Sunday update for the week and some Cat-Food Info too

Whole lots of whole lots here on a beyootiful Sunday!

Furst: I needed to take Buttons down a peg or two.
He was just all full of himself. Those young-ins.

Pops was a bit amazed that I would do the old "Bite your neck and totally dominate you!" move on one of the crew.

Well Pops, it needed to be done. I think my looking around to make sure every-cat was paying attention and then grabbing him a second time was a bit funny. That Cat-Humor Pops, and, you have to admit, he has been a good kitty since. Meow.

Now me and Buddy we have an understanding. I whack him. He whacks me. Whack whacky whack whack! What more needs to be meowed I purr-ya?

No Slack in the Whack Attack!

Seconds: A Big Double Paws-up to Toby! Pops was reading like every night. We are all sitting with him on the couch. Toby notices a passage and makes it known that this WORD is not needed in any book by tapping the Nook and highlighting the nasty word 'dog'.

Just because we do not make a practice of highlighting things do not think we are not up on what is going on by reading over your shoulder. We have to admit Toby presented our case in a respectful and educated manner. Pops may have had to put his eyes back in his head but... he got the point.

Thurds: Fitz! Gurl! You just gotta Chillax a bit! Fur-Shur Cat!

Come on Guys lez play!

I mean really! You have to yell, uh, more lady-cat like. Meow!

Whew I think I over did it!

Told ya so!

What do you think Buddy-Bud?

Ahz be thinkin dat Rumpers oughtta smellin hiz own feetz!

Thanks Buddy. Now last but not furgot!

Furthz: is our own best Dad, take it away Pops!

Thanks Tim. 

Just a fast update on the Home Made Cat Fud, uh, food, must be Buddy wearing off on me.

All the Vitamins, Minerals, and Aminos are all available on Amazon. I checked priced and they are just about the best if not within a buck or so. I like Amazon due to having an account and purchases being only a click. 

I will be making another batch in a week or two and may try using less bone or substituting bone meal. Will post any updates. Have a good week.

No Tim! I do not add Skippy! 

Well have a purrfect week all you Crazy Cats.

Timmy T and Da-Boyz(With One Gal) Signing Off

Buddy Bud Speaks

Hey yo all youz catz.
Buddy tellin ya I so healthy and Snazzy lookin ah gotz da fur wit a thousand Shades of Grayz. 
Yessir!

Lookin Good N Gray

Why youz askz?Buddy-Bud tell ya.
We all got blinder sider by Pops. He just snagus all and inta them carreer things we'z went.

Den we go to dat vet-nary.
So we all pretty mad like. MEOWWe all got our shotz. OUCHIE!Dey stick a thingz in mah earz. QUITIT!Dey take Buddy-Bud BLOOD! OUCHIE OUCHIEWhew den we goez home.


So we all unlax and chillin.Pops tellus whut up
Buddy-Bud iz Tirteenz PounderzAn mah sugarz purfectPops say he checkin it makin sure ah healthy healthy SeniorThere ah say it Senior

Yessir

So lemme tell ya all youz hot Queens out dere!Seniors specially!Buddy Bud Shiney Healthy Furz wit Thousand Shade Gray!Lookin GOOOODDDD!

YessirThanks Pops fur everting!
Buddy Bud Senior Slim N Fit Tomcat!

Hot Days, Food Info and Plain Old Cat Fun

Well I hope youz all been keeping cool cauz...  Let me meow to ya! It is hot here in PA. 90's all week so far. Hsssss.  


Then there was that big boomer storm yester-after and it was still hot. Let me tell you cats; having to keep the Boyz in line with everycat being cranky with the heat, MEOWRRRRR. Like Herding Cats I tell ya, whats a cat to do anyhow? 

What a chore! Herding Cats!

Thanks to our little gal Fitz. Kept it from being totally out of kilter. Good to have a girls touch in the house. She has been a really nice addition with her keeping the belchin and fartin down to a low roar. You know Guyz! Terrible if there ain't a gurl-cat about! She raises her paw and has that sloe-eyed look that makes them just stop in their tracks, and, well, listen. Must be a Gurl-Cat thing.

Now Boys... BOYS! That's better.  Chill

  

Whats that Pops? You have something to add about making cat food. Sure sure sure...Ok ok ok... Not like you don't ever have the puter. grumble rumble...

OK Pops! You're on!

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Pops here. I just wanted to add a bit of information about the cat food mix.

First: VERY IMPORTANT! If you decide to make cat food with a home grinder be very careful about bones! I put my mix through at least 2 passes with a medium and then a fine grinder plate so there are really no bone bits in my mix. BUT! Be careful when you change plates or have to open up to clear a blockage. Throw that bit of meat out! It will be full of bone bits. Check the photo!

