Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the cat category.
Raising Cats Naturally by Michelle Bernard
I finally finished “Raising Cats Naturally”; it’s not a long book, but I got sidetracked (Sons of Anarchy on FX is really addictive). I will not get into the diet specifics outlined in the book except to say that the most important thing I took away from it was to strive for “perfect packages of nutrition”, not variety over time like we do for dogs. The author makes a convincing (and perfectly logical) argument that wild cats are not like wild dogs in that they tend to rely on rodents, small birds, and rabbits which are eaten whole most days. Therefore they are getting bones, muscle meat, and organ meat on an almost daily basis. Believe me the book is well worth the $25 (you can get it here). Some interesting tidbits from the book:
- 100 grams of bone contains: 25,000mg calcium, 12,000mg phosphorus, 370mg magnesium, 700mg potassium, 9mg zinc, .5mg copper
- around 30% of bone is made of organic compounds, and 90% of that is collagen (important for skin/coat and containing amino acids that help prevent fat build up in the liver, helps the digestive tract run smoothly, and assists in assimilation and metabolism).
- cats (and dogs) lack the salivary amylase to initiate digestion of plant matter.
- fermentation of fiber may yield short chain fatty acids that are important sources of energy for horses and cattle (which can supply up to 75% of their daily energy needs), but provide less than 5% of the energy needs in dogs and cats due to their shot intestinal tract and quick digestion.
- when fed a proper diet of raw meat a cats mouth will remain acidic, which inhibits bacterial growth. feeding a food containing cereals or plant matter (even if it contains raw meat) will make the mouth more alkaline.
- cats cannot synthesize Vit. D from exposure to sunlight since they lack enough 7-dehydrocholesterol in their skin to meet their metabolic needs.
Anyway, the book itself is thoroughly researched, and goes into great depth on every aspect of feline nutrition, as well as general feline care, and holistic care. To be honest this is one of the best raw feeding books available, and certainly the best for felines that I’ve come across.
As wonderful and informative as Raising Cats Naturally was Kymythy Shultze’s book on feeding cats was disappointing. For the size it is extremely light on information at least as far as feeding a raw diet to cats, though it’s extremely useful in learning about what exactly is in dry and wet commercial cat food. Only about 30 pages of the almost 200 page book (don’t be deceived it’s very small in size, so the page count is higher) covers feeding a raw diet. I’ll save you $10: buy a cornish game hen, cut it up into 4 pieces and feed half of it per day w/ a little liver and heart. Seriously that’s basically it. If you’re going to invest money in a book on raw feeding cats get Raising Cats Naturally or Whole Health for Happy Cats; they are vastly superior in every way.
Raw cat food: homemade vs. premade
I have now had both the kittens and Riley on a raw food only diet for about the last month. I finally decided that if a bunch of cats from various raw feeding forums, newsgroups, etc. could live quite well on one or two types of raw food, so could Riley. So The Monster (Riley) gets NV pre-made venison most days, and a few times a week the rabbit formula of the same brand (I also give the kittens some when he gets it), and occasionally some of the homemade raw food the kittens eat.
Having had a month to judge the results of feeding homemade vs. premade I can say that I think the homemade I’m feeding is the superior product. The basis for this is entirely superficial; the kittens have developed soft, silky, and shiny coats that they did not posses before homemade raw, and Riley who eats premade has a much poorer quality coat.
I really sincerely wish that I could get Riley to eat homemade, but he just won’t touch it if I feed it more than a few times a week. And forget adding supplements to the NV; if he even suspects you did he’ll go on a hunger strike. Thankfully he will take a chewable multi-vitamin, but that doesn’t seem to be doing too much to help his coat. Thankfully since he’s decided to make friends with the kittens he’s much more active 
Anyway, though I think most premade raw foods are great, especially if they get owners who otherwise wouldn’t feed raw food to their pets. On the other hand, at least with Natures Variety though their meat comes from a “USDA inspected facility” it does not say that the meat is “USDA certified for human consumption”, which I’m not entirely comfortable with. I think the benefit of the homemade is two fold: 1.) I’m using USDA certified for human consumption meat, organs, etc., and 2.) the product is always fresh (the kittens go through about 10Lbs every 3 weeks), so the vitamins and minerals contained in the food and added supplements is at an optimum level. I have even stopped giving the kittens a daily multi-vitamin because it’s just totally unnecessary for them. On top of all of that homemade raw is so much cheaper. Here’s a breakdown of what it costs me to make one batch of food (enough for 2 kittens for 3-ish weeks):
- 2 whole chicken fryers totaling 8-9Lbs – $9.00*
- 1Lb chicken necks – $0.72
- 1Lb turkey hearts – $0.60
- 1Lb ground turkey – $1.20
- 6oz beef kidney – $0.20
- 2oz turkey liver – $0.10
- 2oz chicken gizzards – $0.10
- 3 eggs – $0.80
Of course I do add some supplements so the total of $12-13 for each batch is a little misleading, but it cannot be that much more since the supplements are not expensive on their own, and are used in such small amounts; I’d say it adds at most $3 more. So a total of $15 per batch, which is about 12Lbs, and lasts just over 3 weeks. For Riley a 6Lb bag of NV venison patties is $25 + tax and lasts him the same amount of time (give or take a day). I think the figures speak for themselves.
