The post about raw fed cat poop

Momma is gonna talk about my poop again, isn't she?

The other day I gave my cats a couple of cans of wet food as a treat. I do this from time to time, mostly because we have failed to thaw out enough raw food, but also because I pretend it is a little nutritional insurance. We do not know everything about nutrition and even less about feline nutrition, so feeding many different sources of protein and different recipes gives a little bit of coverage nutritionally, just in case.

and my cats adore it. They go insane when they hear a can pop and act like kids do when there is birthday cake.

When I do, there is some evidence of it in the litter box. but never so clearly as what I scooped the other day. I got three perfect examples of poop from when they ate raw food morphing into poop from when they ate canned. Raw food produces stool that is very dry, crumbles easily, doesn't pick up much litter and barely smells. Canned food produces stools that are wetter, smellier and bulkier. Just look:

Even if they could prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that raw food held no nutritional benefits for cats over canned, I would still feed it for the poop. There is never a stink bomb in my house, there is far less stool produced because most of the food is utilized by the body, and I use less litter because it doesn't stick to the stool and I don't throw it away.

Since I have seen first hand the dramatic improvement in cats when being fed raw including diabetic cats with reduced glucose levels, cats with uncontrollable diarrhea clearing up almost overnight, cats with urinary crystals no longer suffering, not sure there is anything that would get me from feeding raw.

Why I feed raw

Time to make the cat food again...

I have talked about feeding raw food to my cats a few times on this blog, I've even done a few 'watch me make raw food' posts because my cats amuse me every single time we make food.

I will admit, this is probably one of my least favorite chores. I would strongly prefer to buy it and leave the meat grinding to someone else, but with the FDA regulations of zero tolerance of bacteria or pathogens in raw food to almost to the point of being insane (they do not seem to have the same zeal when testing cooked commercial foods)  and my cats don't like HPP (high-pressure pasteurization) foods... So, we make it.

We use the recipe from catinfo.org but I do not cook anything. I used to cook the egg whites because of the enzyme in them that inhibit biotin absorption, but with the high amount of biotin in the yolks as well as the biotin in the B vitamins we add, I am not worried about the small amount that is bound up and is unusable because we don't cook the whites.

But why would I go through all of this trouble? Why do I feed raw? Years ago I had one diabetic cat (Em) and two cats who had blocked with urinary crystals (Jack and Eli) while on a 'high-quality premium' dry cat food. Em was on seven units of insulin twice a day because of the food we were feeding. We were originally encouraged to switch her to a high fiber food (W/D) because the belief was that the fiber would slow down the absorption of the sugars in the food and keep a cat's blood sugar stable. It works for humans and for dogs to some extent, but it has been disproven to help cats. Her transition to W/D did not go well, so we kept her on the food she liked, which the vet said was fine. Why no one (of the multiple vets we saw) balked at the idea of giving a cat seven units of insulin twice a day, I have no idea.

I found the felinediabetes.com message board and saw cat after cat enter into remission with a diet change to a low carb high protein diet. I was floored at the idea. By this point, Em had been on insulin for years and I didn't think it was possible. I picked a low carb canned food (Fancy Feast Classics Turkey and Giblets) and put her on that while testing her blood sugar levels regularly. Her insulin need dropped dramatically, from seven units to two and eventually to one. I was stunned. I started feeding Em separately from the rest of the cats and she was fine with that.

Then Eli blocked. So Em was on special food, Eli was on special food and the rest were still being fed dry.

Then Jack blocked.

So we had a devil of a time herding cats twice a day. Getting Em into her bathroom to eat her food, then get everyone else into the basement but Jack and Eli.. well at least not Eli since touching him then was questionable, Jack would follow the food anywhere.. It was frustrating having three feeding stations for five cats.

The more I learned about why the food helped Em, the more I learned in general. When I realized that leaving my cats on dry food would most likely mean that they too would one day end up with medical conditions that would need an Rx food, and that feeding them a low carb, high protein, high moisture diet would mitigate that, I was converted.

My husband and I went to pet food store after pet food store looking for cat foods that had a named meat source (chicken, beef, turkey) and each animal-based ingredient was also named (chicken fat vs poultry fat) and that had no plants in it and no carrageenan.  I was shocked how hard that was and by the fact that some food makers at the time put garlic in their foods.

