Proportions of Ground Beef/Rice for Sick Cat

We need to give Casper, our  nearly 12 year old male DSH, a bland diet for a week because he's been throwing up more than he usually does along with some other issues (including the fact the he noticed his hindquarters seem to be losing muscle tone, which probably explains why he's been moving slower going upstairs), and the vet is doing some testing on him.  Until we get results, he'd like him to just have a boiled ground beef (lean) with white rice diet along with medication to reduce gastric juices twice a day (he suspects this may be part of the problem).  We get blood results back Monday.  Right now, he's walking around starving of course, because the vet also wants him to not eat for 24 hours to clean his system out completely, poor thing.  We feel like awful cat parents right now lol.

Anyway, that's all fine and good but, what proportions do I mix the beef and rice together at?  He typically eats 3 oz or so wet food in the morning and gets 1/4 cup kibble at night.  I guess I'm kind of thinking a couple of ounces to 3 or so of the beef to maybe 1 ounce rice for each meal?  He mentioned not giving him more than 8 ounces beef a day but in my wildest dreams I can't ever imagine him eating that much in one day.

Any idea?  I'm sure some of you must have had to go through this for one reason or another at some point.  I'm about to cook up a couple of portions for tomorrow so I don't have to deal with this at 7:00 am.  It's bad enough I'll have to wake up my BF to pill him an hour before he gets to eat :O

Thanks!

hunh, that's a new one on me! I've never heard of boiled beef and rice being a bland diet. I'm familiar with boiled chicken and rice.

But if beef is what you're using, I hope it works! The proportion is 50/50 meat/rice. :nod: I also kept the water we boiled the chicken in, and added a little to each meal, and warmed it all up first.

for your boy!

Thanks for the advice and good vibes!

Not sure why he suggested beef, but I did look online earlier today, and it was mentioned a lot for digestive issues so I guess not so unusual.  I even got organic, grass fed beef. I figured the less "junk" those cows were eating, the better for him (I mean, we try and eat organic when possible too, and this is actually coming out cheaper than his canned food everyday for cripes sake!).

He wanted me to keep it as lean as possible, so I got rid of the water.  I hadn't read your message yet.  I'll be making a few batches as the week goes on so next time I'll keep some of it and skim the fat from the top.  The rice hasn't finished cooking yet, so I'll save a bit of that instead for this one.  I only made enough for tomorrow.  I dislike the idea of cooking too much fresh meat at once, and having to reheat it let alone he's not one for leftovers.  Spoiled

I happen to have bought some boneless skinless chicken breasts today too, so if he doesn't go for what I made tomorrow, I'll ask the vet Monday if chicken is ok instead.  I can't imagine why it wouldn't be.

Oh geez.  I left the bowl of beef on the counter, bad move.  I found our new girl Cocoa, jumping off the countertop when I walked into the kitchen.  Her face was in the bowl munching on it    

I have to remember now to cover up food, or put it right away.  She was found on the streets and is too used to scrounging for her meals, and having to be opportunistic.  In all the time we've had Casper, he's only been up there once, and when we reprimanded him he never did it again (that we know of).  We've found her up there several times already and it's only been about a month that she's been out completely in the house.  

She's a naughty one she is!  It was my fault though.  I was good about making sure our dinner wasn't left out but totally messed up on this.  Plus she ran off in a flash lol.  

Anyway - the rice came out kind of dry.  It's not easy making a small amount, I forgot about that.  I may have to put some chicken broth into it instead tomorrow to moisten it but I'm sure that won't be an issue; it's low sodium and I probably don't need more than a couple of teaspoons of it.

:lol3: Actually, cost is part of the reason we switched to 100% homemade food. :nod:

And yeah - the counter used to be off limits to the cats. But one of my kitties has a kind of... ADD when it comes to eating. When I started making food for them, she jumped on the counter once and tucked into one of the bowls of food. So I just let her. And that became her eating spot, because she'll start and finish eating there without any issues!

