I recently switched to raw diet for my cat (Vital Essentials). He (my cat) wouldn't touch the stuff so I called for some advice on how to get him to eat it. The lady I spoke to told me to not "give in" to my cat and that cats have a way of "training" their humans to give them what they want. She told me that if he wont eat it within 15 minutes, take it away and try again at the next feeding time and that if he won't eat just keep doing this until he does. She said it's normal for the cat to stop eating and lose weight. She told me that from her own personal experience, her cat stopped eating for about 3 weeks and finally started eating the raw. She told me to not let my cat not eating force me to give in and feed my regular food again.
Well this seemed rather off and not healthy. So I researched it and found that this was highly dangerous advice. I asked experienced raw feeders on Catster about this and seeked out advice from my vet afterwards. Cats can get seriously ill with fatty liver disease that can set in as early as two days without eating and this can kill them. I was shocked after finding this out that Vital Essentials would give me this advice.
My fellow cat owner friends did more research and found that this company has this TERRIBLE advice right on their website!!! They suggest pretty much the same thing right on there on how to transition a pet to raw food.
The lady from Vital Essentials that gave me this advice is named Leslie. She finally replied to my complaint by posting on the public forum herself and basically admitted that she said this all but that she wasn't "suggesting" I starve my cat. She then gave even worse advice by telling everyone they should mix dry kibble with the raw food which I found out is also dangerous to do as kibble slowly digests and can cause the raw to back up in the cats system.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! I am reporting them to the Vet Board of Wisconsin, the BBB, PETA, and anyone else that can help bring justice.
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