# Lipid Fraction Properties of Homemade Raw Cat Foods and Selected Commercial Cat Foods
## 2 Material and Methods
### Self-Prepared Cat Foods  
Five self-prepared food recipes (Supplemental Materials) were composed using a software for balancing cat diets called the _BARFny kalkulator_ ([[https://www.barfnyswiat.org/viewtopic.php?t=896--accessed](https://www.barfnyswiat.org/viewtopic.php?t=896--accessed)]([https://www.barfnyswiat.org/viewtopic.php?t=896--accessed](https://www.barfnyswiat.org/viewtopic.php?t=896--accessed)) on 28 February 2018). The tool was designed according to the authors' knowledge in this term and it is based on available data of the composition of raw skeletal muscles, internal organs, poultry bones, fish, as well as supplements. It also shows the cats' nutrient requirements. According to the author statement, _BARFny kalkulator_ is mainly based on requirements from four sources [29; 30; 31; 32].  
The prepared diets differed primarily in the origin of the meat. They were based on poultry and/or beef (a source of easily digestible and nutritious protein, rich in taurine, iron, zinc and B vitamins, which contains tendons, veins and tallow). Two diets contained one meat ingredient: SP-2--turkey and SP-5--beef, and three of them contained two meat ingredients: SP-1--chicken and beef, SP-3--chicken and turkey and SP-4--chicken and duck (the complete composition of the diets can be found in the Supplementary File). The meat was purchased in a local grocery. The type of meat in the diet was selected taking into account its nutritional value, palatability for cats, popularity of use by cat owners and their easy access. Supplements (source of vitamins and minerals) were purchased online ([[https://www.lunderland.org/](https://www.lunderland.org/)]([https://www.lunderland.org/](https://www.lunderland.org/)); [[http://pokusa.org/](http://pokusa.org/)]([http://pokusa.org/](http://pokusa.org/)) accessed on 28 February 2018) and Tokovit E in a local pharmacy.  
The fat content in the diet-balancing software used in these studies was set at 20-38% of dry matter, and the dry matter content was set as 25% for all samples. Authors suggest to maintain protein:fat ratio at about 2:1. Following these tips, the fat content in self-prepared foods (SP-1-SP-5) calculated by this software was around 30% (Table 1).  
Each diet was prepared three times as follows:  
* The fresh meat was ground twice;
* To balance the food, additives such as hemoglobin, salmon oil, egg shell meal, etc. were added with water to ground meat in the amount determined by the _BARFny kalkulator_ for a given mass of this meat (the addition of egg yolks, salmon oil and vitamin E was the same for all diets);
* All ingredients are thoroughly mixed with each other. Each food sample was made in greater scale, portioned and frozen.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Product Designation** & **SP-1** & **SP-2** & **SP-3** & **SP-4** & **SP-5** \\ \hline Main & Chicken Meat, Beef & & & Chicken Meat, & & \\ Animal Ingredients & Meat & Turkey Meat & Turkey Meat & & Duck Meat & \\ \hline DM, \% \(\dagger\) & 25.13 & 25.14 & 25.12 & 25.10 & 25.12 \\ \hline DM, \% & 24.02 \(\pm\) 0.94 b & 22.80 \(\pm\) 1.58 ab & 23.53 \(\pm\) 2.08 b & 20.47  
Self-prepared cat foods were designed as SP (1-5). All tested foods are listed in Table 1 with an indication of their main animal ingredients and fat content in dry matter.