Got some natural instincts raw food for my furbabies. Put it down and they sniff it and walk off. Daisy tried a bit but wasn't overly keen.

Have read suggestions on mixing hot water in with it to make it wetter so will try that.
But how would I go about slowly introducing it??

Daisy will eat natures menu pouches and I give her half a pouch four times a day right now. What ratio would you recommend that I mix natural instinct with natures menu?

Lilly is the hard one. She's more less only eating cooked chicken and grinded chicken wings. Don't know how to combine that!

I would really love to hear suggestions/recommendations.

Elaine I have tried Lilly on EVERYTHING! Natures menu but she went off that, hi life, but she went off that, felix as good as it looks as the breeders said she liked that, nope. Tried everything to no avail. She is starting to worry me!!

I'm trying raw because I think it's the only thing I can possibly get Lilly to eat. Even that I'm worried she won't. Daisy is still getting natures menu pouches.

To be honest this forum, especially this sub catagory is for tips and advice. That's what I came here for.

I'm not asking for tips and advice to change their food for the fun of it. I'm trying to do it with Lilly's best interest in mind. I'm actually getting sick of these forums and the negativity on here and feeling like everything I'm doing is wrong. I Know Lilly is not getting a nutritionally balanced diet, in fact I've posted about her eating before and what to do on that, I don't need the fact its not nutritionally balanced pointing out to me. But no I'm just a bad owner it seems in people's eyes.

I'm not stopping Lilly from what she wants to eat. I'm trying to introduce something that will give her all the nutrition that she needs!!!! Heaven forbid I actually put something down she hates, doesn't eat it and then starves!! Now wouldn't that just be responsible. In my eyes. Something is better than nothing.

Anyways i shall now remain as a 'browser' on these forums. I'm tired of being made to feel like everything I'm doing is wrong or that I'm a bad owner. Or I'm just stupid and irresponsible or don't have my kittens best interests at heart.

I would try mixing it in little by little with whatever they like. They may eat around it for a while but eventually they get used to it or give in and eat it.

For your difficult one, could you try maybe shredding or chopping the chicken into smaller pieces with the new food so she doesn't really have a choice but to get some of the new? I don't feed raw (I'm a vegetarian so dealing with meat like that is double EW! for me!) so I don't know exactly how well that would work, but I am not sure how much cats care about consistency as much as taste. That being said, if it were me, I would probably blend 50/50 old and new and then take some bigger chicken pieces and throw those in if that's what she like. I would only consider that as a temporary solution until they are ok with the taste of the newer food.

Maybe that helps?

Don't be discouraged about posting. I think that many of the more knowledgeable members on these things respond to posts assuming that the OP knows nothing about whatever the topic is and it sounds harsher than what it is meant to be. I am not making excuses or whatever, I am just saying that variety of people makes this sort of forum interesting and I hope you stick around. :)

It's hard to get it right, I am having issues at the moment with getting it right. I have tried different things, nothing too drastic change as I know this just upsets the stomach, I tried the raw recipe they were on, one didn't really like that, tried another recipe with a supplement, that was ok, tried it raw, then cooked, then a mix (but never to real success), then the original cooked, then the original without the vitamin b as the breeder said that is something they probably didn't like, it has been better, but not 100% yet, so am thinking the oils that I have in it is an issue...I am going mad with trying to get it right and like you don't want them to starve...but it's currently doing my head in! So I feel your pain, but don't give up, you will get it right (I find its harder with the two as they like different things ). I think as she likes the cooked chicken you could try mixing that with whatever you are giving and lessen the amount over time? Fussy little buggers.... Good luck!

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Owned by Neko and Cinder
And a little white dog named Kasey

with the amount of cat food i have around the house, you would think I'm getting ready to open up a shop!! It's so bad!

Lilly is picky and will only eat, cooked chicken, grinded chicken wings (her fave) and cooked fish. She will eat Applaws dry food but only if she has too. The fact I know she's not getting the nutrients she needs is scaring the **** out of me. I've found another raw receipe, ordered all the vitamins, E, B, Taurine and Fish Oil. Since it's mainly chicken based (thighs) I'm praying like you wouldn't believe, that she will eat it. I've had quite a few issues with her, since I've had her, and they think the majority of it is psychological as she has involvantury twitches, every test so far has come back fine, admittedly though she did cost me just shy of £500 the other week for more tests and still waiting on the results of those.

