Monday, March 12, 2012

Cat food (or the lack thereof)

So last fall, for no apparent reason, my cats went on a hunger strike. They'd done this before once - that's when I switched from one brand of grain-free kibble to another (Wellness Core to I can't remember what). I ordered a different bag of grain-free kibble, which they ate ok for two days then they started complaining again. I spent the next three months in an ongoing battle with them - for a long time I held the line and refused to order a new, different bag til they reluctantly ate the previous bag, but they got more and more miserable (and made me more and more miserable, too).

Eventually they started trying to steal Cersei's food. I've fed her raw her whole life, and they were trying to walk into her crate and eat her chicken drumsticks with her. While I wasn't really fond of them at that point, I did not want Cersei to have murder on her soul, so I started locking her in her crate while she ate. The cats deputized one cat to sit and stare at Cersei and the other to follow me around howling miserably.

Finally I gave up and tossed a chicken leg in a bowl for them. They licked it for a long time, then wandered off looking fairly pleased. I fed it to Cers. The next day, they leapt up on that table and demanded another chicken leg, so I gave it to them. When I went back in 15 minutes later to retrieve the licked leg for Cersei, it was completely stripped of meat. (Who fans, it looked like the Vashta Nerada had gotten it.)

So I started feeding them chicken. Since they weren't eating the bones, I got thighs for them - more meat for the same price. They turned back into somewhat lovable pet cats, instead of the whiny horrid beasts they'd been. And Banders, the fluffy one, started gaining weight.

He's always been thin, under all that fur, and he'd gotten frighteningly skinny in the Battle of the Kibble. Unlimited raw chicken thighs put some much-needed flesh on his bones, and made him somehow grow even more hair than before.

So after a month of only chicken (the kibble bowl was getting dust in it), I decided I had to get them some kind of vitamin supplement, lest they die of malnutrition now that I actually like them again. I settled on this Alnutrin stuff, because it seemed the least crazy-cat-ladyish of the available supplements. About every other day, I skin and debone a pound of chicken thighs, chop them into biggish chunks, and sprinkle some powder on them. The chunks go in a glasslock container in the fridge, and I dole out a quarter cup or so whenever they're hungry. The kitten is still fat, still shiny, and very smug about getting her way. Banders is a solid 5 on the cat weight scale, with a coat that's even more glorious than usual. He doesn't seem to get hair matts anymore (I haven't had to cut one out since I started the chicken), and he doesn't get hairballs either.

Sadly, I cannot report that Banders has become more sane on the raw chicken diet. He is still weird as all get out. But he is more content, generally - there's much less of that "getting lost in the hallway and screaming for help" thing, and the "yowling at invisible monsters" has entirely ceased. He generally follows me around and purrs, unless I try to pet him, which just confuses him. He only meows for two reasons now: either he wants the door to open, or he wants more chicken.

He did flip out completely on Mel's puppy Tess. Remember the crackninja story? Full on crackninja on Tessie, who didn't really have time to get offended before I flung the cat into the bathroom to cool off. But other than that, he's doing aiiight.

Disclaimer! If you feed your cats something and they die don't blame me. And I have absolutely no advice for how to convince a cat to change its diet - mine transitioned themselves to raw. But shit, it worked for me, maybe it'll work for you.

25 comments:

  1. Shhhhhhh. Puzzle has no idea that there is food suitable for cats aside from kibble, tuna water, and canned pumpkin (the last stolen directly under the noses of unwary floofy dogs). Let's not give him ideas, shall we?

    And BTW, Jim thought the photo in your last post was me , and wondered why he hadn't seen me wearing those tights. How wonderful could it be if we both wore the purple flame tights...on the same day?

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    1. LOL, I told one of my friends at the convention about how disturbing it was when I realized that I have an identical twin living in the PNW. If Evelyn finds purple flames for us, we have to meet up in Oregon and do a ride together!

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  2. Raw really does wonders for kitties. Our Sloan, who had gotten painfully thin after battling a pervasive tail cyst this past summer has really, really blossomed here at the farm. He goes outside, which he prefers, and he gets all the mice and rodents his little heart desires. He has put on 3 whole pounds and has an awesome coat. If I didn't know better, I'd swear we had a new cat hanging around!

