Adding calories to raw

[LTS3]

What's a good way to add extra calories to a commercial raw food? I weighed Leroy this morning and noticed he lost a bit of weight and his ribs and spine are easily felt. I had to weight him twice because the first weight of 9.6 lbs seemed too low. The second weight was 10 lbs. Leroy eats NV rabbit medallions which are 51 calories each. He eats two of those a day plus one Primal raw nugget for a snack (currently the turkey one which is 45 calories). So he's eating 147 calories daily, plus whatever crumbs of canned food Emma leaves for him, which is low but he's been eating that amount for years. I had been adding in ground raw with pre-mix to his meals but the pet store hasn't had the chubs of boneless meats available for awhile I'm not sure how many calories ground venison and a pre-mix adds. It's only a spoonful per meal. Keep in mind that Leroy has IBD and chicken is a no-no. He gets B12 injections monthly. Should I just add an extra NV medallion daily, giving half for each meal? And / or try a higher calorie Primal variety which means a trip to a different pet store? The duck one is 71 calories.

 

[lisahe]

The easiest thing would probably be to try feeding him a little more, right? I say "probably" because I know not all cats want to eat more... I'd probably try increasing his medallions since that sounds like the easiest thing. And/or trying the higher calorie Primal? Does he tolerate variations in his diet? If so, maybe an extra medallion one day and the caloric Primal the next?

 

[1 bruce 1]

Queen Bee was losing some weight, so we started giving her a lunch (3 meals vs. 2 per day). She also trained us to give her some treats at night, but that's a different story.
After about 2 weeks, she had gained almost a pound, and is looking a bit meatier. I would probably start adding that extra medallion for a week or two, weigh, and go from there. If he hasn't gained, maybe try something higher calorie despite the trip to the different pet store. If that doesn't work, I don't think I need to mention this to LTS3 but anyone new wondering the same, a talk with the vet would be in order.

 

[LTS3]

The vet gets a daily update on Leroy. Leroy has an appointment with the vet in January.

Leroy will eat anything, edible or not Adding new proteins to his diet is not a problem at all. I forgot to add that he'll eat the raw Emma doesn't finish (same NV rabbit) but it's just crumbs so it doesn't add much to his 147-ish daily calorie intake.

I ran out of S. Boulardii a few weeks ago and haven't gotten anymore yet. Would that cause weight loss? Leroy is still getting a digestive enzyme and probiotics. Then again, back at the annual visit in September, the vet noted Leroy lost a few ounces (he was still a good 10 lbs which has always been his normal weight) and said I need to get Leroy to gain weight.

I'll add an extra medallion to his meals for now. I wish the one pet store where I buy NV from has more Primal varieties but they don't for some reason. They only ones they carry which I can feed Leroy are turkey and beef / salmon.

 

[LTS3]

I got some Vital Essentials frozen raw in turkey today. It's 75 calories per patty. The only other Vital Essential protein the store had was rabbit at 64 calories. They didn't have duck which is 92 calories. Once the Primal turkey is gone, I'll start the Vital Essentials.

Stella and Chewy's frozen raw was an option but the calories are so low - just 27 calories per medallion. The store had Tiki Cat Raw in lamb which was tempting but I wasn't sure how to portion out the frozen 24 oz tub.

The store also had the boneless venison in stock so I got 2 chubs. They also had salmon but I don't like to feed that often. How many calories is one spoonful of venison with a pre-mix?

I added an extra half NV to each meal today (3 medallions for a total 153 calories). Leroy gobbled it all up and still had enough room for the crumbs Emma left. He's whining for his Primal snack now so that will be 193 calories by bedtime.

I was thinking when I start the Vital Essentials, I won't need to feed the extra NV for meals 3 NV medallions plus one Vital Essentials is 228 calories. Too many calories? Not enough since Leroy has IBD and needs B12? Questions to run by the vet....

 

[darg]

I got some Vital Essentials frozen raw in turkey today. It's 75 calories per patty. The only other Vital Essential protein the store had was rabbit at 64 calories. They didn't have duck which is 92 calories. Once the Primal turkey is gone, I'll start the Vital Essentials.

Stella and Chewy's frozen raw was an option but the calories are so low - just 27 calories per medallion. The store had Tiki Cat Raw in lamb which was tempting but I wasn't sure how to portion out the frozen 24 oz tub.

