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- Jun 29, 2013
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I decided to make this a new thread because I still have questions but did not want to hijack thevegancuddler's post anymore than I already had. She had asked about the pros and cons of Frankenprey and homemade ground food. This was my initial response:
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Personally, I wouldn't give parts of turkey one day and heart/liver the next because I'd imagine that even though it counts as "meat" for balancing, the heart would also be pretty rich. I'd probably give turkey thighs or cut up chicken breast, etc. every day, and add in the other stuff TO the meat as needed. I'd probably create a week's worth that was in the right percentages, then portion them out.
It's funny that you say that grinding would be easier, since personally, I feel the opposite would be true. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the pros and cons (and others may have different reasons):
Ground:
Pros: You can make a big batch all at once, so if you periodically have a day here or there with lots of time, this might be ideal. It's pretty easy to balance with supplements, etc., without doing as much math.
Cons: Because you usually make a big batch all at once, you need space in your freezer for all of it. Others have also talked about difficulties with portioning: if they portion it into exact size meals the day they make it, it makes that day go impossibly long, but if they package it in bigger sizes, they have to reportion it each week or whatever. No effect on mouth issues.
Frankenprey:
Pros: Chewing on bones and meat chunks, gizzards, etc. is good for the teeth. You only have to worry about a week at a time, so you have fewer problems with freezer space, and it doesn't use as much time PER preparation. Since you only have a week's worth, it's also easier to portion.
Cons: Balancing takes some math. You have to prepare it more often, so overall preparation time is probably longer. On the other hand, if you're more likely to have a LITTLE extra time every week rather than occasionally having a whole day less often, this might be better.
The other issue is that the nutritionist vets I've read have pretty much all gone with the ground because it's balanced every meal. On the other hand, Frankenprey is closer to what the cat would eat in its natural environment in the wild (i.e. not feral cats trying to survive in a human environment).
Like I said, I'm sure others will have other opinions. My preference for Frankenprey is because it seems easier to do a little work every week rather than try to find the time to do all the work on a less frequent basis. I also cannot afford a grinder at this time AND I don't have the freezer space. Plus, I love watching my cat eat the little meat chunks I give her as a treat when I'm cooking.
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Many people responded saying that they felt ground was easier, and that when doing Frankenprey, they still made a LOT in one sitting rather than doing it more frequently and in smaller batches, because they would get a large amount of meat at once, already frozen, and go from there.
I thought about this, and it made sense, but I still thought weekly cat food making would fit better into my schedule, and that grinding seemed (seems), at least to me, to work best with larger batches spaced further apart, so I wrote:
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You might be right about time and space. I was imagining that for Frankenprey/PMR, I'd go weekly -- get the cat's fresh meat at the same time that I got mine at the local meat shop on Friday afternoon or Saturday, make up 7 portions with appropriate additions (organs, etc.), and put just those seven portions in the freezer along with my own meat. I figured that if I was making homemade raw food, I'd follow Dr. Pierson's recipe, which creates a HUGE batch at the outset, which would mean it would 1) take longer per session (with the understanding that there would be a LOT more sessions with weekly-created Frankenprey) and 2) create a much larger quantity of food needing to be stored. I figured this because if you're cutting up meat, you would use a knife and a cutting board, and a large bowl for mixing in supplements. Three relatively easy-to-clean items. If I was using a grinder -- 1) it probably wouldn't stay out all the time, so I'd need to take it out each time, and 2) From my experience with food processors, blenders, and even salad spinners, I'd expect a meat grinder to be fairly difficult to clean. So I wouldn't want to make smaller, more frequent batches of ground, as that would involve dealing with the grinder more often. I guess that what I'm saying is that if you made batches with the SAME FREQUENCY in both ground and Frankenprey, that yes, Frankenprey might take longer, but that Frankenprey seems to adapt more easily than ground for having MORE FREQUENT sessions, meaning less time PER SESSION, and a smaller quantity of created food needing to be stored.
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The response I got here was that actually, cleaning the grinder was easy. So, my follow-up question is: those of you who find cleaning the grinder easy, do you make your food weekly? Which method, in general, do people think works best for more frequent preparation of smaller quantities? I know I'm going to continually give meat chunks, gizzards, etc. for dental health, but I could see myself feeding both ground AND Frankenprey, if ground is not as hard as I imagine it to be. Otherwise, I'll plan to stick primarily with Frankenprey, with occasional commercial raw.
