Question about using raw food pre-mix vs. putting supplement on food after cooking

[RuthR]

After paying closer attention to the premix I use to make my 14-year old cat, Teddy's, food (A Homemade Raw and cooked Cat Food Diet Premix/Supplement - TCfeline Plus Chicken Liver), I am concerned that, since I am now cooking most of his food, I might be cooking out all the vitamins. I was looking at Dr. Ruth Roberts' Holistic Total Body Support for Cats and Dogs (Holistic Total Body Support for Cats and Dogs - Glandular Supplements), but then I saw it has 0.035 mg of iodine per serving. This amount of iodine should be okay with Teddy’s hyperthyroid, right?

Would I be able to make his food without using the pre-mix, and instead put one serving of the Holistic Total Body Support on his food every day? I am trying to make sure, since I am cooking his food, that he is getting the proper amount of vitamins and supplements every day. He has been struggling with constant, chronic constipation, and I am trying to figure out why.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

That's a great premix, one of very few I like for cats. Iodine is an essential nutrient so that's fine, but unlike TC, that supplement is NOT intended to make a complete and balanced food. How can you tell? Only 63 mg of calcium. A 10# cat needs about 200 mg per day.

Except for B vitamins and C, most vitamins and minerals are pretty heat stable. But the easiest solution is to just add the supplement *after* you cook the meat.

 

[RuthR]

Thanks, Dr. Jean! I always value your answers to my cat questions.

TC Feline has instructions for cooking the meat first and then adding the premix to it, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet. It also states that cooked meat does not freeze as nicely as raw meat does, and it is made in 2-pound batches, so I would definitely have to freeze some of it.

If I continue putting the premix in his raw food when I mix it up a batch and then cooking it before I feed it to Teddy, would it be bad to use both the TC Feline premix and also add a dose of the Holistic Total Body Support once a day? Would he be getting too many supplements then?

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

I wouldn't use both. It would risk overdoing especially the minerals like manganese and vitamin A. It's fine to use a separate glandular, the one I use is Grass Fed Organ Complex

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Dr. Jean, what do you think about this one:

Daily Multi Plus for Dogs and Cats

Organic multi vitamin for dogs and cats from a trusted leading retailer of natural pet products. In stock, great prices and fast $6.95 Flat Rate Shipping...

www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Tiny amounts of dozens of things... not enough of any of them to actually accomplish much. Not to mention the misleading name--there are zero vitamins listed!

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thank you!

 

[Dr. Christina]

And about the constipation, Ruth, are you working with a homeopathic vet or TCVM vet?
Sometimes it is not the diet, rather an energy imbalance.
Dr. Christina