Good day everyone,

Looking for advice regarding feeding portions for a cat purely on a Primal raw food diet.

I have a 4 yr old bengal (Bailey) who was on a wellness wet food diet before the switch. Our routine used to be a 5.5 oz can in the morning and a 3 oz can in the evening. Based on the nutritional guidelines, that amounts to roughy 253 calories daily. That seemed to work for us and she maintained a weight of 9.5 to 10 pounds that my vet advised.

After numerous attempts and trying new food, landed on trying Primal (Freeze Dried Chicken/Salmon which I mix with warm water to rehydrate) and she loves the stuff. I read that 3.5 nuggets (1 oz) amounts to 161 calories, so I was thinking that 5 to 6 nuggets daily would do the trick in terms of maintaining the same caloric intake she had while on wellness. That said, she has been more vocal than usual wanting more and I am not sure whether it's under-feeding or greed for morew. I don't want to overfeed her but, at the same time, I don't want her to starve. I upped her to about 7/8 nuggets and she still wants more. Anyone have experience with this product and what would be suitable?

I did read in one of the forums on here regarding raw food feeding that 2.5% to 3% of her weight in food would be an ideal daily target. This would be about 3.8 oz translating to 13 nuggets (ie 1 oz = 3.5 nuggets) which seems a little too much.

I have reached out to my vet and am waiting for a response. While waiting figure that I would ask the forum.
Any thoughts/experience/advice on the matter would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

The vast majority of cats will eat until they are full and walk away. If your kitty is still asking for food, you may have to give in and feed a little more. I have never gone by calories for my kitty! He has dry food out at all times and usually gets 2 - 3 oz cans of wet food during the day. But, he lets me know when he wants more wet food. My boy is long and lean, weighing 12.8 pounds. Any time you change a diet, you will have to adjust the amounts. I think sometimes cat owners overthink the situation. Don't hesitate to fill the needs of your kitty to eat. If you see the weight piling on, then cut back -- but with this food, she may need more. Females usually weigh 10 to 12 pounds -- so she may even be underweight a little.

You are being extremely diligent, I give you props for that. I have to question the assumption though of the 9.5 to 10 pounds thing though. Unless your bengal is under-sized, that seems really light for a male bengal!!

Anyway, if it were me I'd loosen up a little. One thing I've always noticed about raw food is that my cats have shown a bunch more energy after eating a raw meal, and are more likely to get the "zooms" and start quickly burning it off. Also, because of the composition of the food, it seems reasonable that he would handle it differently, namely that there are zero fillers in the primal raw food. I think the problem you have is a great one to have (that your bengal really really likes his food, and it just so happens to be arguably one of the best foods nutritionally for him).

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The little monsters 3

Thanks Sherry. Thanks Brianj12. Appreciate the response

The vet seemed to think that 8 - 12 pounds for a bengal female would be ideal. Though I have seen, as you had noted, they should be in the 10-12 pound range. At her recent vet visit, she was at 9.8 pounds and recently at home I have measured her at about 10 and change. She seemed content with the portions she was having when she was having wellness and maintained the weight so we figured she was about right. That said, I am sure she will not complain if she gets more raw food. As suggested, I'll probably up her portions a little and adjust if I notice significant weight gain and taper accordingly. Also seeing the same, she has an extra zip in her step and is perching on high bookshelves and chilling out after meals. She does do that from time to time but more so now.

I did have a quick follow up though. On her prior diet, she used to poop once every 2 days reliably. I had weened her in a little (about a week) to the new food by mixing it in with what she had but she picked up quickly that she just liked the new stuff and was refusing to eat the mixed in food. So I moved her over to purely commercial raw (ie Primal) Sunday. I did notice poop on Monday but nothing since then. So this would be the third day and it has worried me a little. Visiting the vet to be sure nothing is amiss this afternoon. Is this something that you have experienced?

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The little monsters 3

I would probably feed her more and keep an eye on body condition. When I first started feeding raw I would weigh everything out, but now just eyeball, and adjust to circumstances.

And when on raw my cats (and dog) do have less poo.

Every cat has an individual digestive system. Most cats will poop once a day (mine does). Occasionally, they may skip a day. It's not uncommon! However, if the kitty goes 3 to 4 days without a poop and has been eating properly, then there could be some obstruction that is preventing their going. A visit to the vet is always recommended when something isn't quite right with your kitty. Know that if you change the type of food, the digestive system goes into a tailspin sometimes -- but still, your kitty should be pooping regularly. Solid waste staying in the body can become toxic to kitties. Do not give your kitty any type of human stool softeners, etc. Only your vet can recommend what you might safely use in a case like this. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks all. I did take her to the vet and he tells me that she was not constipated and that perhaps there was less filler in the food and it was taking a little longer for her to poop. He had suggested I add pureed pumpkin to her food. When I tried she was not interested in the food. Will try again.

The good news is that she did do poop shortly after the vet visit and did go again afew days ago. I'll be keeping an eye on her though to be sure that this is not persisting as we move along.

Know you can also find feline probiotics. You need very little pumpkin for a kitty, so don't overdo it. Happy to hear your baby wasn't constipated.