Dr Becker’s Real Food for healthy Dogs and Cats book

[TortieCat]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here used Dr Becker’s recipe book to prepare food for their cats and how successful it was? Thanks!

 

[my_money_pit]

Hey! I’ve started using the book 2 weeks ago. I am finding it easy to prep everything. The most complicated part was getting the supplements.
My cat loves the raw or cooked food even tho he is giving me a hard time to eat without hand feeding him.
i will be taking him for a blood test in 2-3 weeks to check if he is meeting all his nutritional needs.

you might need to add extra pumpkin puree to help with the constipation or hard stool.

 

[TortieCat]

Hey! I’ve started using the book 2 weeks ago. I am finding it easy to prep everything. The most complicated part was getting the supplements.
My cat loves the raw or cooked food even tho he is giving me a hard time to eat without hand feeding him.
i will be taking him for a blood test in 2-3 weeks to check if he is meeting all his nutritional needs.

you might need to add extra pumpkin puree to help with the constipation or hard stool.

That’s great to hear your cat likes the food! What was he eating before the switch? The book recipes already include a veggie mix, did you have to add some pumpkin in addition to the mix to help with digestion?

I hope the blood tests all comes back good, please keep us updated!

The biggest challenge for me will be finding turkey thighs as the stores here don’t sell it I’ll have to either order online or use some other meat and add the extra supplements

 

[my_money_pit]

That’s great to hear your cat likes the food! What was he eating before the switch? The book recipes already include a veggie mix, did you have to add some pumpkin in addition to the mix to help with digestion?

I hope the blood tests all comes back good, please keep us updated!

The biggest challenge for me will be finding turkey thighs as the stores here don’t sell it I’ll have to either order online or use some other meat and add the extra supplements

I don't use turkey, I only feed chicken and beef for now. I will start adding turkey maybe in a week as soon as I have some space in my freezer.
My cat was on a mix of raw + kibbles so the switch was kind of easy. But as I said he is a stubborn cat, I have to hand feed him or he will starve himself to death.

At first I wasn't adding the pumpkin but from now on, I will be always adding some pumpkin on top of the veggie mix. It's the only thing that helps with his stool or else the stool will get stuck to his fur.

 

[TortieCat]

I don't use turkey, I only feed chicken and beef for now. I will start adding turkey maybe in a week as soon as I have some space in my freezer.
My cat was on a mix of raw + kibbles so the switch was kind of easy. But as I said he is a stubborn cat, I have to hand feed him or he will starve himself to death.

At first I wasn't adding the pumpkin but from now on, I will be always adding some pumpkin on top of the veggie mix. It's the only thing that helps with his stool or else the stool will get stuck to his fur.

Sounds like you’ve found what works for your cat! Thanks for sharing! One of my cats also needs some pumpkin in her food occasionally to help things move along

I will need to do a very slow transition for mine, hopefully they’ll like the new food and do well on it.

 

[my_money_pit]

Sounds like you’ve found what works for your cat! Thanks for sharing! One of my cats also needs some pumpkin in her food occasionally to help things move along

I will need to do a very slow transition for mine, hopefully they’ll like the new food and do well on it.

I also suggest you play with the texture. My cat doesn’t seem to like the pate texture he likes his chicken cut in shreds in medium size. I have done the mistake of making batches in pate consistency but from now on will cut the meat small even the organs.

 

[TortieCat]

I also suggest you play with the texture. My cat doesn’t seem to like the pate texture he likes his chicken cut in shreds in medium size. I have done the mistake of making batches in pate consistency but from now on will cut the meat small even the organs.

Thank you! One of mine likes pate but the other one prefers chunks. They aren’t making it easy for me lol

 

[my_money_pit]

Thank you! One of mine likes pate but the other one prefers chunks. They aren’t making it easy for me lol

I read that the pate texture is not good for the teeth for I started cutting them in small pieces. I found a good workflow so I will share it with you but not sure if that is something you have the time to do.
So I start by cutting the meats into small pieces and freezing them into ice cubes. I have meat, chicken, liver, heart and veggie mix each frozen separately and then placed in separate zip lock bags. The night before, I thaw the needed quantity for each ingredient. I ended up doing the math to figure out how much each half a cup needs in terms of beef/chicken, hearts and liver. I measure the quantity, cook it lightly on low heat with a bit of water. Then once it cools down a bit, I start shredding them with my hands or with a knife.
It's a bit of work, but I have one cat and I work from home so it doesn't really bother me.
If i'm lazy, I just cook the required quantity for the whole day and put in the fridge whatever is left from his breakfast.

