Balancing the raw meat diet... (throwing, food, dogs, house)
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Where in Middle TN do you live? I live in Williamson County, we have a huge Hispanic population.
I am south east of Nashville in a semi-rural area of Rutherford Co. At one time we had a large Hispanic population here but no more. I asked at Kroger, Publix and WalMart about organ meat and they don't carry it due to no calls for it. A man in an Antioc store told me to find a Hispanic area and try there. I don't know of any Hispanic areas anywhere near us. Someone said try Lebanon but when we went through that area a few months ago I didn't see any Hispanic people. Those selling live poultry at the Lebanon Flea Market do not slaughter. I already asked.
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I can't think of anywhere that doesn't except for the really rural, 98% white areas. Try Craigslist for farms that sell meat animals. Some will butcher it for you for free or a small fee. That's quasi-legal, but if you tell them it's for cat food you should be fine.
I've already checked Craigslist a few times. All I found was someone selling goats but you have to buy the entire animal plus pay a lot more for slaughter. We can't afford that. Is anyone near you slaughtering livestock and selling to the public?
Since I also can't find organic organ meats I choose to make calcium carbonate from organic egg shells and add Turine. I have discovered I have one cat that likes chicken raw and one that prefers turkey raw. Oh brother. I intend to get them both on the same food. I still have a bit of chicken Rad Cat but no $$ to buy more. I am putting Kelp, Dulse, calcium, turine, pysllium, egg yolk, water, dry Vit.E. I might have forgotten something. I am looking for a source for organic gelatin. I am afraid of Knox.
I tried given them chicken necks but they don't know how to eat them and the bones scare me.
I searched the internet for a recipe, making sure I got all the necessary nutrients they need.
Since I can't find organic dried egg yolk I intend to dry some myself. Easy enough to do, so was the egg shells.
The kelp and dulse have all the vitamins in it that they need. I make it is small batches only one pound or so at a time. I want the meat as fresh as possible. I buy free range organic turkey meat. I don't want them eating meat that was fed a bad diet such as soy and animal bi products. Such a worry about our and pets food these days. We are all being fed crap.
We buy our beef from a rancher but it is always butchered at a licensed butcher shop. We have to travel quit a distance to get it and do it only once a year. I guess I could find out if they also butcher chickens and turkeys but would have to buy so darn much and the freezer is full of our grass fed beef. I hope to figure something out, for now I will use the best I can buy from the organic grocery store.
Since I also can't find organic organ meats I choose to make calcium carbonate from organic egg shells and add Turine. I have discovered I have one cat that likes chicken raw and one that prefers turkey raw. Oh brother. I intend to get them both on the same food. I still have a bit of chicken Rad Cat but no $$ to buy more. I am putting Kelp, Dulse, calcium, turine, pysllium, egg yolk, water, dry Vit.E. I might have forgotten something. I am looking for a source for organic gelatin. I am afraid of Knox.
Are you buying these supplements OTC or online? How much are you adding per lb of raw meat?
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I tried given them chicken necks but they don't know how to eat them and the bones scare me.
I searched the internet for a recipe, making sure I got all the necessary nutrients they need.
I found so many recipes it was mind boggling. I would rather they chew small chunks than grind the meat though. I can make room in our freezer for a weeks worth of catfood. There's always about 2 lbs of gizzards and whatever I could find in there now. I'll just have to miss some sales.
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Since I can't find organic dried egg yolk I intend to dry some myself. Easy enough to do, so was the egg shells.
The kelp and dulse have all the vitamins in it that they need. I make it is small batches only one pound or so at a time. I want the meat as fresh as possible. I buy free range organic turkey meat. I don't want them eating meat that was fed a bad diet such as soy and animal bi products. Such a worry about our and pets food these days. We are all being fed crap.
Do you measure the supplements at all or just a pinch of this and a pinch of that? I can get nice organic poultry at our Target store. The man wasn't there who orders the meat - I was told he may be able to order some organ meat. I'm not getting my hopes up though as I would probably have to buy 50 lbs at a time.
I will be spending some time on these sites. For some reason they don't want to eat the canned Purina anymore and with Authority over $1 a can, that's kind of out for now. I wonder if Purina changed their formula or byproduct supplier. ?!!?!?! It seems like something changed when Phaedra became so sick. We're wondering if there's some connection.
My plan is to buy meat on sale and cut it in small chunks rather than grind it. Weight it in 1 lb units which is one day's feed for the 4 cats, add the supplements to the chunks, and feed them that thawed. That wouldn't work when we're on the road or snow-birding due to the lack of space in the RV... in that case I may try canning some and seeing if they'd eat home canned meats cut in small chunks. Canned meat is one of the most dangerous canned foods though because of botulism. I'll check with the Ag Agent....
We buy our beef from a rancher but it is always butchered at a licensed butcher shop. We have to travel quit a distance to get it and do it only once a year. I guess I could find out if they also butcher chickens and turkeys but would have to buy so darn much and the freezer is full of our grass fed beef. I hope to figure something out, for now I will use the best I can buy from the organic grocery store.
Here if you want beef you had to buy a whole side, then pay to have it cut up and packaged, and pay more to rent freezer space. It was so expensive few people would pay for it. So it was mostly those who raised them that would have one slaughtered for the family. The one slaughterhouse did sell parts owners didn't want, (hog's heads, livers, brains etc) legally I assume, went out of business. There was another slaughterhouse a little further away but after it was discovered the wife had her husband killed and buried in the parking area... the place closed. There were no buyers. Yep, horrible things happen even in small towns. That wasn't even the worst of it....
its hard to find different organ meats here too so I buy a big pack of pre-ground raw organ meat...you feed so little organ meat that its typically the most effective way to do it.
