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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 22:23:28 GMT -5
UGH I swear I sent a reply to this. Sorry my computer must have been acting up. For kittens I would definitely try not to feed too many day-old-quail. Immature animals are much lower in calcium and kittens need to get all their proper nutrition. All meat is good, just make sure there's lots of variety. Try to feed some poultry and some red meats. By frozen thawed do you mean whole prey?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 0:48:51 GMT -5
Ok, so I just sent a few messages asking all sorts of questions about whole prey. I deleted them because I was comparing prices to ground, and realized that it might be unrealistic for me to feed whole prey for now. I'll continue to feed necks and gizzards for teeth, and will increase meat variety From what you have seen on Hare Today, do the "meat, bone, organ" percentages for everything seem fairly balanced? They're almost all different from the 80% meat, 10% heart, 10% organ, plus some bone meal powder mix that I've been feeding.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2016 21:52:36 GMT -5
Hare today is balanced, but you still do have to have a variety in proteins. I've ordered from them before and their stuff is very good quality, just a little pricy.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 10:49:46 GMT -5
Think I'm going to try mixing stuff I can find at the grocery store with stuff I can only get online, to save some dough. Plan so far is to switch between beef, chicken, and sardines. If I start working towards frankenprey, I can throw in parts from more animals.
I've thickened up Kemuri's soupies and started putting slivers in, finally. I have to crumble FDR over the slivers, but she eats all of her food usually in 10/15 minutes. Lou isn't crazy about digging into a whole gizzard, but she likes it if I chunk it for her.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 23:01:17 GMT -5
Sometimes they need a little bribing! Sometimes my Peridot gets it in her head that she won't eat raw without some canned food in there >.> I've also found chunking makes things more edible. When I give large pieces they just end up getting thrown around like a toy. I'm glad they're both eating though! Sounds like you're really doing a great jobs with them
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2016 16:54:06 GMT -5
I'm really lucky with how Lou is taking to everything! It definitely helps that I've started her young, but it's awesome to be able to put almost anything down and have it gone in a couple of minutes. Think I'm going to go with pork instead of beef, for the red meat. I keep thinking that I can buy stuff online, but there's a lot of hidden costs that I didn't consider (like $20 shipping!) I can get all of the stuff for a pork mix at the local Asian Market, though Is there anything I need to keep in mind, working with pork?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2016 16:54:40 GMT -5
Also, Peridot is such a cute name uv u. It reminds me of Steven Universe. Is that where you got the name?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2016 23:28:26 GMT -5
Pork isnt technically a red meat, but its a good addition. Its really fatty so they might have some weird stools. If you want a red meat added you don't have to feed it all the time, but its high in iron and good for them to get maybe once a week or so? (Red meats are mice, beef, goat, wild rabbit, venison, etc) I actually named her Peridot because her eyes are Peridot green, but I am a HUGE SU fan And she's small and pointy like Peridot so I guess it suits her
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2016 23:51:47 GMT -5
I can substitute the muscle meat in the pork mix for beef intermittently so they get that, then Other organs are the hard things to find. Update time: I came back from a four day trip to Minneapolis on Sunday night, cats were great, their babysitter was happy, etc. On Monday night, Lou started throwing up quite a bit more than she ever has in the past. Before, it was maybe once or twice a week, and I didn't bring it up to anyone because it didn't seem to be inhibiting functions regularly and I wanted to see if it would get worse or fix itself. Between Monday night and Wednesday afternoon, she threw up nearly a dozen times and only managed to keep one meal down. I took her to the vet that my mom goes to (very nice facility, treats ferrets, knows about raw, etc.) Stool sample showed that she has coccidia and some kind of bacteria whose name I can't remember. Doc gave her fluids and an anti-nausea injection, prescribed three different daily meds to treat the parasites and infection, and sent me home with a Hill's canned food. Said that raw might be hard on her system right now, since she's still little and her immune system is still developing (and since it's weak right now because of the parasite.) So far, we've had no more puking incidents, but Lou isn't a huge fan of the change in food and isn't eating very much of it. It's obviously better than throwing everything up, but I wonder if feeding that is the best path. Is there anything I missed here? Anything I should be worried about that I haven't addressed?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2016 23:52:53 GMT -5
And she's had diarrhea, forgot to mention
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 20:02:09 GMT -5
Did she not give you medicine for coccidia? It wont go away on its own. Hill's is a very low quality food, and if shes used to raw she may not be interested in eating it. I would go ahead and offer her some raw back. Its pretty rare that she'll get a bacteria overload from it, but Im assuming she gave you antibiotics so after thats over I would give her some probiotics to restore her gut flora.
Kittens are usually laden with parasites so we always do a treatment of strongid and marquis for worms and coccidia at the rescue I work at. Im glad Lou got a diagnosis. Is she feeling better?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 21:27:44 GMT -5
So far she's thrown up about four times since last Wednesday afternoon, when we took her in to the vet. She got meds for the coccidia, fortiflora, and metronizadole. She still has diarrhea, and her appetite comes and goes. She's already going to be a tiny cat, but she's definitely not eating enough at the moment.
We finally got through the three cans that the vet gave us several days ago (I had to mix almost every meal with raw to even get her to eat it.) Been feeding her raw since, very small meals so that she doesn't gorge herself and upset her tummy again. Even with raw, her appetite is nothing near what it used to be. I'm planning on getting some Nature's Variety Instinct canned tomorrow (first chance I've had since Saturday to go shopping) to see if that sits better in her tummy and if she likes it better.
I keep trying to get in contact with the doc to do a follow-up over the phone, but so far I've had no luck in getting him to call before closing. He told me to call Thursday for the follow-up, so I did, and ended up on his call list. He left me a voicemail after the clinic closed asking me to call again the next day. It's been like that all week, and I can't leave a message at the clinic or email him directly or anything. UGH, I love the quality of care there, but communication is impossible.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 16:24:34 GMT -5
Problem solved!
I had Kemuri on Nature's Variety canned for a while earlier this year after doing a BUNCH of research on quality canned food. Lou is eating like a pig again, hasn't thrown up since I started giving it to her, doesn't have diarrhea anymore, and has her energy back!
I'm really hoping to be able to get her back on raw when she's older, though. The vet thought that, since she was already sick and she's still underdeveloped, that she wouldn't be able to handle any bacteria that might be present in the raw, but that I can try again when she's older. Wonder when might be a good time to switch back?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2016 23:15:23 GMT -5
Nature's variety isn't really the greatest. I think the only acceptable onewould be the LID turkey. Some better foods are Weruva and Tiki Cat.
A bacteria overload doesnt usually present itself in vomiting, but it could be too rich for her. Have you tried mixing very small amounts of raw in with the canned? (Also with fortiflora added she should have no trouble with the bacteria content in raw).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2016 21:03:26 GMT -5
I would love to be able to afford Weruva or Tiki Cat, but as it stands, I'm having a difficult time just paying for enough Instinct canned for a growing kitten. It physically hurts for me to admit that I might have to start mixing with a cheaper alternative.
I feel terribly hypocritical for advocating that people ensure they can afford their pets before taking them in, while sitting here trying to decide how much money I can spend on Lou. She's going to need to eat nearly 10oz a day soon, I think, which racks up to nearly $100 a month just to feed one cat. Raw is coincidentally the most cost-efficient and the healthiest option, but of course I got the cat that can't stomach it.
I've looked into Orijen, and it would be slightly cheaper for me to go that route, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I'm still kind of browsing around for ideas. I'm going to keep trying raw every now and then, just to see.
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