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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 8:30 am
So, to update you on my "homemade cat food" experience. I went shopping yesterday, and then immediately came home and cooked everything up (mostly cause I wanted a chance to air the smell of fish and chicken outta the house asap! <grin>). I poached 1/4 lb of cod and 1/2 lb of salmon in water. I poached 1 chicken breat (cut up) in water. I steamed 3 carrots and a handful of brocoli crowns. And made 3 cups of rice. I used my mini food processor, and pureed the veggies with poaching liquid (half with the fishy water, half with the chicken). Then I pureed the "proteins" with corresponding poaching liquid and a bit of rice. I mixed half the veggie puree with the fish puree and half with the chicken puree. I added additional poaching liquid to make a "softer" food (since the kids seem to prefer smoother, more "like-able" food, rather than chunky food; plus it's easier to hide Costa's meds). I immediately tested a small spoonful of each. Costa, of course, scarfed both fish and chicken. Kassie was a bit hesitant on the fish (didn't really eat much) but scarfed the chicken. I split the pureed food into small snack bags (that I figured would serve 'em two meals each), and then froze 'em in larger freezer bags. An hour later, I gave them "dinner." They got chicken last night. Kassie scarfed almost all of hers down. Costa ate most of his, but I had to entice him to finish it up (cause of his meds). Tonight will be fish dinner. I'll see how they do. Anyways, the upshot is... OK, I'm a vegetarian, so it was a pain in the ass to buy, cook, and clean up. But it wasn't that expensive (works out to about the same price as a can of Wellness or other premium 3 oz. cat food). However, if this was to be their only source of food, I'd have to buy additional nutritional supplements (calcium, fish oil, taurine, whatever). You can puree the veggies/rice/protein into a fairly smooth batch of food (or leave it chunky if the cat prefers). It took a total of maybe 2 hours to prepare and cook, clean up, puree and package. And, of course, I froze it into smaller portions, so every couple of days they'd have "fresh" food. I guess this could be an alternative, if you are really concerned about what to feed your kids. I've done some digging around, and there are several "camps" on the homemade issue. There is the "do NOT cook the food" camp, and there is the "cook the food" camp. Personally, my cats were raised on cooked food, so tough patootie... they are getting cooked food. (Yeah yeah, there are arguments for and against. I prefer to pay attention to how my cats have been raised, and not what some almost-fanatics say about raw foods.) There are quite a few recipes out there for various different types of food for both cats and dogs. I even found a recipe for "Spot's Stew" which is a canned product you can buy at Whole Foods (and other stores such as Wild Oats and even, I think, Petco). Spot's Stew, made by Halo and not affected by the recall, consists of all homemade ingredients (with nutrients added), and is a bit expensive. But they also include the recipe for Spot's Stew on their Web site. (Note, however, that taurine or other nutrients are not included in this recipe, so I dunno how "nutritionally correct" it is for cats -- the ingredients list on the canned products do include taurine and calcium, among others.) I dunno if I'll go completely holistic. I still have a good feeling about Wellness and Newman's Own, and also Fancy Feast sorta. So I may alternate homemade food with canned food, and see how they do.
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 8:52 am
Thanks for all the good info on your homemade food Costa. I am curious as to how they'll take to the thawed food and whether you'll have to reheat it or just let it thaw and what temperature the food will be when they eat it. Thanks for including the cost too.
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 8:56 am
I'll thaw, and then reheat. I always slightly warm up food that comes from the fridge (when I use the second half of a 3 oz can, I invert a custard cup over the spoonful of food and nuke for about 8 seconds). Slightly heated food provides a better aroma and is more enticing to cats than cold food. So I'll do the same thing with the homemade food... slightly warm it up.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 5:22 pm
You are a most EXCELLENT catmom, Costa. Purrr
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 5:34 pm
LOL... My cats crack me up. So last night, Kassie was all over the chicken and Costa was not so much. Tonight? Costa is all over the fish and Kassie is not so much! I guess I'll have to make BOTH meals for these brats, darn 'em! Spoiled? Yeah, rotten. To the core!
