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I think this is an extension of what I described here a few weeks ago. I took her to the vet (twice) and the 2nd time they took blood tests which came out really good.
For a while she seemed to get back to normal, or mostly so, but the last couple days she's gotten really really picky again. He's hardly eating any of her canned food (just a nibble here and there) and ONLY wants the raw chicken breast tenders I give her (and also the small raw chicken livers I give her too). She'll also nibble at the chicken hearts I give her.
She also vomited a small amount of mostly clear liquid today. She hadn't done that in a few weeks, so I thought she was OK. But maybe not.
And she is also being really really obnoxious in demanding her chicken. She's got this routine where she flips at the kitchen cabinets to get my attention when she wants something, which she's doing as I write this to the point of being annoying.
What could it be in the raw chicken that she's craving to the exclusion of anything else?
I checked her litter box and her poop and pee seems normal.
Sounds like she really likes raw. Why not learn to balance the raw and feed her a raw diet?
By the way, if you feed her all raw for a while she may come to look upon the canned food as a special treat. But the raw diet needs to be properly balanced.
You don't have to feed bone. There are other choices for calcium. ground egg shell is the most common, but for cats sensitive to eggs, there are other sources.
You can use a pre-mix like EZcomplete, or feed a pre-made frozen like Rad Cat. You could feed a combination, rotate the raw and canned.
Feeding only a little raw unbalanced, along with a canned diet is fine, as long as the raw is less than 15% of the total daily intake.
It sounds like she wants more than that, though, if you want to go that way. If you don't want to go 100% raw, I do think if she was fed a raw diet regularly, at least 50% (balanced) she might be more willing to eat the canned the other 50%.
You may find that, once you go 50% raw and see the differences in your cat, you may find yourself wanting to go all the way.
The Raw Feeding for IBD website has some good recipes. You don't have to have an IBD cat to benefit.
I did try putting bone meal powder on her chicken for a while, but she could detect it and wouldn't eat the chicken when I did.
I do give her RadCat but the nearest places that have it are like a 20 minute drive. Until recently I was also giving her this other commercial raw, but she barfed it up half the time (even though she really liked it) so I gave up on it a couple months ago.
I'm already at about 50% raw.
I'm mostly just worried about her suddenly not eating something she used to be perfectly happy eating. And what is it in the chicken that she might be suddenly craving?
Is she eating the Rad Cat then? If you are feeding 50% raw, what brands of raw are you actually feeding? Just interested.
I drive 45 minutes one way to get Rad Cat. I special order with the store and buy enough to last me 2 or 3 months.
For their chunk meals I use EZcomplete pre-mix. (For one cat I have to grind her meat)
On Sunday they get prey model meals and I use egg shell calcium from Alnutrin, for the calcium source for the two who don't eat bone. I know a lot of people who just make their own egg shell powder though.
She may like the chicken because she prefers chunks rather than ground. Many cats do. Maybe she's bored with the canned. How many varieties of canned do you feed?
Yes I think she eats the RadCat, though I haven't given it to her in a few days.
I have to be careful with it: If I give her a lot, and if I give it to her within about an hour or so before or after giving her some raw meat, she barfs. That's why I don't make it a regular thing.
The commercial raw I gave up on recently was this, but as I said, she barfed it up half the time and it was really difficult figuring out the conditions in which she barfed and didn't barf, so I gave up on it. Which is too bad, because she really liked it.
Yes I think she eats the RadCat, though I haven't given it to her in a few days.
I have to be careful with it: If I give her a lot, and if I give it to her within about an hour or so before or after giving her some raw meat, she barfs. That's why I don't make it a regular thing.
The commercial raw I gave up on recently was this, but as I said, she barfed it up half the time and it was really difficult figuring out the conditions in which she barfed and didn't barf, so I gave up on it. Which is too bad, because she really liked it.
I don't understand. If she isn't eating the Rad Cat or the Bravo, what is the 50% raw she is eating?
You cannot feed her 50% unbalanced raw. She will become very ill, and a lot of deficiencies don't show up until it's too late to do anything about them. The missing calcium alone is very serious.
Most of the 50% raw is from raw chicken breast, livers, hearts and gizzards. With an occasional RadCat and, until recently, the Bravo. On occasion I'll also give her raw fish or pork. It might not even be 50%, could be more like 40%.
The other 50-60% is the canned.
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