Home cooked cat food: are they eating too much? help figuring out monthly cost

terestrife · Aug 31, 2015

I bought U-stew to feed my two cats, and make them food myself.

The site says that each meal is

Based on "as fed" mixed food including ground chicken meat.
Average meal size: 1/4lb. (120g) Energy/Kcal 133

But my cats used to eat 9 oz each (1 and a 1/2 can) on canned food, which is what i feed on this diet. they each eat 3/4 of a cup a day, split into 3 meals.

They eat it all up faster than any other food i have given them. One of them even seems to want more at times. But i keep to the three meals. Is it too much? My cat kitty is 12 lbs (4 years old) and elsa is around 9-10 lbs (about 1 year old).

----

Anyways, i want to know if anyone can check if my math is correct?

its been awhile since ive had to do anything math related.

im trying to figure out how much money to set aside each month.

I have two cats, together they eat 18 oz a day, so in a 31 day month, they eat 558 oz = 34.875 lbs. i am buying the biggest pack which means i get 100 lbs of food out of it.

so in a month i will use. 100/34.875=2.9~ so the bag roughly lasts me 3 months almost. 139.95/2.9=$48

U-Stew for Cats - 5lb. (2.27kg)

Yields ~ 100lbs (45kg) cat food including meat - Ideal for multiple cat families.
Price includes shipping.

$139.95

So, i'll be spending $48 on supplements alone right?

The meat i can get for either $1-$2 a lb. so on meat i spend on meat

roughly $35 or $70

so depending on the meat i am spending $83-$ 118.

lisamarie12 · Sep 1, 2015

That sounds pretty reasonable to me given that you are now feeding them a diet of home prepared cooked meat that is far fresher than the three year shelf life (plus?) of most canned foods, even the best premium canned foods can't rival a home cooked and properly supplemented diet, in my opinion.

It doesn't sound like they are eating too much, feeding guidelines are variable depending on weight and activity level of each cat. Maybe others can chime in with more detailed info, however, I'm really glad they like U-Stew, I want to give it a try myself.

terestrife · Sep 2, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
That sounds pretty reasonable to me given that you are now feeding them a diet of home prepared cooked meat that is far fresher than the three year shelf life (plus?) of most canned foods, even the best premium canned foods can't rival a home cooked and properly supplemented diet, in my opinion.

It doesn't sound like they are eating too much, feeding guidelines are variable depending on weight and activity level of each cat. Maybe others can chime in with more detailed info, however, I'm really glad they like U-Stew, I want to give it a try myself.

i dont mind the cost, im hoping the extra cost, and time will pay off in the future by avoiding some illnesses. At least thats my hope.

Im so surprised how i dont smell their litter anymore. My sister was driving me crazy about how stinky their boxes are, even though i have an automatic litter box that rakes the clumps into a drawer. And the smell when i changed out the bags were so gross. Now its not so bad, just a bit smelly, but nothing that makes me want to hold my breath.

Let me know how your cats react to the Ustew. Ive never seen them so happy with food. One cat runs to her bowl whenever i give her affection.

lisamarie12 · Sep 3, 2015

terestrife said:
i dont mind the cost, im hoping the extra cost, and time will pay off in the future by avoiding some illnesses. At least thats my hope.

Im so surprised how i dont smell their litter anymore. My sister was driving me crazy about how stinky their boxes are, even though i have an automatic litter box that rakes the clumps into a drawer. And the smell when i changed out the bags were so gross. Now its not so bad, just a bit smelly, but nothing that makes me want to hold my breath.

Let me know how your cats react to the Ustew. Ive never seen them so happy with food. One cat runs to her bowl whenever i give her affection.

I'm glad U-Stew is working out for you. I ordered my trial bag a few days ago, we'll see how it goes, I'm going to start with turkey.

One thing I read about U-Stew on another blog is that the thawed portions should not be in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours, otherwise, because of the digestive enzymes, the taste of the food changes which some cats may reject.

I didn't see that on the KBPF web site so it's good info to know, just thaw what you need daily.

That's nice to hear the kitty box isn't as smelly as before the homemade cooked although I would guess any waste that is left to sit, even in a litter drawer such as the automatic box, would still smell.