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Monday, April 30, 2007 - 6:59 am
I'm glad the cooking experience was a good one, Costa! No new recalls in the past few days, but here are couple of links: Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China Chinese Admit Adding Melamine to Pet Food is Common Practice
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Monday, April 30, 2007 - 8:28 am
Thanks Costa. I'm glad to hear they love your home cooking! Cdbga, thanks again for all the info. I am shocked that the Chinese add the melamine...just shocked and appalled and saddened.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, April 30, 2007 - 4:39 pm
It is horrible about what the Chinese have done, but I was reading in the newspaper the other day how in China there are dangerous scams to do with food for human consumption in China.. Baby formula being watered down to make more money, whole villages being subjected to purporsely tainted food or, bad food conditions being hidden from people there, so what do they care about pets in some other country?
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Supergranny
Member
02-03-2005
| Monday, April 30, 2007 - 5:49 pm
We drove a 100 miles today to Sam's Club and stocked up on dog treats. We took turns calling the 800 numbers to check if they were on the recall. People were looking sideways at us..LOL. We got 6 bags of the "Alaskan Salmon Yummies" and 2 bags of "Better Than Ears". There was some interesting liver sausages and then when we checked the package it said it was made in China. No way are we going to trust anything made in China after this. We are spending more time reading the packages on the dog food than we do on our food!
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 2:52 am
The morning update: 1. It doesn't look like this is part of the melamine recall, but it was recalled nonetheless: Manna Pro is asking their customers to discard their Uni-Milk milk replacement product This was actually recalled a while back, but we all missed it (the FDA still doesn't have it on their site). 2. FDA widens Chinese import alert Notable from this article is that the FDA is saying for the first time that they've received reports that 1,950 Cats and 2,200 dogs died after eating contaminated food. They've only confirmed the 16 that died in testing, but are at least acknowledging the broader scope. 3. 38 poultry farms in Indiana given contaminated feed
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 3:57 am
Animal feed in China often contains mild toxin Thousands of hogs in U.S. who may have eaten tainted product destroyed snip* in China, the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly used in animal feed and is even praised by some customers, according to the managers of a feed company and one of the chemical’s producers. “Using the proper quantity of melamine will not harm the animals,” “We’ve been running the melamine feed business for about 15 years and receiving positive responses from our customers,” Wang told The Associated Press. “A lot of animal food companies buy melamine from us to add in the animal feed,” Ji said. “This can lower the production cost and increase nitrogen levels.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18400433/ (((tip of the iceberg! I still think that there should be full public accounts of what really goes into our animal food. All animals, not just pets)))
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 6:20 am
Pet Deaths Spur Call for Better FDA Screening
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 9:54 am
Is Your Pet's Food Safe Yet? Why pet owners are worried, and why that's not likely to change soon
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 10:31 am
Cd, that article is very good and very sobering. Thanks..
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Supergranny
Member
02-03-2005
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 11:40 am
CD, I don't think I have told you yet how much I appreciate these pet food recalls and keeping us up to date. Thank you for all your research and hard work. This is no easy task!!
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 12:20 pm
Add me to the thanking crew! I wish there were ONE pet food company that could provide a guarantee that their food is safe. There are several that say they are not affected, but based on the Blue Buffalo problem (the manufacturer was adding ingredients not in the recipe or on the label, I don't feel totally safe. And the brats? Costa loves the homemade fish. Kassie loves the homemade chicken. So damn them, I have to make double batches of food each time! Could the brats make my life easier? Oh no! 
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Bonzacat
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 12:26 pm
For Cdbga - today's For Costa - 
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 1:34 pm
But Costa, they are SOO happy! Maybe you should make them Fishinis to go with your Bellinis..
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 2:12 pm
Cd is awesome for doing this for us!