We finally ended up with the conclusion that making the food was our best option.  I was completely ready to throw in the towel before I even began. I can not stand touching raw meat. I decided I needed to wear plastic gloves to do it and that helped a lot. The fact that my husband is willing to do clean up is another factor that has helped a great deal over the years.

this is relevant to my interests - Fleurp

Getting Em on raw was easy initially. Her insulin need dropped to almost nothing. Sadly, it was about this time that she started developing cancer and she decided she wanted nothing to do with the raw, I speculate that was because she associated the new food with the discomfort that was taking up residence within her.

I was beyond lucky/blessed/super skilled at getting everyone else on it. I offered them ground raw chicken, which they all said was super awesome, so I said, "okay, this is your new food" switching it with the raw food we had made and they ate it. I suspect it had a lot to do with the fact that they were all fosters and had grown up eating a wide variety of foods due to eating whatever was donated to the shelter. (this is why I recommended feeding kittens anything and everything while they are young)

Additional benefits: My cats eat less food on raw.. 2-3 oz per meal vs the 4-6 they used to of conventional food. Their stools are also much smaller and drier and barely smell - unless you collect them and cut them up for research.. then you smell them just fine

Eli and Jack went years without another incident of crystals. Each has had flair ups over the years when stressed (or when Jack broke into bags of dry food I brought into the house for foster kittens). I can't imagine what they would have gone through if I had kept them on regular food.

Skippy, the only kitty we adopted since converting to raw, is in amazing health. He has never needed a dental and his teeth are still very clean - granted he is only five, but a lot of cats start with dentals before this point. Fleurp was mostly raw raised and except for her annual spring anemia (goodness, I wish I knew what causes that) she is in good health as well.  Time will tell if this holds up, but from what I have read and learned, I am guessing it will.

I wonder what happened to Kit and why her cancer popped up so quickly and I have my theory, which I'll probably touch upon when and if I do a year in review post. I know perfect nutrition (and I'm not saying my diet choices for my cats are perfect) isn't a full and complete preventative to disease, so I imagine I'll be facing more difficult situations as the years progress.. but giving them the most highly digestible and least inappropriate diet I can is the least I can do to help mitigate whatever I can.


So, TL/DR, Why do I feed raw? It 'cures' diabetes, It 'cures' urinary crystals, I know what is in it. I know how highly digestible it is because of size and smell of my cat's stool.

#MakingRawFeedingFun Contest with Balanced Blends #becausetheyrefamily

When we left off Friday, Fleurp was hoping I'd get to the fun part of the Make Raw Feeding Fun contest by Balanced Blends Raw Cat Food.

It actually took me way longer to decide what I was going to do with the food to make it 'fun'.  My initial thought was to set up a nice dinner table with fancy dishes and napkins and maybe make a candlelight dinner...  I decided to wait a bit and see what other people were doing and when I saw the sushi rolls my mind started to work.  What could I transform raw food into that would be fun AND would fall within the contest guidelines that cat food entries could not contain fruit, vegetables, grains and the food could not be cooked.

This left some mighty big challenges which I was actually was okay with as I am totally onboard with cats not eating fruit, veg, grains or cooked foods... but what to do?

When playing with my cats, it dawned on me.  I would make raw food mice!  It would play into the cat's need to 'hunt, catch, kill, eat' which is another important part of keeping your cat healthy, and it would be freaking cute!  I decided to go with cheese (because mice!) and bits of ham.  All in all, I think it worked out really well - not to mention that the inclusion of deli meat could be a selling feature because it can entice a kitty who might be reluctant to eat new foods to give it a try.  I ended up using a piece of sliced cheese and ham for the ears, some shredded cheese for the tails, and a few curds of cottage cheese for the eyes...

So what did The Crew think of all of this silliness? I removed the cheese block to feed it to them, because while I don't mind my cats eating a bit of cheese, I thought a great big block like that wasn't a good idea.

Twee is not a joiner, she showed up after the fact and did clean up duty, but as you can see it was a big hit with everyone. They have a slight preference of the chicken over the beef but beef is eaten well.