Anyway, I thought it was an interesting comparison. I’m currently reading “Raising Cats Naturally”, and just finished Kymythy Shultze’s book on feeding cats; I’ll probably post about them in the next few days.
* I had to modify my recipe to include chicken fryers since the cats are eating much more than expected. It’s actually closer to the recipe included in “whole health for happy cats” now. I do remove the leg bones since I don’t think my grinder could handle them, hence the reason to add in some necks. Also keep in mind that the prices listed (aside from the whole chickens and eggs) are from products provided through SCB, so are probably lower than you could find in a grocery store.
Waring Pro meat grinder & SCB order
Waring Pro 300w Meat Grinder
I have finally decided, after a few years of feeding raw, it was time to invest in a meat grinder. It’s not something I’ve been gung-ho about, but something I’ve kept my eyes open for a good deal on. I recently stumbled across one on amazon.com for the above pictured Waring Pro Meat Grinder. It is “remanufactured”, so was considerably cheaper than it otherwise would have been, and had excellent user ratings on amazon. I used it tonight to grind up boneless meat and organs, and it works very quickly and easily through them; for 5Lbs of turkey hearts it took a little less than 1 minute per pound. Assembly, disassembly, and cleaning was easy as could be, and in use it’s actually quieter than my blender. I know I geek out of kitchen gadgets and raw feeding, but it’s so freakin’ cool to use! It was like christmas morning
So I few new items from this distribution:
Instincts Ground Chicken Necks: I have purchased the ground duck necks before, and really liked them, and these are no different. A good size grind (I’d say “medium”), no skin, and conveniently packaged in 2/5Lb chubs.
Beef Kidney: I won’t lie; I got this because it’s cheap, and nutritious. I generally detest the smell of kidneys, but when they’re fairly well frozen you don’t notice it as much. I kind of panicked when I got the box home and it was labeled as “50Lbs”, but after weighing everything out it was indeed the 30Lbs I order, just mis-labeled or something. I gave each of the kittens a teeny-tiny 1/4tsp size piece of this each and then went nuts for it. I was a little worried that these would be frozen together in a solid block, and a nightmare to break apart, but there was enough room between them that they weren’t frozen together too badly.
Beef Hearts: these on the other hand were, and still are, frozen together in a solid block. Like the kidneys I got these because they were cheap, and can replace some striated muscle meat in the diet. The dogs like beef heart, and eventually I’ll (hopefully) be giving the cats some as well.
Turkey Hearts: I had been considering ordering the 40Lb box of these for some time, but always held off, until I was able to purchase them in a smaller quantity to try them, and found that they’re wonderful! This time around I will be grinding them up and using them in place ground turkey from the grocery store for the dogs. It will be considerably cheaper; the hearts cost 60c/Lb as opposed to $1+/Lb for ground turkey. The kittens and Riley both really like these too. If I haven’t mentioned it before, these are perfect “pill pockets”; I made sure to take about a pound out of the box and froze them individually just in case I need to give the dogs anything.
Though I have purchased their products since joining SCB, GreenTripe.com has started using new packaging, and I would be remise if I didn’t say it’s really very cute. Instead of the simple clear bag, it’s now white with green cow spots. Hopefully they stick with it, because it’s very eye catching.
Emergency ration for kittens – Thanks Riley
Peek-A-Boo kitten - Simca likes to watch me reading
I was supposed to have enough dry kitten food to last until this weekend, but Riley decided to intervene. It should be noted that though he’d never touch Felidae if I put it in his bowl, he had no problem gulping down the kittens portion of it behind my back. So last night I needed emergency rations; I considered giving them some of Riley’s NV venison medallions, but decided on employing a raw food recipe from “Whole Health for Happy Cats“. I had to modify it slightly since I didn’t have everything listed, but it seems to have worked out fine, and it’s only for a few days, so it doesn’t need to be perfect. You can find the original recipe here (it’s listed under “option 2″).
