Week 2 - July 17, 2008

Gross!!! Today is the next day of the "yucky stuff" otherwise known as offal (kidney, heart, liver). The cats have offal included in their raw feed twice a week and I must admit that when cutting up the offal, I actually do it with my eyes shut because the look of the offal makes me feel physically ill. It's a miracle that I have any fingers left. I even hold my breath as long as possible when cutting it up so I don't have to smell it!

Yet more good news, Amaretto has now joined the raw feeding brigade and that is wonderful, wonderful news. I can't help but think that raw is exactly what our little Rett Rett needs and it really did please me to see her start to eat it, and enjoy it, at the start of week 2.

At this moment in time, we are still doing 2 raw feeds per day and we still have biscuits left down 24/7 although I am noticing the biscuits do not have to be replenished as much as they previously did. We currently have the following cats who all eat the raw meals: Afrikoko, Tuaca, TP, Kamora, Frangelico, Ashanti, Izarra, Parsley, Amaretto, Amaro, Cointreau, (she was another late starter who didn't want to know until towards the end of week 1). Considering we are only halfway through week 2, I think this is a great result. I was expecting much, much more opposition.

Ashanti has enjoyed his raw so very much that even though it is still early days, I have now removed the biscuits from his kitten room. He is now fed 3 times a day. His breakfast is raw food, his lunch is a pouch of Natures Menu or Hi Life, and his dinner is yep, you guessed it, more raw. He is such a big, strong, muscular, yet elegant/lean boy and to be honest, I'm not actually sure how much of a difference the raw feeding will make with him. Mainly because from the moment he was born, Ashanti has been in perfect health all of his life and he has the softest, glossiest coat. I know however that the raw feeding will be much better for his teeth and jaws, and as the raw meat increases in size, he will start using every muscle in his body to try and devour the meat. As you can imagine, I will be monitoring him though for the next few weeks to ensure that he is retaining condition.

As for any possible changes that I'm seeing since raw feeding well.................stools belonging to the raw eating cats smell much, much better, coats that have previously been quite glossy are now glistening, there is a huge air of contentment after meal times, and I can truly say that activity levels have increased. Obviously, the cats who still will not touch the raw have had no changes whatsoever. I think Cacao will be the hardest person to convince. She even refuses to get out of the top bed in the triple bunk beds at meal times. She looks at the raw food, looks at me, and haughtily raises her head in the air as she turns her back on me and the food. Bless her, she'll change her mind one day :)

The only, absolute only aspect of this raw feeding that concerns me is whether or not the cats are getting enough taurine. Having gone off the taurine link that lists which animals and "parts" have the highest taurine content, I have made sure I am including a lot of these meats. I also found a few questions on online forums by pet owners who wondered this as well. It does feel as if I have the taurine content covered but I am keeping a close eye on all our raw eaters in case they should start having eye problems. Of course taurine, as a powder supplement, is available online and I do wonder if we should look at this as an extra precaution? For the time being though I want to give it another few months, wait until everyone is on the raw diet as by then, I will hopefully have worked out an extremely balanced feeding regime.

One other problem I have at this point in time is that I am not sure about the actual amounts. I have read that it must be approximately 15% to 20% of body weight in one week (2% to 3% per day). Herein lies my problem..........my maths totally, totally sucks. At the moment I'm not sure if I'm overfeeding or underfeeding. I know at the start I was overfeeding as there was so much left over that I then threw away because raw meat can only be left out for a certain period of time then it has to be chucked out due to bacteria issues obviously. Fortunately, I know what each of our cats weigh, so I will be speaking to my darling husband when he next has some free time and ask him to work out what the amounts should be per daily feed. Then again, pregnant queens and mummies need a much larger quantity but when that time comes I will be guided the same way I was with commercial food. If mummy is still hungry after eating, then I give her more, whereas future babies who will be weaned on raw will be given numerous small raw meals per day/night. A few web sites I came across suggest just once daily but honestly I couldn't, not in a million years. It has to be 2 or 3 times a day because I would just be forever panicking that the cats were starving.

