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Post by mjbez on Jan 28, 2015 21:07:22 GMT -5
Mika passed last night, I apologize if I am not as active for a couple of days.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 23:16:50 GMT -5
I'm so very sorry. Please take care of yourself
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2015 17:16:26 GMT -5
Hi- figured I would check in but I am not looking for an answer right away. We are not having much success these days. I don't think they like the NV anymore. Neither is finishing their food; A few times it looks like Annie hardly ate anything. I have added soup to it or baby food at times to see if that would entice her to eat more but it doesn't. I checked her weight today and she has lost a little( 1.55 oz) Last nite I couldn't find Annie; she was out all nite but I found her this morning. I thought she would be hungry but she only ate 1/2 an egg. Yesterday she had NV duck with 10 turkey pieces(small pieces but bigger than slivers ) for both morning and nite. Ate half an ounce, 5pieces at am, 2at nite. Thurs I tried to get them to chew on a turkey wing that I had smashed up; both licked the baby food off, Annie gave a few half hearted chews but that was it. I gave her chicken soupie with 1/4 oz NV chicken mixed in for am, the wing and the soup/NV mix for pm Wed was3/4 oz rabbit in the am, 3/4 oz duck in the pm but she only ate a small amount of the duck.There were pieces of turkey in both but she only ate a few. Tues. am was NV chicken2/3 oz pm was same, Before I gave her the NV I put 10 pieces of turkey in some soupie; she ate 9. Mon I tried them again with the bison- this time they would not eat it, in fact Sophie put her nose in it and started foaming at the mouth. I gave her some water but tried it again with the same reaction. You asked if Iwas wanting to stick with a comm raw diet, and i honestly don't know what to do at this point. I seem to hit a roadblock with the bones, and the meat but now my fall back plan seems to be not working well. I started out wanting to do frankenprey bu
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2015 17:17:58 GMT -5
but at this point I just want them to eat and maintain their weight and health.
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Post by mjbez on Feb 2, 2015 20:50:43 GMT -5
I apologize for my absence the past few days. I understand your frustration. This switch has not been a simple one. How are they eating the com raws now? Are there some they still seem to like? What if you add no pieces and make sure it is a bit warm? How are u feeding it right now?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 22:29:58 GMT -5
No need to apologize, I understand. I am so sorry.
Things aren't much better here. It looks like they don't like the rabbit anymore-Sun am and pm she ate 1/2 oz of it. Today she didn't even eat that much. I added chicken pieces to it on Sunday; she ate a few. Mon. was duck, this she still seems to eat. Tues was chicken with chicken pieces in the morning, ate 1/2 oz and 2 pieces, PM I tried adding beef and 2 small pieces of bone but she didn't eat these and less than 1/2 oz of the chicken. Seems they don't like the chicken either. This morning I gave her rabbit again and she barely ate any. Sophie's been following suit, which makes me wonder about what is up with Nature's Variety. Tonite I opened up a new bag of duck and Annie ate an ounce and some of Sophie's. I will try giving it to them warm, but it gets cool pretty fast, especially when they walk away from it. I have some Wysong FDR but Sophie is the only one who eats it but lately she hasn't been eating this as much (she prefers it dry, I give her little pieces as snacks). Well, that's it from this end. I'm still giving them the vitamin D supplement, every 4 days now. At least they like that!
