Can't find chicken liver right now, ok to mix chicken muscle with beef liver?

[danaNM]

Hi everyone,

This forum has been a great resource! I've been feeding my cat a homemade cooked diet that's been chicken based. Now I need to make more and can't find chicken liver anywhere. He has eaten commercial beef cat food before without issue.

Would it be OK to make his food with beef liver instead of chicken liver? Should I reduce the amount of liver? I noticed on the google drive folder of cooked food recipes the beef liver recipe uses less liver so wanted to check.

I was also only able to get chicken breast instead of thigh meat. I also have some chicken hearts and gizzards that I can add. Hopefully that's OK. I used breast last time and he seems happy and his weigh is stable (or even gaining slightly).

I've been following the Dr. Pearson recipe using bone meal, but just adding the supplements after the meat is cooked.

Thank you in advance!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I found this thread from several years ago that says it's perfectly fine to substitute it, and it doesn't mention anything about changing the amount: https://thecatsite.com/threads/beef-liver-instead-of-chicken-liver.288320/ Hope your furbaby doesn't mind the taste of it.

I don't understand what is happening with chicken thighs. I also have not been able to find any in several stores where I've looked. If brasts are available, why aren't thighs ? Afterall, chickens come with both!

 

[kittyluv387]

I found this thread from several years ago that says it's perfectly fine to substitute it, and it doesn't mention anything about changing the amount: https://thecatsite.com/threads/beef-liver-instead-of-chicken-liver.288320/ Hope your furbaby doesn't mind the taste of it.

I don't understand what is happening with chicken thighs. I also have not been able to find any in several stores where I've looked. If brasts are available, why aren't thighs ? Afterall, chickens come with both!

The Costco chicken thighs are harder to find as well. I didn’t need any but still picked up a pack when I did see a very limited amount. No I don't feel bad about buying it for my cats lol.

 

[danaNM]

Great, thank you! I'm wondering if maybe they are running low on thighs because people tend to buy a lot more thighs than breasts?

The liver thing was weird to me. Every store in town (including full on butcher shops) was out of chicken liver!

This is kind of a tangent, but is the main reason for using thigh meat the fat content? Or is it because it has extra tendons etc? Just wondering because I use a cooked recipe so I have to either debone meat or buy boneless. And then boneless usually doesn't have the skin. This is only my second time making it and the first time I was lazy and got boneless breasts because I didn't want to debone meat.

I guess it's easy to remove bones once the meat is cooked, but then it's harder to know exactly the weight of muscle you are using.... Hmmm.

 

[kittyluv387]

Great, thank you! I'm wondering if maybe they are running low on thighs because people tend to buy a lot more thighs than breasts?

The liver thing was weird to me. Every store in town (including full on butcher shops) was out of chicken liver!

This is kind of a tangent, but is the main reason for using thigh meat the fat content? Or is it because it has extra tendons etc? Just wondering because I use a cooked recipe so I have to either debone meat or buy boneless. And then boneless usually doesn't have the skin. This is only my second time making it and the first time I was lazy and got boneless breasts because I didn't want to debone meat.

I guess it's easy to remove bones once the meat is cooked, but then it's harder to know exactly the weight of muscle you are using.... Hmmm.

Yes even without skin it still has pieces of fat on it and the muscle contains fat. Cats need a moderate amount of fat.

 

[danaNM]

Ok thanks, next time I'll get a fattier cut!

 

[lisahe]

I agree that the thighs are for the fat.

Another option on liver is to use freeze-dried. I bought a large tub of it from Chewy just as the pandemic hit because I was concerned about fresh chicken liver supply. My supply just ran out (I had more than I thought I did) and I made my first batch with the freeze-dried last weekend. This thread about liver (which I started last year!) is what gave me the idea for freeze-dried liver. Even in the Before Days, I hadn't always been able to find fresh chicken liver so was glad to have the freeze-dried option.

On another note, it really is interesting (and disconcerting!) that various groceries -- like certain cuts of meat -- seem to come and go these days. I've noticed it, too, and some of the newspaper articles I've read have mentioned that cuts that are easier to process (meaning less cutting, deboning, etc.) might be more readily available than cuts that are more labor-intensive to produce. That does kind of make sense for, say, boneless thighs versus breasts. But even so, you really do have to wonder what happens to the parts that aren't currently available!

 

[Tobermory]

This is kind of a tangent, but is the main reason for using thigh meat the fat content?

The fat is beneficial, but I think it also gives the meat a richer flavor which my cats seem to prefer. They’ll eat breast meat, but it’s not their favorite.

 

[lisahe]

The fat is beneficial, but I think it also gives the meat a richer flavor which my cats seem to prefer. They’ll eat breast meat, but it’s not their favorite.

I think you're right about the fat. I wish our cats were more enthusiastic about eating thigh meat! They don't like it on its own, though they'll eat if I mix a little (up to 1/4) into breast meat. Cats!

