Thanks Marta! I would appreciate if you could send me the recipe and samples. You can PM me when you have some time and I'll give you my address.

She's a beautiful cat, and smart, too.  LOL, she picked out your house  .

5CM
₌^..^₌

5catmom,

Is Alnutrin formulated for raw recipes, but not for cooked?
I've been wanting to try it.  (I do see one cooked recipe on their site, submitted by a customer.)

Oh, I see in their Nutrient Calculator you can put in stewed chicken.  But that calculator is way beyond my abilities ( I don't think in percentages). 

Hope this helps with Marta's Alnutrin calculator.

Log onto Marta's site, http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/RecipeBasicnonmetric.htm
Don't be overwhelmed by all the info.  Just do one step at at time.  Go slow.  Don't try to look at everything at once, and don't worry about what's next.

(1)  Find the section toward left of screen, "1.  Create your own recipe".  This is where you select your ingredients, and the amount (expressed as a %) of each ingredient that you want to use.

Edit section 1, so that it looks like the following:

Water                                   14
Chicken thigh, raw                   64
Chicken liver, raw                     4
Chicken heart, raw                   13
Egg yolk, raw                            2
Carrots, cooked                         1
Peas (snowpeas), cooked, boiled   2
Total OK                                100

At this point, you don't have a recipe, but you've selected your ingredients and the amount of each ingredient expressed as a percentage of the total.  You can see that "Total" says 100%.

(2)  Find the section "3. Add the supplement"

The next row down says "Alnutrin with Calcium (%).  Tab over to the white box (which may show 1.1).  Change the info in the white box to "1.2".

(3) Look at the box "Calcium/Phosphorus Ratio" just above where you are, and see that the info in the box now says "Ca:Ph ratio = 1.23   : 1"

You just adjusted the amount of Alnutrin, so that your Calcium:Phosphorus equals 1.23 to 1.

(4) Find the section "4. Make your cat food"

Find the second row "Chicken thigh, raw".  Enter 4.7 lbs, then press the "Tab" key on your computer.  Notice that the lbs and ozs change.  Now you have a recipe that shows you how much of each ingredient to add, and how much Alnutrin to add.  In this example, you add 40 grams of Alnutrin with calcium.  Alnutrin is available in 40gram packets - very convenient to add.  

Here's the recipe (same as you just created) posted on Marta's site:  http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/recipe_library.html

Just scroll down to Louie's Raw Chicken Thigh Recipe.

[Sorry, I don't know how to make that a clickable link.  Louie's recipe is listed third on Marta's recipe page]

(5) Find the section "2. Read nutrient profile of the diet".  Except for methionine, the recipe is balanced.  Here's where Marta explains methionine, http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/troubleshooting_guide.html#methionine

Wasn't that easy?      

PS - I did that rather quickly.  Please let me know if you see any errors.  

5CM

Petslave,

When I first tried to use the calculator, it was a bit overwhelming, and I got overly concerned with the nutritional analysis info.  Lots of info is displayed on the screen at one time, and it was a distraction for me.  Took some discipline to work through the process, step by step.

So now, I select the ingredients, adjust the Ca:P ratio, and enter the amount of meat.

The last thing I do is to review the nutritional analysis, just to make sure that I didn't make an error.

Just a note:  When entering ingredients, I select "snowpeas".  But snowpeas aren't available in my area, so at the grocery, I buy green peas - sometimes called "English Peas".

By using Marta's calculator, I got a clue about how PFC's formulate food - and it ain't that hard.  Sort of makes you wonder why PFC's seem to have soooooooooooo many problems  .

Petslave, when you get your cooked version, please let us know.  I started that, but had to stop and deal with sick kitties.

Hugs,

5CM

Auntie,

Not very scientific, but here's why:

1.  It's a throwback to a recipe that I was previously using.  It called for peas and carrots for a bit of fiber, IBL.

2.  I noticed that some commercial foods use peas and carrots.

3.  The gang was used to eating peas and carrots in some commercial food, and I thought it would make the food more attractive.

4.  I don't believe (may be wrong) that they have any nutritional value - more for palatibility and fiber.

As I said, not scientific.

AC, what's your opinion about peas and carrots?

5CM

AC,

LOL, honestly!

That info very much appreciated, especially as it comes from someone (Auntie Crazy) who's experienced with using homemade food, and also with observing the results of such a diet.     

Just to clarify once again, I'm not recommending a specific recipe.  Just trying to help with the Alnutrin calculator.  JustMe may want to move some posts to the Alnutrin thread so as to avoid confusion.

Hugs,

5CM

Not sure if this was posted here, but looks like Alnutrin now has a eggshell version of their supplement mix with calcium, for those that prefer that source of calcium carbonate:

http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/announcements.html

Has anyone tried their taurine powder yet, which is sourced from Japan?