Anyone doing -cooked- homemade diets?

[drjean]

Now it's MY turn to ask a question!!!

I am looking for cats that are eating a homemade diet, but with cooked meat instead of raw meat. Ann Martin recommends this method, but most people seem to be all about either staying with commercial food or going totally raw.

If you're doing this (or have done for a period of time), I'd love to have a paragraph or 2 from you about why you switched and what the effects have been on your cat(s).

If selected, your story will appear in my upcoming book on pet food!

 

[kittymonsters]

This is ME

.

I started when the recalls happened, but I was already looking for a way to get my cats off of dry food. All were overweight and on less than a 1/2 cup of food a day. Izzy was literally twice what she should way.

I tried the raw diet from catinfo.org. However 5 of my 7 developed severe diarrhea 2 months in. The vet I was using at the time gave me a nasty "poo poo" lecture on raw feeding. However when I showed the recipe I was using and that it was balanced they said they could agree with it if the chicken was cooked.

So I switched to baking the chicken thighs at a low temp and then grinding it and adding back ALL of the liquid from the baking.

The fat cats have gradually lost weight and no signs of hepatic lipidosis in over a year. I had a kitty die 7 years ago from HL and I am terrified of it. One of the reasons I wanted the cats to get to a healthier weight.

Switching to cooked got one of my holdouts to eat the homemade. So now I have 6 of 7 eating only cooked homemade Since April of last year.

I have been going through getting bloodwork on all since they are now hitting the "senior" age of 8-9. I got the ultimate compliment from the new vet when I brought the first on in. "this is what a healthy cat should look like!"

What I have noticed is more energy, bright eyes, great coat. Better poop quality and much less stinky!

Zoe, my 12 going on 13 year old just got diagnosed with CRF last week. Thus my interest and questions in the CRF thread. I was so glad to read that I don't have to change her diet. After doing all the research to switching to homemade I am really adamant about not having to switch back to commercial, especially what I think of as junky renal diets.

I would be more than happy to answer any other questions you may have. I have a spread sheet with approximations of the actual concentrations of vitamins and minerals for the food. I have some food labs that I need to contact to send in a sample to get exact numbers. PM if you want to.

For me, with so many kitties, it is actually less expensive for me to feed the homemade food vs feeding canned food. It is a bit labor intensive, as it takes a good 3 hours once a week to make the food. 12 lbs of chicken thighs every eight days I go through. I buy them in bulk at Sam's club. I buy the boneless skinless thighs as I don't grind bone but use Now bonemeal.

for the supplements I buy through luckyvitamin.com They have awesome prices plus on top of it give bulk discounts. Plus shipping is only 5.95

I have to thank you again Dr. Jean for all the wonderul information you have provided. We are so lucky to have you visit us here!

Denise

 

[sharky]

When I first moved Kandie off commercial foods I did homemade... she went to raw quick as she preferred it ... I did note less shedding during the homemade time , fairly remarkable since she was a crf girl...

 

[dawnofsierra]

My girlies eat cooked homemade. Sierra, who will be 14 in July, was diagnosed with crf back in 2004. I don't care one bit for any of the prescription renal diets, so with our (new) Vet's approval, I started making all of Sierra's food along with supplementation. When Serenity, who will be 3 next month, came along, she ate Nutro for her first year, and then she agreed to switch to homemade, as well. I love cooking for my baby girls simply because I love them so much! I've really abbreviated the story here, and would enjoy filling in any blanks for you.

Oh! Sierra's labs are all WNL now!

 

[arlyn]

Due to food allergies and my lack (and my vet's at the time) lack of knowledge on commercial foods, she had me feeding my NFC, Spaz, cooked homemade for her first two years.
She's a bit runty, but she was malnourished during weaning because her BYBreeder refused to feed her anything but the food that was making her sick to begin with.
That was 14 years ago though and I don't remember everything that went in as far as suppliments, but it was usually beef liver and heart, whole ground chicken or turkey wings, necks and legs, brown rice and spinach, or sometimes plain oatmeal and broccoli.
I know there were few suppliments added, but don't remember what.

She thrived on it though.
She's still with me, has never been sick in my care, well adjusted, accepts new things and she can eat commercial foods now (it was a simple corn allergy), I really wish I could still afford to feed her homemade, though I do give her raw chicken as a treat once in a while.

 

[drjean]

You guys are great! This is really cool! I would love to hear more details...including kitties ages, names, all that good stuff. I'm going to ask you, if you don't mind, to post on the list rather than PM, so everyone can have the benefit of learning more about them! However if you're uncomfortable with that, please PM. I have managed to find the inbox though it takes a lot of random button pushing...is there a shortcut?

I feed my cats both canned and homemade food; the proportion of homemade depends on when our chicken supply gets replenished. Personally, I still feed my cats raw meat (they've had it all their lives), but I'm starting to really lean toward making a cooked homemade diet my #1 recommendation. I was doing some research for my book-that-will-someday-be-published-if-I-would-quit-spending-so-much-time-on-the-internet, and please-don't-tell-the-publisher-where-I've-been!

I discovered that, from a nutrient standpoint, there is virtually no difference between raw and cooked meat (except that the nutrients are more concentrated in cooked meat because it has lost some water in the process). I'm thinkin' that adding digestive enzymes and a sprinkle of probiotics would make it darn near equivalent to raw--and much safer for many reasons.

So I'm wanting to find stories like yours that show benefits similar to what the raw-foodies are all raving about! I think that A LOT of people who think raw is totally crazy would feel much better about a cooked homemade diet. So let's get the proof out there!

 

[cloud_shade]

I have managed to find the inbox though it takes a lot of random button pushing...is there a shortcut?

On the nav bar, toward the right side, is a link that says "Quick Links"--if you click that, "Private Messages" is fifth from the bottom.

I tried homemade a couple of times, but I hate cooking--I rarely even cook for myself, so I couldn't see myself cooking for the cats on a regular basis. They did seem to like it though--I had found a recipe for Chicken and Sweet Potato food that they enjoyed.

 

[dawnofsierra]

Sierra and Serenity's diets include chicken & oatmeal (their favorite), chicken & rice, chicken & potato, and of all of the above but including liver. I rotate these and include liver once or twice a month. I also rotate using chicken thighs and chicken breast, but they both prefer the thighs. I prepare their meals in the crock pot and cook them until it's all mushed together. Their supplements include Feline Balance It, Udo's Choice Pet Essentials For Cats, Probiotics, Welactin, and Brewer's Yeast, and Sierra gets Potassium twice a day. They also keep a steady supply of kitty grass growing, they love that!

 

[drjean]

You guys are totally awesome! Thanks!!!