What's attractive about homemade cooked is that' there aren't all those other ingredients in canned foods we sometimes want to avoid like gums and starchy carbs.

I've noticed that my cats, having been on mostly commercial raw and all raw for a couple of months, their stools had minimal odor as well.

Enjoy your day.

terestrife · Sep 3, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
I'm glad U-Stew is working out for you. I ordered my trial bag a few days ago, we'll see how it goes, I'm going to start with turkey.

One thing I read about U-Stew on another blog is that the thawed portions should not be in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours, otherwise, because of the digestive enzymes, the taste of the food changes which some cats may reject.

I didn't see that on the KBPF web site so it's good info to know, just thaw what you need daily.

That's nice to hear the kitty box isn't as smelly as before the homemade cooked although I would guess any waste that is left to sit, even in a litter drawer such as the automatic box, would still smell.

What's attractive about homemade cooked is that' there aren't all those other ingredients in canned foods we sometimes want to avoid like gums and starchy carbs.

I've noticed that my cats, having been on mostly commercial raw and all raw for a couple of months, their stools had minimal odor as well.

Enjoy your day.

If i remember correctly On the bag it says it can be up to 3 days on the fridge. I've had food in the fridge for 4 days, and my cats still love it. So, not sure what to think? I'll keep an eye on that though, thanks for the information! =)

lisamarie12 · Sep 3, 2015

terestrife said:
If i remember correctly On the bag it says it can be up to 3 days on the fridge. I've had food in the fridge for 4 days, and my cats still love it. So, not sure what to think? I'll keep an eye on that though, thanks for the information! =)

Oh, okay; I read that info on another blog, I'm not sure of the date maybe that issue no longer applies then if it's indicated on the bag that the food can be refrigerated for three days, maybe the premix ingredients were different.

terestrife · Sep 4, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
Oh, okay; I read that info on another blog, I'm not sure of the date maybe that issue no longer applies then if it's indicated on the bag that the food can be refrigerated for three days, maybe the premix ingredients were different.

After your comment, I took the time to start sniffing my cats food.

lol And, you are right. After day two, it doesnt smell like fresh chicken. It doesnt smell bad, and my cats eat it. But the freshness does start to go away.

I bought some glass containers and im only going to take out what i use daily.

I got these from Michaels for $8 with the 50% off coupon. =)

Thanks for taking the time to let me know, i probably wouldnt have noticed. lol

Its been hard enough getting them away from commercial cat food, i dont want them hating the food i make.

lisamarie12 · Sep 4, 2015

terestrife said:
After your comment, I took the time to start sniffing my cats food.

lol And, you are right. After day two, it doesnt smell like fresh chicken. It doesnt smell bad, and my cats eat it. But the freshness does start to go away.

I bought some glass containers and im only going to take out what i use daily.

I got these from Michaels for $8 with the 50% off coupon. =)

Thanks for taking the time to let me know, i probably wouldnt have noticed. lol

Its been hard enough getting them away from commercial cat food, i dont want them hating the food i make.

I am trying to search for that comment that I found via the blog but now I can't find it.

When I stumbled upon it I was looking for reviews of U-Stew.

I noticed though that on the dog version of U-Stew via the KBPF site it states to keep refrigerated 24 hours.

• The dog food food will keep fresh for 24 hours once thawed and refrigerated.

Well, interesting that you noticed an odor difference,

That's a good sale on those glass containers! I prefer to use glass as well instead of plastic containers or Ziploc.

Exactly ..... re: transitioning, that would be disappointing if the cats rejected your homemade food, especially if it's just due to the food having been refrigerated longer than need be.

terestrife · Sep 4, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
i went back to the ustew site and read through the whole site and found this.

How to thaw frozen raw cat food:

The cat food food will keep fresh for 24 hours once thawed and refrigerated.

however, for the cooked food recipe (which is the one i do) it doesnt say exactly how long it can stay out.

5. Freeze for storage. Thaw to room temperature before feeding.

i'll just take out daily portions to be on the safe side. lol

lisamarie12 · Sep 4, 2015

terestrife said:
i went back to the ustew site and read through the whole site and found this.
How to thaw frozen raw cat food:

The cat food food will keep fresh for 24 hours once thawed and refrigerated.

however, for the cooked food recipe (which is the one i do) it doesnt say exactly how long it can stay out.

