Request for Exact Recipe

[ericaaa]

Hey guys! We're looking to start Angus on raw next week. We know to slowly introduce it to him by mixing more & more of it with his current diet.
Here's my question- we've been using the Mazuri supplement 58QC in his wet food & cooked chicken, along with Vetri DMG drops & L-lysine HCI (as recommended by our breeder). The mazuri says carnivore supp slab meat, but on the website it specifies it's for raw without bones. I was just confused after Paige's post ab the best supplement for raw without bones being the non slab meat formula. Can someone clarify if we can use this without bones or not?? And should we use all of the supplements we have? Thanks!!

 

[admin]

The Mazuri for slab is for raw diets without bones...the Mazuri for Whole Prey is for a raw diet with bones. I may have written it incorrectly...

 

[ericaaa]

Ah gotchya! Thanks for clarifying! Do you know anything about those other supplements being beneficial for a raw diet as well?

 

[admin]

I never heard of Vetri DMG and I am not sure why you would need L-Lysine, unless there is some kind of illness...

 

[ericaaa]

She just said they'll keep his immune system healthy and keep him strong. He's definitely a very healthy cat! He gets a very small dosage of each once a day.

 

[admin]

She just said they'll keep his immune system healthy and keep him strong. He's definitely a very healthy cat! He gets a very small dosage of each once a day.

Ok...usually L-Lysine is given for cats with viral issues, but I guess it can be a good preventative as well...

 

[John Popp]

If you can grind fresh bones I would go that route. Much better than something with bone meal and also helps with good dental care. As for L-Lysine, I know it boosts the immune system in humans, and something my wife takes every day.

 

[MattM]

I finally did it! I have purchased a refurbished STX Megaforce 3000 thanks to Paige's recommendation. I am very excited to start trying out different recipes. (http://www.amazon.com/STX-MEGAFORCE-SERIES-PATENT-PENDING/dp/B005F55EUQ) Ebay FTW! I have a few questions if you guys could be so kind to answer.

How often do you make a batch for your Savannah and around how many pounds of food do you make at a time? I was thinking of making food once a month and storing the food in 8 different containers. Freeze the containers and take two out to thaw per week in the refrigerator.

I purchased the Mazuri supplement for slab meat because I was concerned about my Savannah's preferences to bones. This might have been a mistake after reading about all the benefits for teeth. With the Mazuri supplement for slab meat, can I still add in a few bones without over supplementing and risking toxicity? This might be a question to ask my vet.

Has anyone tried raw duck in their ingredients? Does anyone know where I might actually be able to get it? My Savannah is obsessed with duck flavored canned food, so I thought it might be a really good thing to try.

Lastly, I know that humans have a very well defined set amount of nutrients they need called RDAs or recommended daily allowances. Does anything exist like this for felines? I could literally plug everything I use in Leo's diet to make sure he is getting what he needs into a diet analyzer.

Thanks everyone!

 

[admin]

Hi Matt,

Glad to hear you have the STX - it really worked well for me when my monster had to be fixed.

Because I use a combo of canned and raw, I make smaller amounts now, get whole carcass and therefore only add Taurine. But I used to make 30 pounds at a time...it would last me almost a month for one cat. I used the blend on Hare-Today or Mazuri...now I use Kitty Bloom...

I have tried duck - mine don't like it...you can get it from Hare-Today...or you may want to try Petco for Nature's Variety Duck...it is found in the frozen food section

With canned food and the like there is something called the AAFCO - no such thing with raw...

 

[John Popp]

Like Paige, ours aren't all that fond of duck either. They'll eat it, but they definitely prefer rabbit. With rabbit being so much leaner, it's a good balance as duck has a lot of fat content. Chicken is third on their list, and I need to be pretty particular about the quality I'm using. Either a drive down to Amish Country, or a trip to Whole Foods. Everything else comes from Hare-Today.

We currently make about 75lbs at a time. It's a big chore but it lasts for a bit and freezing doesn't have a lot of negative effects under 90 days. Cleaning and prep takes about 2/3s of the time, so it isn't a much bigger bigger time commitment to make 75 lbs as compared to 25lbs.

As for storage, we use quart size freezer bags. Easier to store, easier to get the air out of the bags and easier to label. I'd prefer to use something reusable, just too much stacked up against it. Food stays fresher when thawed as we can continue to keep the air out of the bags and they are filled with different quantities as two of our three cats have reduced protein needs.

If you are adding extra bones, I would try to offset it with some organ meat. I also wouldn't exceed 10% of the of the total weight with extra bone. You start running the risk of constipation pretty quickly and might see some ghost poops comprised of not a whole lot more than calcium.

With RDAs it's pretty difficult to discern because there just isn't good data on a lot of the ingredients. Chicken, Rabbit and Duck are easy to find data on, just that it's rough because you are also using the bone and organs.

As a baseline, I use Dr Pierson's recipe for Chicken and then nutritional value from this site for the rest of the data. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/663/2 It enables me to get relatively close and the rest is handled by a varied diet.

Hope that helps!