Home made diet

[alek0]

If anyone is interested to try these, please check with your vet first. I haven't tried them, two of my cats absolutely refuse to eat cooked, and one would just eat a couple of pieces and only hand-fed. There are many books out there, often with contradictory information (that is driving me crazy, don;t know what is best, but I do know that many commercial foods cannot possibly be healthy and balanced), so judge for yourself. Here are the recipes, first some examples for cats with kidney disease than for normal diet. Books also has recommended diets for other conditions.

According to D R Strombeck, for cats with chronic renal disease

1. cHICKEN AND pOTATO (LOW PROTEIN, LOW PHOSPHORUS, NORMAL POTASSIUM AND SODIUM, 46.2 G PROTEIN PER 1000 kcal.

1/2 cup cooked chicken breast
1.2 ounce clams, canned chopped in juice
1/2 cup potato, boiled with skin
2 tablespoons of chicken fat
1 1/2 calcium carbonate tablets (600 mg calcium)
1/4 multiplevitamin mineral tablet
1/10 B vitamin-trace mineral tablet

418 kcal, 47% pshosporus daily needs (becomes normal phosphorus diet if bone meal, 3 tablets, is used instead of calcium carbonate).
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Tuna and rice diet

low protein, low phosphorus, normal potassium, high sodium, 44.8 g protein/1000 kcal

2 ounces tuna in water (use low salt tuna)
1/2 ounce clams, canned, chopped in juice
1/3 cup longgrain cooked rice
2 tablespoons chicken fat
1/8teaspoon salt substitute - potassium chloride
1 calcium carbonate tablet (400 mg Ca)
1/4 multiple vitamin-mineral tablet
1/10 B complex vitamin-trace mineral tablet

406 kcal, 18.2 g protein, 29.6 g fat. Use 3 bonemeal tablets instead of one calcium carbonate for normal phosphorus.
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For normal cat (no renal disease)

Tuna and rice diet:
4 ounces tuna, canned in water no salt
1 large hard boiled egg
1/2 ounce clams canned chopped in juice
1/3 cup longgrain cooked rice
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 bone meal tablets
1 multiple vitamin-mineral tablet

266 kcal, 23.8 g protein

Chicken diet

1/2 pound (raw weight) cooked boneless chicken breast
1/2 egg, hard boiled
1/2 ounce clams canned chopped in juice
4 tablespoon canola oil
3 bone meal tablets
1 multiple vitamin-mineral tablet
1/8 teaspoon salt subsitute potassium chloride

[Mary K]

Thank you, Alek0, You have given me some great ideas. I found almost all of those ingredients in my pantry. Still waiting for bone meal I ordered; calcium tabs will substitute-how perfect!
I know about mad cow, but I could only locate beef hearts yesterday for Taurine source. Now that was a vegetarian's worst nightmare; carving that huge bloody heart into little chunks and sautee'ing them in oil. Oh,  I must have washed my hands a zillion times afterwards    The 3 cats ate them like treats, and I nearly cried with joy to find something of my cooking that they liked. Meanwhile, my Virgin-Vegetarian kitchen has been ravished.

[Cindy Nevarez]

I know!
I see you have "crossed over" 
I too am a vegetarian. I started making raw food for my dogs (I tried to feed it to the cats too, but they kept rejecting it) in late 04'. It was and still is difficult for me. I keep telling myself that 'this is what they eat, you can't mess with mother nature...this is what they eat.'
Obviously, I don't like doing it much though 'cause I still supplement it with commercial stuff so I don't have to make the food so often. Hang in there!

[alek0]

Isn't it funny that all of us considering home made diet here are vegetarians?

When I just got my older two, they were two skinniest little kittens I have ever seen (they were rescues). So I supplemented their food with occasional raw meat or sashimi (tuna or octopus or shrimp). Since it wasn't their main diet, I wasn;t too worried about supplements and balance. I was really nauseous first couple of times when I've given them raw meat or fish, but I was so worried whether they'll grow up normal, they were so malnourished.

Now if I am going to do this all the time, supplements became extremely important issue. That, and getting them to eat cooked. They are willing to eat raw, but I can't get fresh raw every day since I don't want to feed local (China) meat. Fortunately Hong Kong imports meat from Europe, Australia, US and New zealand, but I need to get it when it is freshly defrosted in order to feed raw which does not happen every day and buying bigger quantity and re-freezing is not an option either.

Anyone knows some good supplements? Most of the stuff I have seen has undesirable things, fillers like gluten and silicon dioxide, or stuff not that healthy for cats like garlic. Mary K mentioned Hartz, but I am a bit reluctant to use Hartz. Isn't that the same company which was required by EPA to withdraw their flea and tick treatment due to reports of illness and death (and they denied any problems with it)? Or have I mixed it up?

[Lisa M]

I'm another vegeterian(25 years and counting & I'm only 36), who just finished cutting up rare (slightly cooked, but still bloody) beef cubes for my 2 cats and two dogs.  My intentions were to fully cook it, but when I put it on the counter one of my cats immediately jumped up, ripped the plastic wrap off of the meat and swiped a totally rare cube.  He was acting like a wild animal, running around with this piece of meat, hissing, tail all puffed out and then he started tearing it apart and eating it.  I couldn't get it off of him.  Even though I was concerned that he was eating it completely raw, it really did seem natural for him, so I decided to only slightly cook the rest of the meat, which they all loved, including my 15 yr. old cat with kidney disease(diagnosed 5 years ago).  Once the predator was finished, he was back to being my cuddley fat cat.  My one dog got slightly aggressive too after his blood soaked meal.  He settled down eventually.  Has anyone else experieced these behavioral changes?  Also, is it okay to just give them an uncooked piece of beef?  These home cooked(uncooked) meat meals are only a supplement to their diet.  Dogs eat The Health Kitchen (dehydrated raw food, only slightly cooked to kill any potential bacteria)-they absolutley love it, great ingredients and give cats wellness canned/dry.   

