Calcium Requirements for Pregnant Cat!

Hello, I hope this is the right place to put this!

Well, I recently found out that my cat, Sparrow, is pregnant, and just recently (I'm guessing she's 4-5 weeks in) her appetite has increased.

I feed all of my cats raw -- a mixture of chicken heads, chicken feet, breast, lungs, gizzards, kidneys, hearts and stomachs. Nothing is actually 100% fixed and things vary quite a bit, we get it free from the butcher because over here the chickens are slaughtered right in front of us!

Anyway, Sparrow is very fussy when it comes to eating bones -- I've been trying to get her to eat bones for the past couple of months, and she's only JUST started gnawing and eating chicken ribs and the occasional chicken head (if it's partially boiled and warm, she's so picky!)

She eats every couple of hours, because I obviously can't keep the raw food outside for long, if it was winter that'd be a different story though, but the weather doesn't seem to be changing so the ants still come after her food!

I was wondering if this would be enough to meet her calcium needs, or if it would be best if I add in some ground eggshell for her too? Also, she drinks 2 bowls of buffallo's milk every night, would this be enough for her calcium intake or should I give her something else?

Please note that her in Pakistan resources are very limited, so cat-vitamins and all those other things aren't available! I do, however, have human-vitamins, but I haven't given her them yet just in case they cause something serious -- I don't want her to get sick while she's pregnant.

I would think that for a pregnant cat, she simply needs to eat MORE of a 100% nutritionally complete diet, not specifically more calcium. 

As to whether or not her diet is 100% nutritionally complete, that I cannot tell you.  Have you read through this thread?  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources  It could take DAYS!  But the information is invaluable, believe me.  If she isn't getting enough calcium, then thing can go very badly for both her AND the kittens.  If she is getting too much, I'm guess the same thing, although that's probably not the case since they reluctant to eat bones. 

After you determine if the percentage of calcium  to meat is right (for ALL the cats), then if it isn't, you can always use crushed egg shells to increase the amount of calcium, or add in more breasts, thighs or hearts to increase the amount of muscle meat. 

As to the milk she is drinking, do you have access to goat's milk.  I'm not sure about Buffalo milk, but most adult cats do not tolerate cow's milk well, but do very well with goat's milk.   I'm just thinking cows and buffalos might both be from the same family. 

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I would think that for a pregnant cat, she simply needs to eat MORE of a 100% nutritionally complete diet, not specifically more calcium. 

As to whether or not her diet is 100% nutritionally complete, that I cannot tell you.  Have you read through this thread?  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources  It could take DAYS!  But the information is invaluable, believe me.  If she isn't getting enough calcium, then thing can go very badly for both her AND the kittens.  If she is getting too much, I'm guess the same thing, although that's probably not the case since they reluctant to eat bones. 

After you determine if the percentage of calcium  to meat is right (for ALL the cats), then if it isn't, you can always use crushed egg shells to increase the amount of calcium, or add in more breasts, thighs or hearts to increase the amount of muscle meat. 

As to the milk she is drinking, do you have access to goat's milk.  I'm not sure about Buffalo milk, but most adult cats do not tolerate cow's milk well, but do very well with goat's milk.   I'm just thinking cows and buffalos might both be from the same family. 

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Ohh, alright, so would it be okay to increase the amount I'm feeding her to 4% of her body-weight instead of 2%? She's already eating roughly double than what she normally does!

And no I haven't! I've been feeding raw for a while now, and am sure that their diet is alright, but I'll give the thread a read just to be on the safe side! :-)

She is very fussy when it comes to bones, and only eats them in the mornings now, when she has a HUGE meal, then sleeps for a few hours and has snacks when she wakes up (the snacks are normally chicken, heart etc.) I'm just worried that she's not getting enough Calcium, as the only bones she happily eats are the ribs!

I've tried finding out how much calcium that a cat needs on a daily basis, and I came across the need for 10mg per lb of weight? Is this accurate?

And I used to have access to it, but the shop closed down just recently, I think it went out of business :-( She's thrived on buffalo's milk, and when she was sick as a baby that used to be one of the only things she would drink! Her stools are fine too, but if it gets runny I'll try and source some goats milk for her.

Another thing, I found that 1 cup of milk has 305mg of calcium in it, would this be enough for her every day to fulfill her calcium needs if she's getting the ribs as well (she has ribs every other day, however)
 

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
As to the milk she is drinking, do you have access to goat's milk.  I'm not sure about Buffalo milk, but most adult cats do not tolerate cow's milk well, but do very well with goat's milk.   I'm just thinking cows and buffalos might both be from the same family. 

