Switching cat to raw?

[Chelsea]

I know I havent been around much lately, life has been busy... Im only a few months away from graduating, and Ive been trying to find a job, plus we are trying to find a new house.... So theres lots of stuff going on.

Not sure if anyone remembers, but my mom hated the whole "raw diet" thing becuase she thought it was gross and that there was no need to feed them that because all the cats she had were fed cheap store brand kibble and they were all "healthy".
Recently, her favorite cat's (Simba) mouth started looking weird. His lip kind of stuck in and his bottom tooth went out over it.
I looked at his teeth, to find that he had lost one (right fang).
I showed my mom the missing tooth, plus all of his other teeth which are disgustingly dirty and nasty looking. So caved in, and said that she'd be willing to give raw diet a shot with him. Yes, hes going to the vet anyways to get the tooth checked out.

So, from what Ive heard switching cats is much much harder than switching dogs. Ive switched 1 dog and 3 ferrets total now, so I have some expericence with it, but Ive never fed raw to a cat.

A little about Simba...
Hes aprox 10+ years old, we've had him since he was a kitten.
He is an indoor/outdoor cat, is VERY overweight, and has been eating Friskies and store brand cat food his whole life.
One advantage, he does like raw hamburger. Whenever anyone is cooking or if the ferrets or Bailey are having raw hamburger we always save a little chunk for Simba to eat. He really seems to like it, so I think that might help a little with the switching process.

Anyone have any advice to help me switch him?

[luci]

It's basically the same idea switching a cat as it is a ferret. Be sneaky. Only change one sense at a time: feel, smell, taste. Cats usually tolerate less bone than a dog or ferret, so think more 5-7% bone than 10%. If she'll eat ground hamburger, great! Start there, start mixing in some other ground meats, after a while start introducing some minced meat, then all minced meat, then a few chunks, then all chunks, etc., etc. Don't go any faster than kitty is willing to and be prepared to take a step or two backwards if you have to. Use a towel, place mat or plate to feed on. Kitties don't like eating out of bowls and this is especially true when feeding raw. Follow her cues. Give her privacy to eat if that's what she wants or stay in the room if she wants company during meals.

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Ask away!

[kaiatbh]

I was actually thinking about switching my kitties to raw. I gave them some raw ground hamburger yesterday and they ate it up.... and then wanted more! I'm going to try them on some other meats soon. With my luck, ground hamburger is the only raw meat they like

[Heather]

Think positive
ciao

[sereena]

I know this is "late" but I just joined. FYI to any others reading this.
We have cats..LOTS of cats..we farm so need them plus people seem to think unwanted kitties can be dropped off anywhere! (please spayed or nuter your cats and dogs!)
Anyways. A friend in the city wanted to start feeding his cats "raw." He started hunting and he wanted to use the deer meat to feed his dog and get the cats on it. The dog was A O K! with it. The cats..not! LOL Now our dogs and cats have always been quick to get onto raw as that is what they get most of the time. We spoil them too and if we are bar-b-q ing (we do it with wood) I cut roast or steak into 1/8 to 1/4 lb pieces, cook it on both sides, put in a pail of water to cool and hand it out!
Anyways, I told my friend to get "pig intestine" from a butcher. braid it and tie a 2 inch long and 1/4 inch thick piece of meat to it and while locking the cats in the bath room with him, "drag" the meat along the floor. (there is no carpet in there). Cats usually like to chase things. this gets the cats going ( I told him to drag their favorite toys first). Cats grab and you try to pull the meat from it. Well, puss-puss` wants that toy! (piece of meat). Nature sets in and growl growl..it was all he could do to hold the "meat toy" on the 12 inch intestine (braided..which I had to do) cord. The thing with the "cord" is they can eat it if they want to and it not hurt them. Two days of just playing like this and puss-puss` wanted the meat in the bathroom and wanted it the second he dropped it in the bathtub.
His cats were 8 and 9 years old. : ) Only problem now is the cats will jump up on the cupboard and steal any type of raw meat! But he had always let them do that, jump on cupboard, only now they know what meat is! LOL
Boy I wish they spell check on reply!

[bluemoose]

This site also has great advice for switching a cat to raw plus other good info on raw diets for cats:
www.rawfedcats.org/practicalguide.htm

Jan 23, 2011 2:44:46 GMT -5 sereena said:

Boy I wish they spell check on reply!

What browser are you using? Firefox and Google Chrome have built in spell checkers.