[Mary K]

Lisa, Alek0, Cindy,
  Maybe it is no coincidence that the 4 of us (and others we haven't heard from yet) are vegetarians feeding raw or cooked to our pets! I am guessing it is because we are  already health-conscious about our own diets, and so we are geared to feeding what we see as being more natural for our pets. Also we are willing to go the extra miles to assure a balanced diet without the easy sources of protein, vitamins and minerals others get in a steak dinner! How interesting! I am a vegetarian for both reasons of health and animal rights. I never thought I'd "cross-over" to feed meat to my pets, let alone bring it into my kitchen. But feeding canned and dry sounds like a more frightful ending for the poor "4-D" (dead, diseased, disabled or dying) ones on the 'dis-assembly' line of the rendering plant. I hope my decision is in-line with my values, on every level. I am interested in your thoughts on this!

[Cindy Nevarez]

Mary, I think you are right on this. My 'declaring' myself to be a veg nearly 29 years ago strictly for animal rights was done without thought at all to what that really meant, but over time I became very health conscious, because in those early years I was literally starving myself. Today I still try to tweak my diet one way or the other. Ironically in 03' I began introducing certain fish back into my diet for my own health benefits, which I realized was lacking after some health issues starting cropping up. So now I am a "modified-vegetarian," a term I just learned the other day, which means someone who only eats fish with their veg diet.
So of course along with the major diet changes back then came analysis of my animals' diets, and feeling like I was flying by the seat of my pants most of the time because of all the mystery surrounding the pet food industry. But because of a lifelong career working with and for animals, I gradually got most of that mystery removed...I thought...until this happened. Let me tell you at first I felt like everything I did was for nothing...I hadn't felt that ignorant and duped since I was a kid! Then the reality hit me of how many animals were dying, and are still dying. But I knew I had to talk about it to my clients, my acquaintances...anybody with animals. Basically I'm still doing what I've always done; helping people to open their eyes to the idea of 'you are the first and only person truly in control of yours and your family's health,' not your doctor, your grocer/pet food supplier, your spouse, your parents (unless you are a child), or anybody else. Just you.

[garypen]

If you ladies are not gonna eat those burgers, pass them over here please. Thanks.

[Mary K]

Garypen, This is totally off the record, but before I was "converted" in the early 70's, my favorite food in the world was a bag of White Castle" hamburgers. I could eat 10!
You'd have to fight me for them!! Ha-ha!
PS: Maybe I was on to something back then, as they were mostly grain!

[garypen]

Truth be told, I probably only eat burgers a couple times per month, if even that. My red meat intake is quite low in general. I rely on chicken, eggs, or fish for my animal protein.

And, I generally buy organic, free range meat for two basic reasons. The first is because of the obvious health aspect of avoiding hormones, anti-biotics, and pesticides. The second is that these animals are not tortured their entire lives.

Animals are an obvious part of the natural food chain. But, there is no reason to torture them as part of the process. They should live their lives in comfort and health, and with dignity and respect. It's the least we can do for them, if they are going to give their lives for us.

[diffuse]

catinfo.org & catnutrition.org both have raw recipes that are supposed to be really good.

also you can do a search on yahoo for yahoogroups dealing w/raw cats.

i'm a veg who's also considering raw, & i agree that lots of veg*ns do it for their pets b/c they're already aware of health issues regarding food.

but i really don't want to see this thread descend into meat eaters coming in & either bashing veg*ns, or defending their diets, or hostility flying back & forth from all sides, either. let's just be careful.

[Mary K]

Hi, Diffuse, GaryPen wouldn't do that! He likes to tease us, though! This is a pretty strong group posting this thread; dare anyone bash us for our own personal food choices?!!

[alek0]

That's exactly it, it is a personal choice. Right choice for me, and obviously since we are talking about feeding raw or cooked meat to our pets we are not those militant types who feed vegan diets to cats (shudder!!) and want to impose their choices on others.

I've given some raw chicken (Australian, hormone and antibiotic free) to my cats last night and ths morning as a part of the meal and they ate it, yay! The only problem is they seem to be willing to eat little chunks from my hand, they ignore it on the plate. Argh, things we do for our pets...

Now if I only knew who threw up this morning I would be much happier. I hope it is a hairball, they are all shedding a lot, hot weeather has started. Didn't see any hair in vomitted liquid, but hair is all over the house in spite of detailed cleaning yesterday. So I won't panic unless it is repeated. Or at least so I tell myself.

[Therese]

before I was "converted" in the early 70's, my favorite food in the world was a bag of White Castle" hamburgers.

Everybody in my family absolutely LOVES those things....everybody but me, that is! I always hated night castle nights. lol

I'm not a vegetarian (YET!) but I do feed raw and am now getting into doing home made for my cat. I haven't had a whole lot of time to do much research yet but I'm working on it.

[catgirl]

Okay...BIG PROBLEM with those recipes that first person posted.

CATS CANNOT EAT CARBS!!! PERIOD. So that means NO POTATOES!!!

See www.catnutrition.org -- the woman who did this recipe is an animal nutritionist and THIS is the recipe that progressive vets are advocating.