I'm having a hard time understanding the whole balance over time thing. What I initially thought was every day I feed the usual 80/10/10 proportions. Now I realize that I can feed more bone one day, less the next, more this more that, I'm really confused. I know cats need taurine/vitamins/iodine as well. How do I balance all this stuff? Do I make a time frame and make sure they get everything over the week? Do I add the supplements every other day? The more I read, the more conflicting information I get...
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Understanding balance over time
- Thread starter catman12
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you might just get a good site, print out, or write down, a good, proven, balanced diet and follow that. There are too many conflicting reports out there to try and follow several. Maybe someone on this site will respond, many follow a home-prepared diet, but that is why I give a diet already prepared from a good reputable brand. I am confused enough!
There is a lot of conflicting information and it is really difficult. Just to start, I will say these are all my opinions based on research I've looked at, so take it for only that and maybe look into an appointment with a holistic vet if you're having any issues. That being said, I'm also at the beginning of transitioning my cats, but the way I have interpreted it is somewhat similar to humans. For example, if one day you consume a little too much protein or not enough fiber, or maybe you don't get any omega 3 or any vitamin D, it's not really the end of the world. Same could be said if you skipped a meal or ate not enough calories for the day. Long term, however, this would be very detrimental and/or deadly. From my research cats are quite similar in this, with the exception that they are smaller beings and therefore can't go as long without certain vital nutrients as humans can. Also, when it comes to nutrients like taurine etc. it is important to make sure they are consuming it every day to keep them in good health. I would also like to add though that while many cat food brands are required to meet the minimum amount of certain nutrients in their foods (like taurine), many are also excluded. Omegas for example. I used to have a cat on Instinct Limited Ingredient because of a fish allergy and they supplemented the omega for canola and other oils. Cats cannot effectively absorb omegas from plant sources though. This is just to give an example that even an approved name brand cat food has it's issues.
In my opinion the best approach is to either go by meal or by week. If your cat gets like 9% organ meat one day and 11% the next day it will not make a difference. It gets more dangerous though when you consider lower/higher levels, so you wouldn't want one day's diet to be like 50% bone, for example. So if you choose to go by the week I suggest you make sure the ratio is 80/10/10 for the week by giving them different meals each day (which is good anyway because they should be getting variety). This is really easy to do with the calculator from Hare-Today. You could also go by the day if that makes you feel more comfortable. So, for example, if you're feeding rabbit that's 75/10/15 then with that meal add a bit extra meat with no bone (make sure you use the non-bone alnutrin/supplementation though for the extra so there's not too much calcium).
As for the vitamin levels, again I'm also a bit new to this so I don't really have a solid answer for that just yet, other than by looking at the meats specifically to see if Alnutrin/your supplementation has too much/too little of something and then editing the amounts. If you consistently buy meats that are 80/10/10 though you wont have as much of a problem, although have seen numerous posts about iodine and rabbit so it is something to keep in mind.
The easiest way is to simply feed a nutritionally balanced diet at every meal.
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Are you looking to make homemade raw, or buy commercial frozen raw? The latter will have everything you need. The former is completely doable without supplementation if you use the proper proportions of organ meats, especially if you feed chunks rather than mince (mince will lose more nutrients due to the grinding process).
The typical mix I feed Juma (which is still bloody, as I source through a company from a farm, so ymmv on ideal formulation) contains pig heart (pre-frozen for the adequate amount of time) (30-40%), chicken stomach (30-40%), chicken neck (15% including the muscle meat), chicken heads without the beak (10%), beef liver (5%). I'll also make variations where part of the muscle meat is replaced by 5% fish, or 25% rabbit/turkey. This is close to the typical 80/10/10 breakdown (with the extra ~5% organ meat mostly coming from her chicken heads), though a bit tweaked to something that works best for Jum. I've consulted with her vets, and had some bloodwork done, and she's doing really great on this specific concoction of PMR, but it might not be ideal for every cat.
I'll also give her raw ocean caught fish twice a month (if she doesn't get fish in her PMR) or fish oil, as well as regular kefir and pumpkin puree for a bit of fiber (she loves cat grass, but she struggles with it for whatever reason lmao. Half of the stuff she tries to eat falls out of her mouth).
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- #7
I'd prefer to make it myself, but I'm mainly worried about the taurine since I'll be grinding. I don't want the pre ground stuff because it has bones and I need eggshell calcium. Also kind of weary of supplementing taurine, always prefer natural. I'm not sure which is best... Also the iodine... since I won't be feeding whole prey should I add the lite salt?
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Does your cat have any dietary requirements that require eggshell calcium over whole bone? Using eggshell calcium generally makes it a bit harder to maintain the calcium/phosphorous balance in your cat’s diet, and that’s very important for neurological health. As bone has both calcium and phosphorous (for example, around a 2:1 ratio on average in chicken bone), it can be harder to maintain proper ratios if using eggshell as a substitute for bone. Cats need around 1.1:1 to 1.5:1 Ca : P ratio in their diets. It’s definitely doable with substitutes, but why bother, is my question I suppose. If safety is your concern, things like chicken neck are widely considered harmless.
In a similar vein, any particular reason you’d be grinding? Does your cat not like eating chunks? It’s a lot easier to formulate around feeding chunks, rather than mince. There’s a reason most ground recipes have supplementation in them — it’s hard to guarantee how much of the essential nutrients are retained. With things like taurine it’s generally a non-issue — thighs and hearts have a pretty large excess of taurine, but it gets harder for other essentials.
If you’re not feeding thyroid, or meats undrained of blood, an ioidine supplement is definitely necessary, especially in ground foods. The same is true for other vitamins, to an extent — organ meat (and blood) will have all the necessary vitamins for your cats health, however you can’t be certain of how much will be retained after grinding and freezing, since a lot of essential vitamins, like vitamin A, are fat soluble. That means you can’t supplement without knowing what it is exactly that your raw is lacking nutritionally, as too much is also a detriment to the animal’s health.
You might be best off consulting a vet nutritionist, if there are any that aren’t anti-raw in your area. Holistic vets tend to know a lot about nutrition, as well.
In a similar vein, any particular reason you’d be grinding? Does your cat not like eating chunks? It’s a lot easier to formulate around feeding chunks, rather than mince. There’s a reason most ground recipes have supplementation in them — it’s hard to guarantee how much of the essential nutrients are retained. With things like taurine it’s generally a non-issue — thighs and hearts have a pretty large excess of taurine, but it gets harder for other essentials.
If you’re not feeding thyroid, or meats undrained of blood, an ioidine supplement is definitely necessary, especially in ground foods. The same is true for other vitamins, to an extent — organ meat (and blood) will have all the necessary vitamins for your cats health, however you can’t be certain of how much will be retained after grinding and freezing, since a lot of essential vitamins, like vitamin A, are fat soluble. That means you can’t supplement without knowing what it is exactly that your raw is lacking nutritionally, as too much is also a detriment to the animal’s health.
You might be best off consulting a vet nutritionist, if there are any that aren’t anti-raw in your area. Holistic vets tend to know a lot about nutrition, as well.
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