The store also had the boneless venison in stock so I got 2 chubs. They also had salmon but I don't like to feed that often. How many calories is one spoonful of venison with a pre-mix?

I added an extra half NV to each meal today (3 medallions for a total 153 calories). Leroy gobbled it all up and still had enough room for the crumbs Emma left. He's whining for his Primal snack now so that will be 193 calories by bedtime.

I was thinking when I start the Vital Essentials, I won't need to feed the extra NV for meals 3 NV medallions plus one Vital Essentials is 228 calories. Too many calories? Not enough since Leroy has IBD and needs B12? Questions to run by the vet....

The Stella and Chewys select Turkey is "only" about 27 calories per medallion but a medallion only weights about 17 grams. That's about 1.6 calories per gram. Those medallions are pretty calorie dense.

 

[LTS3]

Calorie dense for the size of the medallion yes but not enough calories to add to Leroy's daily intake. He's had the Stella and Chewy's medallions before just for snacks. They never filled him up the same way a more calorie dense raw food like Primal did.

Leroy is handling 193-ish calories just fine so far I'll weigh him in another week or so to see if the increased calories helped put some weight on him.

 

[mschauer]

Fat is the best way to up the calorie density of a food. Fat has about double the calories of protein and carbs.

At one time I was looking at adding fat to my foods. I've seen gobs of various types of animal fat sold in grocery stores but it doesn't seem to be consistently available. I did find this product: Duck Fat by Les Trois Petits Cochons. My cats love duck so I thought it would be a good choice. I never tried it though. Just decided I didn't really need to up the calorie density of my foods. There are other animal fats available packaged like that. Just be sure the ingredients are only fat. Some have added spices.

I don't know what the deal is with that Amazon link. It shows shipping as $26 and the product as $6. When I first added it to my list the product was $20 and the shipping was something reasonable although I don't remember exactly what it was.

Here's a brand I haven't seen before but that looks good: Rendering's Duck Fat. Also expensive but a little less than the one above. That one says 1 tablespoon has 130 calories.

Common oils can be used as the fat source also. One with a neutral taste would probably be best. Canola oil has 124 calories per tablespoon.

 

[darg]

Calorie dense for the size of the medallion yes but not enough calories to add to Leroy's daily intake. He's had the Stella and Chewy's medallions before just for snacks. They never filled him up the same way a more calorie dense raw food like Primal did.

Leroy is handling 193-ish calories just fine so far I'll weigh him in another week or so to see if the increased calories helped put some weight on him.

How is it not enough calories? I mean, sure, if you are expecting one medallion to cut it, then it isn't alot of calories. But compared to vital essentials turkey which lists the calories at 1.28 calories per gram, the Stella and Chewys are listed as 1.88 calories per gram. If the vital essentials medallions are 75 calories per, it's simply because they weigh more. Unless it's a cost thing. I don't know what the Vital Essentials cost but the S&C selects definitely are pricey. 11 bucks for 1 lb. over in my neck of the woods.

 

[sophie1]

I had a similar question, so very happy to see this thread. I just had a rather scary episode with one of my cats: he lost a bit of weight, and ended up with a bowel obstruction from hairballs. He's ok now thank goodness. I think the weight loss was my fault, because their diet is too low in fat. I looked up my Hare Today chubs, and the fat content of everything is low: 9% chicken, 10% turkey, 6% rabbit, 2% (!!) goat. What's the recommended amount of fat for a cat? I looked this up and saw numbers all over the place, with many citing 20-30% (fat by weight). Nature Variety medallions are 9% fat, in comparison, so I guess that means the chicken and turkey blends are ok - but the rabbit and goat are not.

How about adding lard? It's cheap and easy to come by in my neighborhood. I imagine that melting it would be a problem since it would cook the meat when I added it, but I guess I could just chop it up and mix it in. If the above numbers are correct, to get rabbit to 10% fat I'd have to add about 2/3 oz of lard per pound. For goat it would be 1.3 oz lard. Or would butter be ok?

 

[LTS3]

So Leroy weighs 10.2 lbs today His spine and ribs aren't so prominent now. I'm feeding 227 calories now: 3 NV rabbit medallions (51 calories per medallion) and one Vital Essential turkey patty (74 calories). Hopefully he won't gain too much more weight