Decided to cook for Lucas, need help

[momto4kitties]

Hello everybody. I don 't know if some of you are familiar with Lucas' problems, I have many threads here explaining his situation. In a nutshell: he has Lupus, so he has to take prednisolone daily which caused him diabetes. His diabetes can be perfectly controlled with canned diet, but he is now also allergic to most cat foods.

He has to eat and my only option right now is Hills z/d which he now hates.

I have recipes that I found online, but need to know abour the supplements like Taurine, where to buy them and how much he should get with each meal. I 'm desperate because he has to eat.

I know the transition won 't be easy, but what other choice do I have?

I think cooked is the best choice because he is soo stubborn and picky that I know it could take more that a year for him to accept raw, and he needs food now.

Pleasee help!

 

[jcat]

Have you seen this thread? Home-Cooked Cat Food Resources
It's a lot to read, but will give you a good idea of what's involved even before our members start giving you suggestions.

You don't even have to start "big" with recipes and supplements; you could try giving him some cooked meat one or two times a week at first to see how he does with it.

 

[peaches08]

I buy fish oil locally (I shop sales) and the rest of the supplements like taurine I get from www.iherb.com. As far as raw vs cooked, have you tried giving Lucas either one before? I mean just raw or cooked meat? He may surprise you. For example, my cats prefer raw. When I started them on the recipe from www.catinfo.org, I lightly cooked the outside as mentioned in the recipe and the cats ate it. After talking with people here, I quit lightly cooking it and the cats ate with more gusto and looked for more. Go figure. In any case, it's worth trying to offer a small piece of both and see what he does. Then move forward from there.

Sorry about your cat's lupus diagnosis. I have mild SLE but thankfully I know my triggers.

 

[ldg]

peaches, she has tried raw. :rub:

Tammy, what proteins in cat foods does he like? They're not always predictive of what he'll like fresh (cooked), but if he liked beef, I'd start by offering him a little bit of beef. If he eats it, I'd try this recipe, by Dr. Strombeck:

http://www.dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/feeding_a_normal_dog_or_cat.html#cats

1/2 pound (weight before cooking) beef (lean ground) (228 grams)
1/2 egg, large, chicken, whole, cooked
1/2 ounce clams, chopped in juice (15 grams) (These are available in cans there? If not, you can use sardines (no salt, in water preferable, though if only olive oil is available, that shouldn't hurt him as fats aren't usually an allergan) and add taurine. We'll figure out how much)
1/2 teaspoon bone meal powder (3 grams)
1 multiple vitamin-mineral tablet (Willowy uses Nu-Cat - can you order it from amazon? The directions are for 4 a day - but you may not need to add them to the food, as they're "chewable" and meant to be used as a "multivitamin treat." Maybe he'll like them).

Here is a link to the Nu-Cat ingredients and info: http://www.vetriscience.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=900560240 The only thing that would likely be an allergy trigger would be the beef liver - if he's allergic to beef.

It also comes in a liquid, if you want to add it to the food: http://www.vetriscience.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=900567008 Oooops - never mind. It has corn starch, which we know is a problem for Lucas.

Nu-cat, if ordered from Vetri-science, does ship out of the U.S.

Of course, it doesn't have to be Nu-Cat.

What proteins do you have access to, and do you know which ones are triggers for him? For instance, can you buy duck? Has he had it? As a novel protein, it may not be a problem. It would take more work for you, having to remove the skin from the bone, cook it, and then use a food processor or something to grind it (if he won't eat minced or shredded).

The main thing is that if you make cooked, use ALL of the water if you poach it or pressure cook it, or ALL of the pan drippings, if you bake it. (And NO cooked bone!).

But let us know what proteins you can buy, or what proteins you want to try with Lucas, and let's see what we can come up with. :rub:

 

[Willowy]

Yep, one of mine won't eat canned food, and can't have dry due to FLUTD. And won't eat raw! So I learned to cook for her. It's actually super easy and if I had fewer cats I think I'd do it all the time---it's almost easier than using canned food! And it seems an easier transition (than raw) for cats who are used to commercial food.

If he reacts to the Nu-Cat, or you can't buy it, I also make a batch with Centrum human multi-vitamin. One tablet per 2 to 2 1/2 pounds of meat. But it doesn't have taurine like the Nu-Cat (I guess clams have taurine too but I add extra just in case) so you'd have to add that separately (NOW brand; you can buy it from Amazon).

I also add 1-2 ounces of liver and one ounce of sardines per pound of meat. This isn't necessary but makes the recipe better (with mschauer's help ). If you can't get canned clams, I bet you could get fresh ones .

I know how sensitive the poor boy is. I do think that a home prepared diet is the best thing for him, but I also remember how he feels about raw. So I hope this works for him!

 

[momto4kitties]

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me all the info, I appreciate it.  Ok, Lucas loves canned food, he is a fan of fancy feast, his favorite is Tender chicken liver pate and salmon pate, but they both cause him allergies.  I think the right choice right now is beef.  I will try that first, thank you Laurie!   I bought the ground beef today, bought a food processor because Lucas likes his food smooth, soft, I always add water to it because he likes it soupy.