I have discovered over the last few days that both Simca and Hiro have sensitive tummies, and they’re both sensitive to different things. Simca doesn’t do well with lamb, and Hiro doesn’t do well with canned fish. Both of those can be easily avoided, but I was concerned that they would show some sensitivity to the food I was planning on preparing for them this weekend, so this “emergency ration” has sort of been a test run. thankfully they don’t seem to have an adverse reaction to turkey or chicken, so I’m going to stick with those two protein sources when I make their food this weekend, and I’ll try beef organs at a later date. I also had been rather dubious about the inclusion of water into the recipes I’ve seen for cats, but when I was mixing this up last night I saw what they mean about it “helping with consistency”; it was almost impossible to evenly distribute everything in the mix without a little water, and it did not make the recipe soupy.
So in light of all that, here’s the new version of what I’ll be feeding the kittens as of this weekend:
- 5Lbs ground chicken necks
- 3Lbs ground turkey meat
- 1Lb turkey hearts
- 8-16oz water
- 2oz turkey liver*
- 3 eggs (whites lightly cooked – yolks raw)
- 1oz chicken gizzards
- Supplements: 2tbls salmon oil – 1/2tsp dulse – 9000IU vit. E – 5000mg vit. C – 4000IU vit. D – 4cap Jarrow multi-B
* turkey liver is extremely high in vitamin A containing 3x the vitamin A per ounce of chicken liver, so I need to use only a small amount to get an adequate supply.
I have recently started giving both Riley and the kittens Pet Naturals of Vermont “Daily Best” Soft Chews. Riley has had lingering coat problems, and of course I want to make sure the kittens are getting all their growing bodies need, hence the daily vitamin. If you have a picky cat definitely give these a try; I have to hide the bag between feedings because all of them try to steal it they like them so much! You can find them at PetCo, and other retailers.
How Green Is Your Tripe?
I was googling around earlier today and stumbled across a very interesting article from Whole Dog Journal about Green Tripe. It was news to me that feeding green tripe is something that’s almost universal (by the sound of the article) in Europe and has been for many, many years. They also mention GreenTripe.com It’s a bit of a read, but fascinating!
p.s.- I just got some greentripe.com Xkaliber this weekend! Haven’t given it to the dogs yet, but I’ll update when I do.
Kymythy Shultze – The Ultimate Diet
For some reason I had been putting off reading this book. It was in my (extensive) bookmarks, and while I cleaning those out and organizing I noticed the link. I found a good price on it via half.com, and ordered it. It’s a very short, but thoroughly interesting read. Like every other book on raw feeding the author has their own way of doing things, and that is the beauty of feeding this type of diet; it’s extremely flexible.
I won’t go into too much detail, but some points I found very interesting:
- the basic premise of the book is that you’re feeding as close to what our canine friends in nature would eat. As such a small amount of vegetable matter (3tbls. for a 50Lb dog) including seeds and nuts should be fed to mimic stomach/intestinal matter that would be consumed when eating prey animals. While I don’t yet know if this is something I will personally impliment, I think the idea is a very interesting one, and a good compromise between “Billinghurst” style feeding, and prey-model.
- instead of feeding chicken pieces a whole chicken or game hen should be fed about every 10 days, and occasionally substituted with whole fish or rabbit. This is something I will be doing, and in fact did so for the first time today.
- she reminds us that animals are very aware of our own feelings and that when starting a new diet if we are confident in what we feed that will transfer to our pets. If we are hesitant, and unsure of our decisions they will also pick up on that. This point I think is very important since many of us (myself included) are not very confident when starting out, and since our pets see us as their “pack leaders” they will treat anything we’re uncertain of with the same sentiments.
- she also reminds us that we need to let go of percentages to a certain extent. we need to not be so neurotic about feeding precise amounts of food, and allow for balance over time and not balance every time. (obviously this is a view shared by most, if not all, books on the subject, but it’s an excellent reminder).
The thing that really impressed me the most was how well researched and thought-out this book was. Granted when Billinghurst first published his book he didn’t have the benefit of some of the same studies, but I would like to see him update his theories to include them. Like Susan K. Johnson’s “Switching to Raw” book Kymythy Shultze does provide a basic guideline for feeding dogs of 3 different sizes, and a calendar laying out when to feed what, which is very helpful for beginers.
