Alnutrin cooked recipe questions.

[molanic]

I just ordered my first bag of Alnutrin with eggshell today. I plan to use it with cooked food initially. I noticed the basic recipes on the Alnutrin website call for skinless meat, liver, the Alnutrin, and water only. Recipes here and elsewhere using the Alnutrin use skin on meat for at least half of the meat... and also add heart, egg (not shell), and fish oil.

The Alnutrin already includes some egg yolk powder I believe, so is the extra egg optional and do you just scramble it up a little for cooked recipes? Is the heart basically the same as the meat nutritionally, but with extra taurine?

The fish oil benefits is not covered by the Alnutrin I guess? Will it be less effective after freezing and storage mixed into the food?

If I'm baking the meat and leaving some of the skin on, all that fat released should get mixed back in, correct? From what I read on the other thread you weigh your meat before cooking, but keep it well covered and use all the liquids released only adding extra water for wetter consistency. Obviously the more water you add the more diluted the nutrients will be per ounce of food though.

I'm thinking I may initially divide the recipe so I don't waste too much of the Alnutrin if they won't eat it. My postal scale goes down to .1oz or 1gram I think, so hopefully that is accurate enough to scale 10-20 grams of Alnutrin.

 

[feralvr]

I found this thread that may help with some of your cooking. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/289024/simple-cooked-recipes-for-alnutrin-comparable-to-ustew

And this one: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/286560/simple-home-cooked-recipes-with-alnutrin

Hope this helps!

 

[molanic]

Thanks for the links. I had gotten some recipes off from them to try already. I was just questioning the differences in the recipes. Everyone cautions to not make your own food unless you do it exactly right, but there are such big differences in a lot of the recipes. I guess it is not as important to use a perfect recipe when you are still feeding commercial food as well for a while too. I still haven't gotten my Alnutrin yet anyways. I hope I ordered it from the right place!

 

[maureen brad]

As I understand it, you use the measurements on the bag of Alnutrin when cooking. Make sure you add it after cooking , when the meat has cooled to room temp. Then when serving add additional Vitamin B and Taurine as these are not nutrients that you can over dose and they can be lost /diminished when frozen.

 

[ldg]

If you use Alnutrin, you don't need to add additional B or taurine, it's in the Alnutrin supplement. The general guideline is 6.7g of Alnutrin with eggshell per pound of food. At least, those are the instructions from the owner. My understanding is that the pound of food is the RAW weight, not the cooked weight. And just include all liquid if slow cooked or all pan drippings if baked. And when using Alnutrin with eggshell, it is still a good idea to include salmon oil or some high quality fish oil, as those are included for the omega 3s.

 

[maureen brad]

I didn't mean to imply that you must add Vitamin B or Taurine. Sorry, I didn't write that very clearly at all. I do add some taurine and Vitamin B when serving because some nutrients are lost in freezing and since those are safe to add, I do.

 

[ldg]

Oh, you meant if not using Alnutrin.

 

[maureen brad]

LDG- no, I meant that I add some taurine and b- complex to some individual meals because freezing can degrade some nutrients. I don't do it to every meal but some , just to make sure they get what they need. I wouldn't add anything else but with taurine and Vit. B it is safe.I also add salmon Oil capsules.Gosh, sometimes I feel like a scientist- I add Lysine, recently Transfactor Plus ( Remy only)....

 

[molanic]

Thank you both, that is the info I was looking for. Most of the recipes are for raw, and the cooked ones I have found seem to be more variable. I was also tinkering with the recipes calculator on the Alnutrin website and the amount of Alnutrin used didn't change whether you used raw or cooked meat. I had thought maybe you would have to use more since the cooking would destroy some of the nutrients. I will still be feeding some canned (and probably kibbles) along with the home-cooked for a while so that should help with any nutrient issues as well. The transition to raw is going to be very slow one with these kitties I think.

I ordered a small scale with .01g accuracy for the Alnutrin so that I can make smaller batches to start. The idea of making a full batch and then having them refuse to eat it for some reason would make me sick.

To ldg ... if I have the right person, Laurie Goldstein? I think I read in one article that LDG was your handle here? I wanted the thank you as well for the all the articles I have been reading here and at CatCentric.org on cat nutrition. They have all been very helpful to this newbie to world of cats. Your article on comparing food costs was especially helpful. I have started a spreadsheet to help me compare my cost per day with commercial foods and the different ingredients in the various homemade recipes, based on the caloric needs of my cats.

All these wonderful people online that take the time to document their experiences and knowledge to help others are a wonderful resource. It really does change lives.

Thanks