I will first try making it without all the necesary ingredients I have to buy online.  Just to see how he reacts to it. I will check right now if I can get the things I need online.

Lucas is not doing well, his eyes are red and he is so sad :-( I gave him a small dose of zyrtec because it does help him.  The good thing is he just ate half a can of hills z/d just now, but the only way I got him to eat it was giving it to him with my hands, I mean he licked it from my hands, it is crazy!  I've never given him food like this, but I'm so desperate to get him to eat that I did that and he ate it all.  I just want him to eat, I don't mind doing whatever it takes.

I will make his first cooked meal tomorrow.  I pray to God he at least tries it. I need him to get better, love that boy so much!

Thank you all!

 

[momto4kitties]

Oh, amost forgot, yes Laurie, I think I can get duck, I can  get almost anything.

 

[ldg]

Tammy, it's not going to hurt him eating an unbalanced diet for a week or two. With no calcium, he may get soft poop. But if anyone in your family eats eggs, we can tell you how to make eggshell powder and how much to use.

 

[momto4kitties]

Yes we eat eggs, please tell me how to do that. Thank you!!

 

[ldg]

It's easy - rinse out the eggshells, but keep the membrane. You can either place them in the sun to completely dry out, or bake them at a low temperature (300) for 20 to 30 minutes to dry them out.

When they're completely dry, use a food processor, (CLEAN) coffee grinder, or pestle and mortar to powder them!

If they are finely ground, it takes 1/2 teaspoon of eggshell powder to provide the right amount of calcium per pound of meat. You can add it to the cooked ground beef (may need a little water to help distribute everything as evenly as possible), mix it in as thoroughly as possible. Then you can freeze either meal-size portions, or something like one ounce portions: then just dethaw as necessary to feed.

Some people freeze the food in ice cube trays, pop the cubes out and store them in a freezer container (or baggie) of some kind. I put a measured amount of food in a small baggie, smoosh it flat, and freeze it.

To thaw, just put a portion in a baggie in a bowl of lukewarm water - it thaws really quickly. Lucas may like the food cold; he may like it room temp, or he may like it warm. Just experiment.

 

[momto4kitties]

Ok, made his first cooked meal. I didn 't add the sardines because I wanted to give him just the beef just in case so I can identify allergens, but now I wish I had because maybe he would have liked it with the sardines. He hates what I did. Of course I can't give up, but he hated it.

 

[ldg]

Do you have canned sardines? You can drizzle the "sardine water" over the food, see if that helps.

 

[ldg]

Tammy, does he like Tuna? You can make tuna water:

You can make you own tuna water by adding 3 cups of water to a can of tuna. Mash it up and let it sit for
~15 minutes then pour the water into covered (to help maintain freshness) ice cube trays. 3 cups of water
will fill two 16-cube trays. The ice cube trays can be used for other flavored liquids as well.

Obviously you don't want to make so much if you don't KNOW if he likes it or if it helps him eat the food. This is from Dr. Pierson's transition guide.

 

[ldg]

...and as you're at least able to get him to eat the canned z/d by hand feeding him, maybe just mix a little of the beef with z/d - see if you can hide just a little in there, and get him used to it...

 

[momto4kitties]

Will do that Laurie, thank you! I don't know what I would do if Lucas didn't at least eat the z/d, this is too hard

 

[momto4kitties]

Ugh!! Lucas is so picky and difficult! Added the sardines and still nothing , not even a little taste. I tried giving him a little muxed wirh the z/d abd he rejected it. The priblem is he doesn't even like rhe z/d, I think he eats ir becauase he likes the fact that I'm giving it to him by hand.

But it is amazing how much better he looks after just days of taking z/d only. No more redness, no more swollen eyes and he even asked me to take him for a walk.

I will just keep trying with the food..

 

[ldg]

Before adding something next time, you might offer a small taste to see if he likes it first.

So with like 1/8th of a teaspoon mixed into 1/3 of a can of z/d, he wouldn't eat it even by hand?

Tammy, does he act nauseous? Is your vet able to prescribe the anti-nausea medication, Cerenia?

Or what about an appetite stimulant? One commonly used is an antihistamine, cyproheptadine. It is given 2x a day, I believe, but maybe one or both would help?

 

[momto4kitties]

Update: Still trying and still no luck. Lucas refuses the cooked food. He is disgusted by it and won't even try a tiny bit mixed worh the z/ d. I'm not surprise because that is how Lucas has always been. He is reluctantly earting the z/d and if has helped , but he looks hungry, like the z/d leaves him hungry.

I just hope i can figure out somehow what hd is allergic to. I dont like giving him the z/d, I need sonething better ...

 

[peaches08]

What does he like? Including toppers and things like that?

Is he on insulin or any other medications?

 

[ldg]

Tammy, it's safe to give him about 15% of his diet unbalanced. Why not buy a few different meats in small amounts - or just take a bit off of what whatever is being made for dinner so you can cook it without anything else. Just try little bits of different proteins, see if you can find something he will like.

And have you asked the vet about an appetite stimulant? And have you ruled out nausea as part of the problem? Is Cerenia available from the vet there? You can use an anti-nausea med and an appetite stimulant together.