I'd love some feedback on my proposed frankenprey menu. My thoughts are, I'd like to feed twice / day and have 6 meals that I rotate through - that way I can feed all in 3 days and have it balanced or else add in some commercial raw meals / mice / grain free canned and still rotate through meals 1 through 6 in order and it will balance. I'm fairly busy, so having 6 set meals to make and freeze seems a lot more doable than a weekly menu - I'll vary protein sources as much as possible. If I'm home, I'll also feed small snacks for lunch. I'll monitor their weight and adjust portion sizes as necessary.
I'm feeding 4 cats - Aries and Orion are large (around 11 lbs), muscular, active (and not overweight) boys - I'm starting with feeding them ~ 5 ounces / day. Gia is much smaller but active, so I'll start her around 3.5 ounces / day. Karina is small and not nearly as active so she'll start at 3 ounces / day. I'll give them some treats for lunch as I can as this seems a bit light (and monitor weight and adust as necessary).
5 + 5 + 3.5 + 3 ounces = 16.5 ounces x ~30 grams = 495 grams per day. I'll round to 500 for ease of calculations! 500 grams of food a day is 1500 per 3 days. So ~ 75 grams liver, 75 grams kidney / other organ, 100 - 150 grams bone (or add 1/2 tsp bone meal / egg shell per 1 lbs meat for those who don't eat bone in foods), and 1,230 muscle meat. I'll need to adjust bone in meals as necessary, depending on bone vs meat content and seeing what percentage of bone they do best on. Right now they are about 7-8% and it seems to be working.
1,500 grams over 6 meals = 250 grams per meal (split appropriately between the 4 cats, I'll package and freeze together for ease of thawing etc).
Meal 1:
250 grams muscle meat - chickenbreast, thigh, any part of cornish hen, duck, goose etc. . (as much variety as possible))
Meal 2:
250 gram of bone in meal (depending on % bone). Chicken necks, chicken wings, cornish hen wing, neck, ribs, pork ribletts, etc. If I can't switch Karina to bone in meals, she'll get 1/2 tsp calcium supplement per 1 lb meat.
Meal 3:
~ 10 grams heart each (roughly 1 chicken heart) plus 210 grams red meat (beef, beef tongue, bison, pork, venison, elk, wild boar, lamb - whatever I have on hand).
Meal 4:
75 grams liver (chicken, beef, etc) plus 175 gram of muscle meat - chicken / feathered meats etc.
Meal 5:
1 chicken gizzard each (~ 15 grams each) plus 190 muscle meat (beef, beef tongue, bison, pork, venison, elk, wild boar, lamb - whatever I have on hand).
Meal 6:
75 grams other secreting organ (from various animals) plus 175 gram assorted muscle meat (whatever I have on hand for this one)
Treats will include sardines or small fish weekly and if I feed commercial raw I'll mix an egg yolk in every couple weeks. I'm also looking to order probiotics. I've left it kind of split between feathered and non-feathered protein sources, I'm trying for around 50/50 and within those groups I'll get as much variety as possible. For the liver, kidney and heart I'll also switch between chicken and other animals. Some meals will be whole mice or small rats, commercial raw or possibly grain free canned.
I'd love any thoughts or feedback!
I'm feeding 4 cats - Aries and Orion are large (around 11 lbs), muscular, active (and not overweight) boys - I'm starting with feeding them ~ 5 ounces / day. Gia is much smaller but active, so I'll start her around 3.5 ounces / day. Karina is small and not nearly as active so she'll start at 3 ounces / day. I'll give them some treats for lunch as I can as this seems a bit light (and monitor weight and adust as necessary).
5 + 5 + 3.5 + 3 ounces = 16.5 ounces x ~30 grams = 495 grams per day. I'll round to 500 for ease of calculations! 500 grams of food a day is 1500 per 3 days. So ~ 75 grams liver, 75 grams kidney / other organ, 100 - 150 grams bone (or add 1/2 tsp bone meal / egg shell per 1 lbs meat for those who don't eat bone in foods), and 1,230 muscle meat. I'll need to adjust bone in meals as necessary, depending on bone vs meat content and seeing what percentage of bone they do best on. Right now they are about 7-8% and it seems to be working.
1,500 grams over 6 meals = 250 grams per meal (split appropriately between the 4 cats, I'll package and freeze together for ease of thawing etc).
Meal 1:
250 grams muscle meat - chickenbreast, thigh, any part of cornish hen, duck, goose etc. . (as much variety as possible))
Meal 2:
250 gram of bone in meal (depending on % bone). Chicken necks, chicken wings, cornish hen wing, neck, ribs, pork ribletts, etc. If I can't switch Karina to bone in meals, she'll get 1/2 tsp calcium supplement per 1 lb meat.
Meal 3:
~ 10 grams heart each (roughly 1 chicken heart) plus 210 grams red meat (beef, beef tongue, bison, pork, venison, elk, wild boar, lamb - whatever I have on hand).
Meal 4:
75 grams liver (chicken, beef, etc) plus 175 gram of muscle meat - chicken / feathered meats etc.
Meal 5:
1 chicken gizzard each (~ 15 grams each) plus 190 muscle meat (beef, beef tongue, bison, pork, venison, elk, wild boar, lamb - whatever I have on hand).
Meal 6:
75 grams other secreting organ (from various animals) plus 175 gram assorted muscle meat (whatever I have on hand for this one)
Treats will include sardines or small fish weekly and if I feed commercial raw I'll mix an egg yolk in every couple weeks. I'm also looking to order probiotics. I've left it kind of split between feathered and non-feathered protein sources, I'm trying for around 50/50 and within those groups I'll get as much variety as possible. For the liver, kidney and heart I'll also switch between chicken and other animals. Some meals will be whole mice or small rats, commercial raw or possibly grain free canned.
I'd love any thoughts or feedback!