My entry for the contest?

#makingrawfeedingfun to me means tapping into my cat's nature to hunt catch kill... So I made raw food mice out of @balancedblendspetfood chicken and beef food, with cheese or ham ears (a wonderful option if your cat needs enticement too eat raw) cottage cheese eyes and shredded mozzarella cheese tails. The Crew loved it #becausetheyrefamily #balancedblends #contest #rawfeeding #rawfedcats #noplants #grainfree #playwithyourfood

A photo posted by Connie (@tails_from_the_foster_kittens) on Oct 13, 2016 at 9:12am PDT

If you would like to stop by and vote for us, we would appreciate it. You can check it out here. You can also enter yourself. There are two random winners each week and three grand prizes for the most popular entries. The contest runs through November 14th.

Making raw feeding fun an introduction to #BalancedBlends

I was offered the chance to enter a contest to showcase Balance Blends raw cat food recently. They sent me some cat food so I could take a creative photo encouraging people to try raw food.  Since raw food is one of my passions, I jumped right on it. They sent me some of their food to participate.

The food arrived in a styrofoam cooler, with some dry ice to keep it frozen, that Fleurp found absolutely fascinating.

Momma, what's in the box?

They sent five pounds of chicken and five pounds of beef food.  I was a little concerned because one of the bags that it was in had a small nick in it and we thaw food in a water bath. I thought the food might become waterlogged, but when I opened it up I found that the food was actually packaged into smaller amounts. This is awesome if you have only one or two cats. It also makes it easier to thaw out instead of one big five-pound chunk.

Balance Blends is based in Boulder Colorado and their mission is to empower pet parents to enhance and sustain the health and well-being of their pets. They worked with veterinarians and a PhD nutritionist to create a complete and balanced diet for both cats and dogs.

Their ingredient list for cat food is nice short. Balance Blends does use flax seed oil and psyllium husks in both of their cat recipes, which I'm not a big fan of, but if that is the worst thing I can say about it (and it is) I would have to say I am very impressed.

Since we are talking about having fun... I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that getting blocks of dry ice is wicked fun!

Although Fleurp was not amused at how long it was taking me to get the raw feeding fun I was supposed to be doing..

Momma, these plates are emp-tea!

Come back on Monday to see all the fun we did have with the food and see our entry in the Make Raw Feeding Fun contest (and yes, I'll ask for you to vote, but you don't have to).  If you would like to try the food yourself, you can use my referral link for $20 off your first order.

Oh my goodness, what have I done?? Chicken paws, really??

Well I went to the grocery store the other day and saw something there I have never seen there before, so I thought I would buy it and bring it home for the cats. I know this isn't for everyone so I've created one of those jump breaks so if you are getting this emailed to you or you are reading it in a reader *hopefully* you won't see the rest of the post after Eli's warning picture unless you come to the blog to see it.

My new grinder for making raw food is AWESOME!!

Jack waiting for me to drop pieces of chicken for him while making cat food,
affectionately called 'chicken raining from the sky day'

So making raw food for seven cats is not fun but it is completely worth it.  I credit a good diet as a major reason why Jack is still with us, as well as a few other of our cats, and my younger cats having amazingly clean teeth.  I wish my cats would eat 'frakenprey' and I wouldn't have to grind it, but I have at least one cat that won't eat even muscle meat, let alone chew on a bone, so I could never be sure my cats got a balanced diet, not to mention I don't think my husband would like the idea of dishing out livers every day (because I know I don't) or kidneys, or other organs... so we grind.

Which is one reason why I am a full supporter of 'do what you can'.  Feeding mice and chicks appear to be the healthiest way to feed a cat, frakenprey (bits of meat on bone a bit of organ) would be the next option, ground raw, canned, and then kibble (not sure if I should put freeze dried food before or after canned, as I think it is pretty subjective). I also believe if you know better you do better.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point you'll find yourself questioning things and hopefully because I and others talk about it you will be more willing to do it.

