sainsburys do organic ones now) and large cubes of raw meat are great for jaw action and teeth!

I used to feed only raw, but due to very poorly finances recently  I've had to return to good old Whiskas supermeat, but still feed chicken wings for their teeth, and a couple of days a week of raw.

[madasacatter]

I am sure someone has mentioned it on here before, but as Charlie has been for his "dental" today, and he is not a good traveller  I wondered about converting some of them to raw feeding.  But when I mentioned it to our (new) vet at the practise, he said that animal feeds have been invented, because everything is in it and there is a chance that some bones might get lodged in the intestine.

I would also like to try with the dogs too, currently feed Burns.