Ezcomplete - More Paranoid Triple Checking

SpecterOhPossum

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So, I messaged with the company and the costumer service is truly outstanding, however, I am as per usual needing to triple check and second guess myself; so I'm going to ask for opinions here for good (excessive) measure.

My girl specter currently is eating daily:
  • 2.8-oz can of tiki cat
  • 3.9-oz of sheba
  • random chicken amounts mixed in because I want her to gain some weight.
But basically, I want to replace sheba with homeade. So I asked the company this because I was scared of over-supplementing/overdosing somehow or something, and they said:

"Daily, your kitty probably only needs probably 3 to at most 3.5 ounces of food to replace the 3.8 oz of Sheba. "Food" with homemade using EZComplete means boneless meat, water, and premix. 3 ounces of meat, 5 grams of premix powder (2 scoops, using the scoop that comes in the bag) and 0.5 oz of water to 3/4 of an ounce of water will be all that is needed, and potentially more than needed."

Thoughts? Also, what are yalls thoughts on EZcomplete? I'm getting a sample, but as always, I want to hear any and all thoughts prior to doing anything regarding specter. Thank you! For reference, so far I like this brand and like their service and just want to hear opinions or experiences.

Here's a picture of spec.
I would also love to hear some recipes using this premix if any are out there.
 

darg

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Can't comment on EZ Complete as I don't use it but what they are telling you is that they believe that your homemade food will be more calorie dense than the Sheba.

I use Alnutrin and make his homemade food with Turkey thigh retaining half the skin. Alnutrin has a nutrition calculator on their website. I'm finding that my cat needs "less" calories now that I'm feeding more homemade food. In other words, the calorie count of the food Im making is most likely higher than what is being exstimated by the Alnutrin calculator.
 
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lisahe

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What the EZ Complete people told you sounds about right to me. One of our cats' five meals a day is a serving of EZ: it's roughly 1.5 ounces (usually a slight bit more) that they split. They get a similar sized serving of Alnutrin each day. The calories on those foods vary considerably: sometimes the meat is fatty pork chops, other times it's lean chicken breasts.

I think my best advice would be to not overthink this too much. Not only will the food vary (as darg alluded to, too) in calories depending on the meat you use, but cats can be pretty unpredictable when they start on new foods. Sometimes they want more than you think they will, other times they want nothing to do with it! Here's hoping Spec likes it.
 

lisahe

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P.S. I just realized that I forgot to mention that you don't need a recipe to make EZ Complete. You just prepare the meat (cooking with water if you're making cooked food or just slicing/dicing/grinding/whatevering if you're making raw) and add the supplement. You do have to be careful to weigh the meat (prior to cooking if you're making cooked food) and use the right amount of supplement but that's about it!
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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Can't comment on EZ Complete as I don't use it but what they are telling you is that they believe that your homemade food will be more calorie dense than the Sheba.

I use Alnutrin and make his homemade food with Turkey thigh retaining half the skin. Alnutrin has a nutrition calculator on their website. I'm finding that my cat needs "less" calories now that I'm feeding more homemade food. In other words, the calorie count of the food Im making is most likely higher than what is being exstimated by the Alnutrin calculator.
Oh, okay! Confused me a bit. I think I'll go a little higher then as my goal is to get another pound onto her right now, she's real close to her GW (8.4 or so) so I'm trying to see how much is required to upkeep that weight!
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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What the EZ Complete people told you sounds about right to me. One of our cats' five meals a day is a serving of EZ: it's roughly 1.5 ounces (usually a slight bit more) that they split. They get a similar sized serving of Alnutrin each day. The calories on those foods vary considerably: sometimes the meat is fatty pork chops, other times it's lean chicken breasts.

