Post by Heather on Sept 5, 2011 23:04:44 GMT -5
I don't know if this works the same way as I am actually a cat owner (shame!) but I was referred to this site by a ferret-owning friend of mine! So, I guess I will apply and if someone doesn't mind the extra work of catering to a cat person (more shame!) I would really appreciate it :3
Name: Marisa
HF Forum Username: Moarisa
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for cats?
My ferret-owner friend has mentioned raw diets to me several times, but only recently did I really start looking into it. The health benefits seem to be extensive, and I was actually a little ashamed of myself for never investigating different feeding options before. I guess most of my information has been gathered from around the internet.
2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your cat(s) to. Be sure to include if you are interested in feeding whole prey (live or frozen-thawed) and if you are wanting to FULLY switch to a natural diet or PARTIALLY. If you are unsure what kind of diet you want to put your cats on, please express that and we can help you find the best type of natural diet for your cat.
I would like to switch my cats to a prepared raw diet. Chicken is my preferred meat to offer, as it is the most easily available. I currently feed on a 2x/day schedule, and will likely continue to offer dry food in the morning, with the raw at night when I have more time to dedicate to making sure they are properly eating and such. I am absolutely open to suggestions about my plan if anyone has them.
3. Why are you interested in switching your cats to a natural diet?
From everything I have read, it is significantly better for their health overall, and my priority is always the health and happiness of my animals.
4. Do you understand that switching your cat to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process? Its not an overnight switch. It can be a commitment of several weeks or even months. Your HF Mentor will be more then happy to assist you in switching your cat(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as commited. If you aren't willing to tough out a potentially lengthy switching process, or if you have major life changes approaching (baby on the way, moving, starting school, getting married/divorced, etc) then it might be a better idea to wait on switching your cat's diet until you have more time. Are you willing to make the commitment?
I am absolutely willing to commit to this switch! Though I will be starting school next week, this is something I will make time for.
5. How many cats do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight? How long have you had each cat for?
I have two cats. The older one, Fluffy, is approx. 5 years old. I adopted her three years ago as a stray from the SPCA. She is a little on the underweight side, but that is due to hear lean build and generally isn't as big a deal with cats as it is with ferrets. The younger, Kitten, is about 3 years old, I adopted her at the same time as her mother. Her weight is quite average, with a very muscular build. Both cats are female and generally are quite healthy. They are allowed to roam outside during the day.
6. What diet do you currently feed your cats? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
I feed them Go! Natural, dry cat food in the morning with a mixture of dry Go!, wet FancyFeast and 1/4 tsp vegetable oil in the evening.
7. Have you ever tried to switch your cats to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
I haven't tried to completely convert them before, but I have offered pieces of raw to gauge their reactions. About a week ago I cut the end joints off the wing of a whole chicken I was cooking for dinner. The cats weren't interested in the whole wing tips, but when I cut them up into bite sized pieces and mixed it into their night meal they happily devoured them, bone and all.
8. What additional information about yourself or your cats would you like to share?
I am attending school starting next week for Veterinary Office and Animal assistance. My eventual plan is to become a Vet Tech. I have a ridiculous love of animals and will do whatever is necessary to make sure that they are happy.
As for my cats, Kitten has a hunting instinct like I've never seen and frequently comes home with 'treats' for me, despite the bells I force her to wear. Fluffy, having been a stray, is also quite an adept hunter. I believe that this will make the switch to raw a bit easier for them.
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
Constantly, all the time
10. Please post a picture of each of your cats (if possible).
Oh, happily! This is my Fluffy and my other baby, Kitten
Like This Post
Hi
I'm Heather, and we're going to be working together for the next little while trying to convince your furbabies to change to an even healthier diet
I've been feeding a raw/natural diet for a little over 15 yrs. I have a small private rescue/sanctuary, just outside of Toronto, Canada where all ferrets turned into me are switched immediately over to a raw diet that consists of ground raw/whole meats or frankenprey/ and prey diet. At present every ferret eats this full range of diets. I don't keep kibbles in the house, if I can possibly avoid it. Too many little kibble addicts. All my furbabies are free roaming and have access to an outdoor play area that they can access at will. At present there are 10 little fuzzbutts who call this their permanent home.
To you this might all be rather irrelevent I do have kitties too . I've got Merlyn, evil black kitty who came to me as a 2yr old shelter fuzz who came into the shelter after he had been hit by a car. Several surgeries later, he came to me, eating what ever food was given to the shelter cats at the time. Merlyn switched without any grief...rather similar to how you described feeding your own wee ones. Merlyn is now 15 as is my MIL's 2 cats who came to live with us over a year ago. They too, are raw fed but I don't get the credit for that, I just helped my MIL switch them when they were about 5 or 6. My rather troubled switch was a 12 yr old kibble addicted siamese, Samurai. He was a problem child and it took me about a year to switch. He has long since gone to the bridge but not before seeing 22 summers. So, with a bit of percerferrance I think we can pull this off.
Now, you've started it right and that's how I was going to suggest you feed them. Get rid of the kibbles and feed only moist to start. The kibbles isn't doing your kitties any favours. So, first things first. Dump the kibbles, especially if your wee ones are eating moist without any problems. Now you mention only feeding chicken, that's a poor choice for a kitties' diet. It's a great choice for one of the proteins, but I'm going to suggest that you choose another couple of proteins on top of the one that you're comfortable with. It's not that difficult. You can feed beef, turkey, pork, lamb....the supply is endless. We will start with one protein but depending on how you want to feed we will be adding another couple of proteins in our journey to your little ones diet.