I feed organ only once per week, so for mine (2 small dogs 2 adultcats and a kitten) the 2lb block lasts a while...
in terms of eat, my cats are fine with bone in, they love chicken wings, generally I just buy whole chickens from the farm and cut up my own chunks...the cats do great with wings, backs, rib cage ect...
I also give them frozen thawed mice sold as snake food. rodents are BIG for cats as tee high in taurine, and mine love them.
if you've got a picky cat who wont crunch bones, a good OLD fashioned metal grinder works fine for all but the largest bones in poultry....
you ca start with ground and slowly wor them up tiny chunks, bigger cuncks ect untillthere eating whole.
the whole bones ae great for the teeth.
he ONLY plant based supiment iveever used or reccomended(especially forcats who are obligate carnivores) is Kelp powder...
I weigh and measure everything. I also weigh the servings. I don't guess at anything.
I bought the Organic Kelp flakes online, the rest I bought from local vitamin stores. I can't find Dulse local so I will be getting that online also.
I bought the kelp because it is supposed to keep plaque from growing on teeth, human and pet. It takes about 6 weeks to see if it works. We are approaching that now. I will know Monday after the teeth cleaning if it is working.
The amount seems high to me. 1/8 tsp per serving. Since I am now adding it to their food when I make it I am not adding more with each serving. I add 1 tsp per pound of muscle meat. This might be high because of the sodium, I need to investigate this one more.
I have searched for a very long time for a recipe that suits me and my life style.
I keep just enough food in the fridge for 3 or 4 servings and one in the freezer. I make small batches one pound or so at a time. It takes just minutes to do. I have everything in one place ready to go.
This is my recipe as of now, please critique it if I am wrong.
1 pound turkey (dark only) Free range organic, health food store.
1 egg yolk (organic) health food store
5 drops vitamin E (vitamin shop)
1 gel cap Salmon oil (wild caught) i am out of this right now ( vitamin shop)
1 capsule ImmoPlex Glandular (NutriCology) or Taurine 4,000mg (Glandular online Taurine health food store)
1 tsp kelp online
1 tsp Dulse powder ( as soon as I get it) Online organic
1 tsp Organic beef Gelatin ( I am using Knox for now, looking for Organic)
1/2 tbl psyllium husk powder (organic) health food store
1 cup spring water
1 tsp egg shell calcium carbonate (home made from organic eggs)
Mix the wet with dry then add the meat.
Before serving
add digestive enzyme for cats (whole foods)
add C0 Q10 for cats (Mercola)
add L-lysine or other herpes supplement (online)
add a bit of Vit e for freshness, as meat oxides, on the last bits. (vitamin shop)
I may add 1 tbl of organic salt free butter. (whole foods)
I am using turkey because Bob prefers it. Willy likes Chicken, he is going to lose.
I would prefer chicken because of the huge amount of l arginine in turkey. I read that it does something with absorbing l-lysine. All this is so confusing, I may have gotten that wrong.
I am 72 years old and forget things far to easily, but I will do anything to help Bob so he doesn't suffer with this darn Stomatitis. So far so good, he has had it for 4 years with one bad flare which was last month.
When he came to us I started him on homemade raw. The husband took over the food making and feeding. He stopped making the raw food, the cats failed to thrive. He did this for about 9 months. I didn't interfere. Wish I had now.
I took over the feeding and searching for a better food. I have gone from dry organic, canned organic to raw again. I am now going to be making all their food. The husband is officially fired from the job.
This started in August 2013. Bob was better within 2 weeks of eating raw and has gained weight. Willy had a hard time switching but he finally did, he needs to lose weight. He is a very robust cat. They are both back running up and down the hall. Sounds fantastic.
The husband was feeding the cats dry Blue grain free. Worst crap ever. Please don't feed your animals dry food.
Well, you should probably not take things so literally, then. I've been doing this for three years, I know what I'm doing. You know, they get calcium from bones, too. You did know that, right?...
Why be so rude? I always take what people post literally since I can't read minds. You said raw meat and occasional eggs and that's what I took you to mean. Maybe you should have been more specific. I repeat as you seem to have missed the fact that I cannot get our cats to get bone-in chicken. After several weeks of having to look for disgusting chicken parts, which is very unsanitary to say the least, all over my house, we gave up on trying to convince them to eat it. I repeat, despite there still being farms here, no one slaughters and sells the raw meat to the public. The specialty feed stores that existed here charged prices few of us can afford. That's why I wanted to try chopped or cut up meat with a supplement to balance it. A supplement that contained calcium and the other nutrients cats need. Feed companies always add turine since cats seem to need more than is supplied by non-organ meat.
Oh, you're one of those. You said this:
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So the only calcium they get is "every so often" when you toss an egg at them? That doesn't sound like a balanced diet to me.
Yah, that didn't sound nasty at all. You asked for help and then you nit picked everything so I'm done. The very fact that you can't even get your cats to eat the basic staple in a raw diet, bone in chicken, and the fact that you think it costs $10 a day to feed four cats, (I feed 6, but it was 7 up until a month ago, and 2 dogs, medium size, for well under $10 a day), and the fact that you think you have to "force feed" them raw food, (because you have not taken the time to read HOW to change them to a raw diet), tells me that you aren't ready for this lifestyle. You just look for excuses...makes me wonder why you even bother at all. Seems you don't want to work at it. Then feed them kibble.
Now, as I said, I'm done. You are not interested in learning.
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Thank you. It's mind boggling to try and find 10 different products and weigh or measure them.... AAARRRGGGHHHH! 
It seems like something changed when Phaedra became so sick. We're wondering if there's some connection. 
That wasn't even the worst of it....
