Switching to raw diet(hopefully!)

[Bonkers]

  Sounds like you are making excellent progress with the kitties! Just watch, you will have them all switched in no time. Too bad the freeze dried did not work out for them. Mine was the same way with the freeze dried NV food. But oddly enough he loves most brands of freeze dried treats like Halo, Bravo, and Stella & Chewey's. Sometimes I leave a few of these out during the day if I have to be gone for any length of time.

[GreyGhost]

Any progress is good progress. Which flavor of the freeze dried did you get? Some cats prefer the chicken. I know the chicken goes over well with most cats and dogs. Also remember Natures variety has 100% guarantee. If they don't like it then take it back and maybe try another flavor. You can also get coupons on their website.
http://www.naturesvariety.com/iloveit

[Perseus]

sherrylynne, I think this sounds like you've made great strides and you're being very patient as well.  I had many plates of home cooked and raw turned down by my crew over and over again before they would even look at it twice!    To tell you the truth, I even took small bits of the home cooked and put it in their mouths just to get my point across since I'm sure they thought I was trying to poison them!  My seniors were the hardest to transition because they're such creatures of habit.  Bless you for trying and we're all here hanging in there with you!

[sherrylynne]

It's the chicken and turkey variety. And I picked it up a couple of months ago. I decided to keep it just in case the ferrets ran out of Archetypal. I could break the medallions up and pick out all the pumpkin seeds if I really had to !
And thank you, Perseus! I will get them switched to a better diet if it kills me! Yesterday, I picked up around a dozen different varieties of canned, to try to find something Herne will eat, so who knows?

[sherrylynne]

Woo Hoo!!! We have a hit!! I didn't realize Herne hadn't tried the NV before. He's eating it as I type!! Yes !

[Perseus]

Time to party!

Here's Athena chowing down the raw.  Notice her big tongue trying to get every little bit.....!

[GreyGhost]

Woo Hoo!!! We have a hit!! I didn't realize Herne hadn't tried the NV before. He's eating it as I type!! Yes !

Good news. Keep up the good work...

[GreyGhost]

Time to party!

Here's Athena chowing down the raw.  Notice her big tongue trying to get every little bit.....!

Quite the happy kitty........

[sherrylynne]

Athena is a beautiful cat! Is she on prepared raw, RMB, or home ground?

[Perseus]

Athena is a beautiful cat! Is she on prepared raw, RMB, or home ground?

Thank you, sherrylynne.  She also has a very big attitude for such a tiny kitty.....

I have all three of them on commercially made raw.  I'm feeding Felines Pride and Aunt Jeni, it comes frozen in tubs.  I like to rotate the two brands to be on the safe side; and each one comes in 4 flavors to keep their interests going.  But the two kittens are only eating one plate of raw a day and are still on the Wellness Kitten canned grainless for most of their diet.  I tried switching them to raw a couple of months ago and they got constipated.  So now I'm putting a tsp. of pumpkin into their daily plate of raw and their stools are perfect!  They much prefer the raw to the canned, too.

[Bonkers]

  P.S. Aunt Jeni's is what I feed my Jasper. It is also sold under the brand name Pets For Life in Canada.  http://www.pets4life.com/index.php?p=products/h4l

[sherrylynne]

We have a hit in the wet food for all four! You won't believe what kind! Sheba, of all things! I know it's junk, but I'm thinking it's something to start with. Should I stick with this and wean to better canned first, or start slipping in raw bits in a week or so? The idea is to get them onto RMB in the end.

[Bonkers]

   I believe that Sheba is only recommended as a supplemental food. It is not a complete diet so should not be fed exclusively. Since your goal is to get them on a raw diet, I would put a little of the Sheba on top of some raw and see how that works out. Your doing great. Just keep experimenting untill you find what works best as far as transitioning the kitties!

[Perseus]

Congrats, sherrylynne!  Please keep us posted, this is so exciting!  I can't wait for the little beasties to be chowing down all raw meat....

[sherrylynne]

Oh gods, neither can I! I'm going to try Bonkers suggestion tomorrow. Couldn't do it today, one of the ferrets had a minor reaction to his vaccine, so we had to rush him back in to the vets. He's fine now, by the way.
 I'll let you know how it goes!