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 2:28 pm
Fishinis! LOL!!! Honestly, don't ya think they are spoiled enuf?
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 4:01 pm
Costa, I have found that none of the Friskies Cat foods are a problem. http://www.purina.com/Index.aspx
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 4:05 pm
Yeah, I know they aren't. So far. But neither was the Spa Select, till they found out the manufacturer was adding stuff against their request. Wellness, so far, is also good. Still... who do you trust? And, when you read the ingredients, can you trust that they are accurate? (They weren't in the case of Spa Select.) So anything that has any additives of any kind is out. Which is why I'll use up the rest of the canned food I've got, but I'm also using mostly homemade right now.
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - 7:13 am
You are all welcome! I enjoy doing the updates. Makes me feel useful. So, thanks for all the thanks...and thanks Bonza for my flower. Costa I am definitely with you on not knowing who to trust. This whole chicken thing has me worried now, too. I've been cooking for Whitney...usually chicken...and now it could be contaminated. How screwed up would that be...I cook for her to avoid the contaminated pet food only to end up with contaminated chicken? Anyhoo, no new recalls today, but I do have plenty of links. A couple of them made me so mad that I actually had to stop reading/researching for a few hours! 1. Great article from the Washington Post: Crisis Over Pet Food Extracting Healthy Cost A sad, but true quote from that article: "In most jurisdictions," Tobias said, "pets are considered 'personal property' and you only get the value of the pet on the market." 2. Two articles about the chicken feed development: FDA: Feed no human threat FDA: Contaminated feed could affect farms nationwide 3. Food safety czar named - Ex UM medical school professor to probe faults in supply network 4. TRANSCRIPT OF FDA/USDA MEDIA TELECONFERENCE PROVIDING AN UPDATE ON ADULTERATED FEED TO POULTRY AND HOGS - Very Very long, I admit I didn't make it through, but here are the key points (from Itchmo): * 2.5 to 3 million chickens have been fed the tainted pet food and already sold to the public. * “Hundreds” of plants could have received tainted vegetable protein from China. * Due to “low risk”, chicken and pork not recalled. Yet FDA says they lack toxicity data on melamine. * Refuses to name any more company names. You can also read PetConnection's "live-blog" of that teleconference here: Pet food recall: liveblogging 5/1 FDA press conference. Same info, but more concise and an easier read.
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - 7:17 am
My thanks to you, Cdbga, as well. And I'm with you Costa on not knowing who to trust. I've been buying my dog what I thought was a primo, high quality, natural dry food from my veterinarian's office. I'm happy to pay the extra for it for his health, the quality of his stools, etc. And he's never balked at it. But now I wonder if I've been wasting my money -- if it all isn't the same stuff, different brand name. If you can't trust what's listed on the ingredient list on the bag, then what...?
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Taterheadtwo
Member
09-29-2005
| Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - 7:33 am
im sure some wont agree, but i trace this back to nafta, since then we ( usa ) import way too much ( any is too much ) food for pet, livestock and human consumption. i used to wok for a large grocery chain wharehouse and we used to go down to lower teaxas and haul back alot of produce, where the farmer used poision pesticides that have been banned since the 1970's in the usa, nafta was to make the middle men and rich only richer, really harmed the farmers, which then had to adapt, worse thing this country goverment ever allowed , and i blame the goverments form the 80 and 90's for it, sorry to offend any but bill clinton was a big supporter of it, ( mainly becuase of tyson foods, who we all know gave back top the clintons, allowing tyson to do things most would not like if found out and grow into the number one chicken supplier, went form healthy chickens to ones mass force into closure and produce ar4e die, chickenm so hypes up of drugs and unhealthy grains just to have a chicken naturak grotwh go to to a couple of week before processed when it used to be a couple of months. come on what america eats is a shocker, but as long as goverment and congress get greased its alouded. truth id one shoud just by generic brand because far too much of what you pay for is a brand name is is very little different in content are quality then cheaper brands.
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