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Post by mjbez on Feb 6, 2015 19:29:49 GMT -5
Hmm.. Can you make a list of the brands AND the types of meat they do and don't like. I'm at a loss to why they decide one day they like something and the next they don't...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2015 21:52:36 GMT -5
It's pretty limited right now. Annie seems to still like the Rad Cat chicken and most of the time will eat the NV duck. But I only give her the Rad Cat once or twice a week. Sophie's not so keen on the Rad Cat altho she sometimes will eat it. And she will eat the duck. The NV rabbit and the chicken are hit or miss. And that organ grind I got is a big no no. As for meats, if the pieces are small enough they will eat most of what I add if they eat what it's added to. Turkey, chicken, beef, pork (I just give the pork to Annie). Nothing with bones in it. I broke down and gave them chicken soupies this morning- they ate almost 2 oz each, just sucked it right down. I mixed NV duck with some soupie tonite, so far no one has eaten any.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2015 15:04:10 GMT -5
I am giving this one more try. Altho I don't think they will ever eat pieces of meat larger than 1/2 inch nor bones. I have continued to mix soup with the NV which seems to be working. They cleaned up the duck on Monday but left the pieces of chicken. Yesterday I gave them rabbit and added small pieces of Turkey, this was mostly gone. So today I gave chicken with minced beef mixed with either chicken or turkey soup. They are eating probably close to 1.5 oz at each meal considering the NV and the soups. This is an increase for them. Since I normally would just give 1oz of NV. Wonder why.
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Post by mjbez on Feb 12, 2015 12:05:10 GMT -5
Hi Mel. Sorry for the late reply. Things are still not really back to normal around here. My guess to why they are eating more would be 1)they like the soupie 2) the soupie contains more water, so it seems like more weight but takes more to fill them 3) the soupie dilutes the taste of the other foods. Chicken soupie is fairly bland I think.
Are you still adding organs/egg shell to the soupie so to not throw off the balances?
If you really feel they will never eat pieces larger than 1/2 inch are you wanting to work out more of a com raw diet? This is still a better option than kibble. Since they like rad cat chicken could you mix it 50/50 with the ones they aren't as fussy about? Like chicken and rabbit? That is absolutely fine to do. Try an egg in with one they aren't so fussy about as well. So try 1 egg in with their couple ounces of rabbit or duck. There wouldn't be a need for the organs in the situation of you using all com raws. That being said if the NV is the dog one I don't believe they use heart. So some heart slivers will need to be added to some meals. If they don't like the NV chicken - don't bother with it. Use the rad cat chicken instead.
So far they will eat (sometimes..): rad cat chicken, NV duck, NV rabbit* That is 3 proteins as their main source of food. A 4th would make it a bit stronger of a menu. Do you have access to any other com raw grinds you think they might like? Even as a mixer? If not and you would like to add some small pieces like beef and turkey for the both of them that would help as well. If you aren't thinking pieces will work I would forget doing chicken pieces (as they are already getting chicken in the com raw). Does that make sense?
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Post by mjbez on Feb 12, 2015 12:06:14 GMT -5
* Oops forgot to add * The egg idea would be for one-2 meals a week. Not every meal.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 20:23:04 GMT -5
I hope things are easing up for you, I know how empty you feel after you lose someone (pet or human.)My heart goes out to you. I am a little confused about what you suggested: I would add some Rad Cat chicken to the foods they already eat OK? Same thing with the egg? They already get ~3/4 of an egg a week. Or should I add the Rad Cat to the NV they don't seem to like as well? I am pretty sure that of the 3 NV I have, they really only dislike the chicken. At least the past week that's what it looks like. Yesterday I fed them the chicken and almost none of one bowl was gone. I am thinking that going with commercial raw may be the only way I can go at this point. The problem with grinds from other companies is the cost- shipping I would think would be pricey. Altho I may be able to order something from the natural pet food store... I bought a tube of Bravo duck and bone a while ago; so far they haven't eaten it. But that is only duck and bones, so I haven't tried too much. I have chicken, turkey, lamb and pork soupie, all made according to the recipe. The only one I don't give Sophie is the pork, altho sometimes I think she cleans up Annie's. At one point I had a small bag of NV beef(dog)-I could pick up another one and add pieces of heart for another protein. Annie will gnaw on a piece of freeze dried chicken breast, but won't eat a chicken wing. Go figure. And Sophie likes FDR dry, not reconstituted. I've never seen anyone specifically say they feed chicken tail. It looks like a lot of fatty tissue and a small bone, but I cut some up for them once. With not surprisingly little interest from either. Just wondering. I have become very regimented in their feeding, rotating from duck to rabbit to chicken so reporting is much easier: Today was duck, yesterday was chicken, tomorrow is rabbit. Thurs. is usually egg in the morning and Rad Cat Chicken in the evening. Except for the chicken, they eat pretty much everything in the bowl. There is a Rad Cat turkey which they have eaten; I may pick up another container of that. They will not eat the Rad Cat lamb. And I usually add some ground egg shell to the Rad Cat.
