I've looked all through these threads, and it's overwhelming how many posts are here for feeding cooked, homemade recipes! Our cat, Cocoa, has started throwing up after his meals. (We have 2 cats, they share a can of cat food, three times a day.) For a while he would throw up once or twice a month, then more recently he's starting to throw up after every meal. I tried feeding them raw years ago, but he always threw that up, so we went with canned. I still give his brother, Oreo, a bit of raw chicken now and then as a treat. Yesterday I decided to try feeding Cocoa cooked chicken, so I just boiled a chicken breast. He loved it! And he didn't throw it up. I gave that to him for his afternoon meal, but since I know it's not complete, I tried giving him his 1/2 can of food for his before bed meal. And within 5 minutes, he threw up everything he'd eaten. This morning I gave him just the cooked chicken, and so far that has stayed down. So all this to say, I have two questions.
1. How long can he eat just plain cooked chicken breast, without worrying about losing important nutrients? Since his tummy seems to be so unsettled, I just want him to eat something, and the cooked chicken seems to stay down. He's losing weight, so I just want him to eat. (He's around 8.6 pounds, I think he should be around 10 pounds.) Also, he seems very happy and active, running around and playing just as normal. He seems completely fine, other than the vomiting. (I think they are 7 or 8 years old.)
2. Once I'm sure he will be able to keep down the cooked chicken, what is the easiest, most economical recipe I can try to give him a complete balanced meal? I've seen posts about Alnutrin and EZ Complete, as well as Balance IT. Cocoa is a very picky eater, and I hesitate to purchase supplements only to have him refuse to eat. When we were starting on canned it took a while to find what he'd eat - he would rather not eat anything than eat something he didn't find perfect for his palate. Crazy cat - his brother will eat anything... But we settled on Frisky's canned. Not the best, but he'll eat it, and it's cheap, so my husband likes that.
Regarding expense - my husband is hesitant to try anything new, because he's sure this will cost way too much. I told him I think we can get the cost for around what we're feeding them canned - we spend about $50 a month on canned food between the two of them. For now I will continue giving Oreo the canned food, and just make food for Cocoa. I'm hoping to do this for less than $30/month for one cat. Is that possible?
Thank you for any insight you may have.
1. How long can he eat just plain cooked chicken breast, without worrying about losing important nutrients? Since his tummy seems to be so unsettled, I just want him to eat something, and the cooked chicken seems to stay down. He's losing weight, so I just want him to eat. (He's around 8.6 pounds, I think he should be around 10 pounds.) Also, he seems very happy and active, running around and playing just as normal. He seems completely fine, other than the vomiting. (I think they are 7 or 8 years old.)
2. Once I'm sure he will be able to keep down the cooked chicken, what is the easiest, most economical recipe I can try to give him a complete balanced meal? I've seen posts about Alnutrin and EZ Complete, as well as Balance IT. Cocoa is a very picky eater, and I hesitate to purchase supplements only to have him refuse to eat. When we were starting on canned it took a while to find what he'd eat - he would rather not eat anything than eat something he didn't find perfect for his palate. Crazy cat - his brother will eat anything... But we settled on Frisky's canned. Not the best, but he'll eat it, and it's cheap, so my husband likes that.
Regarding expense - my husband is hesitant to try anything new, because he's sure this will cost way too much. I told him I think we can get the cost for around what we're feeding them canned - we spend about $50 a month on canned food between the two of them. For now I will continue giving Oreo the canned food, and just make food for Cocoa. I'm hoping to do this for less than $30/month for one cat. Is that possible?
Thank you for any insight you may have.