Just Look at what came out of my grinder!

This came out when I had to clean the plate when things slowed down. There was very little meat so don't be tempted. Safe not sorry. 

So I now have made my second batch and this time I made about 8 pounds worth. Since I checked on the USDA web site for safe food storage I feel fine with freezing this for a few weeks. In fact it said that cooked you could keep chicken for 4 months. Frozen Chicken was good for a long long time and really it has to do with being attractive and tasty more than going bad. Who knew? Not me.

That said I am thinking about getting a small freezer. Chicken is going to be very cheap for about the next month as farmers cull the flocks due to rising grain costs. If I can get one for a nice price I may pick up a hundred pounds of thighs. I will then process maybe 20 pounds at a time and that will last over 2 months. Seems realistic.

I have to add a lot of water when I thaw the mix out. Maybe equal parts mix and water. I had been thawing a cup out at a time(I did one cup per freezer bag) with a cup of water. That lasted a day as I gave a morning and evening meal. After a week the guys were eating less. I switched them to half what they had been getting in the morning and then a little bigger dinner. I keep the dinner larger to encourage sleeping through the night.

This is a little less than 8 pounds. 30 days worth.

I may look into beef and fish too. My guys LOVE fish. Not real big on the beef since they like scraps when I have beef I bet they will like if if made to taste. I will keep you all infurmed. 

OK Timmy thanks buddy!

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Thanks Pops!

Well we will sign off with a rendition of your old favorites sung by our very own star of the big screen Rumpy-Bump Stuuuuummmmmpnotsssss! TAKE IT AWAY RUMPY!

Thanks to Timmy our Host!

 How are ya all tonight? Yeah! Yeeeeaaahhh!

Lets hear it fur Buddy on Drums, Toby on Steel Guitar, Buttons on Organ and Fitz with backup Vocals.

A one and a two and a....

Homemade Chicken Cat Food

OK we have had some time to get our fangs into this new fangled, MEOW, I break me up! We now have a good idea on what we think of Pops Chicken Meals. Rumpy why don’t you go first.

Rumpy: Thanks Tim: Well I must say the Old Guy has been pushing his concoction for over a week, and, and, AND. I admit its not bad. Actually it is pretty good.
Yeah I know. I know, who would have thought. He does mix our tasty fishy food in with his mix which was a bit strange at furst, but, it is nice to have a bit of a choice. I can pick what I want and there we are. And the best part is... WHAT! WHAT’S THAT! YEOW I’M OUTTA HERE!

Timmy: Rump? It’s just the television! Come out from there.

Rump: No way. You stay out there. Me I keep friends close and my skin closer.

Timmy: Who’s next? Fitz? Toby? Buddy?

Buddy: Ah willz tellya. Purdy goodz. Yessir.And ah doan hav no probs wit blockage. Yessir

Timmy: Uh, right. I do not think everycat wants to hear about your constipation Buddy.

Buddy: Jus da trute. Nuttin but da trute. So halp me Bast.

Timmy: Right. Who else.

Toby: Yep. I agree. Have to say it makes my coat nice and shiney. I think it is a good addition to our diet.

Buttons: Hey! Are you leaving me out? I like it. So does my girl Fitz.

Timmy: Well there you have it. Pops we like it.

Pops: I am really glad Tim. I worry about you cats and want you each to have the best health you can. This diet has much less residue and is very nutrient dense. Meaning you guys Poop less  and get more out of each meal.

Timmy: I thought so.

Pops: Yes You all have been really good about this. Lets share this with other Pawrents!

Homemade Chicken Cat Food

Hi there you lucky cat owners you. Thanks for stopping by to see what me and Tim are up to. So lets get on with the show.

I decided to try homemade cat food almost a year ago. I read about Raw and decided to give it a go. I bought a grinder on Amazon for about $110.00 if I remember correctly. Pretty good deal for an 1800 watt model. Mine has reverse and 2 speeds. 

So the grinder came and I bought some breasts and... Yuck! What a mess. They needed to be cut up. They got stuck and would not go through the grinder. A real P-In The-A. And the boys. Hah. They would not have anything to do with it. So best planned and all that the grinder went in the back of the closet.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was reading a great site http://www.catinfo.org/ and started thinking about making my own food again. Why? Glad you asked.