Needless to say... the counter is no longer off limits to the cats. Not exactly sure how to say "no" to 7 and "yes" to 1. So no more leaving any food of any kind out ... ever. :lol3:

I'm derailing my own thread 

I used to be really against allowing this.  But, since I do not want to be too harsh with Cocoa, because of her history of abuse and resulting timidity, I've decided that I'm not going to freak out about her being up there.  She always jumps down as soon as she sees me.  And, it isn't like I can't remember to clean up after myself.  I do as I cook anyway, and always rinse dishes even if they are left in the sink for a while.  So, if I leave something out, it's me being forgetful and her sensing it's there.  Considering she was probably eating out of dumpsters at times, she's used to grabbing it when she can.  

I think as time goes by she'll learn her food source is consistent and she doesn't need to resort to looking for it.  Or not    We're very tolerant cat parents around here.  And it's surprising I don't already have stock in Bounty paper towels and Method cleaning sprays, I use so many of them.  I'm cleaning up behind myself in the kitchen all the time.  The rest of the house? Not so much, embarrassed to say but I'm fairly serious about my cooking and keeping the kitchen in order.  So, even if she's up there, it's getting wiped down continuously.

I have bigger things to worry about.  Like Casper refusing to eat the hamburger/rice I made him.  I even made some fresh this morning, without the rice, keeping some of the juices in it.  He looked at me like "***?", and walked off.

I think I need to start another thread for food options when they are ill.  And, pull out that chicken pronto!

I'd try the chicken. I'd also consider trying it raw or only seared on the outside. Chicken thighs are great and cheap!

Thanks Peaches!  That worked.  I had a package I was going to cook up for us for dinner, it had 3 pieces in it so I cut one in half (it was a lot smaller than the other 2, I hate when they do that but it worked for this purpose), seared it up and left it a bit pink in the middle.  Cut it into bite sized pieces and he scoffed it up.

Probably was about an ounce or so.  Saved another ounce for later mid-day.  I have to head out to stock up on canned food anyway so I'll head over to the supermarket also and p/u some thighs which will be less expensive if I'm going to have to make this is sole diet for several days.

You may want to consider a raw diet. As LDG mentioned, some of us really enjoy the reduced overall costs and healthier cats.

Oh I have considered it.  I would like to, and in the future might.  We just added our second kitty so it's very appealing.  I need to just work out how I would schedule it since she's new and we're still trying to figure out feeding the two of them together, combined with me getting up/leaving crazy early and not getting home until rather late.  My BF is currently out of work and would be able to pitch in but somewhat squeamish about the whole raw thing, although, totally understands and agrees with the concept.

At least I know where to come for all the advice!

My cats don't have a set schedule. I'm a nursing student, I sometimesfeed breakfast at 6the am and sometimes it's noon. I don't do this, but plenty of raw feeders leave frozen meals out to defrost for the cats later.

In any case, the cats would be on the same schedule for wet or canned.

Thanks Peaches.  By coincidence. when I went to p/u the food today, I found out the store carries one of the frozen raw brands.  I had a discussion with them about it, and it does sound like doing it this way may work better for me.

However, leaving it out could be problematic.  Casper, is a pig and Cocoa, needs to put on weight.  We've found him several times poaching her food bowl.  Let alone leaving it out to defrost.  She, is a counter surfer as already mentioned and has managed to open up things around the house we never saw Casper get into.  Cabinets, closet doors, etc.  I wonder if she could open a Tupperware? 

So, we really need to kind of keep it on schedule, and watch over them for the most part as they eat.  In the morning, luckily Cocoa will usually finish her breakfast entirely so that's not an issue but at night, she tends to nibble.  That's when Casper takes advantage.  He's a big boy, 15-1/2 pounds and muscular (we got him to lose about 1-1/2 pounds since he's been living with us).  

She, is only 7 pounds, 2 oz.  Really delicate appearance, all fur, you can feel her shoulder blades and back bone.  The vet said he'd like to see her put on about a pound, but no more.  Getting more calories into her without Casper noticing has been somewhat challenging to say the least.  Before we gave her full access to the house, it was easier but now that she has full reign, and he's also back to using her "safe" room as part of his range, there really isn't any place for us to take her aside to feed her separately without him noticing.

Gotcha. Great to hear you've got some options!

I feel your pain about leaving food out, Gadget will eat anything nailed down so I can't leave food out either. Gadget is 16 lbs, Mason who dominates him is 13.5 lbs, and the princess over everyone is fat at 8 lbs. Figure that one out!