I’d like to share some information about using meat completers to easily make your raw fed feline’s food. I wrote about feeding commercial raw foods on my last post, but I want to share another way to provide a raw diet. This is one that you can make for your cat yourself. May I present, drumroll please…meat completers!
Meat completers are a simple and easy way to make homemade food for your cat. If you do not have the inclination to follow a recipe or calculate ratios or nutrients, completers are a really fantastic option. It can seem very intimidating at first to consider making your cat’s food. However, many people are shocked at how easy it is to do with a completer.
Rather than baking a cake from scratch, using a completer is like using a box of cake mix. You add the water and sometimes an egg or oil, and then mix it together to make the cake. You’ve made a delicious cake with all of the needed ingredients, but way easier than making it from scratch. That’s pretty much how it is with a meat completer, too!
What is a meat completer?
A meat completer is a pre-mixed powder with the ingredients included to make nutritionally complete food when mixed with water and meat. There are some completers that require you to add liver as well. It is important to understand the differences between the completers to decide which one(s) will be appropriate for your cat.
Popular brands of completers include the following:
EZComplete (international shipping/US)
TCFeline (shipping in North America/Canada)
Alnutrin (shipping in North America/US)
Raw Meow (Australia)
Purrform (UK)
Felini (EU)
Two key differences between completers are the calcium source used and whether or not you need to add liver. Completers can use eggshell, freeze dried bone, or other calcium supplementation to provide the required calcium in the diet. Some completers already contain liver or supplementation of vitamin A, while with others you must add the liver yourself. It can be nice to feed a variety of livers in rotation or have the option to use liver from an animal of your choice. This is especially helpful if your cat has a sensitivity to a particular liver. On the other hand, if you don’t want to deal with liver, it’s convenient to use one that already includes it for you.
If you have a kitten, you want to be sure to use a completer that will provide the needed nutrients to support their growth. As you can see, there are several factors to consider when deciding which completer is best to use for your situation.
How to use
Each completer will have specific directions for how to use the product in terms of how much meat, liver (if required), and water is needed right on the package. You can make individual meals with some of them and/or larger batches that you portion and freeze for later. With all completers, it’s important to use a minimum of three different meats in rotation to help deter boredom and provide nutrient variety.
You can also decide if you want to offer meats ground, chunked, or a mix of both. The completer powder mixes very well with ground meats. Using chunked meats, you want to be sure that your cat will lap up the liquid. If your cat does not reliably consume the liquid, you can add some ground meat with the chunked to ensure your cat gets all of the nutrients.
Popular completers
Here is some specific information about three popular completers: EZComplete, TCFeline, and Alnutrin. These are also the completers that I have personal experience with using.
EZComplete
EZComplete is a true meat completer. This means it contains all of the necessary ingredients to make nutritionally complete food when added to plain boneless meat. You do not add anything else. It is all included for you, which is why it is so easy to use.
EZC is based on the prey model raw philosophy of feeding. You supply the meat and EZC supplies eggshell as the calcium source, chicken liver, & pork pancreas. EZC also includes egg yolk, green lipped mussels as a source of omega-3s, digestive enzymes, taurine, and vitamins/minerals in order to make it nutritionally complete for All Life Stages.
TCFeline
TCFeline is another true meat completer, similar to EZC. There are three versions available in the US. One that you must add the liver, one that contains chicken liver, and one that contains beef liver. For cats with allergies, it’s nice that there are some different liver options. Just like with EZC, you can use any boneless meat—ground and/or chunked with TCF.
TCF is based on the nutritional profile of a mouse. I think this is pretty awesome, since it is nature’s main food source for our little carnivores. You supply the meat and egg. TCF supplies bone as the calcium source, chicken or beef liver (or liver that you add with the original version), krill for omega-3s, taurine, and the needed vitamins/minerals to make it nutritionally complete.
alnutrin
Alnutrin is a bit different from EZC and TCF in that it is more of a vitamin/mineral additive, rather than a true completer. This means that you will need to supply more of the ingredients yourself. This is also reflected in the cost. Alnutrin is less expensive than EZC and TCF. Alnutrin has several different versions available on their website.
For meat and bone: this is the only version of Alnutrin that is appropriate to use with kittens. You supply the meat, bone, liver, and source of omega-3s. Using a basic ratio grind from online suppliers works very well with this version.
With eggshell: this is used with plain boneless meat, liver, and a source of omega-3s.
With limestone: this is used with plain boneless meat, liver, and a source of omega-3s.
Egg-free: this is used with plain boneless meat, liver, and a source of omega-3s.
Completers are a nice option for many people
Meat completers are an easy way to make raw food that can be incorporated into many peoples’ lifestyles. Completers make food that can be fed to cats of all ages. Many of them offer sample or trial sizes to check out before committing to purchasing a larger bag, too. Raw feeding doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. Not everyone wants or has the time to calculate nutrients or create diets from scratch. It takes less than 10 minutes to mix and portion a two pound batch of raw food using a completer.
Using a meat completer tends to be less expensive than feeding a pre-made commercial raw food since you are doing some of the work. However, the overall cost of using completers is highly dependent on the cost of meat where you live and which meats you choose to feed.
Check out some of the links for the completers and see if using one just might be a way of making food for your raw fed feline that will work for you.
*Note: I do not have any affiliation with these companies.
