Raw Food Recipes for Cats?

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Yeah I think you still have to add some calcium, but coming up with real numbers is impossible. I am not a nutritionist, I don't have the $5000 computer program so can't really analyze recipes with any accuracy (assuming the standards are valid, which is debatable), but I trust the folks at feline-nutrition.org, and of course Dr. Pierson at cat-info.org has a great recipe.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Great details Dr. Jean.
A bit of perspective. People rarely (unless ill) go to such detail to balance their diet. In the wild - they get what they can.

Take a deep breath and relax. Even for the hyperthyroid cat, feeding a variety (fish, turkey, beef, dairy, eggs, etc) and using some supplements that make sense to you (and changing them up every few batches) will be so much more nutritious than canned food that you really do not need to worry.

I would love you to occasionally feed them some pieces they can "sink their teeth into" to keep their teeth pearly white. Chicken necks or backs, or pieces of beef heart just big enough that they have to wrestle with it.

Dr. Christina

 

[BashaC]

Great details Dr. Jean.
A bit of perspective. People rarely (unless ill) go to such detail to balance their diet. In the wild - they get what they can.

Take a deep breath and relax. Even for the hyperthyroid cat, feeding a variety (fish, turkey, beef, dairy, eggs, etc) and using some supplements that make sense to you (and changing them up every few batches) will be so much more nutritious than canned food that you really do not need to worry.

I would love you to occasionally feed them some pieces they can "sink their teeth into" to keep their teeth pearly white. Chicken necks or backs, or pieces of beef heart just big enough that they have to wrestle with it.

Dr. Christina

Thank you @Dr. Christina, for the encouragement that what I'm doing is at least better than canned food. I have been very worried. I'm so afraid I'm going to do something 'wrong'.

I do also want to understand what and why I'm putting specific ingredients in a recipe. There's so much conflicting information in my search for the best recipe, especially with the hyperthyroid diagnosis, I've felt very unsure of what to do.

I cut up the breast meat into chunks and mix it in their food. They each get at least a couple of chunks of meat to chew per meal. I can look into sourcing beef heart. Thank you for that suggestion.

but I trust the folks at feline-nutrition.org, and of course Dr. Pierson at cat-info.org has a great recipe.

Thank you, @Dr. Jean Hofve, for the endorsement of these two recipes. With the Dr. Pierson recipe, it calls for kelp, but if I'm remembering correctly, it was mentioned earlier in this thread to not feed seaweed to a cat with a hyperthyroidism diagnosis (I had been making Dr. Pierson's recipe using SeaMeal when I first started making food).

Even though the recipe is good, would it be okay to feed it to Charlie with the seaweed in it?

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

If memory serves (which is never a sure thing!), there is a kind of seaweed with a lot less iodine. I'll try to find the reference over the weekend, the last time I looked into this was ages ago. Meantime it would be okay to discontinue the seaweed for a week or so without causing any deficiencies. I'll also see if I can get hold of Dr. Pierson and ask her directly. Since you're not adding it to commercial pet food (which is already too high in iodine) it's probably safe, but let me check it out.

 

[Dr. Christina]

And just to reiterate - nobody knows what cats need to eat!
Relax.
Keeping learning but only from interest not from fear.
do get the healthy cat journal so you can see changes with different foods.

And of course, be sure you are working with a homeopath or TCVM vet for the thyroid.

Dr. Christina

 

[BashaC]

If memory serves (which is never a sure thing!), there is a kind of seaweed with a lot less iodine. I'll try to find the reference over the weekend, the last time I looked into this was ages ago. Meantime it would be okay to discontinue the seaweed for a week or so without causing any deficiencies. I'll also see if I can get hold of Dr. Pierson and ask her directly. Since you're not adding it to commercial pet food (which is already too high in iodine) it's probably safe, but let me check it out.

Thank you for looking into the seaweed thing further ?

 

[BashaC]

And just to reiterate - nobody knows what cats need to eat!
Relax.
Keeping learning but only from interest not from fear.
do get the healthy cat journal so you can see changes with different foods.

And of course, be sure you are working with a homeopath or TCVM vet for the thyroid.

Dr. Christina

Thank you for the continued encouragement to let go of leading my research from the place of fear.
I'm working with a homeopath for the thyroid, as well as had a consult with Dr. Jeff.

I am very grateful for this forum, the doctors sharing their experience and knowledge, and other members sharing their experience. I'm learning a lot.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Nori and dulse have the least iodine. I've used dulse and none of my cats ever had a problem with thyroid. Nori has a little bit better nutrient profile than dulse, but either would be a decent source of trace minerals..

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Here is a handy-dandy comparative chart:

 

[BashaC]

Here is a handy-dandy comparative chart:

This is a great resource – thank you for sharing it!

 

[BettinaT]

Great details Dr. Jean.
A bit of perspective. People rarely (unless ill) go to such detail to balance their diet. In the wild - they get what they can.

Take a deep breath and relax. Even for the hyperthyroid cat, feeding a variety (fish, turkey, beef, dairy, eggs, etc) and using some supplements that make sense to you (and changing them up every few batches) will be so much more nutritious than canned food that you really do not need to worry.

I would love you to occasionally feed them some pieces they can "sink their teeth into" to keep their teeth pearly white. Chicken necks or backs, or pieces of beef heart just big enough that they have to wrestle with it.

Dr. Christina

@Dr. Christina May i ask you, what to do for my cat's teeth, because they dont want to eat chicken neck whole. My cats are 11 and 12 years old. They have eat raw meat for 3-4 years now i think.
I give pure meat chiken, turkey or rabbit and add vitamin powder from knowwhatyoufeed.com, so my cats have big pieces of meat to chew on. But i wish for more hard for them to chew on, so their teeth could be more white.

I also give them this blend of BARF - This complete food "EasyBARF Poultry for cats" consists of: 35% chicken 30% turkey meat, 15% skinless chicken necks, 12% chicken stomachs/hearts, max. 5% pumpkin , Chicken liver and taurine. But the blend is so fine, si nothing to chew on.

My question for you now is, if i want to make my own food, how much pure meat and chicken neck, to make sure they get calcium enough? I was thinking to try cut chicken neck in small pieces , and they mix it with pure meat.

 

[Dr. Christina]

I am not the detail person, Bettina. I cut up (in fairly big chunks) 2 necks, 2 backs, some fish chunks, some ground heart/beef scraps, organ meats, veges and any supplements I had around. Not very scientific, but then I was not very scientific when feeding my husband anddaughter.

Teeth- one of our speakers (search on dental) said to just firmly rub the teeth with your bare fingers after eating and my personal dentist agreed that was often enough. And keep trying bigger pieces - maybe of freeze dried heart meat.

Dr. christina

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Some folks leave the meat partly frozen to increase the resistance, but with cats, maybe not so palatable... but worth a try? You can also smash the chicken necks with a mallet and cut them up really small; the bones and ligaments will provide that flossing effect.