TCfeline Special Formula – a versatile premix for making homemade cat food for adult cats
Ingredients: New Zealand whey protein isolate, calcium carbonate, taurine, Canadian freeze-dried krill, Feline Future B Complex (Choline L-Bitartrate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Methylcobalamin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine HCI, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, D-Biotin), Vitamin E succinate, Vitamin A palmitate (Retinol), Vitamin D3, Potassium Iodide.
TCfeline Special Formula was formulated without bone, dicalcium phosphate or gelatin. Bone or dicalcium phosphate are added to diets as a source of calcium and phosphorus. Gelatin intends to mimic the skin and connective tissue of prey and serves as a kind of pre-biotic. By relying on phosphorus from meat alone and calcium from calcium carbonate, the cat food made with TCfeline Special Formula is a low Phosphorus, low ash diet for adult cats.
Incidentally, edible bone, dicalcium phosphate, and gelatin are some of the most expensive ingredients. They are building blocks of a diet that attempts to replicate whole prey. If you are ok with making a compromise by diverging a some from the whole-prey-diet idea, TCfeline Special Formula can be a great solution for a more affordable raw diet. Another feature of TCfeline Special Formula is the addition of supplemental B vitamins and Vitamin A and D, removing the necessity to add raw liver to the diet.
Low in phosphorus for kidney disease:
Without bone or dicalcium phosphate or gelatin, TCfeline Special Formula is low in phosphorus. A low phosphorus diet is recommended for cats 12 years old or older to help maintain healthy kidney function. A low phosphorus diet is essential for the management of cats with any degree of existing kidney disease. Supplemental B vitamins, like Feline Future B Complex in TCfeline Special Formula, are also very important for cats with kidney disease.
TCfeline Special Formula can be prepared with the addition of butter and cooked yam, if necessary, to create a diet therapeutically reduced in protein for cats with very advanced kidney disease, to lessen uremic episodes. Dietary proteins create metabolic by-product which dysfunctional kidneys can no longer clear from the blood, resulting in levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) that are too high and causing uremic episodes or uremic crisis.
Kidney disease cannot be cured with any diet, but diet can help prevent kidney disease. Diet can also help manage symptoms when kidney disease does happen, along with guidance from your veterinarian, fluid therapy, and medication. Please note, dietary protein is not implicated in the cause of kidney disease, and kidney disease cannot be prevented by feeding a low protein diet. Healthy adult cats and even cats in early to mid stage renal disease should not have the protein in their diet reduced. In fact, cats older than 12 years old have protein requirements similar to kittens due to age related decreased ability to absorb certain nutrients.
Low in overall mineral content to help prevent bladder stones
This diet will not cure bladder stones, but this diet reduced in overall mineral content by omission of bone, dicalcium phosphate and gelatin can be helpful in the prevention of bladder stones. Although the causes of bladder stones vary, a diet high in protein and moisture, and reduced in the minerals calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, is universally applied to help prevent them. A diet high in protein and low in calcium can help lower urine pH. Low dietary phosphorus and magnesium means less of these minerals are excreted in urine where they can potentially form crystalline form in the bladder. A high moisture content of the food means more urine output and more frequent flushing of the bladder before stones can grow too big.
Fortified with Vitamin A, D, and B Complex, making addition of raw liver not necessary.
TCfeline Special Formula is fortified with Vitamin A, D, and B Complex and does not require addition of liver. Fresh liver is packed full of essential nutrients and is something the cat would naturally consume with prey every day. Ideally, it should be incorporated fresh into the diet. However, in nearly three decades of advising people on how to feed homemade cat food, raw liver is an ever-present obstacle for many. Some cats will not eat it raw, some cats will not eat it in any form, and many people have a strong aversion to handling it or real difficulties in sourcing it. TCfeline Special Formula makes it possible to create a diet without liver.
