Transitioning from kibble to raw diet

[Plonkysaurus]

My lovely girl has always struggled with commercial pet foods. We've tried quite a wide variety, from the regular supermarket brands to 'holistic' expensive varieties.

She's always had a sensitive tummy, and is sick every now and then after eating, and occasionally scrabbles around in the litter tray, does nothing, and is back in there moments later leading me to conclude she's a bit impacted. She's a fully vaccinated and rather pampered house cat (her choice! lazy burmese cross) so her environment is well controlled. She gets lots of playtime and fuss as I work from home, and is in otherwise excellent health.

After a bit of googling I've decided to put her on a raw food diet to see if it alleviates some of her dietary issues. She's five years old and currently fed dry food. Does anyone have experience of starting an older cat on raw food? Do I introduce it slowly or just whack down a bowl of chopped meat and expect her to dig in?

I have no experience of this whatsoever but I would do it gradually as I've read that if you are changing food (especially from dry to wet) it's not a good idea to change suddenly as it can cause stomach upsets. However, someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon!

Good luck!

I suggest joining Raw Feeding UK group on FB. It's mainly for dogs but some ask re. cat diets too. If you put "cats" in search box in group page, it will come back with cat stuff posted.

Alternatively, join this group.

I've only ever changed to raw with dogs. Did a complete change over as rates of digestion are supposed to be different ... didn't backfire (literally) on me, went very smoothly but I have no experience with cats at all.

Certainly worth a try if your cat doesn't enjoy her current diet.

When I was reading up on making the transition to raw for Archcat, the two tips were:

• Change first from kibble to wet, then from wet to raw.
• Take it slowly and gradually rather than all at once, which your cat would probably reject and which would be very upsetting for her stomach. So the first day just serve a small portion of raw mixed in with the normal food, then a bit more each day if it goes well.

For the start you could also try her with minced raw meat, which might be easier for her to eat and digest if she has no experience of ripping raw meat apart with her teeth.

You need to watch out that she's getting enough of the right vitamins and minerals - especially taurine. There's a lot of disagreement about how much taurine supplementation is necessary when you feed raw. If you use a commercial raw food supplier which delivers food in daily portions, they're often pre-supplemented or have the right quantity/proportion of taurine-rich food. Heart in particular is a good source for taurine.

I started with partial raw feeding because Archcat was perpetually farting and had runny poo. The problem turned out to be an intolerance to grain. Now I have him on roughly 40% high-quality grain-free or low-grain wet food (Animonda vom Feinsten), 40% raw, including heart and bones such as chicken neck, which he munches whole, and 20% grain-free kibble like Applaws (left out overnight so freshness is less of an issue). I supplement the raw meat with a pre-mixed powder that includes taurine and other minerals.

Ooh thanks for the tips.

Pink yep we've decided to take the slow and steady approach. Good thinking!

Bagel Facebook group membership pending. I've found lots of the raw diet advice online is just for dogs, and clearly cats have different needs. As soon as I can make that search I will!

Arch thanks, good to hear from someone who's done it. We've improvised tonight and she's being understandably fussy. I went to Morrisons and got some diced ox heart but you're probably right, minced might be easier on her jaw for now.
I like your approach. I think keeping a small amount of dry food in her diet is probably good for a bit of flexibility really, so will try to find a meatier one once she's convinced of eating hearts and necks. How long did the transition take with ArchCat?

You might have the fussiness for a while. It can be very frustrating with the sheer amount of wasted food.

It probably went much quicker for Archcat because he was a rescue boy who had lived for an undetermined amount of time on the streets, and was presumably well used to catching and eating whole prey for his survival. The first time I gave him raw chicken I mistakenly gave him a whole bowlful and he vomited the entire thing up again at night - on my rug, semi digested. Hence the warning to take it slowly.

Going part raw was a measure of desperation, because I realised he needed to exclude grain-based foods, but he has always flat out refused to eat anything from a can, including really high-quality brands like Macs, Grau and Lillys Kitchen - so I was forced to look for an alternative.

The advantage of keeping part raw, part wet and part dry really is that you can change the proportion round a bit of you run out of one of them. And our cat sitter refuses to feed raw food so when we were on holiday we just gave him wet and dry that week. In the long term I would be more concerned about feeding a boy cat exclusively (or a high proportion of) kibble than a girl cat, because of the risk of kidney crystals developing.

Each month I buy a few kilos of various frozen raw meats from a special raw food shop for dogs and cats. It's usually pre-diced, but some companies will mince it for you too. I also get a bag full of chicken necks, but I know some raw feeders prefer chicken wings. Then I defrost each day's portion the night before in the fridge. I put the defrosted food in his bowl, sprinkle a small amount of taurine powder over and mix it in with tepid water to make a brown sauce for the meat. That has the advantage too of increasing the amount of liquid the cat drinks (which is another danger with exclusive kibble feeding).

I know other raw feeders choose to make up a kilo of meat in advance with various supplements and a few added veg, then freeze it in daily portions. I find that too much hassle though.

Two warnings: you should never feed chicken bones that have been heated in the microwave, because there's a danger they'll splinter and cause choking, and you should never feed raw pork as it can contain a potentially fatal bacteria (for cats only).