I have been alternating the remaining supply of RC Renal pouch food with homemade CRF diets to add to her RC Renal dry food. My recipe list came from this website and so far I have tried 3 of the recipes: barley with beef and carrots, barley with clams and chicken, and eggs with clams and chicken fat. So far I realise she hates barley, and she prefers beef - I already knew this before she was diagnosed with CRF because she only liked Nutripe Beef and not Nutripe Chicken or Ocean Fish. Also, she drinks the soupy residue of the egg recipe and pretty much leaves all else behind. Plus I read that egg is not a healthy food for everyday consumption in cats and should only be given twice a week.
So I will have to cook more beef recipes and substitute barley with rice and because we don't have rice at home nor a blender. We bought organic baby rice for her -
This box of baby rice cereal costs $3.65. I opted for this brand because most other brands contain flavourings and such. This one only contains organic rice, organic vegetable oil, vitamin C, mineral iron and vitamin E (tocopherol).
I will be using this baby rice cereal to make Strombeck's Beef and Rice low-protein low-phosphorus CRF recipe which I think Helga will take to since she likes beef and hates barley. Am omitting the supplements they suggested for the recipe save for the Vitamin B tablets we just got for her since she will be eating wet food mixed with her RC Renal dry food.
Ingredients (converted to tablespoons for easy measuring):
8 tablespoons lean ground beef (raw weight), cooked
1 tablespoon clams, canned, chopped in juice
8 tablespoons rice, long-grain, cooked
1 tablespoon chicken fat
Another alternative I found to wet food for CRF cats is baby food - the kind that comes in small jars. They are low in phosphorus, as researched on this website. Low-grade canned foods like Fancy Feast also are low in phosphorus but are very high in sodium, which is therefore not suitable for any cat no matter the health. Also, baby food is low in protein which is suitable for CRF cats.
So I went and shopped as well for baby food and bought us one jar to try out -
It costs $1.95 for a 110g jar. Do note that in buying baby food for cats avoid anything that has garlic or onions because these ingredients are harmful to cats.
Helga absolutely took to the baby food, mixed with warm water into her kibbles. With this food, I think I can feed her 4 times a day instead of the current 2-3 times a day. She seriously needs to gain weight as those of you who have visited her have noticed. Am going to shop for the cheapest place I can get suitable baby foods for her and buy more of it with our Love Kuching funds.
Another option I can think of is to crush some of the kibbles into smaller sizes to mix with her wet food because she is not eating enough kibbles which is where the main nutrition is. She often eats most of the wet food and leaves some kibbles behind, licked clean of the wet food that coated the kibbles. So, will be getting my meat tenderiser and pounding some kibbles for her. Finding as many ways as possible to get more food into our skinny foster cat!
