Making food for the first time

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Kitties Momma

Kitties Momma

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Hello ALL! I am have ordered my grinder and read Dr. Lisa's recipe, I am going to a local store called Raw Connection tomorrow to procure ingredients. I was wondering if any of you have any tips/pointers/info on the process of grinding the meat, making the food, etc? Thanks!! Tiffany
 
Don't try to process 26 pounds of chicken on your first try :lol:


That being said - you will work out your own method to it all. I personally start by taking half of the chicken thighs and cut the meat off of them to chunk. I also choose to take the skin off of the thighs I chunk since it makes it easier to cut and Oscar seems to need less fat in his diet since he gains weight easily. Then I use my meat cleaver and chop up the bones into 1.5in sections and run through the grinder. After that I take the next 1/4 of the chicken thighs and chop it up with the cleaver and run that batch through the grinder, I do the same thing with the last quarter. Working in smaller batches when you grind helps because you don't have this massive overflowing pile of chicken cubes to deal with. I use the chicken livers at the end to kinda help clean up things as they pass through. I mix the water and egg/supplements in with everything last. I mix everything in a very very large stainless mixing bowl and mix with a large stew pot spoon. When chopping up the meat, make sure to use a dishwashable cutting board so you can sanitize it.

One month of food for my 3 cats is around 16-18 pounds of chicken thighs. Today this took me just over 2 hours to process and clean up everything. The first time I tried to process like 24-26 pounds of chicken and it took me 4 hours to do. This was also before I purchased a hefty meat cleaver though. The cleaver was the best $50 I ever spent!

FYI - don't put the metal grinder parts in the dishwasher. The finish is not meant to withstand it.
 
Thank you so much!! I am very excited to make the food! Chunking the food by hand is a pain in the a%^!~
Thanks again!
Tiffany
 
yes, chunking is a PIA big time. I but the #10 bags from walmart, they are legs and thighs. I pull skin down on over half of all bags the separate legs from thighs. then I remove as much meat from said and chunk.
the grinder will handle the entire leg bone and for the thigh, I just bend up the one long bone so it will fit. this grinder has never had a problem. the supplements, I just toss those in the grinder along with some bones. otherwise the oils in fish and E will squirt out. I use the pills of B-100 since they are cheaper. the eggs are to be all cooked/dr. lisa since some samonella scare. I do 1 #10 bag at a time, the chunks go into one plastic shopping bag and the skin and bones in another. makes for easier weighing.
I get a lot of my supplements from puritans pride or i herb. whichever is cheaper. hope this helps some.
takes me about 4 hours and that is with the 2 fosters staring at me the whole time. finish to end
 
I know you mentioned that you are going to a store called the Raw Connection to get your meat, but I want to put one caution out there to others reading this. Look carefully at the fine print on the packages of chicken. I found most of what is in the grocery stores has added "chicken broth" for flavor, or other sodium solutions. You want to look for chicken that doesn't have this because those solutions greatly add to the salt content of the chicken, which is not so good for the kitty to have long term. I haven't purchased chicken at Wal-mart, so I don't know about their chicken, but the big packages at Sam's club did have chicken broth added.

I personally wait for my local Indiana grocery store to run a sale on Purdue chicken. They are fed a grain diet (no animal by-product meal) and includes no sodium/chicken broth solutions. The latest sale was $0.98/lb for their grade A chicken thighs, which is close to the $0.81/lb for the no-name chicken thighs at Sam's club with the broth added. I spent a total of $22 on chicken/livers/eggs for a month's worth of food for 3 kitties this time.
 
Get yourself a good meat cleaver if you don't have one. Find one that weighs and feels good in your hand. You don't have to spend a fortune for a good one. And get a knife sharpener for it.

Then hack away. I hack the meat and bones to protect the grinder and make it all go through easier. When using skin - cut that into small slices/pieces and run through the grinder.

If you do more than one batch - take the grinder apart and toss out the stuff that sticks, wash and reuse.

Yes, the hacking is time consuming, but in the end, you've got something for the kitties. and you know what's in it.

Good luck.
 
Here is the cleaver I bought: Dexter Russel 8" Cleaver with rosewood handle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019KATWY

It is hefty and I have to use two hands, but it chops through with ease. Plus it is only $53!

Don't go for the fancy ones by Wusthof or Hinkles..... the blade is too delicate to be chopping through bone all the time and imo there isn't enough weight behind it.
 
thanks again all!~ I can't wait to get started! The Raw Connection is an independent store in Carmel CA. I didn't get there today because it is about 30 mins from my house and I really had no reason to go otherwise (don't have my grinder yet) but I am going to check the packages for solution added for sure! I think they sell whole rabbit and turkey etc.... I definitely need a cleaver too! Thanks for the link!
 
You don't have to spend $50+ on a cleaver. Go to a local asian market and pick up one for around $10. They're twice as heavy and will last decades longer than any brand name cleaver you can get off Amazon.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/11-3-4-asian-bone-cleaver/88547338.html

Also, when you have the meat broken down into manageable (grindable) chunks, put it in the freezer for 10 minutes while you get your grinder and receiving area ready. The colder the meat (while not frozen hard), the better the grind and the less stickiness will be a problem along the grind screw and in the die. It should be firm to the touch, but the texture should not be immobile.