Vets gave me hills i/d to try as it's bland and she wont touch that either. Vets even recommended my trying adult food just so we know she's getting something more substantial, but no luck there either. We was kinda hoping that with Daisy here, her eating may change, but so far, no luck there either.

Right now I do not care how much money I spend buying/making food if at the end of it, I can finally find something that she will eat, where I know she's getting everything she needs.

I think I agree! I know how you feel! I tried EVERYTHING to get BB to eat raw and she just wouldnt! UNTIL.... I took a break from trying to get her to eat it! Then one day I gave it to her as a treat and she ate it So now she gets different wet foods for breakfast and dinner and she gets raw as a snack/treat a couple of times a week. The breeder we got Jasper from fed him raw so he is used to eating it! Which I think he would eat anything you put in front of him as long as its in a bowl! If it were me I would suggest getting the dry food she does eat and feed that to her for a few months. After she has started to eat it for a while then you can try to throw in a small dish of raw here and there and I think that will make her want it when she does get it! After that if you want to switch her to completely raw go for it. I will probably get some disagreements about this, but I dont see that it is a MAJOR deal if you dont feed raw. Yes I see the benefits of it but a cat can get what it needs from commercial food as well. I dont think it is urgent to get her on raw. I stressed myself so much over BB and her diet and it backfired on me! She went to where she wouldnt eat anything but dog food! That was a trip trying to get her to back onto cat food Finally I got her to eat whiskas cat food and that is still her favorite! She now gets a variety of wet food and I leave dry out now since we got Jasper cause he is a big pig! I really wish you the best of luck! I have been there with BB and I know how stessed it can make you! Another tip that might help, I got BB to eat raw at first by adding chicken broth in it. It was from canned chicken(for humans) I drained it and gave her the broth over the raw and she ate it! Maybe you can find something like that that she will like. I don't know what it is about that chicken but I can open it and my cats and dog come running!
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Lilly will just not eat ANYTHING unless its the three things mentioned above. She won't eat any form of wet food and she barely eats the dry food. Therefor going on the basis of what she does like (grinded chicken wings) I'm going to assume the only way to get the nutrients in her is to follow this receipe:

3 pounds of poultry thigh meat/bones/skin

or

2.25 lbs of whole carcass ground rabbit + 0.75 lbs of boneless chicken or turkey meat/skin/fat (see reasons above):

1 cup water (or, preferably, more if your cat will eat it with more water)

2 eggs - use the yolk raw but lightly cook the white

5000 mg fish oil (a good source of essential fatty acids - note that this is increased from the original amount of 2,000 mg - if your cat does not like fish, it is ok to use only 2,000 mg) Do NOT use cod liver oil!

400 IU (268 mg) Vitamin E (powdered E in capsules is the easiest to use)

50 mg Vitamin B-complex (capsules or tablets)

2,000 mg taurine (use powdered - either in capsules or loose)

3/4 tsp Morton Lite salt with iodine when using chicken but not when using rabbit (contains potassium and sodium - make sure that it contains iodine - see below for further explanation.)

For people living outside of the United States who cannot source Morton Lite Salt with iodine, use 1/2 tsp of regular salt (sodium chloride) with iodine.

Liver - If using ground rabbit (which includes liver) from wholefoods4pets.com, do not add additional liver. If using chicken legs, thighs or a whole chicken carcass minus the organs, add 4 ounces of chicken livers per 3 lb of meat/bones/skin.


All I have to do tomorrow is get the salt with iodine and the chicken and I'm going to the butchers to get that so I know she's getting good quality. Her twitching to me is getting worse, may be me paranoid tho with worry.

She had semi lost her appetite but I think this may also be due to the antibiotics she's on? Last day of them tomorrow but I've put food down and she actually followed me with the bowl ( think she's picked that up off daisy as she screams for hers haha)

I will get there! Can't believe she's 6 months old in 3 days time either

Oh wow! that is great! I hope she continues to eat it and is happy with it! Congrats to you for sticking thorough the rough!

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