Suggestions for adding fat to Tolly's diet.

Many of you know Tolly has untreatable cancer. He is on a "whatever he wants to eat" diet. Which mostly consists of white meat chicken. I have a freezer full of tablespoon sized chunks, just for him.

I do manage to coax him into eating a little canned food twice a day, but he's not getting more than, and probably less than, an ounce a day of cat food.

I want him to have some fat, but not sure what to try. Butter? Cheese? He likes both of those, though normally he doesn't get more than a taste.

If he'll eat butter and cheese, how much should I let him have? I don't want him getting bound up from too much cheddar, or having loose stools from too much butter. He loves mayonaise but I don't want him having that in any quantity. He won't eat yogurt.

Thanks for any ideas.

PS how about taurine? Sardines? I have pure taurine powder and it has no flavor, but he won't touch his chicken if I put anything on it, even flavorless taurine powder. Maybe he would eat tuna or sardines with taurine powder mixed in

Ugh I'd hate giving him tuna it goes against everything I believe in, :lol3:

Canned packed-in-water-no-salt-added Sardines are a great treat, full of healthy Omega 3's. Crickets are chock full of taurine.  ;-)

For fat and more taurine, can you buy chicken quarters and offer him the meat off those? They're often nicely fatty, with thin strips of pure fat along the edges.

AC

Chicken quarters are the leg and thigh? They are higher in taurine, even cooked? When I roast a chicken Tolly refuses to eat the dark meat. He's such a snob, LOL! But I'll try again, maybe he'll be willing.....and if he won't eat it Queen Eva and Jennie can have it.

He loves the chicken livers though. I boil them. Would that be good for him to have every day? Can I buy just chicken livers in the grocery store?

I'll get him some sardines then. I'm pretty sure he will like those, he does love fishy foods (but never gets any since I don't feed fishy cat foods) Packed in water, no salt, okay.

Crickets are not an option.:lol3:

Thank you Auntie Crazy. I want him to love his food, but I still need him to have the proper nutrition, to stay strong and healthy.

I don't know much about the nutrition for cats in people food, but I do know you can buy chicken livers in the grocery store.  They usually come in a pint size container like you would find cottage cheese in.  Just ask the butcher.  (Tolly sounds like Sven...very picky.  At least he'll eat the white meat of chicken.  Sven doesn't even like that!) 

otto said:

Chicken quarters are the leg and thigh? They are higher in taurine, even cooked? When I roast a chicken Tolly refuses to eat the dark meat. He's such a snob, LOL! But I'll try again, maybe he'll be willing.....and if he won't eat it Queen Eva and Jennie can have it.

He loves the chicken livers though. I boil them. Would that be good for him to have every day? Can I buy just chicken livers in the grocery store?

I'll get him some sardines then. I'm pretty sure he will like those, he does love fishy foods (but never gets any since I don't feed fishy cat foods) Packed in water, no salt, okay.

Crickets are not an option.

Thank you Auntie Crazy. I want him to love his food, but I still need him to have the proper nutrition, to stay strong and healthy.

Click to expand...

"Crickets are not an option."

LOL!!

Chicken quarters are a leg and thigh combo and yes, the meat is higher in taurine than breast meat. I do not know what the levels are after cooking, 'though I would assume they would end higher as well.... however, if it's taurine you want Tolly to have, the less you cook the meat (any meat), the more taurine will be present in the food (cooking really degrades taurine levels).

Since it looks like most of Tolly's diet is non-commercial food, I would think you'd be perfectly fine giving him a bite of liver - like a quarter of an ounce - every day. And yes, you can purchase chicken and turkey livers at most grocery stores. The only issue with liver is that it's high in Vitamin A, which is not readily excreted by the cat and too much can cause a problem; thus the suggested .25 of an ounce (it's about the equivalent of what my cats eat). From what I understand, though, that toxic level is really high, and it's possible that some of the Vit. A may be destroyed by the cooking... in which case you can feed more.

Good luck getting your baby to eat! He's certainly in the best of hands. <<<hugs>>>

AC

Thank you Auntie Crazy, and Mrs Greenjeans. I picked up some chicken livers tonight. I've boiled them up and will keep them in the freezer, using them only as a garnish to encourage Tolly to eat his cat food. Today he's had more cat food than yesterday, so things are going in the right direction, anyway.

I also got some sardines, but haven't opened them yet.

Question about the cooked livers. I'm trying to decide whether I should crumble them now and freeze them that way, or freeze them whole and crumble as I use them. I think it would be easier to crumble then freeze....