Need Help Creating The Most Healthful Diet With Limited Resources

[belochka]

I've been reading and reading all the links available on the forum regarding diets and nutrition, and to be honest, lots of info to digest and process. As I read, this is what I understand so far - I am going to put it succinctly in bullet type of form:
1. Raw is better than cooked, but even cooked homemade is better than store bought, and anything is better than dry;
2. On a raw diet and/or homemade diet it is essential to use a proper vit.-mineral mix in homemade recipes.
3. It is also important to balance calhos ratio in recipes and for that many people use eggshells (and Alnutrin, or an equivalent).

Please, cat experts, grade my quiz answers above. And please add whatever else I missed. I want to understand all this thoroughly.

II. My next questions are directly related to the kitten my relatives got a few weeks ago. I mentioned about it in my other threads, so if you saw my other threads, this will be a bit of a repeat.

So, the kitten is on all wet diet, no dry kibble. Occasionally, she gets cooked chicken and fish off her humans' table.
They want what's best for her. And would be happy to go on a raw diet and such, but the problem is - the region where they live right now does not have a steady and reliable access to the cat-targeted nutritional resources available in North America (and even Western Europe). E.g., they have no way of getting a complete vit-min mix, or Alnutrin, or any of that. It is possible to get it once in a while, but if the kitten is to be put on a homemade/raw/whatever diet, "once in a while" isn't going to be good enough, because her diet will have to be consistently nutritionally complete.
That means that they cannot put her on all homemade and/or raw diet, right?
Which, in turn, means they will need to rely on wet food as her staple. Correct?
But they would like to supplement her wet food with as much of homemade natural stuff as possible. So, what's the best way to achieve that?
1) Is it possible to combine wet food with some raw and some cooked, or will it upset her stomach?
2) What kind, how much, how often etc. of the homemade cooked (or raw?) food should she get in combination with the wet food as her main source of menu/diet?
3) What ratio between the wet store-bought food and the homemade?
4) Should they still add eggs and eggshells to the homemade recipes?
5) Should eggshells be cooked or raw?

Having read some links up to this point, I get a feeling that if on raw, it's best to be 100% or otherwise the alternation of raw and cooked/store bought may upset her stomach?

Although they do not have access to cat-specific vit-min and other necessary supplements, they can definitely get any common types of animal protein: chicken, beef, fish, organ meats and so on and so forth. So, they just need to know how to best incorporate that into her diet.
I looked at some of the recipes available here on the forum, but all of them are using some kind of supplements, so wasn't sure if I could use these recipes without the supplements since, as I mentioned above, they don't have access to supplements. They could use eggshells, though.

My last questions:

1. I've heard about hairballs. Some say, it's common to cats, others - that it is not normal.
How to prevent hairballs?
2. What types of homemade treats can they give her?

I know that's a lot of questions, but that's because the subject of cat nutrition is so important that I tried to be as detailed in my questions as possible. I do not want to assume anything (what I understood and what I may have misunderstood or missed from what I've read so far), and would rather check it by the experts.

(Text colour is to make it easier to read my long post by visually blocking it into question-specific sections)

 

[Ardina]

I don't think I can answer all your questions, but I'll give you my take on the ones I know something about.

1. Raw is better than cooked, but even cooked homemade is better than store bought, and anything is better than dry;
2. On a raw diet and/or homemade diet it is essential to use a proper vit.-mineral mix in homemade recipes.
3. It is also important to balance calhos ratio in recipes and for that many people use eggshells (and Alnutrin, or an equivalent).

Your three summary statements sound right to me, though some people will disagree. In the end, what's best for your cats is what they will eat without causing any issues like stomach upsets or allergies.
1. I personally feel that raw food is best - I slowly transitioned my dry kibble addict to wet food and then eventually to raw food and she's doing great on it.
2. If you do a raw or homemade cooked diet, you absolutely must follow a recipe and supplement appropriately to make sure it's a complete diet. One of the biggest issues with homemade diets arises when the meat/bone/organ ratio is off or the correct supplements are not added.
3. Yes, you should balance the calcium/phosphorus ratio. One way to do that is to follow the rule of thumb in which your recipe should have 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ (of which 5% should be liver and 5% non-liver secreting organ). Since bone is made up of calcium and phosphorus, and muscle meat is a good source of phosphorus, the 10% bone to 80% meat gets you in the right calcium/phosphorus range.