Now, I'm going to sign off and pm you to let you know that you have a mentor. I will be looking forward to helping you start your raw feeding adventure ;D If you have any questions please feel free to post them and we will discuss your concerns
ciao
Name: Marisa
HF Forum Username: Moarisa
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for cats?
My ferret-owner friend has mentioned raw diets to me several times, but only recently did I really start looking into it. The health benefits seem to be extensive, and I was actually a little ashamed of myself for never investigating different feeding options before. I guess most of my information has been gathered from around the internet.
2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your cat(s) to. Be sure to include if you are interested in feeding whole prey (live or frozen-thawed) and if you are wanting to FULLY switch to a natural diet or PARTIALLY. If you are unsure what kind of diet you want to put your cats on, please express that and we can help you find the best type of natural diet for your cat.
I would like to switch my cats to a prepared raw diet. Chicken is my preferred meat to offer, as it is the most easily available. I currently feed on a 2x/day schedule, and will likely continue to offer dry food in the morning, with the raw at night when I have more time to dedicate to making sure they are properly eating and such. I am absolutely open to suggestions about my plan if anyone has them.
3. Why are you interested in switching your cats to a natural diet?
From everything I have read, it is significantly better for their health overall, and my priority is always the health and happiness of my animals.
4. Do you understand that switching your cat to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process? Its not an overnight switch. It can be a commitment of several weeks or even months. Your HF Mentor will be more then happy to assist you in switching your cat(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as commited. If you aren't willing to tough out a potentially lengthy switching process, or if you have major life changes approaching (baby on the way, moving, starting school, getting married/divorced, etc) then it might be a better idea to wait on switching your cat's diet until you have more time. Are you willing to make the commitment?
I am absolutely willing to commit to this switch! Though I will be starting school next week, this is something I will make time for.
5. How many cats do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight? How long have you had each cat for?
I have two cats. The older one, Fluffy, is approx. 5 years old. I adopted her three years ago as a stray from the SPCA. She is a little on the underweight side, but that is due to hear lean build and generally isn't as big a deal with cats as it is with ferrets. The younger, Kitten, is about 3 years old, I adopted her at the same time as her mother. Her weight is quite average, with a very muscular build. Both cats are female and generally are quite healthy. They are allowed to roam outside during the day.
6. What diet do you currently feed your cats? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
I feed them Go! Natural, dry cat food in the morning with a mixture of dry Go!, wet FancyFeast and 1/4 tsp vegetable oil in the evening.
7. Have you ever tried to switch your cats to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
I haven't tried to completely convert them before, but I have offered pieces of raw to gauge their reactions. About a week ago I cut the end joints off the wing of a whole chicken I was cooking for dinner. The cats weren't interested in the whole wing tips, but when I cut them up into bite sized pieces and mixed it into their night meal they happily devoured them, bone and all.
8. What additional information about yourself or your cats would you like to share?
I am attending school starting next week for Veterinary Office and Animal assistance. My eventual plan is to become a Vet Tech. I have a ridiculous love of animals and will do whatever is necessary to make sure that they are happy.
As for my cats, Kitten has a hunting instinct like I've never seen and frequently comes home with 'treats' for me, despite the bells I force her to wear. Fluffy, having been a stray, is also quite an adept hunter. I believe that this will make the switch to raw a bit easier for them.
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
Constantly, all the time
10. Please post a picture of each of your cats (if possible).
Oh, happily! This is my Fluffy and my other baby, Kitten
Like This Post
Hi
I'm Heather, and we're going to be working together for the next little while trying to convince your furbabies to change to an even healthier diet
I've been feeding a raw/natural diet for a little over 15 yrs. I have a small private rescue/sanctuary, just outside of Toronto, Canada where all ferrets turned into me are switched immediately over to a raw diet that consists of ground raw/whole meats or frankenprey/ and prey diet. At present every ferret eats this full range of diets. I don't keep kibbles in the house, if I can possibly avoid it. Too many little kibble addicts. All my furbabies are free roaming and have access to an outdoor play area that they can access at will. At present there are 10 little fuzzbutts who call this their permanent home.
To you this might all be rather irrelevent I do have kitties too . I've got Merlyn, evil black kitty who came to me as a 2yr old shelter fuzz who came into the shelter after he had been hit by a car. Several surgeries later, he came to me, eating what ever food was given to the shelter cats at the time. Merlyn switched without any grief...rather similar to how you described feeding your own wee ones. Merlyn is now 15 as is my MIL's 2 cats who came to live with us over a year ago. They too, are raw fed but I don't get the credit for that, I just helped my MIL switch them when they were about 5 or 6. My rather troubled switch was a 12 yr old kibble addicted siamese, Samurai. He was a problem child and it took me about a year to switch. He has long since gone to the bridge but not before seeing 22 summers. So, with a bit of percerferrance I think we can pull this off.
Now, you've started it right and that's how I was going to suggest you feed them. Get rid of the kibbles and feed only moist to start. The kibbles isn't doing your kitties any favours. So, first things first. Dump the kibbles, especially if your wee ones are eating moist without any problems. Now you mention only feeding chicken, that's a poor choice for a kitties' diet. It's a great choice for one of the proteins, but I'm going to suggest that you choose another couple of proteins on top of the one that you're comfortable with. It's not that difficult. You can feed beef, turkey, pork, lamb....the supply is endless. We will start with one protein but depending on how you want to feed we will be adding another couple of proteins in our journey to your little ones diet.
Now, I'm going to sign off and pm you to let you know that you have a mentor. I will be looking forward to helping you start your raw feeding adventure ;D If you have any questions please feel free to post them and we will discuss your concerns
ciao