I worry about my guys. I will list some issues we have around here although who has what shall remain secret due to HIPAAF. (Humans Inserting Asinine Assumptions of Felines) 

1. Aggression: I have noted that if I give a big handful of treat(I use dry food as treats) some become very animated. As we have a play session at night there is a reward for the excellent chase and catch behavior. So why were they still all wound up? I fell it was the dry. Cats do not metabolize carbs like we do. They do not store them well. They use them. I feel this equals the wild bunch I have some nights.
2. Constipation or Diarrhea: I have an older gentleman who was getting constipated every couple months. He mopes around and I can tell he does not feel good. He is also a bit over weight. I have a guy who has had runny stools on and off since he came to live with me. Very messy as he never learned to keep his BUMP up when doing his duty. He also sometimes has hangers-on. He turns around and there you go: Smoosh-Yuck
3. Health. I have a FIV fellow. I want to give him the very best of the best so his immune system is as good as can be. Now if you check the true information on cat foods you see that even the high cost brands may not be that good. Nutritional wise that is. Yeah they love the taste but...

Now at the same time I had some issues with Raw.

1. Bacteria. I am a Nurse. OK cats eat prey out in the wild that is raw, and, may even be a few days funky. Truth is they say to remove the food in a few hours and throw it away. Well... My dudes eat at night. They like a nice snack at 3am and if it is not there all hell breaks loose    Dad-DAD-HONGRY-DAD-DAD. Sheesh. 6am is fine. 3am HISSSSSS.
2. Ginding: I got a grinder that is actually more powerful than that most recommend. First time was a real pain in the hindquarters. I had to back up and cut it smaller and again again. No Fun.
3. Will they eat it? NO. You would think it was, gee, I don't know, food. I went through the work of getting them off the dry and onto wet. I have no wish to repeat a similar endeavor. 

So what to do. Modify. I read the info at Cat Info dot org and modified the way I was making the food. No more big part. Parts is parts so I got Legs. I also decided to cook my legs. I cooked them pretty well. Wow what a difference. They just went right through the grinder without a problem. Actually it was fast. The cleanup was way more time consuming than the grinding.


Pops Cat Food Recipe
I did not add all the vitamins and Taurine. Why? This is in addition too regular cat food and is not a complete replacement. Now I will most likely start adding the other ingredients now that I know they will eat it. Which by the way only took a few hours with this cooked recipe.

• I make at least a pack at a time of Chicken Legs. This was about 4 pounds in the first batch. They are from a local Giant where they were $1.99. The web site uses Whole Foods but that is a bit out of my league. If I do not eat Organic this and that my guys can pass too. Now that I was successful with the first batch I started watching for sales. I just got 10 pounds for $0.99.
• I cook just as you would any baked chicken. I like a big Pyrex pan. I take out some bone and skin so the fat calcium ratio is correct. The photo is scrap from about 4 pounds of Legs.

• After you cook the chicken there is quite a bit of juice and fat which I took the time to separate. I had added a cup of water to the pan. The first batch I was thinking that much fluid would make a runny mess. Not even! Don't bother with the separating. You will need more fluids added in later anyhow. This is the first pass with a large grinder plate. You use the big hole grinder plate for the first pass. Zoom. 5 minutes tops. DISCARD Bone Fragments when you change plates!

• Here is the second pass. This is the large round hole grinder plate. It just goes right through. DISCARD Bone Fragments when you change plates!

• The third pass I added in the fat and liquid. Add it slowly! If you add too fast you get a river and it needs to be mixed later by hand. DISCARD Bone Fragments when you change plates!

• Remember each pass to DISCARD Bone Fragments when you change plates! I stress this as I care about all cats. For the little bit of meat do not bother to worry just throw it out. I take all my scraps right to outside so no one gets into it at night. 
• From 4 pounds I got about 8 cups of fully ground meat. It was so thick I added another 2 cups of water. I used small freezer bags and put a cup in each and froze the mixture.

I thawed the mix by putting it in the microwave for 1 minute. It still needs more fluids. This is from the bone in the mix. The first night I put it out by itself. Well there was some reluctance. I next put it over regular cat food. This worked well. Hey Dad we LIKE it!

I also had to really adjust how much I feed the guys. There are 6 cats here. All adults. 2 big guys. I was giving them 6 cans a day. Quite the cost even on sale. They love Friskies but it has gone to over fifty cents a can. I have been getting PetSmart Store Brand that are similar which is 0.43. I have cut back to 3 cans a day with one cup of my Chicken Mix. I give a half can and some chicken in the morning. Then we have a nice big dinner at 8PM. 2 Cans and the rest of the bag of Chicken.

So I have cut back 3 cans a day. The cup of Chicken is maybe fifty cents. So I save a buck a day. Not a whole lot but it make the difference in being able to feed your cats and maybe not.

I will keep you informed about how it works with the vitamins and Taurine added in.

Enjoy!