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  3. We have one cat who will eat anything (including raw broccoli) and one who will eat nothing but kibble (won't touch tuna, salmon, anything that most cats die for). If Spike happens to score something raw from the dogs he RUNS OFF WITH IT. I will often give him bones out of whatever we are eating because he RUNS OFF WITH THEM and I find it amusing. Cats.

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  4. Arguing with cats about what they want to eat is an exercise in futility. That's why I won't even speculate about what you'd need to do to convince your cat to eat raw chicken!

    Spike running away with bones sounds hysterical. And I think the kitten would give Sloan a run for his money - one day she brought me four voles in as many hours. Last week I got up, fed everybody breakfast, let the kitten out, and stepped outside 10 minutes later to discover a freshly slaughtered eviscerated sparrow and a very smug kitten.

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  5. Cats are so hilarious... I think it's great that yours transitioned to raw so easily. I have 3 and please don't tell them that that is an option! lol I have 2 that will eat anything (including red thai curry) and one that will barely eat kibble. Maybe raw is the way to go. I wish I could let mine outside, but our current neighbourhood is waaaay too busy - I'd have little kitty pancakes in no time. :-(

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  6. Our cat, "Teddy", is 18 years old, he still has all his own teeth!Lol. But he has developed a rather hitty missy approach to feeding.
    Sometimes he likes the food, the next day he doesnt, then he will have something else and so on!
    He is currently on cooked chicken, but god knows what it`ll be tomorrow?
    He is thin, his fur is dull, and he is very vocal at the moment, so short of me "chappin` his head!" Have you, any suggestions.?

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    1. Nope, good luck! Cats are like religion - I am not gonna tell you how you should deal with either one.

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  7. Conversation with my former vet, maybe 8 or 9 years ago:

    Me: "I'm thinking about feeding my cats a raw diet, what are your thoughts?"

    *wide eyed stares from vet and vet tech*

    horrified vet tech: "Raw? Meat? You'd feed them raw meat?!"

    Me: "Yes."

    vet: "Where did you hear of such a thing?"

    Me: "The internet."

    vet: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

    *subject drops and I quickly change vets*

    I wish I could do raw... or even a decent food. But no, it's prescription land for me and my critters. I've tried going off of it to a good food to disasterous results. :(

    Glad it's going so well. Their plan has worked out perfectly.

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    1. Yeah, ten years ago they told me I'd kill my dog feeding her raw. I never mentioned it to a vet again, and I've had nothing but compliments about how great they look... :rolleyes:

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  8. I'd love it if one of mine ate ANYTHING other than kibble. Granted, she gets really expensive grain-free kibble, but still... no tuna, no chicken, she will touch NOTHING else. The outdoor kitties have given up on using their fresh kills to impress us with their hunting prowess and just eat them (either that or they have a stash of dead things I haven't found yet... shudder), so they get plenty of raw.

    I had the dog on raw for a while, but then he just refused to eat anything raw. We switched back to kibble for now, with the occasional raw item thrown in. Our Pyrenees will eat anything, though - we just got some venison organ meat and she polished that off post haste. Unfortunately, being white, she looked like she'd killed the deer herself after she was done eating it!

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  9. Thanks for the vitamin recommendation... We switched our kitties over to grain-free a year or two ago, after I finally convinced the primary food-buyers that healthier kitties (and fewer hairballs) was worth the extra money. Unsurprisingly, they've all done extremely well on it, but the Old Lady, who has always been a sensitive soul, has recently started opting out of it on occasion. I've started setting aside extra meat for her and offering small pieces of whatever I happen to be eating -- boiled egg yolks, pumpkin, etc -- but I was worried about her overall nutrition. I'll send off for a free sample of that stuff and see if Ms. Fussybritches will touch it!

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  10. Funder--all my kitties eat the reasonably good quality kibble I provide--no complaints. And let's see, that's well over twenty cats in my life so far. They do go outside and kill varmints, so maybe they meet their need for raw food that way?

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  11. My cat thinks raw is beneath her princessness. I've tried. She does hover while I eat, wanting what I have, until offered. Then she goes to the kibble. I think if I'd started younger (she is 14). It really sounds like a good diet, and I'm glad it's working. Simpler is better is all forms. All my pets eat better than I do.