I do have a few criticisms though. To begin with she completely disagrees with feeding yogurt or any dairy-based probiotics, to say nothing of milk, because it’s biologically inappropriate to feed dairy since an adult dog wouldn’t consume it. While I do think she has a point in that it shouldn’t be over-fed, I do think that feeding yogurt short term to combat the side effects of antibiotics for example is perfectly acceptable because it’s short term. I was also concerned over the lack of at least mentioning adding in meals of boneless meat to balance out the meat:bone ratio. From what I can tell it looks like every meal contains some bone, which I personally disagree with.
On the whole though I think it’s an excellent book, and a great read even if you’re already feeding raw. I know she occasionally give seminars (SCB had one with her over the summer), so keep an eye out. If she’s giving one in your area it’s certainly worth checking out even if you don’t agree with her 100%.
Supplements
Ah, the debate to supplement or not. It seems to rage in the world of raw feeding. Personally, I think if your pet needs it, you should feel no shame in supplements. Indeed a few choice supplements can benefit even the best diets. After much trial and error I have found a combination of 6-8 different supplements works best for my pets. What works well for someone else’s pets may be more, less, different, or none at all. But I thought it would be helpful to share my experiences with the supplements I’ve tried in the past for those who are considering whether or not to use them themselves.
Whole Food Supplements:
- Eggs: Hard to think of a raw diet without eggs, no? But they are considered supplements. My grandparents had always fed raw eggs to all our dogs when I was growing up, and it was something we did with our dogs when we were kibble feeding them. It was always said they were good for dogs, and especially their coats. They definitely make a huge difference for dogs with poor coats, and maintaining healthy coats. Eggs are a great source of biotin, as well as other B-vitamins, as well as protien, fatty acids, lecithin, and several other vitamins & minerals. The shells are a rich source of calcium if your dogs will eat them (mine will only eat the shells on quail eggs). Though I would ideally like to find a local source for eggs that raises them with lots of space and the ability to run about, I have not been successful. I have tried both “omega-3″ eggs and the regular kind and never really seen a difference, but when the omega-3 ones are on sale I buy those.
- Kelp: A great, concentrated source of all sorts of vitamins and minerals. As Edie got a bit older we noticed that she could not shed weight as easily as she used to. We tested her thyroid and it was a bit “off”, but not enough to really warrant putting her on medication for it. As an alternative I tried a little kelp since it’s iodine content can be helpful in regulating thyroid function. Wonder of wonders, she shed a little weight! Even so, it’s something I give several times a week (alternating with alfalfa powder – see below) since it works as a sort of natural multi-vitamin/mineral. It’s also helpful in keeping the body free from toxins and supplies a host of B-vitamins, and minerals. However, I high quality supplement is vital when it comes to kelp. I have used, and found these to be of excellent quality: Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Life Line/VRG Kelp, Hilton Herbs Seaweed & Rosehips.
- Goats Milk: Now we only feed this as a treat, when we brought Pepper home from the breeders it was a big part of her diet. Her breeder used it to soften her kibble and provide extra vitamins A & D, as well as calcium and protein. She had a fantastic coat as a result of this, and the extra nutrients certainly didn’t hurt a growing pup. As all our dogs are adults now it’s not a regular part of their diet, but if we were to bring another puppy home it certainly would be. There’s debate about whether there’s increased benefit from raw milk (of any kind) or pasteurized milk, but I’ve never seen a difference between the two.
- Alfalfa: The other half of my natural multi-vitamin! I like to alternate between the two, not only because of the lack of iodine in alfalfa, but also because they differ in their nutrients and benefits. Alfalfa, like kelp, does have trace elements, but it also has vitamin K, beta-carotene, anti-bacterial action against salmonella in the gut, and a protein with demonstrated anti-tumor activity.
- Apple Cider Vinegar (unfiltered): Lots of people feed this for the trace mineral content, but I’ve found it excellent for coat problems in dogs with allergies. We’ve been unfortunate to have 2 dogs, and 1 horse with allergies, and feeding them some organic & unfiltered ACV daily really does a lot to ease their symptoms. I’m not exactly sure why it works (I personally don’t buy that it “purifies” the blood/body fluids – what a load of tripe), but it does. It also contains malic and tartaric acid which can help keep the teeth clean. It’s important to use cider vinegar with the “mother” such as Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar since it acts as a probiotic and therefore aids digestion.