So.. we grind.  When I first started making raw food years ago I purchased a basic grinder that was recommended. The idea of raw food was so overwhelming that I didn't want to dive into the middle of the ocean (aka way beyond the deep end) so I bought the lower end model. It works well enough, but in order to get the chicken thighs (which I do not cook, but I follow the rest of the recipe at catinfo.org) in the grinding tube I would have to cut them in half or in thirds. I would cut near the bone so I would have one side with bone, and one side without. I HIGHLY recommend you spend money and get yourself a fabulous knife*, this isn't something you want to hack your way through especially if you are making 60+ pounds of food. I would grind the bones first, add the supplements (and something green - because without a very small portion of green veg {parsley, or cooked green beans or cooked broccoli} which generally comes out to about 2% of the recipe) then grind the meat.

Doing it this way it would take an hour or more of just grinding. For a month of high quality food for my cats it is totally worth it, but every month I would dread it more than going to the dentist.

For my birthday I asked for the 3/4 HP model, and OHMYCOD.. I am actually sad we didn't do this years ago.

I know that is a horrible photo, but I was in the middle of making food, and I had to stop and take a photo for this love letter to my Weston Electric Meat Grinder.. Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways..

Okay, honestly there is only one way, that it grinds the entire freakin thigh!!  There were a few very large thighs that I would have previously had to cut into thirds that I only needed to cut once, but that was rare. This round I added some boneless skinless thighs to round out the thigh weights to five pounds per batch, some chicken breasts cut up into cubes for chewing on for my cats who are willing to do that, and some green beans. I found some 'canned' beans that were not in cans so I didn't have to worry as much about BPA, although they were in plastic bags, so I'm sure there was some chemicals in there I wish weren't, but I can't micromanage everything... and considering everything I know I've weeded out by making my own, I will allow myself to make choices that make this easier for me.

This went so much faster, that we are planning on filling up our freezer next time. We are going to have to buy more containers to put the food in, and we need to eat up some of our own food that is in the freezer, but I'm actually looking forward to that.. and that alone was worth the price.

Although Jack might not be happy that there will be fewer "chicken raining from the sky' days..



* seriously, even if you don't make raw cat food, you need to own a really good quality knife, I mean a $100+ knife, it will change your life, it really will.

The post where I get on my soap box and rant.. again

Rene over at ATC contacted me regarding an article she saw in the May 2014 issue of Reader's Digest. She wrote a post about it, asking people to write to RD and tell them what we felt about the last two "secrets" they shared..   Yes, I was a little bitter when I wrote to them.  Rene encouraged me to share my words here since I told her I sent her an email

So in the May issue of your magazine you have an article "50 Secrets Your Pet Won't Tell You".    I take extreme exception to this article.. as none of them are really secretes, and worst of all you started dabbling in something you had no business dabbling in, pet nutrition.
"Secret" 49 regarding 'hype' about grain free food.  Who told you it was hype?  Pet food makers?  Maybe you went to an actual vet who told you this, but were they ever trained in nutrition?  Did this vet tell you that dogs and cats have COMPLETELY different nutritional needs (and the same goes for every other pet species, rabbits, birds, etc so making such a blanket statement regarding pet food is not only lazy reporting it is incompetence) Cats are "obligate carnivores" and if you do not know why that means cats shouldn't have grains in their diets, let me hand you a dictionary..
http://dictionary.reference.com/
How about you talk to a veterinarian nutritionist, one who has actually studied feline nutrition like Lisa Pierson DVM over at http://catinfo.org or Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM who wrote the book "Your Cat"  and then go consult one who studies canine nutrition.  I don't know any off the top of my head as I am an a feline advocate, but I'm sure you can find one rather easily.  http://lmgtfy.com/?q=canine+nutritionist
Lest you think I'm ragging on vets, please note that if YOU have a question of nutrition beyond 'eat more fruits and vegetables' your own doctor will refer you to a RD or an RDN (which if you aren't careful will land you in the pocket of big food - http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/10/how-ada-are-manipulated-by-food-industry.aspx )


As for #50, yes, raw diets MAY cause cracked teeth or bacterial infections, but you do know that more 'cooked' and 'processed' foods have been recalled for bacterial issues then raw right? How about all of those foods that have been tainted http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-04-19-pet-food-usat_N.htm
I personally had a problem with a commercial treat product I purchased. Getting the company to accept any responsibility for the issue is impossible, and most companies dismiss individual claims using the excuse that anything could have caused it..  Just as GM did with their cars for 14 years..

