Gelatinous Food But Less Expensive Than Weruva?

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babs' slave

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Babbette looks like quite a cat with that sassy tilt to her head! She looks very sweet.
thank you, she is sweet. But she's almost completely deaf (if not completely), so when she talks, it's really loud and people think she's yelling at them.


Yes, in some ways I wish that had been what happened. Though in other ways I'm glad we had the last months/weeks/days, when she was still appreciative of attention.
Oh definitely, I value every moment. But I meant, when it does happen, I hope it happens in her sleep.

It was hard to know what was right because she was so obviously very sick and sometimes barely ate... but yet even on her last morning, she crawled through the child gate we'd installed at the top of the stairs so she could go down and get up on my husband's desk.
I'll bet you'll remember that always - a sweet memory.

That same day, the vet could feel a mass and she said Brooksie's organs were shutting down. We knew that, at least in some intuitive way, but needed to hear it at the clinic.
What a sad thing that last vet visit for a pet is. But she brought so much joy, the grief is worth the blessing of knowing her.

These cats (Siamese mixes) were new and got lots of inquiries but they'd been pegged as "quiet cats" for a house without kids or noise and not many people qualified for that! We were lucky to find them! :catrub:
Blessings often come in four little legs.

Anyway, here's hoping Babbette likes some of the foods you try out on her -- just ask if you want more suggestions!
Thank you. Daftcat75 just gave me the blending suggestion and I will try that with maybe some gelatin blended in.
 
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babs' slave

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You can take a pate and whip it in a blender. If you have a pate that has that jelly stuff on top, that will help it blend to a real smooth texture like the Slide n Serve. You can use bone broth or water to make it thinner or gelatin to make it thicker.
Thank you, I will try that!

My Krista is still a texture snob, and can't be fooled like that.
She's just trying to challenge you!:lol:
 

daftcat75

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In case I didnt say it, throw the whole can into the blender, moisture, jelly, and all. I tried to whip up a quarter can or half a can and it never blended as smoothly as using the whole can.

Krista thankfully doesn’t need a mousse texture. She still makes her way through Rawz pate. The little fur pig has weight to gain. I feed her as much and often as I can. An ounce every few hours or close to 7 a day. About 250 calories. She’s a skinny old cat with ibd. She needs the extra protein.
 
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babs' slave

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In case I didnt say it, throw the whole can into the blender, moisture, jelly, and all. I tried to whip up a quarter can or half a can and it never blended as smoothly as using the whole can.
Thanks much for the tip!

Krista thankfully doesn’t need a mousse texture. She still makes her way through Rawz pate. The little fur pig has weight to gain. I feed her as much and often as I can. An ounce every few hours or close to 7 a day. About 250 calories. She’s a skinny old cat with ibd. She needs the extra protein.
Have you ever had to help a cat lose weight? Which was harder to do in your experience?
 

daftcat75

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Never needed to help a cat lose weight. Getting Krista to gain weight is plenty challenging enough. I'm feeding her an ounce of food every few hours. More than an ounce, and she leaves food behind. As it is, I can get her to eat half to 3/4 of that ounce before she wants to nap. Usually I can get her to finish the remainder when she comes looking for more food. If it's still moist enough, I'll fold it in with the next ounce. I'm sleeping like a cat myself now. I get two or three hours at a time, and then I'm awake to change out the plates again. I just got her back in eating shape after two months of vet visits. As long as we both can do this, I want to get weight back on her before the next shoe drops. I'm hoping that as she gets weight back on, lean weight (I keep her active with a fish flake hunt several times a day), that she'll feel stronger and have a healthier appetite. I'm hoping that we can eventually get back to 4 meals rather than 6 or 7. This would have been so much easier if we still had Rad Cat. She loved that stuff and would have finished a tub a day if I let her.
 
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babs' slave

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Never needed to help a cat lose weight. Getting Krista to gain weight is plenty challenging enough. I'm feeding her an ounce of food every few hours. More than an ounce, and she leaves food behind. As it is, I can get her to eat half to 3/4 of that ounce before she wants to nap. Usually I can get her to finish the remainder when she comes looking for more food. If it's still moist enough, I'll fold it in with the next ounce. I'm sleeping like a cat myself now. I get two or three hours at a time, and then I'm awake to change out the plates again. I just got her back in eating shape after two months of vet visits. As long as we both can do this, I want to get weight back on her before the next shoe drops. I'm hoping that as she gets weight back on, lean weight (I keep her active with a fish flake hunt several times a day), that she'll feel stronger and have a healthier appetite. I'm hoping that we can eventually get back to 4 meals rather than 6 or 7. This would have been so much easier if we still had Rad Cat. She loved that stuff and would have finished a tub a day if I let her.
Wow, sometimes I really think Babette is a lot of work, but poor you! But I know she's worth it. She's your labor of love! I said a prayer for her.
 
