MISHKA THE CAT AND RAW FOOD

Hello folks...

I know I havent written much about raw food and Mishka the cat... I guess it's cause it was progressing quite slowly...Apparently, cats can either take to it immediately or take ages to make the switch. In my case, Mishka took about a month before I could get him on 100% raw.

So for those of you who might be interested in making the switch to raw for your cats, here's how I did it...

Firstly, I stopped the kibble "buffet" for Mishka. He used to have his kibble available 24/7 and would just eat whenever he felt like it. So I started putting the kibble down at set times 3 times a day for about 30 minutes a time and then removing it. 

Then I introduced chicken breast meat (cut into tiny pieces - almost like mince) for one of the meals. He started eating the chicken quite happily but would not have alot of it. This was then increased to 2 meals a day. So he only had kibble once a day. 

It is important not to mix the kibble and the raw food in one meal (in my opinion) as they have different digestion rates. So your kitty might get a tummy upset if you mixed it. I usually make sure there's a 6 hour gap between kibble and raw...

By week 4 I finally managed to get Mishka on 100% raw chicken meat. He was however determined not to have any BONES! He would really turn his nose up at the bones. 

I have therefore, decided to grind the bones with a bit of meat and feed it to him, and he loves this... He still gets 2 meals of just raw chicken meat (cut into pieces - a little bigger now) and 1 meal of ground meat and bones... :-)

I tried to introduce some liver and gizzard to Mishka a couple of days ago... He hates the liver but is quite happy with the gizzard... So I will have to look for some other ways to supplement Mishka I guess. 

 

What I have learnt however is that with cats, you just have to keep trying and not give up. And apparently, if they dislike something one day, the could like it a couple of weeks down the line.

This morning he had a meal of raw mackerel and chicken which he enjoyed. However, it is also important not to give your cat too much fish as it is not a natural food for cats. See Raw Meat Cat Food for more information.

Observations:
Mishka started pooping alot less when I added the raw meat to his diet. And his poop was a lot less stinky.

He did give me a scare though once we were 100% raw. After the first few days, he only pooped once every 2/3 days - which was fine as I have read that some cats do this as the food that they are now eating is so muhc more digestible that there is very little waste.

However,by the end of the first week, he didn't poop for 4 days. I felt his stomache and it was quite normal in my opinion but I took him to the vet anyway. My vet checked him and didn't think there was anything wrong either. But told me to bring him back if he still does not poop in another 2/3 days.

Mishka pooped as soon as we got back from the vet, and he pooped the next day... And then he went for 6 days without pooping... I was worried again by day 4 but he felt normal and so I told myself that he will go to the vet again by day 6 if he still does not poop. He finally pooped on day 6 (yesterday) and this morning.

Mishka did not show any signs of being ill or abnormal during this time, so although I was worried I kind of knew that he wasn't sick per se. His eyes were bright and he was alert. His stomache felt normal and he was active and playful as usual. And he was eating all of his food. So I will see what happens over the next week - we will be on Week 7 of raw, Week 3 of 100% raw. Yay!

The most significant change in Mishka so far is that he really is shedding alot less. I have mentioned previously that he had to be brushed every day with a slicker brush and I get about 4 or 5 loads of fur each day. It went down to about a load a day, and now I only brush him once every 2 or 3 days and I don't even get half a load of fur! This is really great...

The other thing is that Mishka has always had an issue with his ears. I constantly have to check his ears to make sure that they are okay. His ears also seem to be improving now... :-)