5. Freeze for storage. Thaw to room temperature before feeding.

i'll just take out daily portions to be on the safe side. lol

Great - I think it's just best to thaw it daily, I agree!

I received my sample bag of U-Stew this evening, yay! When I removed it from the envelope, my Molly started rubbing and marking the bag, maybe that's a good sign! Mikey too.

There was a note about the lack of eggs in the formula b/c of the avian flu, that I should add two egg yolks since the trial bag yields for two pounds of meat. It's confusing though b/c the note indicates that it's for "Better in the Raw" - I'm doing this one cooked. Dana did say in an email though I could use U-Stew for both cooked or raw, the difference b/t U-Stew and BITR is that the former has digestive enzymes.

Did you add egg yolks?

I'm excited, I hope this works out, I'll start with ground turkey tomorrow. I noticed the ground turkey in my local market though, hormone and antibiotic free, also has "rosemary extract", I hope that doesn't have an effect on the taste. I couldn't find any turkey without rosemary added to it.

terestrife · Sep 4, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
Great - I think it's just best to thaw it daily, I agree!

I received my sample bag of U-Stew this evening, yay! When I removed it from the envelope, my Molly started rubbing and marking the bag, maybe that's a good sign! Mikey too.

There was a note about the lack of eggs in the formula b/c of the avian flu, that I should add two egg yolks since the trial bag yields for two pounds of meat. It's confusing though b/c the note indicates that it's for "Better in the Raw" - I'm doing this one cooked. Dana did say in an email though I could use U-Stew for both cooked or raw, the difference b/t U-Stew and BITR is that the former has digestive enzymes.

Did you add egg yolks?

I'm excited, I hope this works out, I'll start with ground turkey tomorrow. I noticed the ground turkey in my local market though, hormone and antibiotic free, also has "rosemary extract", I hope that doesn't have an effect on the taste. I couldn't find any turkey without rosemary added to it.

I bought the biggest bag, and it arrived yesterday, i also saw the note about the eggs. When i got my trial bag a week ago, it didnt mention anything about eggs, so my first batch didnt have eggs.

Let me email the company to ask them. I will post here what they say.

lisamarie12 · Sep 5, 2015

terestrife said:
I bought the biggest bag, and it arrived yesterday, i also saw the note about the eggs. When i got my trial bag a week ago, it didnt mention anything about eggs, so my first batch didnt have eggs.

Let me email the company to ask them. I will post here what they say.

Not a problem - I can email Dana but thanks!

lisamarie12 · Sep 5, 2015

terestrife said:
I bought U-stew to feed my two cats, and make them food myself.

They eat it all up faster than any other food i have given them.

U-Stew, they liked it! I cooked ground turkey (just one pound instead of the 2 lb recipe), added and adjusted the U-Stew and egg yolk amount; they both really liked the food, Molly more so than Mikey, however, Mikey was never thrilled with any canned turkey I've given him in the past although he'll eat Rad Cat turkey.

My main concern was Molly though, hopefully this will work out long term and I can do a combo of raw with her and U-Stew instead of canned.

Fingers crossed .....

terestrife · Sep 5, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
U-Stew, they liked it! I cooked ground turkey (just one pound instead of the 2 lb recipe), added and adjusted the U-Stew and egg yolk amount; they both really liked the food, Molly more so than Mikey, however, Mikey was never thrilled with any canned turkey I've given him in the past although he'll eat Rad Cat turkey.

My main concern was Molly though, hopefully this will work out long term and I can do a combo of raw with her and U-Stew instead of canned.

Fingers crossed .....

Thats great!

Maybe you can try ground chicken breast with Mikey. Both of my cats love the chicken flavor.

lisamarie12 · Sep 5, 2015

terestrife said:
Thats great!

Maybe you can try ground chicken breast with Mikey. Both of my cats love the chicken flavor.

Thanks! The cats were diagnosed with a chicken allergy several years ago so I've tried to avoid it, however, in the last couple of months I've reintroduced freeze dried raw chicken and the cats were okay with it.

So I may give a it a try with the chicken breasts. I might also bake a drumstick and cut it up, try different textures other than ground, see if there's a preference.

We'll see, so far so good ....

Home cooked cat food: are they eating too much? help figuring out monthly cost

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