So, the kitten is on all wet diet, no dry kibble. Occasionally, she gets cooked chicken and fish off her humans' table.
They want what's best for her. And would be happy to go on a raw diet and such, but the problem is - the region where they live right now does not have a steady and reliable access to the cat-targeted nutritional resources available in North America (and even Western Europe). E.g., they have no way of getting a complete vit-min mix, or Alnutrin, or any of that. It is possible to get it once in a while, but if the kitten is to be put on a homemade/raw/whatever diet, "once in a while" isn't going to be good enough, because her diet will have to be consistently nutritionally complete.
That means that they cannot put her on all homemade and/or raw diet, right?
Which, in turn, means they will need to rely on wet food as her staple. Correct?

The premade vitamin/mineral mixes like Alnutrin are convenient for when you're first starting out making homemade food, but they're quite expensive. It's not too difficult to make your own supplement mixes and can be quite a bit cheaper. For example, I transitioned off the Alnutrin to using this recipe: Easy Raw Diet Feeding for the Busy Person - Feline Nutrition (recipe for preground meat is halfway down the page). As long as your relatives have access to a health store that sells vitamins and taurine powder, they could feed homemade raw.

But they would like to supplement her wet food with as much of homemade natural stuff as possible. So, what's the best way to achieve that?
1) Is it possible to combine wet food with some raw and some cooked, or will it upset her stomach?
2) What kind, how much, how often etc. of the homemade cooked (or raw?) food should she get in combination with the wet food as her main source of menu/diet?
3) What ratio between the wet store-bought food and the homemade?
4) Should they still add eggs and eggshells to the homemade recipes?
5) Should eggshells be cooked or raw?

1. I fed my cat some commercial raw food along with her normal canned food when I was transitioning her, and it didn't cause any stomach upset. However, I can't say for certain that your relatives' cat would be the same. Some cats have more sensitive stomachs than others.
2/3. If you cannot get the supplements and make a complete, balanced diet with the raw/homemade, I would limit the supplemental meat to 10% of her diet.
4. If you're limiting the meat to 10% of her diet, you should not need to add calcium in the form of eggshells. Egg yolk similarly can be given as a treat, but as a part of the 10%. I would avoid feeding raw egg whites since they contain avidin, a protein that binds to biotin (Vitamin B7).
5. I use ground up bone as my calcium source, so I am unfamiliar with using eggshells and am not sure whether you would cook them or not.

1. I've heard about hairballs. Some say, it's common to cats, others - that it is not normal.
How to prevent hairballs?
2. What types of homemade treats can they give her?

1. I can't help you much on the hairballs, as my cats almost never have them. I do brush them often though, so perhaps that helps in preventing excess fur ingestion.
2. Any sort of meat scraps is a good treat.

Since you've read a lot of the info on TCS, I won't put in the links to the articles and resources on here. Other sites that I have found helpful include catinfo.org, catcentric.org, and feline-nutrition.org. Hope this helps!

 

[lalagimp]

I don't buy Alnutrin. We have bones ground into the meat and then use vitamins B and E, taurine, lite salt, fish oil.
Catinfo.org

 

[sarah430]

I am still early in the transition to 100% raw feeding journey. Currently my kitties get about 2/3 commercial wet canned food and 1/3 commercial raw. I've also experimented with giving them raw chicken wing tips as treats. As mentioned above, different cats can respond differently. However, my cats haven't had any stomach upset or diarrhea eating both raw and wet. At this point one of my kitties prefers the raw and the other still prefers the wet, although they both eat both types. So I expect I'll feed both types for quite a while.

