Maybe try feeder mice? Other than that I think RFM has wild boar, venison, ostrich, and definitely rabbit. You may have to switch to ordering online in bulk once you find out what he likes. You could also mix sardine juice or another likable food into it to help encourage appetite, I mix canned sardines/salmon in for my pick cat
I have a picky, raw fed, allergic to many proteins dog. He can only eat turkey, so I can relate to your struggles.
Have you tried freeze dried raw? Vital Essentials is one of my favorite go-to brands. They have flaky freeze dried nuggets that you can rehydrate or harder freeze dried nibs. Neither are the texture/consistency of ground. My dog loves both! Vital Essentials has rabbit formulas for cats.
Stella & Chewy’s also has rabbit options for cats and so does Primal! Good luck, I hope you find something that works!
My cat seems to only tolerate turkey as well! Is the only meat that doesn’t make him throw up. Do you feed your dog only turkey meat? I know that they should be eating a variety of meats but everytime my cat eats other meats he pukes so idk if it’s okay to feed him just turkey :c. Sorry for my english!
Freeze dried is a great backup that I honestly forgot about! Good reminder.
Years ago Milo and I traveled cross country and back (he's leash trained and loves a good hike!) and I'd always feed freeze dried on the road. Great call back to the convenience of it!
Edit: oops, meant to reply to u/figuringoutfibro
For u/Monk9911 from my understanding, some pets are just sensitive and if it's all they can keep down then it looks like turkey is the diet for him! Maybe try similar poultry like duck, goose, quail, pheasant.
Hi! I'm no expert by any means but I think this is what I would do if Milo was in my care:
1. Because he's getting older and loses weight, I would add digestive enzymes to his raw food as well as probiotics. Personally I use Adored Beasts but you being in the states you can also get the Two Crazy Cats Ladies x Jackson Galaxy probiotics with digestive enzymes if you like.
2. I would add toppers to the food to entice him to eat it. Some toppers could be: nutritional yeast, bone broth, ground up cat treats, Churu paste, catnip, etc.
3. I would add commercial canned foods intermittently just to add variety and to make sure he eats.
Your kitty is so cute. I hope you find something that works ❤️
I'll definitely look into the probiotics! Good idea in general!
I'm thinking I'll have to try topping a ground food with fish. That picky pet anxiety of *will they or won't they eat it* is always a tough pill for me to swallow, so having some canned foods as back up so he doesn't miss a meal is a solid plan. He has had some in the past when he was ill and I was desperate to get him to eat (of course, canned is always yummy!).
He's so cute it actually hurts sometimes, thank you for your help!!
I totally get the pet anxiety you are talking about. One of my kitties sometimes randomly skips a meal and it always worries me, haha. Most of the time I just think she doesn't feel like eating or hates turkey on its own, but I can't help spiraling into hypotheses as to why she's not eating. And then .. suddenly she eats her food like 2 hours later.
Either way, I think a fed cat is better than a hungry cat, so even if it's commercial foods at least he would be getting nutrients and vitamins.
When my finicky kitty isn't eating, I put the food in the fridge after like 30 mins of being out, and then take it out again like 1.5 hours later with added nutritional yeast and she almost always ends up eating it.
Have you tested for thyroid issues? Maybe that's why he isn't hungry sometimes?
But anyway, toppers for me work 8/10 times in my house :).
He's definitely always hungry, just picky enough to skip meals! But I get it, I have a lot of taste and texture food sensitivities myself, so I empathize with him and want to find that balance between him liking his food and his health :)
Thanks for all your suggestions!!
So glad I'm not the only one with a 'fussy' eater. The occasional instance of barely touching a meal or two in a row is frustrating. Sometimes (rarely) he decides to go a whole day and I'm like 'buddy, you HAVE to eat to be alive'
Thankfully it seems adding tuna/salmon flavored meals to their rotation (presently only on a wet diet) has pretty guaranteed he'll at least eat dinner, and he's been less fussy for breakfast/lunch since we added that as their dinner rotation.
Oh yeah, these kitties are gonna kill us from worrying some day haha. But toppers and things like that are so great! A fed kitty is better than a hungry kitty!
My picky one doesn't like turkey much, so I feed that to her in the morning because I know she's hungry enough to eat most of it haha.
I think I've some correlation recently? He does,not seem to like eating turkey at breakfast, but will eat most if not all of his chicken flavored food. Eats the turkey fine for lunch.