Week 2 - July 19, 2008

Well no more new takers on the raw feeding yet unfortunately, still the same people eating it, although I was a bit concerned this morning that perhaps interest was waning slightly but I was wrong. They were just a bit slow getting started this morning.

I am definitely putting down way too much food in the respect that there is still quite a bit left over after each raw meal but I know this is because I am putting down enough for all of our cats yet only 50% of the household is currently eating the raw. It has been less than a fortnight though so I can't expect miracles just yet. Having said that I made the decision that if we didn't have at least 2 more raw eaters by the start of next week, I would try one of the methods that I read about online. This method suggest that if your cats are "grazers" i.e. if you leave biscuits down all the time, then this must be stopped and the cats must be put on set meals per day. Then...............once the cats are all used to their breakfast/evening meal, we can then start to mix raw in with the wet foods for those non raw eaters. That will possibly be the next step I think.

I am wondering how long the transition takes for the cats to go from eating the fleshy raw meats up to where they are able to eat chicken wings? Their teeth and jaws have never been put to proper use on a diet of biscuits, commercial wet foods and home cooked meals and I'm guessing it will take some time of tearing at the soft meat before their teeth are strong enough to cope with bones. Mind you, Ashanti is having no problems at all as I gave him a chicken wing last night and he managed to devour the entire wing, bones and all! He does however, have a very strong and powerful jaw.

Week 3 - July 22, 2008

End of Week 2 - July 23, 2008

Has it really only been a fortnight? It feels as if I have been battling with this raw feeding for so much longer and where are we now? Still just the 10 cats eating although Toussaint is showing much more of an interest now as well but that is because of the quail. For whatever reason, there is something about it that she loves and as I type this, she, Kami, and TP are all chomping on half a quail. (the other 2 birds are in the process of being mauled by the rest of the raw eaters).

Sitting here at the computer, whilst waiting for our dinner to cook, all I can hear is the crunching of bones by happy, contented, raw eaters who are just having the time of their life and it really is just a wonderful sound to hear, and a wonderful sight to behold as they tear into the meat.

Are there any changes in the raw eating cats? Still basically the same changes as at the end of the previous week although....................coats are even softer than ever particularly on cats such as Amaro and Cointreau, both of whom have always had slightly harsher coats compared to our main Oriental line. The other big change is teeth. I am suddenly seeing gleaming white fangs on our raw eaters and this was very apparent 2 nights ago when I was playing with the cats and Afrikoko wanted more attention so she was gently nipping my fingers and it was then that I noticed how much whiter (and sharper!) her teeth were. I then went and looked at the mouths of the other raw eaters only to find the same thing. But not only teeth.............wonderful, wonderful coloured gums that were strong and a gorgeous colour.

I have been "cheating" a little as well though in that I've also been offering raw mince to the cats (turkey and chicken again), despite some of the online reading saying that mince shouldn't be fed. Mainly because it does nothing for the teeth/jaws in the respect that for the cats to eat mince it is the same as the cats eating wet commercial foods i.e. it's very palatable and no chewing is involved. I am of the opinion though that so long as they are still getting one meal per day of meats/bones that they have to chew, then I don't see that one mince meal per day will do any harm? The thing is you see, that mince is more convenient in that it only has to be warmed up and believe me, there are days where I am just sick and tired of hacking away at raw meat <sigh>. I was saying to a friend recently that it is actually quicker to do the home cooked meals than it is to prepare the raw meals.

As it is still very early days, I think it's best to give it another week before making any more radical changes such as removing biscuits. I need to keep in mind that the raw foods must be a huge shock to our commercially fed fur kids and it is going to take some time before they all accept the feeding and perhaps it is best not to rush into it. Let's just see what Week 3 brings.............