- Fish Body Oil: A high quality fish body oil (not to be confused with cod liver oil, which is an excellent source of vitamins, but not always needed) is an essential part of a raw diet. Why? Because raw meat provides omega-6 fatty acids in abundance, but little omega-3. Pets, like people, need to have the correct ratio of omega-3:6 fatty acids, so unless a large part of your pets diet is made up of fish and/or grass fed red meats you need to supplement it with fish body oil. There are lots of fish oils out there, and a lot of them…well you get what you pay for, which is not to say you need to break the bank to find a good one. I have seen the best results from Life Line/ VRG Salmon Oil, but Nature’s Logic Sardine Oil wasn’t terrible either.
- Flaxseed Oil/Meal & Seed Oils: Feeding flaxseed oil and meal really helped when I wasn’t using a high quality fish oil, but once I was they were pretty useless. It’s also questionable whether flaxseed oil can be utilized by a dog or cats body since they are “activated” EFA’s. In my experience if you’re feeding a high quality fish body oil they’re totally unnecessary, although they can be helpful for animals (like my cat, Riley) who refuse to consume fish oil.
- Cod Liver Oil: An excellent source of vitamins A & D. Stinky though; I once spilled a bottle of the stuff on my kitchen floor, and despite trying every cleaner in the house it took a week for the smell to go away. Anyway, I’ve found that a small amount of cod liver oil on days when my dogs don’t get liver can be exceptionally helpful for their coat condition. You really do only need a small amount though; 500-1000mg vitamin A with 50-100mg of vitamin D for a medium sized dog is enough to see results. Try feeding a high quality fish body oil and natural vitamin E supplement for 4-6 weeks first to see if the animals coat conditions improve with that first before adding this into the mix.
- Garlic & Garlic Oil: My dogs HATE fresh garlic. They refuse to eat anything containing it, no matter how small the amount. I can’t really blame them as I wouldn’t eat it either; always gives me an unpleasant dry mouth feeling. But it’s purported to be very beneficial to dogs, and is an excellent, natural alternative to antibiotics. Luckily my dogs will eat food with garlic oil, though I doubt they get the full benefits fresh garlic would provide. But it does give the immune system a good boost, and is also antibacterial and antifungal, which is good for the digestive tract, and I’m sure if I fed it more than 2x a week it probably would be good repelling fleas (we feed garlic powder to the horses to keep flies from biting them, and it works!). However, it is important to note that garlic, and garlic oil can inhibit the effectiveness of antibiotics and should not be used in conjunction with them.
- Yogurt: I’ve never been one to buy probiotic and enzyme supplements. Why bother when you can just feed a little yogurt, to get the same benefit? Granted it’s not as concentrated, but it’s always worked so well for me that I didn’t see the point in spending a lot of money on a concentrated supplement when yogurt does the trick. I don’t feed it regularly, but I make a point of doing so when I have to give the dogs antibiotics which destroy healthy, and essential, gut bacteria. It’s also very helpful for diarrhea, and general digestive upset.
- Honey (raw)/Bee Pollen: Another source of trace minerals, vitamins, etc. as well as being antibacterial and improving the immune system. I tried honey for about 6 weeks and never saw a difference in our dogs. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, but I didn’t see any benefit from it, and they didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects from removing it, so why bother? An interesting note though is that it may be helpful to feed dogs with allergies local honey. The theory is that the local honey works similarly to how a vaccine would; a small amount of pollen helps build up an “immunity” and when exposed to pollen in the air the allergies won’t get triggered. I know this sometimes works for humans, so it might be something to look into for allergy prone dogs.
- Molasses (unsulphured): Lots of people feed unsulphured blackstrap molasses as part of their home prepared diets, and it’s also an ingredient in the Missing Link supplements. It’s rich in calcium, iron, and potassium. Again, this is something I tried and never got any benefit from, though the dogs really liked the taste But like honey I’m sure some people do see benefits from it, just not us.
- Brewer’s/Nutritional Yeast: These are both excellent sources of B-vitamins. There is some debate over which is better, but I never saw much difference between the two. Care should be taken though since they can promote yeast infections, especially in the ears, which was what happened to Pepper after extended use. Once the nutritional yeast was removed, her ears cleared right up. Also from what I understand certain breeds, such as Dalmatians, should never be fed yeast products due to serious health risks, but I am uncertain of the specifics.