One thing to note, you have to do the math for meals that take fish or egg and the ones that don't.
The meals that don't take fish make 3.5oz in weight so you have to figure out how much meat, heart and liver goes into that 3.5oz.
And the meals that take an egg are 2.6oz so you need to figure out the same thing for that quantity of food.
Looks a bit complicated but once you do the math which takes a minute, you will have it for the rest of your life

 

[my_money_pit]

Thank you! One of mine likes pate but the other one prefers chunks. They aren’t making it easy for me lol

I am a bit confused about the part where she talks about the different kinds of meat. I am currently feeding my cat beef and chicken but i am trying to cut cost by introducing porc.
In the section about the meats, she mentions that for other types of meat, you need to use the second recipe for the supplements. But her sentencing is not very clear if when using porc you should use the recipe B:
“Below is information about meats not included in our analysis. To use lamb, rabbit, venison, and other meats, use Mineral Mix recipe B.”

She mentions lamb, rabbit, venison and other meats but not porc which is talked about in a separate paragh just like lamb, rabbit and venison and other meats.

Does porc use recipe B or recipe A for the supplements?

 

[TortieCat]

I read that the pate texture is not good for the teeth for I started cutting them in small pieces. I found a good workflow so I will share it with you but not sure if that is something you have the time to do.
So I start by cutting the meats into small pieces and freezing them into ice cubes. I have meat, chicken, liver, heart and veggie mix each frozen separately and then placed in separate zip lock bags. The night before, I thaw the needed quantity for each ingredient. I ended up doing the math to figure out how much each half a cup needs in terms of beef/chicken, hearts and liver. I measure the quantity, cook it lightly on low heat with a bit of water. Then once it cools down a bit, I start shredding them with my hands or with a knife.
It's a bit of work, but I have one cat and I work from home so it doesn't really bother me.
If i'm lazy, I just cook the required quantity for the whole day and put in the fridge whatever is left from his breakfast.

One thing to note, you have to do the math for meals that take fish or egg and the ones that don't.
The meals that don't take fish make 3.5oz in weight so you have to figure out how much meat, heart and liver goes into that 3.5oz.
And the meals that take an egg are 2.6oz so you need to figure out the same thing for that quantity of food.
Looks a bit complicated but once you do the math which takes a minute, you will have it for the rest of your life

That's a great system you have going! Thank you for sharing

Regarding pork and which vitamin mix to use - it sounds like you're planning to use pork instead of turkey meat that she suggests for the rotation? If that's the case then my guess would be to go with the vitamin mix A if you're still using chicken and beef in your weekly rotation. If you compare nutritional profiles for pork and turkey, they look pretty similar. Pork has a bit less zinc than turkey (but mix A supplies zinc) and pork has more thiamin (which is a water soluble vitamin, so it's ok to have more of it). I would suggest checking the USDA database for the nutritional profile of the exact type of meat you would use (there's a difference between ground pork vs tenderloin vs pork chop etc) and compare it to turkey to see how much difference there is. Then decide which vitamin mix would be best.

I've actually decided to make my own recipes using the Raw Fed and Nerdy spreadsheet (Raw Fed and Nerdy Formulation Sheet). This way I can make sure that each recipe is balanced and I can add supplements as needed. Also it gives me more flexibility choosing whatever ingredients I have available. They also have a great nutrition course which is free, it helps to understand the nutrients and how they interact better: The Raw Fed & Nerdy Full Course

 

[my_money_pit]

That's a great system you have going! Thank you for sharing

Regarding pork and which vitamin mix to use - it sounds like you're planning to use pork instead of turkey meat that she suggests for the rotation? If that's the case then my guess would be to go with the vitamin mix A if you're still using chicken and beef in your weekly rotation. If you compare nutritional profiles for pork and turkey, they look pretty similar. Pork has a bit less zinc than turkey (but mix A supplies zinc) and pork has more thiamin (which is a water soluble vitamin, so it's ok to have more of it). I would suggest checking the USDA database for the nutritional profile of the exact type of meat you would use (there's a difference between ground pork vs tenderloin vs pork chop etc) and compare it to turkey to see how much difference there is. Then decide which vitamin mix would be best.

I've actually decided to make my own recipes using the Raw Fed and Nerdy spreadsheet (Raw Fed and Nerdy Formulation Sheet). This way I can make sure that each recipe is balanced and I can add supplements as needed. Also it gives me more flexibility choosing whatever ingredients I have available. They also have a great nutrition course which is free, it helps to understand the nutrients and how they interact better: The Raw Fed & Nerdy Full Course

yes, I am using pork instead of turkey to cut cost. Turkey is way too expensive plus it doesn't come boneless which will give me more work. I am buying beef and chicken at around 16$/kg but pork is sold at 7$/kg.
Someone else suggested the spreadsheet but I wasn't wiling to buy it yet since I don't have much time to check it. Also, I prefer to keep him on the recipes used in the book to avoid having to figure out stuff. It took me a while to have a system in place and I don't want to put more effort towards this. I am already piling up tons of dishes everyday from freshly cooking the food. Plus all those tupperware I have to wash :S

thank you for your input!