Complimentary Jerky?

[xisare]

Hullo all!

Has ever anyone fed jerky to their cats?

I ask becasue mine now is on wet + a bit of dry each day, but calories wise the difference between the 5 oz can and his amount is so little (50 cals or so) that I thought of replacing the dry with some pieces of human grade jerky once the bag runs out. It should be pure meat so it would be better than dry food.

Any advice on this? or recommendations on brands? I know that is does not have to have any spices or garlic, but what should I look for?

Thanks!

 

[LTS3]

I've never heard of feeding jerky to a cat as part of the diet. Can you just feed more canned food when the bag of dry food is gone? A little dry food in the diet is ok, IMO. It's feeding nothing but dry food that can be a problem long term. Maybe instead of dry food you could feed a little freeze dried or air dried raw instead. Both are healthier than dry food and are crunchy if fed dry (they're usually recommended to be rehydrated before serving).

Jerky for Human consumption contains all sorts of spices and preservatives. I would not feed any of these. A little 100% meat jerky for dogs (may need to cut into cat sized pieces) or freeze dried meat treats for dogs / cats would be a better choice. And since these are treats, don't feed more than 10% of the diet.

 

[xisare]

Right now feeding him one 5 oz can a day is about the best we can do. I'd love to feed him more wet food but our current budget does not allow it, and we plan to adopt another cat (Akodo is an aggressive player) So I don't think that is going to change in the near future.

And I don't plan to feed them only the jerky... but I tough that pure meat would be better than dried food, and that is an investment I can make

 

[mingking]

Have you thought about cooking meat or going raw and adding supplements so it's a complete diet? In the long run, it is cheaper. I'd suggest looking into the Raw & Homemade Cat Foods forums to find some information there if you're comfortable with making your own food. 

 

[Kat0121]

most bagged jerky made for human consumption is very salty (at least the ones I've tried are). maybe you can buy some chicken breast and dry it yourself without any seasoning or salt? I've been considering doing this myself. you don't need a dehydrator. you can do it in the oven at a low heat for a long time until it's dried and then use it cut up into pieces as a treat or a topper (what I plan to do) you could also use beef or turkey

 

[LTS3]

 
Right now feeding him one 5 oz can a day is about the best we can do. I'd love to feed him more wet food but our current budget does not allow it, and we plan to adopt another cat (Akodo is an aggressive player) So I don't think that is going to change in the near future.

And I don't plan to feed them only the jerky... but I tough that pure meat would be better than dried food, and that is an investment I can make

Real meat is best

Maybe try offering small pieces of plain cooked meat as less than 10% of the diet. Poached chicken is great. Leftovers can be frozen for later use.

If you want to include real meat as a bigger part of the diet, then look into home cooked or raw diets. You can find more info on these on the Raw and Home Cooked forum http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

 

[raintyger]

Without doing a cost comparison, my instinct says that feeding jerky would be way more expensive than feeding meat scraps. Since jerky has to go through additional drying and handling, it would cost more than plain meat.

I would look into feeding raw or cooked scraps. If you don't intend to learn how to prepare it, then keep it to 10% or less of daily calories.

 

[xisare]

I've looked into making raw food, but I still can't find any meat sources here in texas good for this, and I'd need to buy the grinder for the bones so I'm not that sure... I just don't know yet.

I could do the dried chicken, I just need 50 or so calories daily.

 

[LTS3]

 
I've looked into making raw food, but I still can't find any meat sources here in texas good for this, and I'd need to buy the grinder for the bones so I'm not that sure... I just don't know yet.

I could do the dried chicken, I just need 50 or so calories daily.

Butcher shops are good place to get meat. So are organic type supermarkets such as Whole Foods. Independent pet stores may sell chubs of raw meat for pet food use.

Some types of raw diets don't require grinding bone. For instance, I feed raw meat with a pre-mix. The pre-mix contains a calcium supplement along with other essential vitamins and minerals. Some recipies call for bone meal or other calcium source instead of real ground bone.