Vitamins/Minerals/Neutraceuticals:
- Ester-C: Vitamin C is produced by dogs without supplementation and is available in limited amounts in some organ meats. However, it can be useful to supplement not only as an immunity booster, but also to help prevent and/or control inflammation especially in joints, and in the formation of collagen, as well as the assimilation of other joint enhancing factors such as glucosamine. It’s also important that you use Ester-C and not acsorbic acid for two reasons: 1.) ester-c contains threonic acid which improves absorption of vitamin C, and 2.) it’s much easier on their digestive tract. I feed 500mg, but up to 3,000mg can be fed to a medium sized dog. Really since it’s a water-soluable vitamin there is almost no limit to the dosage, but at a certain point you’ll hit your dogs “bowel tolerance” (the level at which it will give them loose bowel movements).
- Vitamin E: Vitamin E works synergistically with vitamin C to protect from free radicals and boost immunity. It is also vital in the assimilation of EFA’s. But it’s very low in meats that are factory farmed, and freezing does destroy it, which makes it necessary to supplement. It is important to use “natural” vitamin E, and not synthetic vitamin E since it is more bioavailable. I just buy vitamin E for human since I give 200IU a day, but for small dogs and cats Vite-E-Pet is a better option since the dosage has to be so much smaller and it’s easier to use.
- Glucosamine/Chondriotin: Luckily many RMB’s, chicken feet, and cow trachea & gullet are rich in these nutrients. Many raw feeders find that if those items are included in the diet there is no need for supplementation. Indeed my own experience is that chicken feet are excellent for joints, but having a dog of a breed prone to hip dysplasia (a boxer), as well as aged pets I’ve found that for my own piece of mind I prefer to also supplement these. I have seen with my two older dogs, who have since passed away, that supplementing with glu/chon as a preventative works wonders. Neither of my two aged dogs needed to be on Rx pain medication before they passed at the age of 12, which my vet says is practically unheard of. In fact he was floored that they still went hiking most days w/o ill effects! So I firmly believe in them, but if your pet does not show need for them on a raw diet I wouldn’t fret too much. However, it is important to make sure you give 3 other things to ensure the assimilation of glu/chon into the joints: vitamin C, manganese, and zinc. Many people would argue that a well balanced raw diet would provide at least the last two in abundance, but studies noted on the barfworld website do say that they are necessary, even in (what some consider) a bone rich BARF diet. For a medium sized dog they would need 5mg manganese, and 15mg zinc additionally every day. I like Best Pet Health Hip & Joint since it provides those exact amounts as well as Vit. C, and glucosamine.
- Multi-B Complex: I don’t use this very often, but I do keep a bottle around for when I occasionally forget to thaw liver, or worse forget that I need to buy some! Though it doesn’t happen frequently, it does happen, and any excess is excreted in the urine since B vitamins are water soluble. However, it’s not necessary unless you dog refuses to eat liver, or your absent-minded sometimes.
- MSM: I cannot say enough good things about MSM! I’m allergic to shellfish and I have bad knees, but taking 3,000mg of MSM a day keeps my happy and active. Similarly for my older pets 1,000mg a day has strong anti-inflammatory action and kept them moving free and easy well into old age. I don’t supplement it now since we have two younger dogs, but in the future I definitely will. I’ve also used it in lieu of NSAID’s to great effect. It has extremely low toxicity (on par with water), so you can supplement at huge amounts without ill effects if your pet needs it (for example my horse has an ulcer, which NSAID’s irritate, so instead my vet had me give him 10x the recommended dose for the same effect).
- Lecithin: Lecithin is extremely important to all of our bodies; brains are made up of about 30% lecithin, as are a large portion of nerves and the heart. However, eggs are an excellent source, and as long as you feed a few eggs per week you really don’t need this.
Useful Website For Finding Bone Content
Some very industrious person the Dogster raw food forum found a website that lists the bone content of many different cuts of meat. The website can be a bit dodgy; I’ve been trying off-and-on for a few weeks to get it to work, but had luck today. I am using FireFox as my browser, so that might have something to do with it, but I don’t know. Anyway, here’s the bone content for easily available cuts:
chicken:
- neck: 36%
- back: 44%
- whole fryer: 32%
- wing: 46%
- drumstick: 33%
- breast: 20%
turkey:
- wing: 33%
- neck: 42%
duck:
- whole: 28%
lamb:
- ribs: 27%
It does have it’s limitations since I searched for many red meat cuts and had very little luck finding information on them, but for poultry it seems to work very well.