Do you know why the ASPCA, the CDC and the great and awesome "Prevention" discourages raw diets? The ASPCA follows the JAVMA, which follows the money.  The major pet food companies donate a lot of money and do a lot of 'research' that supports their food products as being the best alternative (why wouldn't they, they have a financial stake in the outcome.  It would be like if PepsiCO studied the healthfulness of Pepsi and then spent millions of dollars to convince the RDs of the world that their product is fine in moderation - oh wait.. they did http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/10/how-ada-are-manipulated-by-food-industry.aspx )  The CDC is against it because of their absolute fear of salmonella and ecoli.  While it is appropriate that we are aware of these and other bacterial contamination, using basic sanitary practices and being aware of where you source your food - something we should be doing anyway because I don't know about you but I am not all that interested in eating killed ecoli or salmonella.
Pet food companies believe they can provide food that is 'complete and balanced' for your pet.  I find this claim fascinating in the fact that we still don't even know everything there is to know about nutrition in general.  The more the 'experts' dabble in our own health the unhealthier we are getting as a society.  Back before we had "health experts", most of the human population was thin and relatively healthy.  Moves to reclaim our health harken that we need to return to traditional foods turning away from processed foods and food like substances that were invented in the last 100 years..

it is not nearly as difficult recreating a pet's natural diet as you might thing.  Some meat, some bone, some organ.  Try to keep the bone size down to something akin to what the animal might actually take down in the wild.  A cat would never take down a cow, so giving a cat a cow bone is silly.  Yes a cat would eat dead cow if it came across it in it's travels since a cat is not above being a carrion, but on the whole if you stick to smaller prey, the cat's teeth and digestive system were designed (either by design or evolution) to rip flesh from bones, crack bones and consume them.  You will not find a wild cat who breaks into grain stores or hunts down wild corn.  Although you will find them frequently hanging out in those areas to catch the mice and the birds that feed off those grains - which is how cats became domesticated in the first place.
I have a feeling you don't really care if these 'secrets' are accurate or not, but I in good conscious could not let this go with out saying something..

Connie
Webmaster of kittyblog.net
foster home for kittens since 2002
owner of 7 raw fed cats - several of which are alive simply because they are on a raw diet.

A new (to us) raw cat food

I was out buying food for The Crew the other day and found a lone package of a new frozen cat food in the freezer. It is called Answers. I liked the ingredient list and when I went to purchase it I was given an information sheet on it and I really liked the company's ideas and philosophies.

Personally I wouldn't have gone for carrot fiber, but would have preferred something in the low glycemic green family like green beans or parsley, but that's just me

It thawed in my fridge for a while and I opened it up much like you would a milk carton.

With seven cats who eat about two ounces each, the 16 oz container really isn't practical. I could over feed them, they would like that, but that seems like a waste. I wrote to the company and asked if they would consider selling it in larger containers and got a very nice reply from Jacqueline C. Hill, Vice President of Operations and Product Development. At this time they are not doing sizes any larger than the 16oz.  (bummer!!) but I am hopeful that they will in the future. Most households are not one cat households.. (which if they were would mean this one container would last three to four days) but multi cat households and it seems a little impractical to continue to sell only in smaller containers. My other issue is this product cost me nearly $9. If I had one cat that wouldn't be out of the question, but I can not afford $18 a day.. ($17ish since there was one serving left over) nor would it really be practical for us.. I currently buy 30-60 pounds of food at a time.. which would be 30-60 of these containers..

I am really saddened by this, as I love the ingredients.. and The Crew really likes the food..

Yes, Muffin is a diva when it comes to new food.. no idea why since she is a total dishwasher and scrounges food where ever she can.. Don't worry.. she did actually like the food.. she was just holding out for her own private plate..

So it got two huge thumbs and fourteen paws up.. I am hoping that in the future there will be a way this will be more affordable for The Crew and any future fosters who need it can get it..


