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Originally Posted by ladyhawk1
Hello, first-time poster here.
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Hi Jen, and welcome to pets.ca.
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Originally Posted by ladyhawk1
I just recently came across info about the BARF diet for pets and I figured it might help with the vomiting of half-digested kibble I've noticed from one of my cats in the last several months.
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Good for you for wanting to feed your cats better!
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Originally Posted by ladyhawk1
Today is only 2.5 days since I started to only feed wet food to both cats, at two daily feedings (am/pm). I had initially tried to add some raw chicken and bones from Paws-itively Raw Foods, but neither liked it. So, I'm sticking to the wet food only for now.
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One step at at time. Once they're used to canned for a while, you can work on slowly introducing bits of raw.
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Originally Posted by ladyhawk1
My concern is that neither is eating the quantity that is recommended on the can for their size (~10 lbs), so my irrational fear is that I'm starving them. Should I be concerned? Any words of wisdom?
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What and how much are they eating now? I personally don't pay a lot of attention to what the can says because it can very so much depending on the cat's age, weight, lifestyle and individual metabolism. A basic rule of thumb is around 20-30 calories/lb of cat (so a 10 lb cat could need anywhere from 200-300 cal/day). Canned foods average something like 30-35 cal/ounce (Wellness is 40 cal/oz). But again, these are very basic guidelines. For instance, my 15 lb 15 yr old male only gets around 16 cal/lb (2 of the 3 oz cans of Wellness a day) and he does fine. I'd like him to lose 1 or 2 more pounds but he complains profusely if I cut him back more than that.
My advice is to just keep an eye on your kitty's weight and if you think they need to eat more, you might need to try different foods (my guy likes a lot of variety or he gets bored) or ways to make their food more enticing (like sprinkling powdered freeze-dried treats or bonito flakes on top). There are lots of tips here if you want some more ideas:
http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_
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Originally Posted by ladyhawk1
I still would like to eventually have them eating only raw food (ie: Nature's Variety) but it seems this will take longer than I originally thought.
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Patience is the key. There are quite a few foods that my cat now eats with gusto which he originally rejected. Keep trying, and good luck!