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Post by mjbez on Feb 19, 2015 10:37:20 GMT -5
Add the rad cat to the NV they dont like as well. Since they really do like the rad cat try about 3/4 rad and 1/4 NV they don't like as well. This may help them get used to the taste. But, if the only one they really aren't eating is chicken then just ditch it. They already get rad cat chicken. With the egg you can feed it as you have - or you can add it to a NV meal. Are the NV you feed the cat or the dog ones? (I suggested heart for more taurine- thinking you were feeding the dog ones). Let's start thinking menu. You will not need much soupie in your menu (as it is not as balanced as the NV). Especially chicken and lamb. You could always add a little turkey and pork to add variety to their diet. (just not too much so that the balances are thrown off). I like the idea of getting the beef NV as well. Did they like it? The heart isn't another protein. (its just chicken as well) But it is the taurine that they need. However, if they are getting balanced NV they won't need it. If the NV is the dog version it does not contain the heart so then it is necessary to add. Write up a rough draft of a menu (and please clarify if your NV is cat or dog) After any tweaks it will be final exam time Then any polishing to the menu and Heather will approve
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2015 23:01:53 GMT -5
My computer died and I had a dickens of a time signing back on on a new computer. (couldn't remember my username) Any way, I was in the middle of a post when it died. What follows is a "conversation" Annie and Sophie had over the weekend: Annie :"Hey Sophie! wanna make Mom really crazy??" Sophie: "Sure, we could use some excitement what should we do?" Annie: "You know how we don't like the NV chicken that much and don't eat it? What if we all of sudden started eating it?" Bet Mom would be really confused. She'd probably make some really funny faces" Sophie; "OOOH, yeah bet she would. And then, what if BAM! we don't eat it again! That would probably push her over the edge. Let's do it!" Annie: "I forgot to tell you. The other day Mom had a big piece of something she called "short ribs" and she offered it to me. It was first thing in the morning, I was still half asleep but kinda hungry, so I ATE IT!You should've seen her face then! She tried to get me to eat some later, but I just licked it a few times just to get her going."
Yeah, they are the chicken on Sunday;, all of it. But not yesterday. And Annie ate a piece of raw beef, larger than anything she's eaten before. I plan on picking up some beef tomorrow if the Petco has any. It will be dog. I will also pick up a small bag of rabbit if they have it, as I ran out and the natural food store won't have any in till next week. This will probably be dog also. But I will get the larger bag of duck from the natural food place and that will be cat. Once I get the beef and if they will eat it, I can alternate between those 4. I do plan to try other foods as I find them. I must stop now, will write more tomorrow
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2015 21:13:42 GMT -5
So for the menu: One day they have 1-1.5 oz NV duck (cat) morning and evening, the next its 1-1.5 oz NV rabbit (cat) morning and evening then 1-1.5 oz NV chicken (cat)morning evening. They did not eat the beef(which is dog), but they actually weren't eating much the days I tried mixing a small amount in with the duck. So I'm gonna try it again. Thurs. am they get ~1/2-3/4 of an egg, thurs nite I usually give Annie Rad Cat chicken; Sophie doesn't always like that so I give her some Wysong FDR, usually rabbit and 1/2 oz NV rabbit; she doesn't eat much of the FDR, and likes it dry So I have the NV as a standby. I just got a new mix to try- Oma's Pride complete poultry meal for cats-the first 5 ingredients are chicken breast, chicken necks,turkey hearts, turkey gizzards,turkey liver then it lists colostrum and then a bunch of chemicals. Somewhere in there is taurine.. BUT just saw a message that one batch was recalled due to possible salmonella contamination, can't tell if it is the one I have. Wonder if it would be OK for them if I get another batch?
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