---
Personally, I wouldn't give parts of turkey one day and heart/liver the next because I'd imagine that even though it counts as "meat" for balancing, the heart would also be pretty rich. I'd probably give turkey thighs or cut up chicken breast, etc. every day, and add in the other stuff TO the meat as needed. I'd probably create a week's worth that was in the right percentages, then portion them out.
It's funny that you say that grinding would be easier, since personally, I feel the opposite would be true. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the pros and cons (and others may have different reasons):
Ground:
Pros: You can make a big batch all at once, so if you periodically have a day here or there with lots of time, this might be ideal. It's pretty easy to balance with supplements, etc., without doing as much math.
Cons: Because you usually make a big batch all at once, you need space in your freezer for all of it. Others have also talked about difficulties with portioning: if they portion it into exact size meals the day they make it, it makes that day go impossibly long, but if they package it in bigger sizes, they have to reportion it each week or whatever. No effect on mouth issues.
Frankenprey:
Pros: Chewing on bones and meat chunks, gizzards, etc. is good for the teeth. You only have to worry about a week at a time, so you have fewer problems with freezer space, and it doesn't use as much time PER preparation. Since you only have a week's worth, it's also easier to portion.
Cons: Balancing takes some math. You have to prepare it more often, so overall preparation time is probably longer. On the other hand, if you're more likely to have a LITTLE extra time every week rather than occasionally having a whole day less often, this might be better.
The other issue is that the nutritionist vets I've read have pretty much all gone with the ground because it's balanced every meal. On the other hand, Frankenprey is closer to what the cat would eat in its natural environment in the wild (i.e. not feral cats trying to survive in a human environment).
Like I said, I'm sure others will have other opinions. My preference for Frankenprey is because it seems easier to do a little work every week rather than try to find the time to do all the work on a less frequent basis. I also cannot afford a grinder at this time AND I don't have the freezer space. Plus, I love watching my cat eat the little meat chunks I give her as a treat when I'm cooking.
---
Many people responded saying that they felt ground was easier, and that when doing Frankenprey, they still made a LOT in one sitting rather than doing it more frequently and in smaller batches, because they would get a large amount of meat at once, already frozen, and go from there.
I thought about this, and it made sense, but I still thought weekly cat food making would fit better into my schedule, and that grinding seemed (seems), at least to me, to work best with larger batches spaced further apart, so I wrote:
----
You might be right about time and space. I was imagining that for Frankenprey/PMR, I'd go weekly -- get the cat's fresh meat at the same time that I got mine at the local meat shop on Friday afternoon or Saturday, make up 7 portions with appropriate additions (organs, etc.), and put just those seven portions in the freezer along with my own meat. I figured that if I was making homemade raw food, I'd follow Dr. Pierson's recipe, which creates a HUGE batch at the outset, which would mean it would 1) take longer per session (with the understanding that there would be a LOT more sessions with weekly-created Frankenprey) and 2) create a much larger quantity of food needing to be stored. I figured this because if you're cutting up meat, you would use a knife and a cutting board, and a large bowl for mixing in supplements. Three relatively easy-to-clean items. If I was using a grinder -- 1) it probably wouldn't stay out all the time, so I'd need to take it out each time, and 2) From my experience with food processors, blenders, and even salad spinners, I'd expect a meat grinder to be fairly difficult to clean. So I wouldn't want to make smaller, more frequent batches of ground, as that would involve dealing with the grinder more often. I guess that what I'm saying is that if you made batches with the SAME FREQUENCY in both ground and Frankenprey, that yes, Frankenprey might take longer, but that Frankenprey seems to adapt more easily than ground for having MORE FREQUENT sessions, meaning less time PER SESSION, and a smaller quantity of created food needing to be stored.
---
The response I got here was that actually, cleaning the grinder was easy. So, my follow-up question is: those of you who find cleaning the grinder easy, do you make your food weekly? Which method, in general, do people think works best for more frequent preparation of smaller quantities? I know I'm going to continually give meat chunks, gizzards, etc. for dental health, but I could see myself feeding both ground AND Frankenprey, if ground is not as hard as I imagine it to be. Otherwise, I'll plan to stick primarily with Frankenprey, with occasional commercial raw.
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Sorry about that!
