12/11 Butters AMPS 319/+3 283/+7 277/PMPS 358/

tiffmaxee said:
I forgot to hit send yesterday, lol. Does the pain seem to be controlled?
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Yes. I believe it is. She doesn't "look" like she is in pain. No swatting when I've touched her sides lately.
She is getting a dose of pain meds 5x per day. Granted they are lower doses, I think. But it seems like an awful lot.
 
JOJI and Kit said:
don't know how it is for butters, but the gaba really makes those two p's harder to achieve w kit.
we've noticed they mostly occur when the drug dose is at the end of its life.
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I think the pain meds are a part of it. She never wants to play when her BGs are high, so that's also part of it. But her purring only seems to have become inconsistent recently. I need to learn how to speak "cat".
I hope kit is on her way to recovering today. :bighug:
 
Morning Lyla, I'm sure Butters will be back to purring and playing.
I'm glad to hear she doesn't seem to be in any pain.
I hope you and Butters have a good day and she slides down safely ♥♥:bighug::bighug:
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good luck with the increase.

The elk was a later addition to Neko's meals. Chicken/turkey/kangaroo or lamb/venison was the original rotation. Neko wasn't fussy, but I rotated every day. Access to a nutritionist vet was hard here. I did ask my vet once if she knew someone, the answer was no. So I got a lot of my knowledge from raw pet food suppliers. I had a good friend who worked at a job sourcing proteins at a raw pet food manufacturer nearby, plus the folks at a couple of raw pet food stores are really knowledgeable.

I wanted a mix of lean and fattier meats for Neko, not all one or the other. Cost was also a factor, given her insulin appetite. :rolleyes: It was better when I made my own with a premix. When I went to making my own, then I was limited to what meats the exotic meat butcher had, plus I could get some bulk plain meats from the raw pet food store. Since then, a new locally owned grocery store opened up nearby that sells organic meats, and does delivery. :cool:

One of the things I considered was whether the meat was a warm or cool meat, and the time of year. More about that here. I was also concerned about weight gain so calories was also a consideration as was carbs. Kangaroo is a higher carb meat by a couple points. And I had to change the diet somewhat when Neko was diagnosed with CKD, less commercially available and more home made.
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It's so great that you have that kind of access. I drive all the way to the other side of Toronto to go to my butcher of choice, who sources meat that is raised with more "ethical" standards (for whatever that's worth). All for butters. She is the only meat eater in this home. :rolleyes: Homemade, even when using a premix and whole cuts of meat, has turned out to be less expensive than buying raw from a pet food store, so that's nice. But her food bill is still much higher than mine.:rolleyes: We know who the important one is in this home:p.

In addition to controlling phosphorous levels, I'm trying to control fat in Butters' diet, too. I'm chopping all of the meat by hand so I have some control over the amount of fat. I've kept the pork on the leaner side, choosing cuts (loin, trimmed chops) that have very little fat and/or trimming it, trying to balance it since the beef tends to be fattier (hello, less expensive stewing beef!).

Thanks for that link. I think Butters is a cool cat:cool:, which I'm going to keep in mind. It sounds kind of ayurvedic in a way. I have always fed her based on a specific number of calories, and that kept her weight steady for years. But in the past few months it has become been very difficult. She puts on weight easily and I'll suddenly see her with a little paunchy belly. Maybe partly because she doesn't move much anymore. I know I need to get a baby scale for her. Now that I'm doing homemade raw, calculating the exact calories has become more challenging. I look up calories of whatever raw cut of meat on the Internet that I'm using, and calculate it out from there.
 
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Hope Butters gets back to purring and playing :cat: Glad to hear you don't think she's in pain :bighug: Good luck with the food prep...you're doing great mama bean :bighug:

Have a great day, Lyla :bighug:
 
Butters & Lyla said:
Now that I'm doing homemade raw, calculating the exact calories has become more challenging. I look up calories of whatever raw cut of meat on the Internet that I'm using, and calculate it out from there.
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I was never that detailed. I fed some meats that were higher calorie and some that were lower and figured it sort of balanced out. The baby/pet scale helped me determine if I need to add or subtract some grams from the daily amounts. I tended to freeze one days worth of food at once, made it easier to serve.

Butters, pink is not a good look on orange cats. Just saying.... Blue is much more complimentary.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I was never that detailed. I fed some meats that were higher calorie and some that were lower and figured it sort of balanced out. The baby/pet scale helped me determine if I need to add or subtract some grams from the daily amounts. I tended to freeze one days worth of food at once, made it easier to serve.

Butters, pink is not a good look on orange cats. Just saying.... Blue is much more complimentary.
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Thank you:bighug: Okay, baby scale is my next purchase. I've been talking about it for a couple of months at least.:facepalm:

One last question...if you don't mind: did you use pre-ground meats or did you grind them yourself? I'm really just not sure about the calorie counts of ground meat. I'm looking at the online calorie counters. But I get what you're saying about higher vs lower and the calories balancing out.

I'm freezing in ice cube trays...in individual portions for the pancreatitis cat who seems to require a feeding every three hours.:rolleyes:
 
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Butters & Lyla said:
One last question...if you don't mind: did you use pre-ground meats or did you grind them yourself?
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I got the butcher to grind it for me. His equipment was set up for that. Even with some meats, you get different calories depending what part you grind. For example, chicken thighs being higher calorie than breast. Getting the butcher to grind for me allowed me to select what bit got ground. And yes, I am lucky to have an organic plus exotic meats butcher 5 minutes away.

I found the smallest ziploc freezer cubes about perfect for a days worth of food. Pull it out of the freezer the night before to thaw in the fridge, then I could pull out what I needed. Neko also needed several meals a day, or she'd chew my leg off. :p
 
Hoping Butters gets out of the pink for you. I'm glad she doesn't seem in pain. When my dog was on Gabapentin, he was very sleepy. That could account for Butters' lack of playing. Vet said it was very sedating.
I feed commercially prepared raw food because it sounds alot easier than trying to figure everything out if I did it myself. All the ratios of bone, organ, etc to get the right balance. I'll pass. Lol. So I'm envious of whoever does it :)
Hope your have a great night :):bighug:
 
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