Question regarding MCHA for home made raw

[HannahMM]

Hi!

I'm about to switch my kittens from a commercial raw to home made raw so I can better control what's in their food. They are not good at chewing bones so I'm looking for bone alternatives and am interested in MCHA.

Based on the recommendations,
1) For MCHA, 3/4 of a capsule balances one ounce of meat. For cats prone to constipation, 1/2 capsule can be used and still meet the Ca minimum; one capsule balances one ounce of organs.
2) You will want to add about 1000 to 1200 mg of calcium per pound of meat.

One capsule contains 250mg calcium so for the first recommendation 8-12 capsules of MCHA are needed for 1 pound of meat. However, for the second recommendation, only 4-4 4/5 capsules are required per pound of meat. The difference is huge. Am I calculating this wrong? I am a bit confused..... Can someone shed some lights please? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey there,
I've never heard of MCHA and am not sure what that is. But I too make my own raw food for my cats and have found Raw Fed & Nerdy to be extremely helpful. They have a page here which calculates how much of every vitamin, mineral, proteins, and fat your cat (or dog) needs per day. NRC Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats | Calculator (rawfedandnerdy.com) Maybe you can check out the results for your cat and see how the calcium requirements compare to what MCHA says? It's based on calories, rather than just the amount of meat being fed since every meat has a different caloric and nutrient profile.

For example, I make a batch of food for my cats every seven days. His upcoming batch of venison, pheasant, turkey, & rabbit comes to a serving size of 1203g of food, or 2.6lbs to meet his caloric need of 1659kcal for 7 days (or 237kcal per day). Based on the NRC requirements, that amount of food needs at least 1194mg of calcium to be balanced with at least 1061mg of phos.

The second reference that you listed for MCHA sounds a bit high for just 1lb of meat. Especially when different meats have different amounts of phos in them. 8-12 capsules of MCHA for one pound of meat is definitely too much, as that's 2000-3000mg of calcium. While 4-4.5 capsules of it might be a bit high for 1lb of meat, it's WAY more accurate than 8-12 capsules.

If you want to get in depth with putting together your cat's food, I highly recommend using their formulation sheet. I've been using it for years and it does all of the math for you. All you do is plug in different meats, organs, egg yolks, bones and/or eggshell, and any vitamin/mineral supplements needed to make up for any deficits that the chosen protien sources lack. The sheet tells you what your cat needs based on their weight and energy level and shows you when you've met all of the nutritional profiles with the recipe that you put together. Raw Fed and Nerdy Formulation Sheet - Raw Fed and Nerdy

 

[Jabzilla]

Also, another very easy calcium source is eggshell powder. I collect the shells from my breakfast each morning, grind them up in a coffee grinder, and use the powder as the calcium source in my cats recipes. And if you already eat eggs yourself or are including egg yolk in your cats food, that's a free calcium source rather than having to buy an additional product.

 

[sophie1]

What's wrong with buying meat/bone/organ grinds? The bone is all ground up so there shouldn't be a problem. You do have to supplement with Alnutrin and fish oil, or use your own supplement mix (follow the recipe on catinfo.org). Where are you getting your meat from? If online, then it's easy to make the switch.

MCHA is powdered bone - you can certainly use that, but it's pricey and I'm not sure why you're heading straight to that. Don't forget to include organs with the meat and bone powder by the way.

 

[Jabzilla]

You could also use EZ Complete on ground or chunked meat. It uses eggshell as its calcium source and balances the food with the rest of its ingredients and vitamins/minerals. EZComplete Premix Information (foodfurlife.com) I don't use it myself since my cats cant have chicken and I like being in control of exactly how much of every piece of nutrition they get via the RFaN formulation sheet. I know the sheet can be overwhelming though and EZ Complete is an easy/fast option.