You should also try to have your receiving bowl as cold as possible when the ground meat comes out of the grinder. The processing will warm the meat up considerably, and you're going to want to keep it cold for sanitation purposes and to make it easier to work with. A good option to do this is to place the receiving bowl in an ice bath. This way the heat is drawn out of the meat as it rests there during the entire process.
 
Excellent! I am going in search of my cleaver and bowl tomorrow! Good thought on the ice bath I would have never thought of that! Thanks again!
 
Hmmm....I have made a gazzilion pounds of cat food over the past 8 years and have never found the need to use a meat cleaver.

I just send the thighs through the grinder - intact. BUT...I will say that if you send the HIP joint of the thigh down the grinder FIRST....the agar doohickywhopper thingamabob grabs onto the bone better than if you send the knee down first. The agar thingie just does not grab knees as well as it does the asymmetrical bulge on the hip end of the femur bone.

For those of you not up on your anatomy, look at the thigh bone next time. The Asymmetrical end is the hip joint end.

I end up with about 30 lbs of finished food in ~2.5 - 3 hours??? Give or take.

I would be dangerous with a meat cleaver....would probably end up missing a few fingers. (I am much better with a scalpel blade. :-D )
 
Lisa dvm said:
I would be dangerous with a meat cleaver....would probably end up missing a few fingers. (I am much better with a scalpel blade. :-D )
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I've taken apart a chicken with scalpels before, but I usually only use them to spatch a game hen, rabbit or quail. They can make for a fast breakdown if you know what you're doing, can't they?
 
Julius' Mom said:
Thanks Dr Lisa! My grinder should be here tomorrow!
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Ah....where did those days go when we used to get excited about bicycles and model horses? Now we all get excited about grinders to make cat food. :-D
 
as stated above in my post, I have never had to chop up the bones.this grinder handles the bones like a champ and i have been doing this since 06 I remove the meat and chunk it but that does not go into the grinder. that is mixed in after I grind the bones,liver,eggs and supplements and add water. the bones still have a little meat on them cause I do not remove 100%. too time consuming. I also make #30 at a time as I have 6 and sometimes 8 cats to feed
 
so.....do you still swear at me everytime you are stuck in the kitchen making cat food like I do to Anne of catnutrition.org fame? (Anne got me started making cat food.....)
 
Ok now I have a stupid question.... here is how I was going to make the food, tell me if this is correct
-grind meat and bones together
-grind liver/cooked eggs
-mix with water and supplements (I got capsules and liquigels so I can incorporate it into the water)

I actually do a fair amount of cooking and feel very comfortable in the kitchen, but I want to be sure this is the correct procedure, since above someone stated they chunk their meat, I was hoping to grind it.
Thanks!
Tiffany
p.s. I know the things we get excited about a new washing machine! a new dishwasher! those were the days, a new scooter! a new bike..... oh well, if it makes my boys happy and healthy that's all I care about! dancing_cat dancing_cat dancing_cat
 
See my Making Cat Food page - Dental Health section - and chunk as much meat as you have the patience for.

I go into more detail on that page about balance, etc. (If a cat eats around the chunks, the diet will not be as well-balanced....ie...too much bone.)
 
what's the matter Dr. lisa. ears been burning. well then, better prepare yourself this weekend cause I have a few good ones saved up for ya. LOL
God do I hate chunking
 
the chunks are to help with the teeth cleaning. you can toss your supplements in the grinder. I put some bone in, then some supplements then more bone. otherwise if you just dump in the supp, they will squirt all over.
read dr. lisa's page. It is very good at explaining everything and all things :)
 
dian and wheezer said:
God do I hate chunking
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Ditto....and I am really bad about doing it. My cats are so lazy about eating them and then I just get frustrated.

I brush Robbie's teeth every day....which has been a HUGE...HUGE!! help but my other cats are not getting much done in the way of dental health practices and that is not a good thing.
 
well, I chunk faithfully (damn you) but I have yet to stick a finger or anything in my cats mouth. probably would have better mouth if I did but all that extra protein might unbalance the diet :lol:
 
dian and wheezer said:
well, I chunk faithfully (damn you)
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It is so nice to see people doing as I say and not as I do. :-D

but I have yet to stick a finger or anything in my cats mouth. probably would have better mouth if I did but all that extra protein might unbalance the diet :lol:
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No fingers....just a toothbrush.

I am trying to finish my Vaccine webpage (I am so tired of seeing cats overvaccinated.....) and then when I get that done, I need to write a Dental Health page.
 
I will be anxious to see your vaccination page! I have a cat (Cairo) with allergies that my previous vet said should eat Science Diet Z/D and D/D food.... which I fed until Julius was diagnosed with Diabetes, had she told me about the raw diet, like me new vet did I could have possibly avoided diabetes in the first place..... oh well live and learn. I just hate that he has to go through this, I am anxious to get him back to 100%. I am doing a curve on him today. My new vet is not vaccine happy and even suggested suspending all or most of his vaccines as he is indoor only, 12 years old, has NO desire to be outside and has the allergy history. I have never been a big fan of arbitrary vaccination anyway, its nice to have a vet that understands and supports that.
 
job well done on all your articles. I very much look forward to your new ones.
keep up the good work. I know how tiring it can be when "some" do not get it.
 
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