Nerd-N-Ernie: Starving the Beast: The Journey to Independent Living

In Starving the Beast: The Journey to Independent Living, we'll follow my progress as I begin to change my household's daily habits in order to begin living as independent of our broken Market/Monetary System as possible under our current circumstances. I currently reside near the heart of Denver, CO in a basement apartment with my soon-to-be-husband and our cat, Donny ("Shut the f*ck up, Donny!" "You're out of your element, Donny!"). I am blogging full time (i.e. unemployed, ha!) and my hubby is a carpenter who does mostly new home construction and re-models. We work hard for what we have and both of us agree it is important to spend every cent wisely and responsibly. Our goal will be to provide our household with the basic human/cat needs: safe nutritious food, clean water, clothing, shelter and transportation, in sustainable and globally responsible ways. It should be noted that I begin this project with weak-at-best cooking skills, no real knowledge of sewing techniques, and whatever the opposite of a green thumb is....so at least my cursing should be entertaining!

Today's Topic: Cat Food (I just ran out!)

We've been feeding Donny Nutro Max Cat canned wet food ($.84 per can @ PetSmart) which is probably made from crack as much as he likes the stuff and at a can a day, that's an expensive habit. While it is all natural and the label reveals no animal by-products, I still feel I'm paying more for the packaging and the assumed safety of the "All Natural" label. By making Donny's food myself, I feel like I'll be cutting down on packaging waste (7 med sized aluminum cans a week) and, in my small way, the energy it takes to industrially manufacture the pet food itself. Besides, you don't have to go far on the web to find a plethora of info on cat nutrition and recipes ranging from the heavily involved to the more simple. You can feed your cat(s) (and dogs for that matter) the same types of things you already buy for yourself with very few special purchases.

Important facts:

You should be feeding your cat whatever he or she can eat in 20-30 minutes, taking away any remainder, twice a day.

Your kitty will poo less (volume and frequency)! And it won't smell as bad!

A raw meat diet is considered to be better than cooked, so it is important to buy the freshest meat available (just like you would for yourself). This may mean going through the meat counter for the really fresh stuff in the back.

Your cat may prefer chicken thighs to breast due to the thigh's higher fat content. Other suggested meats are turkey (use about half the amount you would when using chicken), ground beef or rabbit.

Calcium is a very important part of a cat's diet and meat alone can't provide it, which is why it's often suggested to grind the meat with the bones in (if you have a grinder) or add a calcium powder or bone meal supplement.

You can and should substitute fish canned in water (tuna 8oz, salmon w/ bones 10oz, sardines 12oz, etc) for your regular meat source once every two weeks or so, just to keep it real.

You will also need to get some kitty vitamins to make sure you cover all the bases.

The Recipe
*Disclaimer: I'll be trying this recipe right along with the rest of you so please feel free to comment on any problems or variations below!

This recipe should provide one week worth of food for one medium sized cat.

1 lb raw, rinsed chicken breast or thigh bone in or out*, minced or cubed small enough for your particular cat.
1 cup cooked white rice (2 cups if a lower protein diet is desired)
4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp pureed veggies (just mash up a bit o' left over green beans, peas, corn, whatever ya got)

*600mg or 1/4 tsp of calcium (as carbonate or citrate) - boneless meat only

*2 tbsp bone meal (human/pet grade) - boneless meat only

1 tsp light iodized salt

~1 pkg FortiFlora (1 box should last about 30 wks)

Combine all ingredients, mix well, divide up into single servings, freeze!

Shopping List
1 lb chicken breast/thigh - ~$2.00 lb
White rice - ~$.88 14oz (8 cooked cups) - $.11 per week
Olive oil - ~$6.00 14oz - $.85 per week
Veggies - ~$1.00 can - $.25 per week
Calcium - ~$3.00 12oz - $.01 per week (yeah)
or
Bone meal - ~$10.00 lb - $.62 per week
Light iodized salt - ~$.99 26oz - too cheap for words
FortiFlora - ~$20.00 box of 30 - $.60 per week
Vitamins - ~$7.50 bottle of 100 - $.50 per week (~$.07 per day)
Total for all: $51.37
Total per week: $4.94 or $.70 a day

In closing, let me explain why it is that I don't just by the far cheaper dry food to save money. With the pet food industry's poor regulation, the still recent recalls, the high levels of bacteria that can live on dry foods, and almost having lost one cat to a mysterious kidney illness, I no longer feel dry food is an option for my pets. Some dry foods have even been found to contain fungal micro-toxins and unsafe chemicals. Pet food companies really don't have a vested interest in your pets health and longevity. In fact some food companies partner with vets, so it's actually in their best interest the your pet is unhealthy so they have to go to the vet and you have to buy special food.....make sense?

Let me know your thoughts below and stay tuned for Donny's reaction!

Update!

It was way to cold and we were way to lazy to go to the store last night, so here is what I made Donny from stuff I already had in the house.


1 chicken breast cut into small pieces and 1 cup cooked white rice.

"This product supplies iodine!" sprinkled over chicken/rice mixture. Maybe 1 tsp?

2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp creamed corn (it was kinda high in sodium so I didn't add much. But it does now smell pretty horrible.)

The chicken pieces were still to big and Donny kept pulling them out onto the carpet to eat (Ew!), so I blended it just a bit (in my 1980's blender I got from an ARC) and now it looks gross and smells even worse!