Tips to Switch Felines to a Raw Meat Food

Caesar: Born 1999, pictured here in 2002. He was raised on a homemade raw meat cat food from 4 weeks of age.

I personally do not believe in fasting a feline to make them eat a raw diet. It’s never worked for me or anyone we know.

Try using our Chicken Liver Powder on the meals. Everyone says it works really well. Our felines at Feline Instincts often won’t eat the turkey meals unless we sprinkle some Chicken Liver Powder, Nutritional Yeast Flakes (by NOW Foods) or Whole Life dried chicken treats crumbled on the meals. Both are excellent enticements. Also, any crushed up dry kibble or canned foods the feline likes can be used for a short period of time and shredded Parmesan cheese is another one I hear works well.

Feline Forflora by Purina is a new enticement discovered by a few customers. Please use just enough to get the feline to eat because to much will cause diarrhea.

In addition to the above enticements, we also use a baby food by Earth’s Best babies butternut squash and chicken but I don’t see it listed anymore. Maybe another brand will have it. Our older felines lick it up on plate alone and on tops of their meals. This is an excellent addition to in between meals when you have a kidney challenged kitty or dog.

All felines will walk away from food that doesn’t smell familiar to them. Try putting some on their lips to make them taste it. Pet them and tell them it’s good.

Mix any kind of food they like to the raw meal just to get them to eat it; chicken broth, beef broth, salmon or tuna juice. Then, gradually take away that extra food you mixed in each time you feed them until they are eating just the raw meal.

Take up ALL dry foods as they are very addictive to felines because of the addicting flavor enticements the commercial pet food companies spray on those cereal junk foods. If your feline knows it’s around she will opt for that instead of the raw foods anytime. And felines know how to do the waiting game better then we do.

Sometimes, it takes a little while to switch a kitty over to a raw diet. But more then often if a feline is reluctant to eat the raw meals it only takes a few days to a week or two if you really try.

Stools will be firm and less often (about 3-4 days apart) because there is very little waste when fed a raw diet. See our FAQ for more info regarding this.

IMPORTANT
Some felines throw up raw beef and beef liver powder. If you do not know your kitty can tolerate beef raw then I recommend you use only poultry until you test you feline with a piece of raw beef first.

Most importantly, be patient. Your kitty will eventually eat the raw diet if you give him/her time.

Many times a feline will eventually pass stools that are less dry and hard after they have been on the raw for a lot longer than 2 months. You can give your kitty more time or follow some of my options below. You felines system needs time to adjust to the new diet.

If you want to decrease the stools from dry to shiny more wet stools we have a few options:

1. Homeopathy designed for your kitty.
2. Add extra water or homemade chicken broth with no salt to the meals.
3. Add a little organic Psyllium powder (1/2 Teaspoon) to the meals.
4. Add a tad of baby food squash or a little canned pumpkin to the meals.

I use for our Caesar and a customer tried some organic Psyllium husk powder to her felines meals and was successful. Here is what she told me.

“The Psyllium husks powder pretty fine and organic – I got it from the health food store – I’m now up to 1 heaping tsp per 5 ounces of food (1 meal for two nine pound felines – Munchie gets it also). The food was already pre made in zip-locks – so I add it before I warm it up for the meal and mix it well. At first they didn’t’ care much for it – a new thing, but after a gradual period, they now gobble it down.”

I hope this helps. But please, give your kitty more time to adjust or contact a Classic Homeopathy Like Dr Gardner. felines large and domestic in the wild do have harder dry stools as do Raccoons and many other wild animals.

Tips on giving pills

• Crush them into a powder if kitty won’t eat them straight out or if you don’t want to pill the feline.
• Take crushed pills and lace it with just a little chicken liver powder.
• Get the famous 4 Flags Over Aspen feline Sack. The feline stays calm while trimming nails, giving pills or teeth cleaning.