Help with Home Cooked Rabbit Recipe

lanerich

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Hi all, my cat was recently diagnosed with IBD and the specialist wants him to eat only rabbit at the start of his treatment. I'm assuming this will be a short term elimination type test but I will clarify that soon. His previous diet was mostly poultry and seafood. The vet recommended rx Rayne Rabbit Maint canned food which I bought, but I want to mix in home cooked rabbit because the Rx food seems very high in carbs. I want to do boneless rabbit meat because of his IBD and I picked the Balance IT Carnivore supplement since it doesn't have any other liver proteins. Ideally I will transition to feeding only homecooked and add in a couple more proteins after some time and try out the EZComplete mix. Possibly raw in the future once we get more comfortable with a routine. I also have a healthy cat that is sharing the meals.

I found the following recipe on Balance IT. Can someone help me understand how this could possibly have 59% moisture and why it doesn't call for adding any water? If I roast the rabbit it is going to be pretty dry right? And then it only shows adding in a pretty small amount of oil and no additional water. Does the oil function as a moisture source?

I did a dry run of this recipe yesterday where I slow cooked the rabbit in 1 cup of water and put it in the food processor to make a pate. I ended up adding all of the cooking liquid to get a pate consistency. Without the water it was dry and crumbly. I didn't want to add the oil because I'm mixing it with the rx canned food that already has a lot of fat and carbs. Did I mess up the balance of the recipe by using 1 cup water instead of 4.5 tsp of oil? I did use the full 30g of supplement. I would think the water is just thinning it out as a whole vs unbalancing it but want to be sure.
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tarasgirl06

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Hi all, my cat was recently diagnosed with IBD and the specialist wants him to eat only rabbit at the start of his treatment. I'm assuming this will be a short term elimination type test but I will clarify that soon. His previous diet was mostly poultry and seafood. The vet recommended rx Rayne Rabbit Maint canned food which I bought, but I want to mix in home cooked rabbit because the Rx food seems very high in carbs. I want to do boneless rabbit meat because of his IBD and I picked the Balance IT Carnivore supplement since it doesn't have any other liver proteins. Ideally I will transition to feeding only homecooked and add in a couple more proteins after some time and try out the EZComplete mix. Possibly raw in the future once we get more comfortable with a routine. I also have a healthy cat that is sharing the meals.

I found the following recipe on Balance IT. Can someone help me understand how this could possibly have 59% moisture and why it doesn't call for adding any water? If I roast the rabbit it is going to be pretty dry right? And then it only shows adding in a pretty small amount of oil and no additional water. Does the oil function as a moisture source?

I did a dry run of this recipe yesterday where I slow cooked the rabbit in 1 cup of water and put it in the food processor to make a pate. I ended up adding all of the cooking liquid to get a pate consistency. Without the water it was dry and crumbly. I didn't want to add the oil because I'm mixing it with the rx canned food that already has a lot of fat and carbs. Did I mess up the balance of the recipe by using 1 cup water instead of 4.5 tsp of oil? I did use the full 30g of supplement. I would think the water is just thinning it out as a whole vs unbalancing it but want to be sure.
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Hello lanerich lanerich and fur family! Although I don't serve this, I do know who might be of help. daftcat75 here at TCS. You might want to ask him.
 

daftcat75

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I haven't tried that kit or recipe. But I am relieved that you are following a recipe. A lot of frustrated parents just feed meat and call it a day. Nutrient deficiency--especially calcium deficiency caused by a meat-only diet--is a horrible way to go.

You can water it up or down as you please to achieve the right consistency. His kidneys and colon know what to do with excess water. The oil, on the other hand, should probably not be skipped. A lot of supplements are fat soluble. Rabbit is a lean meat. If the recipe calls for added oil, you should probably add that oil. That said, I have never had to add oil to another kit like Alnutrin or EZ Complete or even when I was following a recipe with my own supplements. I would rather you fattened up a recipe with animal fat like organ meats than vegetable oil. If you can source rabbit liver, maybe you could use Alnutrin in place of this BalanceIT. Otherwise, that Balance IT probably has customer support you could ask about the oil requirement.

EZ Complete probably won't work out for you. EZ contains chicken liver. It also contains pork pancreas and green lipped mussels. Any of these can be difficult for some cats. But all of them can be difficult for IBD kitties. I would recommend Alnutrin with eggshell calcium instead.

A Guide To A Balanced, Homemade Cat Food - Alnutrin Supplements

They have a samples program so you can mix up a batch or two before buying a whole bag of the powder.

Know What You Feed Your Cat - Alnutrin Supplements - Free Samples
 

daftcat75

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If you can't source fresh rabbit liver, perhaps you can buy it frozen in bulk from a place like Hare Today. Otherwise, I recommend looking for freeze-dried liver. You can use freeze-dried liver powder (often found in dog training section) in place of fresh at about 1/3 the called for weight.
 

tarasgirl06

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If you can't source fresh rabbit liver, perhaps you can buy it frozen in bulk from a place like Hare Today. Otherwise, I recommend looking for freeze-dried liver. You can use freeze-dried liver powder (often found in dog training section) in place of fresh at about 1/3 the called for weight.
Thanks so much for helping lanerich lanerich and beloved feline!:thanks:
 
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lanerich

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Thank you so much daftcat75 daftcat75 ! I picked the Balance IT supplement to avoid chicken liver and I figured I wouldn't find rabbit liver easily. Thanks for the tip on the dog section. I used the boneless rabbit cubes in my first attempt from Hare Today and they were somewhat fatty. But it makes sense to include the fat source once I am feeding this by itself. I guess I was just thrown off that they don't talk about adding water at all whereas other recipes mention including all the cooking liquid. Next time I will make the recipe exactly as indicated and add in some water afterwards if it seems too dry.
 
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