BTW, ANSWERS Pet Food has been named "Best Pet Food You Can Buy" By Susan Thixton, at TruthaboutPetFood.com, in 2012! Read the very first of a new series of articles taking a detailed look at various pet food companies. Read "Answers From ANSWERS Pet Food"

The life and times of Smedley's Behind (and an update)

Well let me get the update right out of the way since I am so far behind on that one.. Cubbie, Koshka AND Snow have all been adopted!!   I do not know of Cubbie and Koshka went together or not but a staff member came up to me to tell me about how AWESOME Snow's adoption was.  She said it was with a "cat lady" who saw Snow for what she was, and even though Snow hissed at her, she knew that it was a match and wanted to take her home.  She is so going to LOVE Snow.. and there are other cats in the house, which I think Snow will really enjoy once she relaxes a little.  Purrs to all of them for long happy lives.

Now.. on to Smed's behind..

Do we HAFTA talk about my butt again?? 

Why yes, darlin, we do..

So as we left it, at the end of last week I got Smed in to see a vet due to his really inflamed behind.. I was told to try a high fiber diet, but I had a feeling that a low plant based ingredient diet was more likely going to help him, so I put him and his cohorts on raw food.. they took to it like we all take to that first warm spring day.. they easily put away as much as my seven full grown cats eat, if not double, at each meal.. Their stools became well formed, dry and Smed's rear end no longer leaked and it started to heal up..

Click to make bigger..
I figured not everyone wants to look at his anus

After four days things were so dramatically improved that I figured I'd try putting them on the lowest inflammatory canned cat food I know of.. I feed it to diabetics because it is low in plant matter and does not contain carrageenan (which every other can in that kitten room had in it) and they ate eight three ounce cans.. I went down the next morning and offered it to them again and this time I only got three cans down, and they weren't all that interested.  When I went to the litter box I found out why.. the diarrhea was back. :(  I was hopeful that it was just a one time temporary thing and if I kept them on the food it would settle down, but no, it is pretty obvious they need some more time to heal up.  I see this all the time in kittens, I rush to get them back on regular food when using raw to clear up diarrhea.  If I had just waited a little longer I'm sure it would have worked out.. so they are back on raw for a few more days / week and we'll try it again and I'm sure this time will be the charm.

From the road..

As I mentioned previously, Odilia had an issue earlier and it was determined she had coccida.  She was dosed with marquis paste and thus all of them were killed, but her stool was quite soft.  When it wasn't firming up I took her off canned food and put her on raw.  She LOVED it.. ate it like a true obligate carnivore kitten should, all standing in it, and gulped it down.. it did my heart good to see it.

After almost no time at all, her stools were firm, dry and lacked that horrific coccidia odor.  If you feed raw, you will know that a raw fed cat's stools are pretty much odorless, which I have to say is really a bonus - especially after sniffing the odorous concoction that is a parasitic stool  :)  (wait, no, make that :$)

well I fed her raw right before we left, and I knew Robin would have some so she ate it while she was in CT as well.  Her stool had been firm for days so I was planning on putting her back on canned while here.  Well wouldn't you know it, after the first meal her stool became loose again.  It coincided with her bonus dose of marquis paste to make sure we got it all, but I needed to get my hands on some raw.

This conference is heavy on the Purina and Hills food and the commercial way of thinking about pet food, so I figured I would have to do some sleuthing online until low and behold I realized I was sitting next to THE Margaret Gates of Feline-Nutrition.org - whom I refer people to quite regularly (along with catinfo.org because it is run by a vet and because it has a whole different layout feel and I figured people need more than one option in this sort of thing)

Wasn't I thrilled!  I figured she of all people would know where to get raw - because she is local.  I asked and she gave me the name of a place, but then said she could bring me some!!  I mean she was awesome before, but man, feed one of my foster kittens and boom, you are so my favorite person (yes, I'm that easy)

Well she brought some, she put it in a really nice container, with some ice, double wrapped in plastic and then in a whole foods bag.  I kinda felt like we had to do it on the down low due to the environment - the keynote speaker had just finished and he said he was opposed to raw food.

