Homemade Raw - A Balancing Act

[Lola]

Snip...

While I can't speak for all the suppliers of prepared supplement premixes, the reason why some of the vitamins, such as iron, zinc and folic acid are added to our products is that these premixes need to be versatile. They need to ensure a balanced diet for all kinds of meats and fill all of the nutritional gaps in foods with wide calorie ranges. Premix versatility is especially important in case someone is not able to provide a good food variety to their pets.[/b)

Snip...

Almost all diets other than frankenprey or whole prey diets should have certain supplements added to fill the nutritional gaps created by meat processing, using only limited cuts from the animal or removing the bones from the diet. Even if you are feeding whole carcass grinds it is safer to add some supplements because it's not really known what kind of nutrient losses occur from grinding and storage. Here are the basic guidelines:
 
Always add liver and taurine.  Almost all diets that are boneless or have bones, are cooked or raw, should have small amounts of liver and taurine added.
 
Add calcium to boneless meat. Although boneless meat alone has almost all the nutrients your cat needs for healthy growth and activity, it has almost no calcium. Therefore, if you decide to feed your cat boneless meat, you always have to add calcium.

Read more at http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-homemade-cat-food-a-balancing-act

[Middle Child]

I agree that variety is very important.  I am feeding a combination (rotation) of commercial raw products and home prepared raw products.

I use:

Stella & Chewy's Freeze Dried Turkey
Stella&Chewy's Freeze Dried Duck&Goose
Stella&Chewy's Frozen Rabbit

Rad Cat-All 5 proteins, Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Venison, Lamb

Home made modified Prey Model Raw (PMR) muscle meat, liver and pancreas glandular using Alnutrin egg shell calcium in place of bone with the exception of Jennie, she gets a bone in meal once a week. (chicken breast and thigh and gizzard, turkey breast and thigh, beef, Cornish hen all parts)

Home made raw- plain muscle meat supplemented with Food Fur Life's EZcomplete (same proteins as above)

All cats take a probiotic daily.

[Pookie]

I'm a little concerned about the focus on calcium and not the other minerals.  Bone is made up of more than just calcium -- it's also magnesium, phosphorus, boron, and other trace minerals.  And the body needs those other minerals to absorb and use the calcium appropriately, as well as for other biological functions.  My personal suggestion would be to add bone broth.  It includes all of the bone minerals, in the right ratios, in a very absorbable form.

That's the nice thing about the commercial raws that contain bone.  They're providing all the minerals, not just calcium, so it's more likely to be balanced.  Raw is great, but as I've learned the hard way, it needs to be balanced.

Just my  .

[Middle Child]

That's why I won't give up the Stella&Chewy's, even though Queen Eva often needs incentive to eat the freeze dried meals.  It's the only way I can get bone into her.

She won't eat fresh bone, even if I cut it fine, she still leaves it.

[DeeDee]

I don't know about cats, but the rule of thumb to balance boneless meat for dogs is 800-1000 mg of calcium citrate OR calcium carbonate per pound of boneless meat.

Meat has a lot of phosphorous and you have to balance that by adding 1 of those 2 types of calcium to get it to the 2-1 (calcium/phosphorus) ratio that you want to feed.

I'm also not sure how much vitamin D3 cats need, but dogs need it to be able to use the calcium that balances the phosphorus.

[Pookie]

I'm also not sure how much vitamin D3 cats need, but dogs need it to be able to use the calcium that balances the phosphorus.

Humans also need D3 for bone strength, as well as immune support.

I don't know about cats, but the rule of thumb to balance boneless meat for dogs is 800-1000 mg of calcium citrate OR calcium carbonate per pound of boneless meat.

Do either of those also include magnesium, boron and other trace minerals?  If not, I still don't think it's as balanced as it could be.  Calcium causes muscles to contract, magnesium causes them to relax.  There has to be a balance, and other minerals are needed, too.  That's why I wish articles like the one above didn't just focus on calcium.  It sends the message that calcium is sufficient, when in reality, other minerals are also necessary.

[Middle Child]

But the other minerals and vitamins are also available in the meats and organs. (That is why feeding as wide a variety of muscle meat proteins and secreting organs, in addition to liver, as possible is so important.)   Calcium is the only mineral that is not.

I'm not saying bone shouldn't be fed, if at all possible.  But there are some cats, like Mazy cat, or CKD cats, who cannot or should not have bone.

[DeeDee]

Do either of those also include magnesium, boron and other trace minerals?  If not, I still don't think it's as balanced as it could be.  Calcium causes muscles to contract, magnesium causes them to relax.  There has to be a balance, and other minerals are needed, too.  That's why I wish articles like the one above didn't just focus on calcium.  It sends the message that calcium is sufficient, when in reality, other minerals are also necessary.

No. Those have to be separate because all of the human supplements that combine it aren't always in the same proportion that animals need. That's why I give a vitamin/mineral supplement made for them. I decided early on that if I wasn't going to feed a partial kibble diet, then I needed to make sure they had something like the vitamin/mineral spray that's on kibble and added to canned food, just better.

I never trust the quality of food anymore no matter what it is. We've depleted the ground with over-planting and never letting the ground rest and recover. It's been poisoned. It's dead. Dead ground produces dead food. It affects the animals raised on it, and it affects our health all the way around.

[Middle Child]

I never trust the quality of food anymore no matter what it is. We've depleted the ground with over-planting and never letting the ground rest and recover. It's been poisoned. It's dead. Dead ground produces dead food. It affects the animals raised on it, and it affects our health all the way around.

I feel the same way, especially the bolded part.  Which is why I feed a variety as described above.

I'd like to rotate pre-mixes too, but Alnutrin is the only other I would trust and it doesn't really suit the way I feed. But since the EZcomplete is only part of their intake, I am not going to worry about that.

[Lola]

I feed a variety because there doesn't seem to be a "one size fits all" ...where everyone agrees!

I feed homemade raw with supplements added.  A commercial raw that is strictly meat, bone, and organs.  Another commercial raw that is meat, bone, and organs with supplements added.  A commercial raw that is meat, bone meal, and organs.  Dehydrated raw. 

That's just for the cats.  With Lacy dog, there are even more varieties!