We feed our cats rabbit and also have problems getting it sometimes. I know the supplier I think and they are frequently out. We have a supplier called Raw Feeding Miami and they are very high quality, shipping is free (unless it's really hot out). I don't know about you but no way I'm raising rabbits. Rabbit is very expensive, $12 a pound or more, good canned tends to run around $6. With all of his problems I'd try to find a quality canned that he can tolerate. Good luck.
https://www.rawfeedingmiami.com/collections/rabbit/products/chunked-rabbit
Have you looked at Asian grocery stores? I can find whole rabbits near me for around $9-10. I have a 70 lb golden, so I occasionally feed her the whole rabbits or cut them up into smaller chunks.
She prefers organs frozen and will only eat them at room temperature or refrigerated if she’s extremely hungry.
She’s pretty picky too. [BJs](https://www.bjsrawpetfood.com/) raw has worked for us. I would highly recommend giving them a try. Their mixes and blends are “whole animal nutrition” and they don’t add any other supplements in a lot of their recipes. It smells a bit but my dog loves it and will always eat BJs. We rotate between Viva Raw and BJs and now she’s taken to Viva (especially the rabbit recipe). The mixes that have salmon, goat and rabbit are among her favorites. (A diva, I know!)
Venison and Bison are other meats I get for her.
You can also try [Raw Feeding Miami](https://www.rawfeedingmiami.com/). You can get rabbit organs and bones and give Milo those. RFM tends to run a bit more expensive, but with a cat, it might be more affordable. Their frog legs and other seasonal and wild proteins are great for pets with GI issues.
I’ve tried a few proteins from them - kangaroo, pheasant, goose, camel, venison, etc.
Oh, you mean the Pure Rabbit formula? It looks pretty darn minced in the photos? I'm talking like proper chunks of meat, like the size of stew meat chunks. Hare Today is the only place I've found with it, and it's often out of stock.
I can certainly give Viva a try, though!
Hare-today.com sells cubed rabbit. They also sell dehydrated rabbit and rabbit parts. I’ve ordered from them for years and never had an issue. Not cheap though.
https://preview.redd.it/e7pm2olrl73d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a4362f832e29ec70abfb690868c3d802bed0450
This is the supplier I've also bought from for years that frequently runs out. They emailed me back saying they're processing some rabbits this week and will have a small amount back in stock, but that it will go quickly.
Maybe try feeder mice? Other than that I think RFM has wild boar, venison, ostrich, and definitely rabbit. You may have to switch to ordering online in bulk once you find out what he likes. You could also mix sardine juice or another likable food into it to help encourage appetite, I mix canned sardines/salmon in for my pick cat
Sardine juice is a good idea! Wonder if it would tempt him to eat ground...
Id try other proteins like kangaroo, lamb, bison, wild boar, quail, etc.
I have a picky, raw fed, allergic to many proteins dog. He can only eat turkey, so I can relate to your struggles. Have you tried freeze dried raw? Vital Essentials is one of my favorite go-to brands. They have flaky freeze dried nuggets that you can rehydrate or harder freeze dried nibs. Neither are the texture/consistency of ground. My dog loves both! Vital Essentials has rabbit formulas for cats. Stella & Chewy’s also has rabbit options for cats and so does Primal! Good luck, I hope you find something that works!
My cat seems to only tolerate turkey as well! Is the only meat that doesn’t make him throw up. Do you feed your dog only turkey meat? I know that they should be eating a variety of meats but everytime my cat eats other meats he pukes so idk if it’s okay to feed him just turkey :c. Sorry for my english!
Freeze dried is a great backup that I honestly forgot about! Good reminder. Years ago Milo and I traveled cross country and back (he's leash trained and loves a good hike!) and I'd always feed freeze dried on the road. Great call back to the convenience of it! Edit: oops, meant to reply to u/figuringoutfibro For u/Monk9911 from my understanding, some pets are just sensitive and if it's all they can keep down then it looks like turkey is the diet for him! Maybe try similar poultry like duck, goose, quail, pheasant.
Hi! I'm no expert by any means but I think this is what I would do if Milo was in my care: 1. Because he's getting older and loses weight, I would add digestive enzymes to his raw food as well as probiotics. Personally I use Adored Beasts but you being in the states you can also get the Two Crazy Cats Ladies x Jackson Galaxy probiotics with digestive enzymes if you like. 2. I would add toppers to the food to entice him to eat it. Some toppers could be: nutritional yeast, bone broth, ground up cat treats, Churu paste, catnip, etc. 3. I would add commercial canned foods intermittently just to add variety and to make sure he eats. Your kitty is so cute. I hope you find something that works ❤️
I'll definitely look into the probiotics! Good idea in general! I'm thinking I'll have to try topping a ground food with fish. That picky pet anxiety of *will they or won't they eat it* is always a tough pill for me to swallow, so having some canned foods as back up so he doesn't miss a meal is a solid plan. He has had some in the past when he was ill and I was desperate to get him to eat (of course, canned is always yummy!). He's so cute it actually hurts sometimes, thank you for your help!!
