back to cats recipe page



          SIMPLEST AND BEST RECIPE YET

        (Note this is a 1000 kcal recipe)



           with more verbiage to boot




An accurate gram scale is very important.

Get yourself a good gram scale at http://uline.com
 
Pelouze postal scale.  Model number H-1671
Price: $130
 

Cooking accurately for pets can seem like a daunting
task, but it gets easier as you do it a few times.

It's very important to keep bloodwork current,
particularly the major minerals (sodium, potassium,
calcium, phosphorus).  A mini-renal profile blood
analysis measures those major minerals, and will
help you adjust your cat's diet.  Every three 
months for bloodwork is not overkill.  I've done
bloodwork as often as once a month for my old
cat during a transition in her health.

You can start out with the levels shown in the
recipe table, then tweak based on bloodwork.

Supplement B vitamins anywhere from 2X to 10X 
the aafco requirement.  But don't let folate
be more than doubled.  Folate is often included
in B-complex pills.  Look for low dose B-complex
pills without folate, or with a modest amount of 
folate. 
 
I use dicalcium phosphate to bring the phosphorus
level up to the aafco minimum, and do not believe in
exceeding the minimum.  CRF cats often need an
amount well below the minimum.

Dicalcium phosphate also contains calcium, and 
calcium citrate or calcium carbonate is then used
to finish of the calcium supplementation.  I've
always used calcium citrate, which happens to
have a higher absorption rate than calcium carbonate,
and so accordingly use a little less.  

If you can't find dicalcium phosphate, I think
you can make do with bonemeal powder.

Your vitamin and mineral sources will undoubtedly
vary from mine, so you'll need to do a lot of your
own work in coming up with correct supplementations,
in general.

Follow the links on my cat website page to peteducation.com
for useful information on each supplement.

The recipe linked above uses steak (typically eye of
round) which has clearly seperable fat on its perimeter.
The lean portion is roughly 3% fat.  I separate the
fat and measure it separately.  You would either need
to finely chop the steak or use a meat grinder.
Otherwise you could use hamburger which is 89% lean.
This probably means a blend of 85% and 90%.  (They
tend to err on the lean side compared to what the
label says.)  I've felt that my cats and dogs prefer
the steak, but it's not a deal breaker.

Do not subsitute other squash for acorn squash.  If
the flesh is too yellow, the vitamin A content can
be toxic.

Like I said, it can seem daunting at first.  But I
can whip through it now on auto-pilot, and don't
mind doing it.