Margaret asked if I would send her photos of Odilia eating the food, and I said, well she has a belly fully of eggs (seriously, you NEED to see that video) but lets give it a try.  We opened up the container, and Odi is  reaching into the container to eat.. :)

I did some more socializing with her, but then she started getting grumpy.  After eating she almost always needs a litter box, so she came back to the room while I went off to a session.

When I got back I gave her some more raw..

Although after her breakfast of a taste of butter and some scrambled eggs, I'm curious what her stool is going to look like :)

I would also like to share how awesome my husband is.. He knew I missed my kitties, so he's been sending me pictures..

Twee and Kit - Daddy's girls

Jack

Doing the breakfast dance:
Skippy Muffin, Twee and Eli 's back and Fleup's tail

Fleurp and her eviscerated mouse.. she loves that thing.
Yes, that is a "it's good to be the Princess" mat for her to sit on

Sadly his blackberry doesn't take very good photos.. but it really is the thought that counts

it's offical

The kittens are going to have to be raw fed.  *sigh* 

I tried again recently to get them on canned food. I went as simple as I could, to try to eliminate any question that it might be this reason or that reason, and I got the limited ingredient 95% beef canned food.   I also wanted to eliminate the question of digestive upset when abruptly changing foods. This generally isn't an issue in kittens, but I wanted to be as gentle on the kittens as I could, and I wanted to be absolutely sure what was going on.  To try to eliminate digestive upset when introducing new foods you add just a little of the new food to the old.  They ate a full meal of raw, then I gave them a small portion of the canned, then gave them another full meal of raw (they were HUNGRY HUNGRY KITTENS!!!)

Diarrhea came on full force for all four of them.  *sigh*

I'm pretty sure two of the four (and one of them is not Petra) is OK on raw chicken, which will give them more options as owned pets (unless they go home with Petra)

Now, I am doing the internal happy dance because I do believe that raw is a healthier diet for kitties
but I know the environment around here isn't conducive to raw fed cats.  Most vets around me (at least that I have come in contact with) are afraid of raw.  It is a huge paradigm shift and not that many people are willing / able to make it.  So they will most likely sit at the shelter waiting for someone willing to take that on.  It is an expense to the shelter, because they need to make sure they have it on hand (they generally rely on donations for food) and send someone to get it when they run out.

I'm also doing the internal happy dance because while it might take longer to find their humans, I'll know that they will be special.  And while there are a lot of special owners out there who love their kitties and do everything for them, I generally don't know for sure what kind of homes they are going to.  I think it is fair to say anyone who knowingly adopts a kitty with a special diet gets a head start at being some of my favorite kitty owners..

(although any one of my former foster kitten owners jump the line when they send me pictures!!)

Kitten shower is next weekend.  The shelter asked if I could bring the kittens in for it.  I don't know if that means putting them up for adoption or just up for show.. I've told them that they are ready (because once they got back on raw things cleared right up) so they will most likely be leaving in the next few days/week. 

Can you stand another food post?

Yesterday I picked up some more drumsticks for Meira.  When I went to feed her last night I put the drumstick on a separate plate from the raw food, because in the past she has preferred the ground up food.  Last night, she was all over that drumstick!!

NOM NOM NOM CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

OMG MOM!!  that thing is our size.. should we worry?

Miriam goes in for a closer look

So you eat.. off a plate?? not suckle?? hum???

Petra is eating, and so is Squirrel but not nearly as much as she does.  they are still getting a bulk of their calories by nursing.  This morning I gave her another two legs and some raw and a can (I wanted to see what will happen with the reintroduction of canned food at this point) and she was ALL OVER the canned and ignored everything else.  When I checked in on them on the webcam a while ago the legs were still there.  Then I saw this..

Petra and Moose and the drumstick

Not sure if they dragged it over there off the plate, or if Meira did.. They were nosing it, probably licking it, pondering what to do with it then wandered off.  Meira came up and is eating it as I type.  She actually seems to be showing her kittens how to eat it.. either that or she's not that hungry and is just chewing it because she's bored and they are watching.  I won't be surprised if I go home and find a bone on the floor.

good thing I have a whole bottle of disinfectant..

Update: Meira walked away from the bone and a small dark kitten is chewing on the bone, I THINK it is Miriam..