Help with a recipe

[Maggieandme]

Hi
My cat Maggie got hooked on Fancy Feast Chicken Florentine supplied to her by her well meaning sitter while I was out of town.
I did manage to wean her off it by mixing it with her Wellness as I was advised to do here.
I would like to try and replicate the recipe for Chicken Florentine using food I have on hand. Chicken, liver, turkey, spinach and chicken broth seem to be the only ingredients I can readily identify from the label.
Do you have any advice and suggestions before I try to make this at home?

[allfurlove]

Thats a good idea! I *think* you will have to add a multi-vitamin&mineral supplement, Taurine (very important!), as well as bone meal for calcium.
Im not sure about the amounts needed for cats but it shouldn't be too complicated if you can find the exact requirements.

[sugarcatmom]

Hi Maggieandme,

You might want to check out this recipe for making (raw) cat food: http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm I know it looks more complicated than you were probably intending, but cats have some very specific nutrient requirements that you can't really mess with. The calcium-phosphorus ratio is important, so you would either need to use meat and organs with bone (80% meat, 10% organ, 10% bone), or else calculate the the amount of phosphorus in the meat and add a corresponding amount of calcium supplement (not bone meal, which adds yet more phosphorus to the mix).

There are also powdered premixes available like Instincts TC which you can mix with raw meat. I really don't recommend feeding a cooked home-made diet for more than the occasional treat because cooking the meat cancels out all the benefits of feeding fresh food. Plus it's more work.

A warning about the spinach: in very small quantities or fed only occasionally, it's probably fine, but spinach is quite high in oxalates. Too much oxalate in the diet could possibly cause calcium oxalate crystals to form in the urine. Just something to be aware of if you plan on making it a regular part of Maggie's meals.

[Maggieandme]

Yikes! Good thing I checked in here.
I was thinking more along the lines of a homemade minced casserole that I could freeze in ice cube sized portions......
I don't feel confident enough to consider adding supplements or chemicals to her food. Maybe she could have a tin of Chicken Florentine mixed into her Wellness occasionally but not anytime in the near future because I had a really hard time getting her off it.
Thank you for your advice.
Laurie

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by Maggieandme

I was thinking more along the lines of a homemade minced casserole that I could freeze in ice cube sized portions......

Nothing wrong with that, as long as it's just for treats or the occasional meal. When it gets to be more than about 10-20% of her diet, it would have to be better balanced.

Originally Posted by Maggieandme

I don't feel confident enough to consider adding supplements or chemicals to her food.

Totally understandable. If you ever do want more detailed help in calculating the amount of supplements, I'd be happy to help.

Originally Posted by Maggieandme

Maybe she could have a tin of Chicken Florentine mixed into her Wellness occasionally but not anytime in the near future because I had a really hard time getting her off it.
Thank you for your advice.
Laurie

I wonder if it was the "newness" of the Chicken Florentine that Maggie really liked. My cat gets bored if I just feed him one brand, so I must confess that I even have Fancy Feast in his menu rotation. He gets somewhere around a dozen different canned foods, plus a wide variety of pre-made raw. I personally don't see anything wrong with the occasional can of Chicken Florentine, especially if it's mixed with Wellness and it keeps Maggie excited about dinner.

[Maggieandme]

Thanks Sugarcatmom
I know her diet is pretty monotonous mainly because of her dislike of any kind of seafood. She is really liking the new Core chicken, turkey and chicken liver. Adding that to the menu has really helped. She does like all the Wellness flavours without fish.
Tailblazers has some pre-packaged frozen raw food. I will try it the next time I go to town.
I will explore the makingcatfood site.
Laurie