I find an easy way to freeze food like this is to line a tray with waxed paper (or parchment paper) and form into appropriately sized patties. Place the tray in the freezer until the food becomes solid, then transfer to ziplock bags.
Bill
Bill
I think, --not positive about this, but one of the other brand's reps made a reference; for brands that have the same nutritional content across varieties, they have a calculation that takes into account what's already in the various ingredients, and add phosphorus, or iodine, et al, as necessary to meet aafco guidelines.don't understand how the phosphorus is the same for all the formulas.
LTS3 said:
This web site sells individual cans of Mouser: Incredpets.com
Ingredients are listed for each product. Tomato paste is the third ingredient, maybe as a thickener in the same way one would use in cooking a meal?
Yes. I think like Rawz uses fenugreek seeds as a natural binder, Mouser uses tomato paste. It’s not as tomato-y as I was expecting. And it certainly didn’t stop Betty from eating a hole in the plate. Almost. Alligator jaws, teeth hitting the plate, snarfing noises, I think she enjoyed it. And now we wait to see how it treats her on the transit before I can continue with the transition. Even with the tomato paste, the carb content is 9% on dry matter basis compared to the 35% in her Hills I/D. Even if I can’t get her off the Hills completely, this should go a long way in reducing total carbs in her diet.
They are using it as a thickener. It doesn’t look or smell tomato’ish. And since this is going to my IBD cat, I much prefer that over any number of gums. Some of the alleged LID foods contain multiple gums making them absolutely worthless for an elimination diet.Why are they adding tomato paste?
Bill
I am glad they have a formula that works for your IBD cat.They are using it as a thickener. It doesn’t look or smell tomato’ish. And since this is going to my IBD cat, I much prefer that over any number of gums. Some of the alleged LID foods contain multiple gums making them absolutely worthless for an elimination diet.
I’m glad I finally have a second food I can feed her. She likes Rawz rabbit and I like that recipe too. It made me so nervous with my angel kitty Krista when all she could eat was a single food, Rawz rabbit. So at least we have two foods we can rotate between. And if and when she can come off steroids, I’d love to look into raw or homemade for her. Except rabbit is so $$$.I am glad they have a formula that works for your IBD cat.
Bill
Does Krista have issues with proteins other than rabbitt?I’m glad I finally have a second food I can feed her. She likes Rawz rabbit and I like that recipe too. It made me so nervous with my angel kitty Krista when all she could eat was a single food, Rawz rabbit. So at least we have two foods we can rotate between. And if and when she can come off steroids, I’d love to look into raw or homemade for her. Except rabbit is so $$$.
Krista couldn’t have chicken or fish. When her IBD progressed to lymphoma, turkey and egg was also determined to be triggers. Rabbit was a novel protein that I could (usually) source easy enough as several local stores and a number of online resellers have Rawz. There were some shortages, especially during the early pandemic, where I was driving two hours to find a case because my locals and onlines were out of stock.Does Krista have issues with proteins other than rabbitt?
I can imagine it must be distressing when food options are limited, not easily sourced, and/or expensive.
Bill
I'm sorry for your loss and also very sorry I conflated the stories of your two cats. My apologies.Krista couldn’t have chicken or fish. When her IBD progressed to lymphoma, turkey and egg was also determined to be triggers. Rabbit was a novel protein that I could (usually) source easy enough as several local stores and a number of online resellers have Rawz. There were some shortages, especially during the early pandemic, where I was driving two hours to find a case because my locals and onlines were out of stock.
Krista passed in 2020.
I adopted Betty this year and found out quickly I had another IBD cat on my hands. It’s tough because I had ten years with Krista before she developed IBD. Then I had almost three years of exhausting special needs and care with her. I was looking forward to some easy healthy years with Betty before any of this started up. I suspect she was a kibble addict in her former home.
Betty is not doing as bad as Krista was when she started to present. Krista often vomited her food several hours after eating it. Betty doesn’t do that. Her only presentation, besides an occasionally weak appetite, is hairballs. I finally stopped arguing with the IM specialist pretending to know more than him about IBD and gave the steroids and a food change a try. She’s doing really well on the pred and we’re nearly finished with the food transition from prescription Hills I/D (chicken and vegetable stew is a carby gravy ) to Rawz and Mouser. Mouser means I have not one but two foods with a clean recipe to feed her. If and when the next shortages come, hopefully both companies won’t be affected at the same time. But once we’re done with this transition and I’m confident she’ll eat enough and do well on these foods, I’ll start hoarding cases ahead of the next shortage
If there is little mouse meat in the recipes it seems unusual then that the phos for the poultry/rabbit would all be the same.I actually notice the same thing myself (re: phosphorus). My assumption is that there is a scant amount of mice in these recipes. I'm somewhat surprised that mouse meat is so expensive, but that is certainly the case.
Bill
Ok, that's interesting, thank you.I think, --not positive about this, but one of the other brand's reps made a reference; for brands that have the same nutritional content across varieties, they have a calculation that takes into account what's already in the various ingredients, and add phosphorus, or iodine, et al, as necessary to meet aafco guidelines.
Does Mouser use the entire mouse carcass or just the meat? An adult mouse weighs about 25 grams. About 18 adults would be needed to get 1 lb of meat.The high cost of of the meat was due to the many mice that were needed to make just 1 lb of food.
I’m sure they use the entire carcass. I can’t imagine a mouse processing operation. Tiny butchers?Does Mouser use the entire mouse carcass or just the meat? An adult mouse weighs about 25 grams. About 18 adults would be needed to get 1 lb of meat.
Was wondering that too…since cats generally eat an entire mouse (minus one tiny bit of offal…can never figure out how they do that) I don’t think they’d mind a whole mouse. Mice breed so quickly I shouldn’t think there’d be a shortage.I’m sure they use the entire carcass. I can’t imagine a mouse processing operation. Tiny butchers?
Thanks for this, Margot, this is good to know!Got the word from the chief on the tomato paste (the guy making the Mouser Catfood): “It is just there to provide the cats a little roughage, plus they like the slightly acidic taste. It is pure tomato paste, nothing else, and is only 1%.”