help FINALIZING MY homecooked RECIPE

[Mrcclms]

Hi guys,

Short story:
- my cat doesn't tolerate raw (he vomits)
- he has diarrhea on commercial wet only (but he loves it)
- he doesn't like much boiled chicken/turkey (but he has perfect stool)

The perfect compromise has been:

- Boiled turkey mixed with Buffalo Basics Turkey Canned (he kind of likes it and stool is great)

BUT 10 days ago I wanted to try chicken instead of turkey and he loved it to the point that now he doesn't like turkey !!

what is the issue ? Chicken (canned and cooked) gives him a softer stool.

FINAL RECIPE:

Thinking of doing:
- Cooked chicken thighs + liver + alnutrin mixed with Turkey canned. This way he has chicken he likes and cooked food that helps his stool.
Question is: what could be some additions to make his stool firmer ? More liver (up to 8-10%) ? More eggshells ? Some bones ?

just trying to finalize the perfect recipe in terms of taste and stool firmness

Thanks ALL

 

[Mrcclms]

Here the current home cooked recipe:

454 gr of chicken/turkey (boneless - skinless)
23 gr of chicken liver
7 gr alnutrin
70 gr pumpkin
Some water

 

[Azazel]

You could add some probiotics.

I wouldn’t add any eggshell or bones as the Alnutrin already has a calcium source and you would throw off the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

 

[Mrcclms]

Ok
What's the highest yet safe % of liver you can feed ?

 

[Azazel]

Does the Alnutrin you’re feeding have liver in it? I would look at the instructions. Usually when we formulate homemade diets the organs don’t make up more than 10% of the total meat content. But, if the Alnutrition already has liver in it you would need to consider that too. I would just follow the Alnutrition instructions exactly.

 

[Mrcclms]

No alnutrin doesn't have it

 

[Azazel]

No alnutrin doesn't have it

But what do the package instructions say about what kind of meat to mix the Alnutrition with and how much?

 

[Mrcclms]

They say 6lb of meat and 3oz of liver

 

[Azazel]

I would just stick with the instructions. The Alnutrition is formulated in a way to give you a complete meal, so if using it I would stick to it exactly.

 

[lisahe]

If you check the Alnutrin site and their supplement packaging, you'll find that Alnutrin lists two figures for liver. Our cats seem to like liver so I use the larger amount. I can check the package later, if you need. (I buy the little packets for one pound of meat.)

 

[daftcat75]

Ok
What's the highest yet safe % of liver you can feed ?

Liver will make the stools softer. Maybe you can mix some turkey meat with the chicken meat when you're making your homemade as the turkey is a leaner meat.

 

[Mrcclms]

Really ? Liver makes the stool softer ? I thought that being full of iron would make it harder

 

[kittyluv387]

Yes organ meat makes softer stools. I believe the liver content doesn't have to be exact. But low end is 5% and higher end seems to be around 7% or a little higher. Do not mess with the calcium.

Well really you can adjust the calcium but you have to be detailed about it. I would buy the eggshell powder separately from alnutrin if you wanted to go that route. And of course do more research on it. I'm not sure how to adjust calcium levels without using real bone.

 

[Azazel]

The point of using Alnutrition is so that you don’t have to follow a recipe or use your own supplements. You just do what the box says - exactly. If you want to make your own recipe and formulate different amounts of organs and eggshell then you need to do research and Alnutrition wouldn’t be used.

 

[kittyluv387]

The point of using Alnutrition is so that you don’t have to follow a recipe or use your own supplements. You just do what the box says - exactly. If you want to make your own recipe and formulate different amounts of organs and eggshell then you need to do research and Alnutrition wouldn’t be used.

Alnutrin does have 2 different amounts listed for the liver to use. I imagine he should use the 5% because of the soft stool. And they do sell alnutrin without any eggshell and also have just regular eggshell separately.

 

[Azazel]

Alnutrin does have 2 different amounts listed for the liver to use. I imagine he should use the 5% because of the soft stool. And they do sell alnutrin without any eggshell and also have just regular eggshell separately.

Not sure what the 2 different liver values are for. The one without the eggshell is for those who are feeding with bone, I believe. If he’s using the one with eggshell he shouldn’t add more calcium. And if there’s no calcium source he can use eggshell instead of bone but he’d need to weigh the eggshell to make sure the calcium to phosphorus ratio is correct.

 

[daftcat75]

Really ? Liver makes the stool softer ? I thought that being full of iron would make it harder

Liver is high in fat. Fat makes the stools soft.

 

[Mrcclms]

He just had his first BM after the new recipe started yesterday and the stool has been great, almost perfect. I'll see what happens next days.

He also loved this new recipe with higher liver and lower pumpkin. Plus I used the water from cooking the chicken instead of drinking water.

Let's see