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Post by desertwoman on Jun 19, 2020 20:24:08 GMT -5
binnylou here is the recipe you asked for. If your cat is use to commercial cat food you will have to wean them by mixing a little home made into a lot of the canned food, then gradually start adding more home made and less canned until they are completely on the home made. Our cats have been exclusively on homemade, over the past 40 years and have lived long healthy lives With Ellie, we started with 5 parts meat, she is now on 4 parts meat (starting at about 1 year old) will move to 3 part in middle age and 2 parts in old age. They get high quality food for not much $$ Cat Food feed 1/4 c twice a day sprinkle nutritional yeast on top (or mash it in) In food processor add 2-5 c ground turkey- cooked (5 c for kittens up to 1 year, 4c for young cats, 3c for middle age, 2 c for old age) 2 c cooked barley flakes (can use oats or brown rice) 1 c grated carrot 1 c chopped parsley 1 c tofu a bit of water for processing (no more than 1/4 c) This makes about 3 pints of cat food. We make a big batch and freeze the pint containers (by using 7 pounds turkey, 5 c raw barley, 2 pks tofu, 5 or so carrots, 2 bundles of parsley It makes enough for 5-6 ,or so, weeks I'd start with a single batch first, make sure your kitty transitions successfully, before investing in a big batch.
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Post by breezygardener on Jun 19, 2020 22:04:54 GMT -5
While I obviously won't/can't disagree with the way your cats have responded to your homemade diet, it's still in the best interests of your cats to have your vet give you a supplement to add to your homemade diet. There are many items, taurine in particular, that are necessary for long-term health that are not present in your recipe. In fact, any homemade diet for either dogs or cats should have a veterinary-approved vitamin supplement added. And nutritional yeast is uber high in sodium. I'd definitely be rethinking that unless my vet approved it.
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Post by desertwoman on Jun 19, 2020 22:28:37 GMT -5
I appreciate your concern breezygardener , In fact, this recipe was generated from a vet, including the nutritional yeast and has been updated over the years. Turkey (dark meat especially) is a great source of taurine. Chicken too. All our cats have been extremely healthy with no diseases or health issues until very late in life (over 17 years of age). We will stick with what has proven to be good for our furry friends, over decades. We also feed them chicken livers and eggs- as treats- which are good sources of taurine. And then there's the occasional mouse....
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Post by breezygardener on Jun 20, 2020 14:29:43 GMT -5
That's terrific, & I stand corrected. I only mentioned it because a lot of people automatically think if it's homemade it automatically must be healthier, not realizing that there are a fair number of trace elements really important for both dogs & cats that aren't necessarily present in homemade recipes. When these elements are missing, the consequences may not show up for a long time, & the effects may not be quickly reversible, if at all.
And who knew mice were a good source of taurine? Lol!
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Post by binnylou on Jun 20, 2020 19:19:56 GMT -5
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Post by Mumsey on Jun 23, 2020 7:31:27 GMT -5
Kind of wishing I had a tiny dog, I could then afford to make food for it! I have no idea what it would cost to feed a homemade diet to a 60 lb dog. We do feed her a premium food with no fillers/artificial ingredients.
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Post by James on Jun 28, 2020 13:21:18 GMT -5
Hmmmm, four cats hanging out here. Outside cats, they do not come in the house. They have the run of the place, there are some nest boxes out in the outbuildings for them. We do put out some dry catfood for them. (Meow Mix) I reckon they tend to hold down the mouse population.
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