    And those are NOT invisible monsters Banders is yelling at. I have them here too. Obviously invisible trolls or demons. The cats are protecting us. In the middle of the night.

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  12. I have a cat a little like Banders it seems. He will start howling sometimes if I leave him behind in a room and go upstairs (lost in the hallway thing like you said!) As soon as I tell him "I'm up here" , he comes running and the yowling quits.How does a cat get lost in their own home?
    Interesting story on the raw diet. We mix Xena's (the GSD)diet half raw , half grain free kibble (Taste of the Wild)She definitely prefers raw chicken but we ran out of the stock of roosters Tom butchered this fall that I had stored in the freezer. (I need to get to a meat shop and scrounge their scrap pile but it's not a pleasant chore). I put a fresh egg in Xen'as kibble every morning. It has really helped her coat shine up. As for the cat, Loki- he has been on a grain free kibble since he was diagnosed with Asthma. Again , Taste of the Wild brand. He really likes it but he's getting SOOOOO fat on it (last check he scaled in at just under 15lbs). I have cut him back as far as I dare for fear he will tear my eyes out at night for paybacks. He is an inside cat due to his asthma. You mentioned your cats are gaining weight on the raw food. I wonder if it would work the opposite way for Loki

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    1. The skinny one gained a healthy amount of weight. Jabber ("the kitten") is plump, with a generous cat-flap, and she's stayed exactly the same I think. I was wondering if she'd slim down a bit, but no!

      TOTW was one of the rejected howl-all-day brands. I think I tried two flavors of it. Unacceptable, human.

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    2. Could a "cat flap" possibly also be known as the kitty pocketbook? The swingy piece that dangles from the rear belly area? I never knew what others called that. ;)

      My xtra toed (24) kitten will try any food, but then he was starved just shy of death when I found him.

      I've had several felines that just loved cantaloupe - would drag the rinds out of the trash and fight over them. Val's bucket of soaking mash is popular target in the kitchen these days as well... Mysterious creatures they are. :)

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    3. LOL, pocketbook! I've heard it called a skirt too. Anybody heard any other cute phrases?

      Jabber loves cheese, but that's hardly weird. And she really likes almond butter - she gets to lick the spoon while Cersei licks the bowl. They're all indifferent to fruit.

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  13. We used to raw feed, but I was spending just as much time preparing animal food as I was for my family. Which got old. Also, it's hard enough getting people to watch my critters when I went out of town. Convincing animal sitters to feed chunks of raw meat and liver was too much for them. :) Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com

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  14. One of my 3 needs a $$$$$ vet kibble, and since they all 3 steal from each other, all 3 get very expensive vet kibble that only one of them really needs. Sigh.

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  15. My cat Allie won't eat any kind of 'human grade' food - chicken (cooked or raw), shrimp, beef, fish, tuna water. Nor will she eat rodents - she's an indoor cat, but when I lived in a place where the occasional mouse appeared, she would bat it to death but never take so much as a nibble from it. She likes only two brands of low quality wet foods (and only the poultry or beef flavours, please, no fish for this girl) and two brands of good quality kibble. And her only consistent rule, throughout her 10 or so years with me, is "if the human stockpiles wetfood because it is on sale, refuse to eat it - same goes for buying the larger size bags of kibble". It's all about keeping me broke and guessing.

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  16. I love hearing about yall's cats' foibles. You know how you give your pets "voices" and catchphrases? The kitten is Ms. I DO WHAT I WANT. I think all cats are "I do what I want!" to some extent.

    Except Banders. I won't let G articulate anything about him because I do not think he actually has noun-verb thoughts. He just things. "Thing. Thingthingthing! Thing?"

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  17. The 'Cat flap" in our home on Loki (and it's a healthy one!) is called his "man boobs". It's a sensitivei subject for him..everyone that comes to the house has the first reaction" that is a fat cat".
    TOTW was rejected , huh?? that interesting.. cats are a weird lot, aren't they?

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  18. Our 4 little kitties LOOOOOOOOOOVE the dog food. Of course, then they throw it up all over the house.
    : P
    - The Equestrian Vagabond

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  19. I LOVE your post Funder. Even when you've already told me something - it's still hilarious to actually read it.

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