Kinda OT: Another food question

[MaggieDog]

I know several of you have cats on raw or homecooked diets and a lot more have dogs on such diets, so I hope you can help.

 

My mom just called to report that the holistic vet thinks we need to put our cat on a raw or homecooked diet. Right now we feed some Wellness kibble and a beef/oatmeal mix, but the vet is having us drop the Wellness and add green veggies to the beef mix. This is all well and good, but my mom has two questions:

 

1. How do you prepare the veggies? The vet said to buy baby food (expensive) or overcook the veggies and grind them up; I thought it was ok to just grind them, so do they need to be cooked for good digestion? Anything that saves time but still is healthy is ideal lol.

 

2. What can we feed the cat to keep his teeth clean? He has bad teeth but is allergic to poultry we think so we can't feed necks or backs from chicken or turkey and the vet had no suggestions there. Would lamb ribs/necks be soft enough? Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Maralynn]

Rabbit maybe? I know there are raw food suppliers that sell it. I have no experience feeding raw to a cat, but I would think that the bones you mentioned may be a little big.

 

For veggies you might try over-cooking frozen veggies and mashing them with a potato masher. You can also freeze the mashed veggies in muffin tins. I've been doing home-made cat food and freezing it in muffin tins. It works great, and the portions are just about right.

 

Of course, our indoor/outdoor cat gets about 3 chipmunks a week...

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I respect your holistic vets expertise but really your cat doesn't need veggies unless it's addressing some specific health concern.

 

When we did all raw with the cats, I used a recipe of liver, heart, other organs, and whole meats with bone. I used chicken because it was readily available and easy to divide. But we did occaisional other meats for variety. The cats were well able to handle very small lamb or pork neck bones. They sort of worked at them so there's never any concern about whether they could break off a big piece and choke.

 

Rabbit was a huge hit. I also dabbled in offering those pinkie mice and rats - they loved those. I also had a big die-off of ducklings one time and they thoroughly enjoyed those. Over the summer, the outside cats thrived on a diet of native rodents and rarely visited the supplemental kibble bowl.

 

You can also order various meats with bone ground in (the Ca/P balance is always a concern with home prepared diets) - Hare Today is the supplier I've heard the best things about and they certainly have the widest selection.

 

I feed my poultry-sensitive kitty Natural Balance venison and green pea kibble. It made a huge difference in her life, let me tell you. She cant have grain, soy, any poultry products - just TRY to find a commercial food that has none of those - and we haven't had the money to buy her rabbit every day.

[MaggieDog]

Well the vet thinks Snap needs the chlorophyll in the green veggies, hence the addition.

 

I like the muffin tin idea too btw! Sounds quite handy.

 

So NB venison/pea kibble doesn't have grain or poultry? Hmmm might have to see if we can locate that - the vet said kibble was ok if it didn't have grains, but the only type I knew of was Evo and that def has poultry in it. Thanks for the idea!

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

We had to special order it but since our first order the store has started stocking it (way cool). You can probably special order it from any store that has the Natural Balance.

 

Steaming is probably the least destructive cooking method - you could choose foods high in chlorophyl, steam, and run through the blender/processor. Mmmmm, how abut blue/green seaweed? You can get it in dried packages at health food stores, and ethnic markets. Be sure to chop it with a sharp knife before throwing it in your processor, however.

[Miztiki]

Why would he need clorophyll?

 

You might want to grow some catnip. Few cats can resist it!

 

I've been trying to switch my cats to raw with limited success. I've read though that poultry (especially those little cornish game hens), fish, and little critters like mice/rats, birds, etc. are good teeth cleaners. It's not just bone that cleans teeth though. Tough sinewy fibers do an excellent job, so consider tongue meat, cartilage, and just large chunks of meat that he can work on.

 

Cats NEED taurine, which I've read is found in heart meat. Be sure he gets enough taurine in his diet or you could wind up with a very sick or dead cat.

[MaggieDog]

Yea the holistic vet thinks he needs the chlorophyll because he has some deep seated ear issues and she thinks it'll help some. She mentioned growing wheatgrass as well, but my mom doesn't want to deal with all that - it's easier to mash up green beans and peas.

 

Too bad Snap can't go out and catch his own toothbrushes (ie voles and mice); the vet suggested beef heart in addition to the other stuff we've been adding - I wonder if the tougher cardiac muscles can clean teeth?

 

Snap is on a taurine supplement; we're using a recipe from Pitcairn's book actually because I'm super concerned about getting all the right nutrients and balances of stuff now that I'm taking an animal nutrition course.