I think my best advice would be to not overthink this too much. Not only will the food vary (as darg alluded to, too) in calories depending on the meat you use, but cats can be pretty unpredictable when they start on new foods. Sometimes they want more than you think they will, other times they want nothing to do with it! Here's hoping Spec likes it.
Thank you! Yes the concern was the possibility of overdosing the ez since she has a can of tiki daily and I've been reading failed home made diets and scared myself.. lol, I'm a dumby.
About the recipe - I was just wondering about meat recipes, not sure how to word it..english baffles me.. But you know, like, mixing meats and stuff? Sort of like I guess her tiki cat is .. I guess I would have to experiment, but I wanted to know if anybody else does that.. You know, like pork+turkey portion, or chicken+quail egg+turkey or some other strange meat concoction!!
 

darg

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Oh, okay! Confused me a bit. I think I'll go a little higher then as my goal is to get another pound onto her right now, she's real close to her GW (8.4 or so) so I'm trying to see how much is required to upkeep that weight!
I think for cats the rough estimate usually runs between 20 - 25 calories per pound. Again, that's an estimate only. If you are trying to put some weight on the cat, maybe start at the higher end and just check her weight every week or two. You may need to increase or decrease the calories depending on the individual cat.

You wont "overdose" the cat with a pre-mix just because you are feeding a different food in addition to the homemade. All you have to do is make sure you are using the correct amount of EZ Complete for the weight of the meat that you are preparing so just be as acccurate as possible when weighing the meat and use the raw weight. If you are cooking the meat, retain the drippings to add back in.

The only way you can overdose the pre-mix is if you were to either use too much of it in your homemade. Feeding a variety of different foods that are all nutritionally balanced is perfectly fine.
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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I think for cats the rough estimate usually runs between 20 - 25 calories per pound. Again, that's an estimate only. If you are trying to put some weight on the cat, maybe start at the higher end and just check her weight every week or two. You may need to increase or decrease the calories depending on the individual cat.
Oh thank you! Yeah I'm always confused by how thats generally worded so I wasn't sure. So technically that comes down to about 160 calories; oh which she's been eating.. So maybe if I can get her to do 180 we will meet her GW? Worth a shot! Thank you. It is hard to keep weight on her due to how active she is, we go on hikes and "hunt" (play) for about 5 hours daily in intervals or else she will take that energy out on anything in her path; so she burns calories like an athlete. :ohwell:
 

darg

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20 more calories sounds reasonable. Just watch her weight and cut back a little if she is gaining too fast or too much. Add a little if she isn't. She sounds like she's healthy already so there isn't any reason to rush it.
 

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20 more calories sounds reasonable. Just watch her weight and cut back a little if she is gaining too fast or too much. Add a little if she isn't. She sounds like she's healthy already so there isn't any reason to rush it.
Agree! Since it's difficult to calculate the calories of homemade food, given things like protein/fat ratios, the best thing to do is keep an eye on Spec. This is what I do with our cats. Their appetites, activity levels, and figures fluctuate slightly so I just adjust their meals accordingly!
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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20 more calories sounds reasonable. Just watch her weight and cut back a little if she is gaining too fast or too much. Add a little if she isn't. She sounds like she's healthy already so there isn't any reason to rush it.
Will do! She's very healthy and bounces back from being "sick" (usually weather related funks; as the seasons are changing) very easily! Like, 24 hrs is how long I give until going to a vet (broke) but it's never not cleared up in that time. :cheerleader: The main problem with her weight is that we recently kicked dry food to the curb, so she's not so fat anymore.. Maybe she was overweight, now that I think about it?
because - I'm bad at math, but - 8LBS = 160calories, she's 7.9/8 now and having 160 calories, so maybe this is a normal weight. Not sure..Idk, I prefer her personally a little chunky; but maybe she's normal right now?
 
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SpecterOhPossum

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Agree! Since it's difficult to calculate the calories of homemade food, given things like protein/fat ratios, the best thing to do is keep an eye on Spec. This is what I do with our cats. Their appetites, activity levels, and figures fluctuate slightly so I just adjust their meals accordingly!
True! Do you use a gram calculator for the calorie bit? I haven't tried yet, but dealing with an ED I know it's possible, though I forgot which food calculator I was using where it let you submit foods yourself.
 

lisahe

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True! Do you use a gram calculator for the calorie bit? I haven't tried yet, but dealing with an ED I know it's possible, though I forgot which food calculator I was using where it let you submit foods yourself.
I don't track calories. I just watch the cats. They let me know when they need more or less food. (Plus just making the food is enough math for me! 😊) I know some people swear by tracking calories but so many things affect our cats' appetites -- weather, season, activity level, etc. -- that keeping to rigid calorie limits would be a crazy proposition.
 
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