Well, they played with chicken wings for a while but didn't eat any of them. I went to the butcher today and bought a pig heart and tongue. I cut up a bit of each but they just sniffed it and walked off. I have mixed it in with their food but they are not interested.

Is it worth me keep trying?

Lisa
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Is that all you have tried them with so far?

If so why don't you try with some Turkey mince or chunks, ours love that. Wings they might not really know what to do with and I doubt very much they will eat the offal like that. Often it needs to be finely chopped and mixed in. I would use Chicken, Lamb or beef offal personally.

Thanks Claire. I'll try that!

Lisa
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Jasper took to raw immediately, which be was on raw at the breeders but not a constant raw diet. BB on the other hand hated raw from the get go it took months to even get her to try it!! Once she did she ate a raw diet for almost two months and then wouldn't touch it! She turned to eating dog food and that was a huge ordeal to get her back onto regular cat food! I wouldn't be to pushy or try to rush them. I would find a good recipe and pop it down as a snack a few times a week. Once they start eating it you can start reducing other food and increasing raw. Do you have them on dry now?

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The little monsters 3

Bkilgore - they are on wet food not dry.

I will keep trying other raw foods. If they don't like it, hey ho at least I've tried!

Lisa
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Ok that's good I had to stop giving BB dry before she would ever touch it! It can be a hard transition fle them but I personally think its worth it! Jasper loves his raw food and will eat it as a treat a few times a week but he still prefers his dry and wet food too! I think its a delicate balance between the three but he has put on a lot of weight since giving him dry! He will just steal BB's if I don't give him some if you really want them on raw don't give up, you will find something that they like!

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I bought some turkey mince and they both had a tiny little mouthful then walked off. It's a start!

I'll keep at it!

Lisa
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Just thought I'd do a quick update on Rio and Chilli and the raw thing....

Well, they played with the chicken wings again but did chew some raw chicken before spitting out and starting again!! So I think they are getting a bit better....

I am picking up a pack of Nature's Menu Raw on the way home from work and will try them to see how they get on. Luckily the pet supplies store that ordered this in for me said I can just buy one 400g pack to see if they like it or not rather than have to buy the 6 x 400g.

I'll let you know what they think.

Lisa
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Hunter is about 5 months old now, and I've introduced him to the Natural Instinct frozen raw medallions. At first he wasn't too sure about it, but by mixing in a little at a time with his canned kitten food, he really started to like it! Now he jumps up on the counter and picks it out of all the other cat food dishes while I'm getting the 5 bowls ready for kitty meal time.

My other cats LOVE the stuff. Especially the venison. I just mix in about 1/2 a medallion along with their regular canned food for each cat.

It's not a total raw diet, but it's a start!

Glad your babies got over that TF and are thriving.

Well, the breeder was not too keen on a raw diet, and neither was my veterinarian . But by doing research and deciding the best for my kitties, I think it makes sense to try it! From what I've read, it is important to make sure that the cat's diet is balanced, including nutrients that they need other than just feeding plain raw meat.

My thought is that a raw diet is a more natural diet than processed canned food. After all, you never see a cat fire up a BBQ and cook their meal.

I also tried some freeze dried raw cat food. It comes in dried out portions and needs to have water added to rehydrate. It looks disgusting. I thought it would never go over well, but all of my cats eat it up and want more! Go figure!

Yes the key is making sure the raw diet is balanced properly. I have saved a raw recipe I found on a breeders website and plan on using that for when I get my Bengals sometime next year. This diet I want to use consist of 1/3 chicken (and bone), 1/3 organ meats (chicken livers, gizzards and hearts), 1/3 stew beef, can of 100% pure pumpkin for fiber and Kitty Bloom VM900+3 with Taurine which is the supplements and vitamins. (Everything is put through the grinder expect for the pumpkin and Kitty Bloom)

I have also read that if your going to feed raw that it should be frozen for a minimum of 3 days to kill any possible parasites and that if your raw is mostly ground, that a couple times a week you should give some cubes or stripes of beef or something like chicken wings or whole chicken hearts to give their teeth some exercise and also helps prevent gingivitis and tooth decay.

Try to sprinkle some FortiFlora or finely grated parmesan cheese on your raw food. Many cats find them very attractive, that can help them get started.
My vet also told me that ground rabbit is a good food for starting your cats on raw, if they won't do chicken or turkey right away (I didn't have this problem though). Rabbit is expensive though :(

-b