Supplementing Blue Ridge Chubs

[LTS3]

Blue Ridge is an odd brand of chubs. It's just ground meat with ground bone. No organs at all. http://www.blueridgebeef.com/products-beef-ingredients-analysis.html#CB

Can Alnutrin for meat and bone still be used with this raw brand if organs are bought separately and included with the mixture?

 

[valentine319]

Maybe I'm blind by now but i can't see the percent of bone in the meat.

 

[missmimz]

I don't see why not. You could also just use freeze dried organs in place or fresh. I use alnutrin with eggshell calcium but omit the fresh organs and just use freeze dried as a topper.

 

[LTS3]

Maybe I'm blind by now but i can't see the percent of bone in the meat.

Bone percentages are not listed on the web site

Just looking into other raw chub options. The pet store I usually buy HT from is slowly discontinuing selling the brand. Customers apparently want Blue Ridge I'm guessing dog owners who feed raw. Rad Cat is popular with cat customers. I know I can buy HT directly from the web site but I don't have the freezer space for the minimum 10lb order. That would be five 2 lb chubs for me. I don't think I can wedge a 5 lb chub in the freezer.

I have tried Blue Ridge before but Emma developed acne from eating it and she didn't seem to really like any of the proteins even thought all she gets is a spoonful mixed into NV raw with toppers. So I'm not too sure about trying the brand again.

 

[orange&white]

Their website says they've been in the raw pet food business over 30 years. They should be forthcoming if you call or email and ask for the ratio of meat to bone in the products you're interesting in purchasing. Whole prey model tends to be too heavy in bone IMO, and would need to be balanced out with additional boneless meat (and of course liver and other organs added).

 

[LTS3]

Update: I'm down to my last batch of HT. I bought a chub of the Blue Ridge chicken and bone to try again. I emailed the company for the meat to bone ratio.

So it's ok to still use Alnutrin for meat and bone with Blue Ridge? Would I still need to include some boneless meat if the ratio is more bone than meat? How do I figure out how much organ, fresh or freeze dried, to add? Keep in mind that I'm only giving a small spoonful mixed into the cats' NV. Can I get away with not supplementing?

Interesting info I got from the store owner: the store doesn't exactly sell HT. The owner buys HT for her own use (she has dogs) and buys extra to sell in the store. HT is not a big seller, though. So she doesn't order extras for the store anymore. But if I need HT, she can add what I need to her monthly order. So I can still get HT in any protein I just put an order in for two 2 lb chubs of ground chicken with bone and organ and two 2 lbs chubs of ground turkey with bone and organ.

 

[valentine319]

There's a calculator for that! Dilute Bone Content

 

[orange&white]

So it's ok to still use Alnutrin for meat and bone with Blue Ridge? Would I still need to include some boneless meat if the ratio is more bone than meat?

Yes if Blue Ridge is just meat and bone, then Alnutrin for meat and bone will work. Yes, on adding boneless meat if the Blue Ridge has too much bone.

How do I figure out how much organ, fresh or freeze dried, to add? Keep in mind that I'm only giving a small spoonful mixed into the cats' NV. Can I get away with not supplementing?

You could get away without supplementing if you are using the BR as treats, less than 10% of the diet.

Easy calculation: 1lb is 16oz. Your final mix should be 90% meat and bone. 16/.9 = 17.777 (round down to 17.75). You should add 1.75 oz organs per pound of meat and bone. (=17.75-16)

 

[LTS3]

Any recommendations for brands of freeze dried organs? I'm currently feeding Vital Essentials freeze dried treats but Emma won't touch the organ or liver ones.

You could get away without supplementing if you are using the BR as treats, less than 10% of the diet.

Would a spoonful (tablespoon max) added to 1 NV medallion twice a day be considered less than 10%?

 

[orange&white]

Would a spoonful (tablespoon max) added to 1 NV medallion twice a day be considered less than 10%?

Maybe look at the size of the medallion and estimate the size of 1/10th of a medallion for the Blue Ridge? How many ounces are the medallions? If they're 4 oz, then .4 oz would be a treat, and .4 oz is barely "a bite or two"...yeah, probably a level (not heaping) tablespoon.

 

[LTS3]

Each medallion is about 1 oz.