 

[maureen brad]

You do not have to use a pre-mix. www.catinfo.org and www.feline-nutrition have recipes you can use. You can certainly feed canned wet food and raw food. Some portion of the food you feed weekly can be fed without supplements. I can't remember if it is 10 or 15% , I am sure someone here can tell you. I know it is no more than 15%. You do the best you can. Just the fact that the kitten will not be fed kibble means she will be much healthier.

 

[silverpersian]

Ditto. I feed homemade raw and use only human-grade fish oil, vitamin E, B-complex, manganese, and taurine. The only cat-specific supplement is a seaweed for plaque control. That can be replaced with lite salt, which is not cat-specific.

I don't buy Alnutrin. We have bones ground into the meat and then use vitamins B and E, taurine, lite salt, fish oil.
Catinfo.org

 

[silverpersian]

Hair value are not normal. My experience is that an appropriate diet of wet food completely prevents them.

My first cat was a Persian who coughed up hairballs at least once a day. Everyone told me it is normal. I fed him dry food, because I didn't know any better. It was vet-recommended, breed-specific dried food supposedly designed to prevent hairballs. I also fed him hairball prevention treats. No luck. The daily hairballs continued.

I now have a second Persian who does not like to be brushed, so I get to brush only the area around his head. He is even furrier than the first one. I feed him homemade raw, with no hairball prevention treats. He is four years old and has never had a single hairball.

I do add cooked pumpkin to his food. I know that helps with bowel regularity, so it may have a role in preventing hairballs.

The homemade treats I feed are canned fish (sardines) and dehydrated poultry or fish (can be made in an oven). Your relatives may be able to make dehydrated lamb lung as well. I can buy that, so I don't make it at home.

 

[silverpersian]

My cat started out raw kibble. I transitioned him to canned commercial food within days of bringing him home. We had no trouble. Then I transitioned him over a couple of weeks to homemade raw. Again, no trouble. After the full transition, I occasionally tried to feed a meal of commercial canned food, because I thought I might be unable to make homemade food at some point and wanted him to accept the canned if needed. He scarfed it down whenever I fed it to him, even though he is a somewhat picky eater with the homemade food.i tried about ten different grain-free, high-quality brands and flavored. He got diarrhea every single time he ate canned food. That experiment has ended, and we have long been on 100% homemade raw, because neither of us enjoyed the daily baths that I had to give HKN because of the diarrhea.

I transitioned my adopted cat from 100% canned food to 100% homemade raw. She had no digestive problems at any stage of the transition. I tried a couple of meals of canned after the full transition. No problems.

I think that the ratio of canned to homemade raw depends on what a specific cat can tolerate, and what the humans are able to manage in terms of preparing homemade food. To me, 100% homemade is ideal, because I know exactly what's in it and how it was made.

I use the catinfo.org recipe, but add 5 mg of manganese to each 3 lb batch. The recipe includes two eggs. I use two whole raw eggs.

You need eggshell if the meat has no bones. It doesn't matter if the eggshell is cooked or raw, but measuring and using them is most convenient if you wash the eggshells with hot water so they are completely clean of egg residue, then dry them (I do that in the oven), then grind them into a fine powder. The amounts are proscribed and proportional to the amount of meat and organ, respectively, as described in the catinfo recipe.

 

[belochka]

Ditto. I feed homemade raw and use only human-grade fish oil, vitamin E, B-complex, manganese, and taurine. The only cat-specific supplement is a seaweed for plaque control. That can be replaced with lite salt, which is not cat-specific.

Thank you very much. When you say seaweed for plaque control, do you mean that it is sold as such (as in, it says on the box/container that it is a seaweed supplement for plaque control)? What brand? Where do you buy it? Is it available online?
And do you find it effective for plaque control? Does it actually help?

 

[belochka]

Thank you all so much, guys!
Now I have a clearer understanding of what we could do.
Reading articles and info is very, very helpful and essential, but hearing people share their experiences makes it more real and specific - how people adapt and/or adjust the info one reads to real life.