Home made food - product with accurate calories?

[terestrife]

Are there any powders that I can buy with an accurate nutrition label? https://www.knowbetterpetfood.com

I use that product and was feeding the recommended amount and my cat got to 15 lbs. I took away a little but of food and she lost some weight. But i need a product that is actually accurate. I even weighed out the food like it was recommended to me in this forum, and the final amount was more than i was giving her.

I need a product that is accurate in calories and if possible helpful for a cat that has early issues with her kidney. Can someone please help me? I need to figure out what to do about my cats diet.

Edit: i wanted to state that their company emailed me a recipe to make her food more kidney friendly. But i am still struggling to figure out the calories.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi

wanted to state that their company emailed me a recipe to make her food more kidney friendly.

Did you have a chance to talk to them about calorie calculations?

 

[Box of Rain]

With the aid of the USDA Food Central Database and a little math, one can pretty well ballpark not only calorie content in food items, but also calculate vitamins, minerals, fat, protein, carbohydrates, and other nutrients in common foods.

FoodData Central

Do note that many items require that one pick the SR Legacy Food category to see the relevant natural foods (such as chicken, turkey, beef, or pork parts) that people making homemade and/or raw meals most commonly use.

Personally, I feed PMR style "by eye" (but regularly check my eye using a kitchen scale to make sure I'm on point) and adjust meals according to condition. Meaning, if the weight is creeping up slightly above what I consider optimal, I slightly trim back, while doing the reverse if weight seems to be falling.

Running all the numbers and figuring the calories per unit of weight would be more scientific. I'm comfortable with "eyeballing" and making mild adjustments based on condition myself.

For those who want to figure calories the USDA Food Central Database is a great tool once one learns to navigate it.

Bill

 

[terestrife]

Hi


Did you have a chance to talk to them about calorie calculations?

I asked and she said she didnt know.

With the aid of the USDA Food Central Database and a little math, one can pretty well ballpark not only calorie content in food items, but also calculate vitamins, minerals, fat, protein, carbohydrates, and other nutrients in common foods.

FoodData Central

Do note that many items require that one pick the SR Legacy Food category to see the relevant natural foods (such as chicken, turkey, beef, or pork parts) that people making homemade and/or raw meals most commonly use.

Personally, I feed PMR style "by eye" (but regularly check my eye using a kitchen scale to make sure I'm on point) and adjust meals according to condition. Meaning, if the weight is creeping up slightly above what I consider optimal, I slightly trim back, while doing the reverse if weight seems to be falling.

Running all the numbers and figuring the calories per unit of weight would be more scientific. I'm comfortable with "eyeballing" and making mild adjustments based on condition myself.

For those who want to figure calories the USDA Food Central Database is a great tool once one learns to navigate it.

Bill

I would have to ask then how many calories the powder has by itself. the nutrition label includes the meat you add. So it makes calorie counting harder. I slightly lessened their food and my big cat has lost some weight, but now my thin cat is the one that is hungry all the time. Normally she leaves food, now that i slightly cut back, she wants more food again.

I just got anxious because i dont want my big cat to lose too much weight too fast.

Thank you for the link. I will try to see if i can do the math. I dont need anything precise to the last calories, but to at least know they are getting enough calories.

Edit: ive spoken to the lady from this company many times and she just advises feeding slightly less to help my cat lose weight. I dont know if i should try the recipe she mentioned. Let me reach out to know if she atleast knows the calories per cup of the powder itself.

 

[Furballsmom]

It sounds like you need to feed them separately, or in different rooms so that you only have the heavier cat to be most concerned with and can give the thinner cat what it needs.

You might double check adult cat body condition charts to make sure your cat actually dies need to lose weight

 

[terestrife]

It sounds like you need to feed them separately, or in different rooms so that you only have the heavier cat to be most concerned with and can give the thinner cat what it needs.

You might double check adult cat body condition charts to make sure your cat actually dies need to lose weight

my vet was the one that suggested weightloss for her. Im not worried about the big cat stealing food from the thin one. I have them on microchip feeders. Its just that my thin one kept leaving food to spoil so i decreased her meals ttoo. Now she wants more food. lol

 

[Furballsmom]

Right or wrong, vets are sometimes overly paranoid about cats becoming obese, so I usually take that advice with a dose of salt.

I misunderstood I'm sorry, it sounded like you were feeding them together from "open" bowls.

Its just that my thin one kept leaving food to spoil so i decreased her meals too. Now she wants more food

Lol, --cats!

