Thank you for the tip. Just got back from the store with a packaged of ground chicken from the meat department that I plan on testing them on later on (I tried tempting them with raw chicken and fish on a previous year) amd also will be slicing up some of the Red Salmon filet to try them on as well. Hope they like it this time as I have been worrying constantly that the furry little rascals might have eaten some of the tainted product -or might eat their regular food only for us to find out that it is one of the latest tainted ones. So, perhaps their tastes have changed and they will like the raw stuff this time (crosses fingers, wipes forehead).
Last week, I tried putting small amounts of raw liver or raw stew beef into their customary canned food, thinking I'd gradually move them onto raw meat. They either picked around it, or puked it up. I think the change was too abrupt, so my next approach has been to cook some home-made meat meals, thinking I can gradually move to less cooked, and ultimately, raw meat, as they adjust. Tonight I cooked them some ground turkey and added in some homemade chicken gravy left from our dinner. They didn't go for it, even though I know they were really hungry. (They largely refused the Felidae can I tried to feed them yesterday). After a couple of hours, I thought of sprinkling fish oil on the turkey/gravy combo. That did the trick. The girls went for it, first licking, and then eating some of the chunks. I'm happy to know that they have enough in their bellies to be OK for the night. Tomorrow is another day.
I have purchased a range of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc to make a more complete and balanced cat food. Once they are eating my homemade meat meals more consistently, I'll make up a bigger batch of balanced food for the freezer. They'll just have to be a little unbalanced during the transition. Better that than poison.
I wish you luck. I can't tell you how much better I feel knowing that they're starting to eat something in which I can identify the ingredients. I wish I could explain it to the little dears; I'm sure they find it all very confusing.