What is alnutrin?

Alnutrin Supplements are powdered mixtures of vitamins and minerals designed to help you with an easy preparation of a homemade cat food. We devoted a lot of time to research and development. Our goal was to make our products safe, palatable and without questionable or unnecessary ingredients.

Today I’m going to blog about an awesome supplement called Alnutrin. Yes, I have my eye on some supplements for raw-fed dogs, but that will come later 🙂 Hold your horses!

Alnutrin is a cat raw diet supplement that is recommended by Dr. Lisa Pierson and as well as many leading cat-only vets who use this on their own cats–vets who are also at the forefront of cat nutrition. So please, Straits Times, don’t imply that these supplements themselves are inadequate. How do you know? Based on a pet food company quotation? Gee! And also please don’t imply that all raw-feeders do things haphazardly! Yes…there may be folks out there who feed their pets nothing but chicken meat, but most of us raw feeders do not become raw feeders without doing extensive research.

Stay tuned for our reply to The Straits Times!  /end rant.

Now on to something proper.

Yes, Wysong, I love you to bits, because you are so convenient.

But I have cheated on you with Alnutrin for the moment. Don’t worry, Wysong, you’ll see why you’ll still be first in my heart, but you’ll also see why also I love Alnutrin.

It comes in a little silver bag. I chose the pre-packed Alnutrin powder because I want to be careful with the amount I supplement. Pre-packed Alnutrin means that I don’t have to measure them–they are already pre-proportioned.

In little bags like these! It looks like milk powder and smells somewhat like it too.

Also, I chose the product that is meant for raw-feeding WITHOUT BONES, because I know that many Singaporeans don’t want to feed bones, and because many new raw-feeders balk at feeding bones. So, this is ALNUTRIN WITH CALCIUM.

If you feed bones, you don’t need the added calcium.

[Edit: Here are the ingredients found in Alnutrin:

Calcium, Copper, Iron and Manganese, Sodium, Potassium and Chloride, Zinc, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, Vitamin B1, B12 and Folic Acid, Taurine, Iodine, Egg Yolk Powder ]

Recipe at the back. Very simple.

Now notice that Alnutrin says to add chicken, but based on extensive reading, I have chosen to add lamb instead, because my cats do not really like chicken. Yes I can add the legendary fortiflora, but I don’t want to add that every meal because they may then get addicted to it.

As I said before, there are two schools of thought:

1.) The purists who believe that cats should not eat anything but what they physically are able to catch. This usually means chicken, birds and rabbits.

2.) Those who believe that cats can be fed other meats besides chicken, birds, and rabbits.

I happen to be from the latter camp because 1.) I believe in rotation of protein types, and 2.) cats are anatomically no different from big cats and the big cats can eat just about any prey they can land their paws on. Giraffe? You bet. Grasshopper? Sure! Buffalo? Yum! Elephant? Yes! Rabbit? Of courseeeeee! Feral cats have also been thriving fine on any prey they can catch, even prey such as moles and frogs.

(Can’t stop harping on rabbits, some people have emailed me to say it’s terrible to feed rabbit meat. Hey. Get over it. Lots of people eat rabbit all over the world. Did you just eat steak for dinner? Lots of people don’t eat beef around the world!  And don’t say it’s because we have rabbits as pets. Some people have cows and bantam chickens as pets!)

The final point is, there are good vets and good research on both sides. You need to read up, and decide for yourself…Oh alright, I’ll blog about it. But another time, kay? Today’s about Alnutrin.

The recipe calls for 2 and 3/4 cups of water. So I whip out my baking stuff…

Tadaaaa!

Urgh,clumpy.

Mix mix mix!

Measuring up 218 grams of liver. Yep, it’s frankenprey + alnutrin.

Weighing out the lamb

Yikes, out of lamb! Added some raw beef to top up to the precise weight of meat needed. The cats love beef just fine. They simply don’t like chicken.

My meat-filled sink. All ready for washing and careful preparation.

Muffin is curious about the Alnutrin mix. One thing’s for sure: you’ll never be alone when you prepare food for the pets!

Mountain of meat! Love the fat.

Heavy-duty mixing. Seriously, no joke. Do not underestimate the size of bowl needed for nearly 3 kg of meat.

