raw vs cooked weight difference?!

da hoomin

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 I'm confused about how to weigh meat! I cooked 3#'s of chicken and now I have 1.5#'s? I don't understand! LOL Plus, it doesn't make sense to use a 3# portion of Alnutrin for 1.5#'s of food . . . Help?

and - 

"cats need 2-4% of their bodyweight in food so a 4kg cat would need anything from 80-160g food per day, depending on their activity levels."

Am I still going by raw weight - or cooked? They're 6k + 7k.
 
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Columbine

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Basically, all meat loses water during the cooking process - how much water depends on the exact cooking method. That is why you're seeing a weight difference between the raw and the cooked chicken. I'm not familiar with Alnutrin myself, so I can't tell you whether you should be basing your portion on the cooked or raw weight of the meat. Hopefully mschauer mschauer can help you there. Our [thread="263751"]​[/thread] might give you that information too.

In terms of the amount of food needed per day, you should always be going off the food as fed. In this case, that would be the cooked weight. You may find it easier to work in calories per lb of bodyweight though, as different recipes can have wildly differing caloric counts for the same weight of food. An average cat will need around 20 calories per lb of weight, but this can vary - just like people, some cats need more than the average and others less. A lot depends on activity levels too. This article explains things much better than I can :) [article="31116"][/article]
 

mschauer

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 I'm confused about how to weigh meat! I cooked 3#'s of chicken and now I have 1.5#'s? I don't understand! LOL Plus, it doesn't make sense to use a 3# portion of Alnutrin for 1.5#'s of food . . . Help?
What recipe are you looking at? Alnutrin isn't formulated for use with cooked meats. It can be used with cooked meats but the recipe needs to be adjusted to take that into consideration.
 and - 
"cats need 2-4% of their bodyweight in food so a 4kg cat would need anything from 80-160g food per day, depending on their activity levels."

Am I still going by raw weight - or cooked? They're 6k + 7k.
That is is very generalized statement. The range of food from 80-160g is so large that it really isn't useful in my opinion.  When it comes to how much food a cat needs talking in terms of energy (calories) makes a lot more sense.  Even when you know the calorie content of a food, how much of it a cat needs is highly dependent on the individual cat.

Can you provide more information about what you are trying to do and what foods/recipes you are using?
 
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da hoomin

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Ok, now I know I was weighing the meat right.

And I'll start figuring calories instead of weight - DUH - makes sense!

Alnutrin's site has a Nutrient Calculator  for both raw and cooked. It calculates how much Alnutrin to add and gives nutrient + calories per oz.

All my recipe is right now is 1.5 lbs cooked chicken, 1 cup "broth" from poaching, 10 grams Alnutrin w/ egg shell.

I poach the chicken - about 9 minutes - until it's temp is 165F.

I chopped up some of chicken, fairly small for now.

Pureed the rest and added Alnutrin per their nutrient table. Added Benefiber - guess-timated at 3/4 tsp total per day, 3/8 tsp each. [Their vet recommended it because it doesn't cause gas like psyllium can.]

I put a loose layer of chopped chicken on the bottom of the ice-stick trays and then poured the puree over it. I run a spatula over it a few of times to make sure there are no air pockets.

They love the dehydrated chicken and turkey from Hare Today, so I crushed up a bunch and sprinkled it on the top of the filled trays for an extra enticement.

Freeze over-night. Pop frozen sticks into an air-tight container the next morning.

This made just over 30 ounces last night. Table says they're about 32 cal/oz. [Same as the canned food they've been eating.] Each stick is 1 oz. Larger trays are on the way, but the 1 oz has been worked good to start with.

I take out the next day's sticks and put them in a ziplock baggie in the fridge before I go to bed. Then put the baggie in hot water to finish thawing and take the cold out when we get up.

I add Omega 3/squid oil  separately on a daily basis. Hezký has to taper up because it gave him cramps at a full dose. Doesn't bother Malý. A TCF buddy recommended it and I really like this brand because it has very little smell/taste so I can hide it in their food.

Probiotics also on a daily basis. They've been taking them for quite a while now and It really helps Hezký's sensitive gut. It's liquid and I just add a few drops to the top of their food once a day to make sure they actually get it.

Taurine gets added next week.

[Both omega 3 and taurine are especially to help get Malý' seizures under control and she gets slightly more than her brother.]

Health Inspectors                                                                      Taste Tester      

        

Frozen and ready to package

 
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