Click to expand...

Goat milk IS excellent, as provem innumerably times by those whom tried. But the question of buffalo milk we did analysed in another thread of the poster.   Not mentioning the TS has good results with buffalo milk.

OK, we know cow milk buyed in our shops is very doubtful at best.

We know also, full fat is somewhat less dubious than diet milk.

We know also, RAW unpasturized cow milk, is less dubious than the processed pasteurized.

And we know also, in many strains of our modern high producing cows, there is one protein element, which many people dont manage well.  I never remember the name, but I did once saw a good article about it...

This protein isnt in none  breeds of cows of old type, and not in some modern cows either...

 to summarize; unpasturized full fat milk of cows of old type  "should" be OK - we dont have sure proofs as yet, so we cant go out with it officially, but its a reasonable guess...

And thus, buffalo milk should be plausible it too, with the same reasoning...   Being nearly related to cows or not.

@indie-n-button is also a good witness to this.

indie-n-button said:

 
Hello, I hope this is the right place to put this!

Well, I recently found out that my cat, Sparrow, is pregnant, and just recently (I'm guessing she's 4-5 weeks in) her appetite has increased.

I feed all of my cats raw -- a mixture of chicken heads, chicken feet, breast, lungs, gizzards, kidneys, hearts and stomachs. Nothing is actually 100% fixed and things vary quite a bit, we get it free from the butcher because over here the chickens are slaughtered right in front of us!

Anyway, Sparrow is very fussy when it comes to eating bones -- I've been trying to get her to eat bones for the past couple of months, and she's only JUST started gnawing and eating chicken ribs and the occasional chicken head (if it's partially boiled and warm, she's so picky!)

She eats every couple of hours, because I obviously can't keep the raw food outside for long, if it was winter that'd be a different story though, but the weather doesn't seem to be changing so the ants still come after her food!

I was wondering if this would be enough to meet her calcium needs, or if it would be best if I add in some ground eggshell for her too? Also, she drinks 2 bowls of buffallo's milk every night, would this be enough for her calcium intake or should I give her something else?

Please note that her in Pakistan resources are very limited, so cat-vitamins and all those other things aren't available! I do, however, have human-vitamins, but I haven't given her them yet just in case they cause something serious -- I don't want her to get sick while she's pregnant.

Click to expand...

I cant the exact recommended amounts, so my answer is an overall reasoning.

The usual rule of thumb is, a healthy cat whom has a good all round suitable died, dont need not extra supplements as vitamine preparates, not even with a fairly big litter.  Its first when the litter is over 6 kittens we really need to supplement.   And of course, if the cat is emaciated or had several litters in short time - which is not the case here....

Hearts do contain some extra calcium. Not enough to be called for a calcium source, but enough to balance itself.  Heads and feets, although not bones, do contain tissues where calcium is aplenty...   And this milk she drinks...   I suppose you have some mild cheeese and if necessary, full fat mild youghurt too?

So my guess is, as now she doenst need extra calcium.  But if she gets a big litter, you have always the reserve of egg shells crushed into fine powder, and sprinkle some on her food alike salt...

StefanZ said:

 
I cant the exact recommended amounts, so my answer is an overall reasoning.

The usual rule of thumb is, a healthy cat whom has a good all round suitable died, dont need not extra supplements as vitamine preparates, not even with a fairly big litter.  Its first when the litter is over 6 kittens we really need to supplement.   And of course, if the cat is emaciated or had several litters in short time - which is not the case here....

Hearts do contain some extra calcium. Not enough to be called for a calcium source, but enough to balance itself.  Heads and feets, although not bones, do contain tissues where calcium is aplenty...   And this milk she drinks...   I suppose you have some mild cheeese and if necessary, full fat mild youghurt too?

So my guess is, as now she doenst need extra calcium.  But if she gets a big litter, you have always the reserve of egg shells crushed into fine powder, and sprinkle some on her food alike salt...

Click to expand...

Yes, true, I see no need for all the added supplements you see in raw diets... the whole point of feeding raw is so that they have as natural a diet as possible, with little added, synthetic feed! Sparrow is far from emaciated at the moment, she's very podgy all over!

She has about 4-5 hearts a week :-) From the heads, she's stubborn and only eats the eyes and the tongues... but at least it's something! And yes we have both of them :-)

Another thing, I'm guessing she's 6 weeks along, I was stroking her today and felt the slightest of kicks!