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babs' slave

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In case I didnt say it, throw the whole can into the blender, moisture, jelly, and all. I tried to whip up a quarter can or half a can and it never blended as smoothly as using the whole
Should I use the gelatin that comes in powder form? if so, do I prepare it before hand? How much should I use? Thanks!
 

daftcat75

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Should I use the gelatin that comes in powder form? if so, do I prepare it before hand? How much should I use? Thanks!
I don't honestly know. I've never had to thicken it up. But gelatin is an appropriate and healthy thickener as opposed to the plant based gums. I would imagine you add a pinch and go from there. But you probably don't get to refrigerate the leftovers unless you want to make a cat food mold.
 
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babs' slave

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I don't honestly know. I've never had to thicken it up. But gelatin is an appropriate and healthy thickener as opposed to the plant based gums. I would imagine you add a pinch and go from there. But you probably don't get to refrigerate the leftovers unless you want to make a cat food mold.
Thanks!
 

Jem

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I wonder if you could experiment a bit. I honestly don't know if this would work...
Try making your own jelly with bone broth and gelatin, then put it in ice cube trays to set and then freeze. Once frozen, just put a few frozen cubes in little baggies. You can then just remove a few cubes at a time to thaw for the food you need for the day (I'm not sure how much gelatin would be needed per ounce of food for kitty to eat it), and blend the thawed jelly cubes with whatever pate or canned food you would normally use in a full day's worth of servings. Then at each meal just scoop out what she would eat in a sitting and save the rest in the fridge for the next meal.
 
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babs' slave

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I wonder if you could experiment a bit. I honestly don't know if this would work...
Try making your own jelly with bone broth and gelatin, then put it in ice cube trays to set and then freeze. Once frozen, just put a few frozen cubes in little baggies. You can then just remove a few cubes at a time to thaw for the food you need for the day (I'm not sure how much gelatin would be needed per ounce of food for kitty to eat it), and blend the thawed jelly cubes with whatever pate or canned food you would normally use in a full day's worth of servings. Then at each meal just scoop out what she would eat in a sitting and save the rest in the fridge for the next meal.
Thank you very for the neat idea. Right now she's doing well with her Pate mixed to milkshake consistency. But I do like the idea if she should start having problems with that.
 

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If you can manage it, make some bone broth with chicken feet. My vet suggested it for my older cats and my sensitive stomach cat. I have made bone broth before, but this was my first time making it with chicken feet. My cats love it! It is cheap, easy to make, and super gelatinous at room temperature. I am making a bigger batch in a couple of days.

The collagen and nutrients in it have been found to beneficial for joint health and arthritis.
 

daftcat75

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Any idea if bone broth with chicken feet might set off an IBD cat with a chicken sensitivity? I mean how much "chicken" is left in chicken feet bone broth as these things go?
 
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babs' slave

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If you can manage it, make some bone broth with chicken feet. My vet suggested it for my older cats and my sensitive stomach cat. I have made bone broth before, but this was my first time making it with chicken feet. My cats love it! It is cheap, easy to make, and super gelatinous at room temperature. I am making a bigger batch in a couple of days.

The collagen and nutrients in it have been found to beneficial for joint health and arthritis.
I appreciate the tip very much. The bone broth I could do, but I just couldn't handle doing the chicken feet, unless it was absolutely necessary. She does have arthritis. And it used to be very bad, but since I've been using Duralactin Feline, she is a brand new cat. She has no problems walking now.
 

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Speedy also has texture issues. She can only have a very smooth pate because given the chance she will just lick up all the moisture and leave any chunks of meat behind. She eats Weruva Slide n Serve and Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse, the two smoothest foods I can find. Speedy cannot have Soulistic, the sodium content is much too high for her cardiac diet.

Speedy also really likes Sheba, their pate is very smooth and almost mousse-like. I have been unable to learn the sodium content but people here seem to feel it's generally OK food. At my vet's suggestion, sometimes I mix some Sheba with the Weruva, which amps up the flavor a bit. I do this to get her to eat more but it does stretch the Weruva so maybe it saves a little money?

But if your cat is healthy and texture is the main issue, give Sheba a try.
 
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Speedy also has texture issues. She can only have a very smooth pate because given the chance she will just lick up all the moisture and leave any chunks of meat behind. She eats Weruva Slide n Serve and Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse, the two smoothest foods I can find. Speedy cannot have Soulistic, the sodium content is much too high for her cardiac diet.

Speedy also really likes Sheba, their pate is very smooth and almost mousse-like. I have been unable to learn the sodium content but people here seem to feel it's generally OK food. At my vet's suggestion, sometimes I mix some Sheba with the Weruva, which amps up the flavor a bit. I do this to get her to eat more but it does stretch the Weruva so maybe it saves a little money?

But if your cat is healthy and texture is the main issue, give Sheba a try.
Thank you for all the info! Right now I am putting her food through a blender, and that's working really well. But I do get tired of doing that, so I will give Sheba a try one of these days.
 

mizzely

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So I just tried out the Soulistic Pate in the can as mentioned and was pleasantly surprised at the gelatinous texture! At 86 calories a 3oz can it is higher calorie than the Weruva Slide N Serve and yet cheaper. My Slide N Serve and Tiki Cat Mousse lover seems to enjoy it! This is the one we tried :

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...rkey-dinner-in-a-hydrating-puree-wet-cat-food

Thanks everyone for your tips!
 
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