 

[Tobermory]

I think you're right about the fat. I wish our cats were more enthusiastic about eating thigh meat! They don't like it on its own, though they'll eat if I mix a little (up to 1/4) into breast meat. Cats!

Gotta love the little prima donnas!

 

[lisahe]

Gotta love the little prima donnas!

Indeed! Fortunately, they also love pork, pretty much any cuts, and even cheaper! (I'm glad they don't know it's cheaper or they'd never eat it.)

 

[danaNM]

Thanks everyone! Now the food with the beef liver seems to be going OK..... but he seems to be regurgitating right after eating in the morning more than normal (I know he is prone to doing this if he gets fed late, or if the food isn't warm enough). Could the beef liver or lack of fat be to blame? But now I am trying to figure out if he was also barfing this much with the regular cooked diet. When I fed the same recipe raw he never threw it up, but it had thigh meat. Plus he didn't seem to like it as much and would eat it really slowly. So I cant figure out if it is the recipe or the speed he's eating it at.

He only ever does this after his morning meal, never after dinner. Otherwise everything is normal. He will usually eat a bit of food, a few minutes later barf it up, then go back and eat the rest of his breakfast with no problems.

For a while I was giving him his canned food in food puzzles, but I just felt they would be a pain to clean with a homemade diet.... but might have to go back to that to slow him down a bit.

 

[Tobermory]

He only ever does this after his morning meal, never after dinner.

Iris does this, too, and only in the morning. I feed the girls twice daily at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. If I don’t split Iris’s morning meal into two feedings—6 a.m. and about 7 a.m.—she’ll vomit it all up. Since I’ve been splitting it, she barfs maybe once or twice a month after the first half. When I fed her the entire morning meal at once, it was two or three times a week.

 

[danaNM]

Ok thank you, I might try that next! It's so frustrating! Gotten to the point where I will feed him in the bathroom to make cleanup easier.

 

[lisahe]

Yes, smaller meals are probably the way to go! We have to feed five small meals a day for similar reasons. Though lately Edwina has been slowing her eating pace a little... I'm wondering if maybe we could get away with just four, though then there'd be the oops-I'm-hungry-have-some-bile gunk... Cats with stomachs like these can be a challenge to feed! On the bright side, though, she's always very grateful for her food.

 

[danaNM]

I will give that a shot! I thought we would be in the clear this morning because yesterday we did 3 meals instead of 2, with a small meal around midnight. This morning he didn't even wake up before I did, so I thought I was safe! WRONG. lol

 

[lisahe]

danaNM , sorry but you're never safe! (One of our cats nips my chin or ears if she gets really hungry!)

 

[danaNM]

lisahe I've been doing the smaller meals and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be helping! He is regurgitating his first tiny meal of the day prob 3/4 of the time. Although at least I know he's going to puke after the first one, so I make that one very small so it's easier to clean up.

I feel like the recipe I used on this batch must have something to do with it, because the last batch (and the raw diet before) I was amazed at how little he threw up. Maybe the lower fat content is meaning he isn't full as long? Maybe the beef liver is too rich? Thankfully I'm almost through this batch, so will hopefully be able to make the next batch with thigh meat and chicken liver again.

 

[danaNM]

You're right though about him being grateful for his food. Thankfully he has never been a picky eater!

 

[lisahe]

lisahe I've been doing the smaller meals and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be helping! He is regurgitating his first tiny meal of the day prob 3/4 of the time. Although at least I know he's going to puke after the first one, so I make that one very small so it's easier to clean up.

I feel like the recipe I used on this batch must have something to do with it, because the last batch (and the raw diet before) I was amazed at how little he threw up. Maybe the lower fat content is meaning he isn't full as long? Maybe the beef liver is too rich? Thankfully I'm almost through this batch, so will hopefully be able to make the next batch with thigh meat and chicken liver again.

Hm, hm, hm. What I can say for sure is that I'm sorry to hear he's still regurgitating! Just to be sure: this is an obvious regurgitation, right, a scarf-and-barf, where he eats the meal too fast and then it comes back up almost instantly?

If it's a regurgitation, that's generally less likely to be caused by an ingredient (like beef liver as opposed to chicken liver) than by eating too fast. Lower fat content may mean he's not feeling full for so long. Which would mean he's especially hungry for that first meal and so gulps it down especially fast and then gacks it back up.

So, to hm again, yes, I'd try going back to the last successful food that didn't make him barf. And really cross my fingers that it resolves the problem. It would be weird but then again, cats are creatures of habit so maybe he's eating that food faster because it's less familiar and he really, really loves it?

With Edwina we had to go through a lot of things to get her to slow down, if only a little. Feeding her food spread out, feeding her on a raised platform, feeding her away from her sister, feeding her lots of meals a day. The cats came to us skinny and undersized and Edwina was especially tiny and insecure about her food. She's been with us for almost seven years and has finally, just in the last six months or so, started eating a little slower so we don't always have to feed the two cats separately.

But at least she and your cat -- what's his name, by the way? -- are very appreciative eaters!