Supplements?

[mazzaglia]

Looking for advice about my cat's diet. He has been on raw for about a month now and I am very pleased. He has been getting a mix of commercial ground raw and also homemade ground beef, ground pork, chicken thighs, chicken wings and a little bit of beef chunks. I have been doing one meal a day of the commercial ground raw but he is not liking it and then his second meal is one of the homemade versions I mentioned. The reason I even offer it is because of the added vitamins and supplements that are in the food. If I eliminate the commercial and go 100% homemade, not ground, do I need to add supplements? I haven't done any organs either. Is there a supplement that would cover the organs that I am not offering as well? He is very eager to eat and now LOVES his bones. I am so pleased with the lack of odor in the litterbox as well!

 

[ldg]

Here's what I add to my ... adapted version of prey model raw: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240497/started-them-on-raw-tonight-d/720#post_3300096

IMO, essential:

5% liver
5% other secreting organ - if not, 10% liver

500mg of some kind of fish oil - either salmon or krill - daily

Egg yolks, best if 2x a week.

Some of my kitties love liver, some hate it. For the kitties that hate it, I use freeze dried liver. Stewart's ProTreat (Gimborn) is raw freeze dried, Etta Says is not.


Optional:

Tinned sardine, no salt, in water 1 or 2x a week
Probiotic daily (10 billion CFU, a human supplement. I use Natural Factors acidophilus+bifidus with goat milk, double strength).

 

[ldg]

Oh - forgot to explain why. :doh3:

The liver provides a LOT of nutrition, but without it the diet is deficient in vitamin A.
The egg yolks provide a lot of things too, but essential is the choline.
The salmon or krill oil (and sardines) provide not only needed omega 3s, but essential vitamin D.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Oh - forgot to explain why.

The liver provides a LOT of nutrition, but without it the diet is deficient in vitamin A.
The egg yolks provide a lot of things too, but essential is the choline.
The salmon or krill oil (and sardines) provide not only needed omega 3s, but essential vitamin D.

Laurie, were you responding to her from a pm or something?  This appears to be an after thought, but I am not seeing your original post where you always go into such detail.  So...am wondering if I need to find one of your other posts where you list everything (including discussions about 80/5/5/10), Alnutrin, Call of the Wild, etc. or just what.

 

[ldg]

Oh - when I posted my reply, the ghost appeared and made like three replies. I flagged them all for deletion - I guess the original post got deleted too! :lol3:

Let's see... in answer to the question about what supplements, I shared a link to the latest post in my transition thread where I explain exactly what I'm using: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240497/started-them-on-raw-tonight-d/720#post_3300096

And then a list of the "must haves" which included:

5% liver
5% other secreting organ (kidney, spleen, pancreas, brain, etc.). Given commercial raw foods typically use up to 20% liver in the mix, if you can't source or get your cat to eat the other secreting organ, I think it's best to feed liver at 10%.
egg yolks 1 to 2x a week, though I prefer 2x a week if possible, and
500mg of high quality fish oil, like salmon oil or krill oil daily

(and, of course, ensuring you're using the correct amount of calcium, in whatever form)


Optional supplements:

Probiotics daily (best if not pet probiotics, but human probiotics, and for adult cats, our holistic vet recommended 10 billion CFU, and just a high quality acidophilus supplement: the one we use is acidophilus+bifidus)

A sardine 1 - 2x a week. (Tinned, water, no salt). Many feeding prey model raw don't use a salmon oil or krill oil supplement, and the sardines alone may provide enough vitamin D, but the salmon or krill oil in combination with sardines provide a better omega 3 profile.

Most prey model raw feeders that do not believe in "supplementation" use sardines and not any kind of fish oil. I personally think the salmon or krill daily is essential, and the sardines optional, but I see the issue differently than "purist" PMR feeders.


...and then after posting it, I realized I hadn't included why everything's important.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Here's what I add to my ... adapted version of prey model raw: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240497/started-them-on-raw-tonight-d/720#post_3300096

IMO, essential:

5% liver
5% other secreting organ - if not, 10% liver

500mg of some kind of fish oil - either salmon or krill - daily

Egg yolks, best if 2x a week.

Some of my kitties love liver, some hate it. For the kitties that hate it, I use freeze dried liver. Stewart's ProTreat (Gimborn) is raw freeze dried, Etta Says is not.


Optional:

Tinned sardine, no salt, in water 1 or 2x a week
Probiotic daily (10 billion CFU, a human supplement. I use Natural Factors acidophilus+bifidus with goat milk, double strength).

There were two of these deleted posts, not three. It looks like they were both deleted, so I restored this one.

 

[ldg]

Thanks! The ghost is an odd one! When I posted, I saw FOUR posts (so three extra!) :lol3:

 

[harleydiva]

I'm feeding ground raw (meat/bone/organ mixes) with the appropriate Alnutrin supplement.  Rotating between turkey, chicken, rabbit, beef, a little pork, duck, goose.  I add at least 20% ground green tripe to most proteins other than rabbit (probiotic).  I also give them chicken hearts or gizzards (for taurine and chewing respectively).  Once a day I add 3 squirts of salmon oil to the food which gets split between 3 cats.  I have never given them an egg yolk....am I covered with the Alnutrin, or is this something I should be doing?  (Thought I had it covered, but now I'm nervous....lol)