 

[orange&white]

Hmmmm. Your cat is eating 4-5 ounces of balanced food though, right? So, .4 - .5 ounces of any kind of treat would be ok. I feed two of my cats 1.5 ounce meals each, three times a day. I just weighed their bedtime meals and looked at the portions to estimate tablespoons. 1.5 ounces "looks like" about 4 tablespoons (I'm guessing)...3 to 5 anyway. I guess it sort of depends on whether you are levelling off the top of a tablespoon or heaping it up.

 

[LTS3]

All the Blue Ridge chubs are 10% bone. That makes it a lot easier to supplement So I'll keep usign Alnutrin for meat and bone and include organs and liver. Are freeze dried treats ok? Any particular brand recommended?

Hmmmm. Your cat is eating 4-5 ounces of balanced food though, right? So, .4 - .5 ounces of any kind of treat would be ok. I feed two of my cats 1.5 ounce meals each, three times a day. I just weighed their bedtime meals and looked at the portions to estimate tablespoons. 1.5 ounces "looks like" about 4 tablespoons (I'm guessing)...3 to 5 anyway. I guess it sort of depends on whether you are levelling off the top of a tablespoon or heaping it up.

The cats eat 2 NV medallions each daily, so ~2 oz a day. The spoonful of raw (slightly rounded) with pre-mix adds a bit more calories. Leroy gets two NV Raw Bites snacks, maybe a dozen bites each time. Emma gets a spoonful of canned food before bedtime. I know it's not a lot of food but both cats are at healthy weights.

 

[orange&white]

That does seem easiest just to add the Alnutrin and organs, so you don't have to worry about 10% treats or unbalancing their diet. I think you're good to go with that plan. It is nice that the BR is 90/10.

 

[LTS3]

For the organs and liver I was thinking of freeze dried. Leroy will pretty much eat anything but I know Emma won't touch fresh organs and liver. I was thinking the Northwest Naturals freeze dried liver treats and Fresh Is Best and Vital Essentials for freeze dried giblets and hearts Maybe a dumb question, do I add in the freeze dried organs and liver to the meat and Alnutrin mixture and freeze it all together or do I add in the freeze dried at serving time?

 

[orange&white]

I don't have experience with freeze-dried or dehydrated treats. Are you supposed to rehydrate them or just feed them as dried treats? If they need rehydrating then it seems like mixing them into the raw food would do that as the food thaws out.

You could test a little both ways. It would be a pain if you mix them in and then Emma decides not to eat it.

 

[sophie1]

LTS3, sounds like a bit of a dilemma....

My cats refuse most freeze dried liver, but they love fresh liver, the HT 1 lb chicken organ mixes, and the O'Paws heart/liver/gizzard rounds. They are sticklers for freshness. It helps to keep the O'Paws bag in the fridge and double seal it with an extra freezer bag.

What products do you mainly feed your cats? Oma's Pride now makes a complete frozen poultry cat food and will ship in 10 lb batches. They also have a variety of meat/organ/bone mixes - unfortunately not rabbit. But, they use a rectangular block shape that is much more small-freezer friendly than the rounded chubs. I haven't tried them yet, but I was planning to call and ask about rabbit. They could give you the dimensions of their packages, also.

 

[LTS3]

I thought I read here on TCS that some members use freeze dried raw liver and organs instead of fresh Most freeze dried treats can be fed either dry or rehydrated. Vital Essentials treats are more of a hard cruncny texture so it doesn't rehydrate very well.

The cats are mainly fed NV frozen raw medallions. NV doesn't quite keep their tummies full so that's why I add in a spponful of raw with pre-mix. I've been using HT and am trying Blue Ridge again. Emma was iffy on eating Blue Ridge before so I had stopped buying it.

I posted about Oma's Pride here: Oma's Pride Chubs Some of the chubs are just meat and bone (more bone than meat) with no organs.

 

[sophie1]

Of course freeze dried liver works, it's just that for whatever reason my cats often refuse it even though they will practically inhale fresh liver. My favorite way to get that is to ask for fresh giblet packages from a local butcher that have never been frozen. The packages contain liver, gizzard, heart, chicken necks and feet. I cut these up into a mix and freeze small portions. Sometimes I give my cats the necks, but most of the bony items go into a freezer bag for the stock pot.

If you're mostly feeding a complete raw food, why bother supplementing/balancing the grinds at all? Is it more than 15-20% of your cats' diet?

 

[LTS3]

The NV alone doesn't quite keep the cats' tummies full Neither cat will eat another medallion or even a partial medallion at each meal. So that's why I add in the spoonful of chub to each single 1 oz medallion. Their tummies stay happy and full with the combo.