Also, you’ll notice that I’ve chopped up the meat rather than mince it. This is because I like the cleaning effect meat chunks have on teeth. It’s not as much as meaty bones, but still good.

My arms ached as I mixed and chopped and I longed for my Wysong once more. As you can see, Wysong is far, far more convenient. But Alnutrin works if you want to prepare 3kg of food at one go, put in baggies and just warm them by putting the baggie in warm water when you need to feed. For example, if you need to go on leave and your parents have to take care of your pets for you…and they may not want to chop, portion, feed and mix, then Alnutrin is fabulous.

Results! I have over-portioned, actually. Each of these baggies contain enough for 3 cats for 2 meals…actually it contains more than enough, so if you have 1 cat only, this will last you for a long time. Put them in the freezer! Only place in the meat storage component in the fridge in the morning/the night before you want to feed.

It’s easier to gauge how much kitty needs if you have been feeding them raw, but as a general rule–and the simplest to follow–is that if you can’t feel your pet’s ribs, it’s too fat. Since I have been feeding raw for a long time, I can tell by just looking if there is too much food for the cat.

See the liquid? Please don’t throw it away! That’s precious nutrients, even though it may look gross to you! That goes without saying that you shouldn’t be taking the meat out of the bag to warm. Just put the whole thing in warm–not hot!–water. Go take a bath. When you come out, the baggie should be ready for feeding.

Each tiny bag of powder can make about 3 kg of food that can last a cat about 3 weeks. Mine, even with over portioning, lasted my voracious 3 cats 10 days. 1 bag a day and I had 10 bags from 3 kg of food!

Happy feeding!

….

We have Alnutrin for sale! Email us if you are interested! 🙂

Making homemade cat food may seem both expensive and difficult to do, but once you understand how to do it properly, you’ll see that it’s actually quite easy! More cat owners are turning to making cat food at home, so it’s important to know how to do it and how to do it right.

Building a balanced diet is crucial when making homemade cat food. There are multiple needs for a balanced diet to ensure that a cat’s pH balance remains intact and as healthy as possible.

Water and protein are two of the most important ingredients and aspects of homemade cat food that are needed.

In fact, processed cat food has very little of both protein and water, so cats become weaker and dehydrated on a processed diet. Water from a well or water that has been filtered are going to be your best bet.

Protein, as previously stated, is also very important. You can protein sources virtually anywhere, including beef and lamb, to help both growth and development. Cats are carnivorous by nature and need protein to thrive and survive.

Essential amino and fatty acids are next on the big list. A lot of these acids come from various protein sources directly, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone. One prime example of this is Taurine, which is vital to a cat’s health.

EPA, CLA, GLA, LA, AA, DHA, and Omega-3s are all essential amino and fatty acids that a cat must have in their diet. They are all extremely beneficial to them and keep cats in great health.

Vitamins and minerals are needed for physiological reactions, a balanced diet, the formation of their enzymes, for transportation of oxygen, and much more. Chloride, phosphorous and vitamins K and D are only a few of vitamins and minerals that cats must have in their diet.

Though cats are carnivores by nature, that certainly does not mean they can have any type of meat. Pork, lamb, mutton, veal, and beef are all great protein sources and meat types that are perfect for a homemade diet.

Listed below are some foods that must be left out of homemade cat food:

Going back to carbohydrates, make sure you don’t use too much. You should only have about 10% of them in the mix of homemade cat food and do not use them as over filling.

This is where making homemade cat food can get a little tricky. Using oils and supplements is a must when making homemade cat food, but you have to be very careful as to what you’re using because there are only a few that are okay.

Fish, safflower, sunflower, flax, canola, and corn oil are great to add into homemade cat food. Calcium supplements are also a great option, as well. However, you will need to ensure that they are mixed equally with other ingredients and don’t off the balance.

Homemade cat food does not have to a complicated, extensive process. In fact, there are many quick dishes you can whip up in minutes that are both balanced and healthy for your feline friend!

This is the Chicken Dinner Recipe, which takes just minutes to make. You will need a single cup of cooked chicken, 1/4 of a cup of mashed, steamed carrots, 1/4 of a cup of mashed, steamed broccoli, and chicken broth, which you can use as much as you’d like.

With the cooked chicken, you can choose to bake or broil it. Mix everything up and you’re good to go!