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This is a dedicated place for all of your questions and answers about Raw Diets. There are also some really cool groups like "Raw Fed" on the topic you can join. This forum is for people who already know they like the raw diet or sincerely want to learn more. Please remember that you are receiving advice from peers and not professionals. If you have specific health-related questions about your cat's diet, please contact your vet!
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Hazy
Play with me,- now!! |
 | | Purred: Thu Jun 4, '09 1:20pm PST | |  | |  | | It seems like my sister and I are always hungry after mommy put us on raw? We are 8 months old and weigh about 7 lbs. When we first arrived home from the shelter we had runny poop and diarrhea. for 3 months we tried no-grain canned food and vet put us on Hill's i/d to no avail. We ended up having pumpkin puree every day.  hated that. Finally mom got fed up with wiping our hiney and tried raw as last resort. well, we gobbled down the raw meat like we had been starving for months. Miraculously our stools firmed up overnight. duh, what took her so long? 
At first she fed us 2 meals a day and at least 6oz per kitten per meal. that said, she let us eat as much as we like. After each meal we were like energizer bunnies, running around like crazy. Then mommy got advice from a friend and she wonders if she was overfeeding us. Now she only gives us 4 oz each per meal, which total up to 1 lb of food a day between 2 of us.
After she cuts down on our meals, we seems to sleep a lot. i mean A LOT. Maybe not a lot compared to other cats but definitely a lot more than we used to. And we are not as eager to play with anyone or any toys. When mommy cleans up after the meal we would follow her into the kitchen, sit in front of the fridge, and meow for minutes....which had never happened before. She now worries it will stunt our growth.
Is mommy starving us?  or we're just spoiled? |  |  | |  |
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Hermes
I'm not a cat,- I'm satan! |
 | | Purred: Thu Jun 4, '09 2:16pm PST | | | | | | I would actually let them eat a little more. They're still growing so they should still be eating as much as they like.
Hermes was still eating as much as 6 ounces a day up until about a month ago. He just suddenly stopped eating everything I left out for him so I figured that he just stopped growing. He's now full grown at about 7-8 pounds and eats about 4 ounces a day along with some canned food. He's also a super active boy but he's calming down a little bit as he's reaching adulthood.
The thing about raw fed kittens is that they are a lot better at self regulation than commercial fed kittens. The reason that you never hear of fat cats on raw (except those who are on it to lose weight) is because cats who eat raw quickly learn how much they can eat. This is because overindulgence or eating too quickly leads to barfing within a few minutes.
Letting them eat as much as they want won't hurt them. Just keep an eye on their plates and their waistlines to keep track of how much to feed them. | | | | |
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Shade
My name is not- Kittyfloss!
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| | Purred: Fri Jun 5, '09 5:20am PST | | | | | | Hi Hazy! We're just about to turn 1 year old and we still eat "almost" as much as we want (not Smudgie - no amount of food is enough for Smudgie!). Anyway, we eat 3 x a day, breakfast, 1st suppers at ~3pm, and 2nd suppers whenever we ask for it. If we don't ask for 2nd suppers, we don't get it, but that almost never happens!  We are not overweight and are very active and we even get treats (jerky treats, freeze dried raw bison meat, bonito flakes, cheese) when we do clicker training or are getting our nails done. In our Mommie's opinion, your Mom should go back to feeding you the amount you were eating before and see what happens. She can always cut back if you start to get a bit on the chunky side, but if you are more active, you will be using up the calories and building lean muscle which in and of itself burns more calories than fat cells. | | | | |
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Lurch
I know I can, I- know I can!
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| | Purred: Fri Jun 5, '09 10:14am PST | | | | | | Lurch says feed LOTS! I got him at 7 1/2 months old and 7 lbs, and started him on raw right away. I was stunned at how well he took to it and how much he would eat. I just kept throwing meat at him like a panther in a zoo. I was afraid he'd eat me if I didn't. 
He stayed lean and lanky until about 11 months. Now he's a little chubby, but not fat. I've still had no need to cut him back. He eats at least 8 oz/day in three meals. He's 12 lbs now and turned 1 last month. Keep in mind that he's a gimp and can't run around much. He spends a lot of time lying on his side or doing his slow zombie walk. So a more active kitten probably wouldn't get chubby on his diet.
Rumble doesn't eat quite as much but has porked out a little more and gotten much less active. He used to be the troublemaker but is now very mellow. I'd be concerned about it if I needed something to worry about. | | | | |
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Hazy
Play with me,- now!! |
| | Purred: Sat Jun 6, '09 9:15am PST | | | | | | Thanks everyone~ My mom gave us more food yesterday and we are back to our old selves again. Running and playing.  Now we eat 3 meals a day, so each of us has about 12 oz of food, yay! But mom still thinks we eat too much, that's like ~10% of our weight!!
Oreo, we really don't know how much we will weigh when we're grown. The shelter people said our mama looks like a maine coon mix and she's big. But when we got adpoted we were really small and skinny, under 4lbs at 5 months. The vet said we were a bit smaller than average and not likely to be as big as mama.  | | | | |
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Aura
I feel better- eating & playing- again! |
| | Purred: Thu Nov 5, '09 1:17pm PST | | | | | | I'm wondering this for Aura. She'll probably be 12-14 pounds when she grows up. I feed her natures variety, and a 14 pounder is supposed to get about 4.5 oz a day according to them.
I give my 14 pounder 4 per day though, because he seems to gain weight if I give him more.
I can't imagine giving Aura 12 medallions a day....do you think???? | | | | |
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Shade
My name is not- Kittyfloss!
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| | Purred: Fri Nov 6, '09 3:58am PST | | | | | | Aura is still young. Young kittens should be fed as much food as they can eat just so long as they are not getting fat. I wouldn't throw down a bunch of food at once though. Give her some, if she's still hungry or comes back for more quickly, give her more. Remember she needs energy for all that playing she must be doing as well as for growing! | | | | |
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Sabre
Can I chew on- that? |
| | Purred: Mon Nov 9, '09 11:19am PST | | | | | | Well Sabre is a growing kitten and eats up to one full lb in a day. In my opinion as long as a kitten is not overweight they are eating exactly how much they should be. I'm glad your kittens are doing better! If Sabre doesn't get enough food he gets lazy. And that's not something that should happen with a bengal cat, haha! | | | | |
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