 

[terestrife]

I emailed my vet about the recipe given to me, just worried because the company couldnt provide any nutritional info. i asked and they said they didnt have any analysis for the recipe they gave me.

not sure if i should try this or not.

Our premixes are suitable for cats with kidney disease – but there is an alternate recipe to help.

We do this by adding pure canned pumpkin or steamed squash to lower the protein and phosphorus levels in the diet, without losing the quality of the protein.


Here is the alternative recipe:

2lbs of meat of your choice

1 ½ cups water

½ cup premix

1lb. pure canned pumpkin or pureed steamed squash

½ cup of unsalted butter (this provides highly digestible animal fat, vitamins and calories)



Because your cat is just in the beginning stages, I would cut the amount of pumpkin and butter in half and see how he/she does. This recipe is intended for cats with full blown kidney disease.



Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Furballsmom]

they said they didnt have any analysis for the recipe they gave me.

They're definitely behind the times, more and more cat food manufacturers are becoming more and more transparent. (Unfortunately not Royal Canin, grrrr, but that's for another thread).

This recipe is intended for cats with full blown kidney disease.

Interesting way of putting that. Do they mean diagnosed, or which stage/any stage or .. ..

 

[terestrife]

Right or wrong, vets are sometimes overly paranoid about cats becoming obese, so I usually take that advice with a dose of salt.

I misunderstood I'm sorry, it sounded like you were feeding them together from "open" bowls.

Lol, --cats!

That's what I used to think, I just thought since Kitty was a tall cat that she was just meant to be bigger anyway. But then when she got to 15 lbs, her snoring got louder. She has always snored, but not that loudly. That's when I decided to try to help her lose weight. She's sleeping less and seems to have more energy now.

Interesting way of putting that. Do they mean diagnosed, or which stage/any stage or .. ..

She didn't say. As we speak I am trying to do the math of the recipe she gave me. Not sure if I will be successful, but I will be checking in with the results if I can figure something out.

i emailed my vet about the recipe and this is all they said:

How is Kitty doing? As Dr. Sanchez mentioned, Kitty’s phosphorus levels were perfectly normal and he is not overly concerned with switching her diet at the moment. You can surely switch it for Kitty if you feel more comfortable lowering the protein and phosphorus already. Because Elsa has not shown any signs of kidney insufficiency, we do not think it is necessary to switch her diet.

i responded that i want to be proactive and change her diet early to ease the pressure on her kidneys.

I am trying to find a way to calculate this without making myself go insane. Math is not my strong suit. Is there any website I can use to make this easier?

This is the recipe that i use now. I just need to know how much food my 13 lb cat needs so i dont under/over feed her/

Know Better For Cats - Chicken Recipe - For Making Healthy Homemade Cat Food
I use 5 lbs of each of these chicken thighs. One product has the skin and the other doesnt.

The packaging seems to have the total calories per 1/2 cup of the powder 1152


Here is the alternative recipe:

2lbs of meat of your choice

1 ½ cups water

½ cup premix

1lb. pure canned pumpkin or pureed steamed squash

½ cup of unsalted butter (this provides highly digestible animal fat, vitamins and calories)


Because your cat is just in the beginning stages, I would cut the amount of pumpkin and butter in half and see how he/she does. This recipe is intended for cats with full blown kidney disease.

I can buy these two products for the alternate recipe.

I'm thinking of putting all of this onto excel and figuring things out. just wanted to know if anyone had an easier way to figure this out?

Just trying to figure out the nutritional info with bother versions of the recipe.

 

[Furballsmom]

She's sleeping less and seems to have more energy now.

You ROCK!

 

[terestrife]

	Powder	meat	meat	water	Calculation
Calories	1152​	5000​	3200​	7.5 cups	9352 /30	311.73 calories
Original weight	65 grams	20 oz	20 oz	60 fl oz	N/A
Grams conversion	65 grams	566.99 gram	566.99 gram	1700.97 grams	2899.95/30	96.665 grams

Kitty 13 lbs

Around 318 calories​

Anyone here good at math? These are the calculations I came out with. Mind you, I am not great at math. It's different from what is on the product.

They recommend feeding 1/2 cup ( I weighed it and it's 150 grams)

Their website claims that theres 138 calories per 120 g. Which cant be accurate. My cat was gaining weight on 1/2 cup of food. I had to remove a few teaspoons to start her weightloss.

If i can figure this out, i can figure out the calculations for adding the butter/pumpkin.