Use with meats that are ground with bone
Because bone and gelatin is left out of this premix, TCfeline Special Formula is uniquely suited, and gives the option, to add them back in via meat ground with raw bone, like whole ground raw chicken or whole ground raw rabbit. This restores the diet to reflect the whole prey model and is a popular and economic way of feeding cats, because you get more value out of the meat. It is because of the popularity of feeding meat ground with raw bone that this option is included here. Please note, raw poultry is a recognized risk for infection with Salmonella which can make cats very ill, especially kittens and immunosuppressed cats. Diets made with using meats ground with raw bone are not that ideal for kittens, because kittens may not be able to fully digest the bone to absorb the calcium, and bone can lead to obstruction of the intestines. When using meat ground with raw bone, the resulting diet is no longer suitable for cats with kidney disease, because it will once again be high in Phosphorus.
Use with cooked meat
Because TCfeline Special Formula is heavily fortified, it is uniquely suitable to use with cooked meats, as long as the premix is added after the meat has been cooked and cooled.
Not for kittens or pregnant or lactating cats!
TCfeline Special Formula is a versatile premix to feed adult cats. It is, however, not suitable for kittens or adolescent cats or pregnant or lactating cats. Growing cats or pregnant or lactating cats have high nutritional requirement for calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium to support normal growth, bone development, and milk production.If necessary, a diet made with TCfeline Special Formula is safe to feed to adolescent cats once they are one year old or older. The necessity may arise from needing to streamline the feeding of a multi cat household or when the making of a homemade diet cannot be continued because of the necessity to add liver.
Preparation instructions and options for using TCfeline Special Formula.
Whenever possible, use a scale to measure ingredients by weight. A digital scale with a range of 1 – 2000g is ideal. Please note that when resorting to using volume measurement, the amounts can only be approximates.
Recipe #1
Suitable for any healthy adult cats, ideal for older cats to help preserve healthy kidney function, ideal for cats in early to mid stage kidney disease.
• 20 g (3 level tablespoons) TCfeline Special Formula
• 250 ml (1 cup) water
• 900 g lean ground raw meat (no bone and organs).
Yields 9 portions of approximately 130g each.
Recipe #2 using meat ground with raw bone
Suitable for any healthy adult cats for a diet that stretches the budget and is based on the “whole prey” model. Grind meat with bone several times, graduating to an ever finer grinder plate to assure bone is reduced to a fine gritty texture to maximise nutrient absorption and eliminate risk of intestinal obstruction or perforation.
• 20 g (3 level tablespoons) TCfeline Special Formula
• 250 ml (1 cup) water
• 100 g raw liver
• 1200 g ground, raw, whole fryer chicken or fryer rabbit with bone.
Yields 12 portions of approximately 130g each.
Recipe #3 with butter and cooked yam
Reduced in protein by 36% and suitable for cats with very advanced kidney disease. Below 0.5% Phosphorus on a dry matter basis. Contains enough Calcium Carbonate to function as Phosphorus blocker. Do not use more Calcium Carbonate, but instead, resort to another Phosphorus blocker, like Aluminum Hydroxide.
• 30g TCfeline Special Formula (measure by weight for accuracy)
• 250 ml (1 cup) distilled water
• 1-2 capsules Omega 3 fish oil
• 700g lean ground meat (no bone and organs). Cooked meat can also be used.
• 400g yam, steam-cooked and pureed (source of energy from carbohydrates, and potassium)
• 140g UNSALTED butter, melted into hot yam (source of energy from fat)
Yields 12 portions of approximately 130g each. Each 130 g portion contains an estimated amount of 12.8 g of protein from lean meat on a wet weight basis or an estimated 39% protein on a dry matter basis.
Recipe #4 with cooked meat
In some instances it is necessary to feed a cooked diet. Poultry meats are always saver when fed cooked. For the recipe below you can slow cook 900 g of raw, ground, boneless meat. In a saucepan, combine the raw meat with the 1 cup of water called for in the recipe, cover, and slow cook on low heat. Alternatively, buy or use 840 g already cooked meat, like meat stripped off a BBQ chicken from the grocery store deli. Do not combine raw meat with the premix first and then cook. The premix contains heat sensitive nutrients and should never be cooked.
• 20g TCfeline Special Formula
• 250 ml (1 cup)
• cooked meat (read above)
Yields 9 portions of approximately 130g each.