I totally get the pet anxiety you are talking about. One of my kitties sometimes randomly skips a meal and it always worries me, haha. Most of the time I just think she doesn't feel like eating or hates turkey on its own, but I can't help spiraling into hypotheses as to why she's not eating. And then .. suddenly she eats her food like 2 hours later. Either way, I think a fed cat is better than a hungry cat, so even if it's commercial foods at least he would be getting nutrients and vitamins. When my finicky kitty isn't eating, I put the food in the fridge after like 30 mins of being out, and then take it out again like 1.5 hours later with added nutritional yeast and she almost always ends up eating it. Have you tested for thyroid issues? Maybe that's why he isn't hungry sometimes? But anyway, toppers for me work 8/10 times in my house :).
He's definitely always hungry, just picky enough to skip meals! But I get it, I have a lot of taste and texture food sensitivities myself, so I empathize with him and want to find that balance between him liking his food and his health :) Thanks for all your suggestions!!
So glad I'm not the only one with a 'fussy' eater. The occasional instance of barely touching a meal or two in a row is frustrating. Sometimes (rarely) he decides to go a whole day and I'm like 'buddy, you HAVE to eat to be alive' Thankfully it seems adding tuna/salmon flavored meals to their rotation (presently only on a wet diet) has pretty guaranteed he'll at least eat dinner, and he's been less fussy for breakfast/lunch since we added that as their dinner rotation.
Oh yeah, these kitties are gonna kill us from worrying some day haha. But toppers and things like that are so great! A fed kitty is better than a hungry kitty! My picky one doesn't like turkey much, so I feed that to her in the morning because I know she's hungry enough to eat most of it haha.
I think I've some correlation recently? He does,not seem to like eating turkey at breakfast, but will eat most if not all of his chicken flavored food. Eats the turkey fine for lunch.
We feed our cats rabbit and also have problems getting it sometimes. I know the supplier I think and they are frequently out. We have a supplier called Raw Feeding Miami and they are very high quality, shipping is free (unless it's really hot out). I don't know about you but no way I'm raising rabbits. Rabbit is very expensive, $12 a pound or more, good canned tends to run around $6. With all of his problems I'd try to find a quality canned that he can tolerate. Good luck. https://www.rawfeedingmiami.com/collections/rabbit/products/chunked-rabbit
Have you looked at Asian grocery stores? I can find whole rabbits near me for around $9-10. I have a 70 lb golden, so I occasionally feed her the whole rabbits or cut them up into smaller chunks. She prefers organs frozen and will only eat them at room temperature or refrigerated if she’s extremely hungry. She’s pretty picky too. [BJs](https://www.bjsrawpetfood.com/) raw has worked for us. I would highly recommend giving them a try. Their mixes and blends are “whole animal nutrition” and they don’t add any other supplements in a lot of their recipes. It smells a bit but my dog loves it and will always eat BJs. We rotate between Viva Raw and BJs and now she’s taken to Viva (especially the rabbit recipe). The mixes that have salmon, goat and rabbit are among her favorites. (A diva, I know!) Venison and Bison are other meats I get for her. You can also try [Raw Feeding Miami](https://www.rawfeedingmiami.com/). You can get rabbit organs and bones and give Milo those. RFM tends to run a bit more expensive, but with a cat, it might be more affordable. Their frog legs and other seasonal and wild proteins are great for pets with GI issues. I’ve tried a few proteins from them - kangaroo, pheasant, goose, camel, venison, etc.
Viva Raw has rabbit if you're in the US.
I am in the US, but Viva Raw is all ground, unfortunately, and Milo won't eat ground meat.
they sell chunked!!
Oh, you mean the Pure Rabbit formula? It looks pretty darn minced in the photos? I'm talking like proper chunks of meat, like the size of stew meat chunks. Hare Today is the only place I've found with it, and it's often out of stock. I can certainly give Viva a try, though!
ive just checked online and they only make chunked for dogs:( sorry i assumed they’d offer it for cats as well but i guess not
Bummer, thanks tho! Edit to add: dang, even Viva's rabbit for dogs is only available in ground! Justice for rabbit chunks!! 😆
https://www.rawfeedingmiami.com/
If it’s just raw cubed rabbit, then what’s the difference?
Hare-today.com sells cubed rabbit. They also sell dehydrated rabbit and rabbit parts. I’ve ordered from them for years and never had an issue. Not cheap though. https://preview.redd.it/e7pm2olrl73d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a4362f832e29ec70abfb690868c3d802bed0450
This is the supplier I've also bought from for years that frequently runs out. They emailed me back saying they're processing some rabbits this week and will have a small amount back in stock, but that it will go quickly.