Homemade cat food?

Question
QUESTION: Do you know any good recipes for homemade cat food?
My cats live indoors...they are both seven...
Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Scotty,

That is so super that you are contemplating a raw diet for your kitties. My 3 (Abby, 12 yr old rescued boy; Maxie, 4 yr old Maine Coon; Izzy, 2 yr old rescued girl) eat a balanced raw diet and are doing great.

Here's a link to get you started and will explain the importance of balancing the calcium to phosphorus ratio: http://www.holisticat.com/Keeping-Cats-Well-Fed/

I would highly suggest reading the whole site, not just the raw feeding information - there is a lot of great info there, including bribe toppings when our kitties don't accept a raw diet at first.

Also, feeding mice, chicks, quail, and other small prey animals from www.rodentpro.com can be incorporated into a raw diet. Of my 3, only Izzy accepts whole prey (she has never known anything but prey/ground raw) - I'm still working on the other 2. <grin>

Another source of ground or whole meats is www.hare-today.com - if you don't have a grinder this can be an option to get you going. The ground that Tracy has includes the bones and organs. I order from Tracy to add variety to my kids' diet because I don't have much in the way of sources for meat/bones/organs locally besides chicken and turkey. They especially like the rabbit and pheasant. All you need to do is add around 5% of a fiber source (pureed veggies, rice bran, or psyllium), B-Complex, Vitamin E, egg yolks (not the white unless cooked), and Taurine and you're good to go. For amounts of supplements see the info at the Holisticat link above I gave you - also for recommended brands (particularly chosen to have minimal additives or fillers).

The only caution I would give is to maybe not feed beef. A lot of kitties upchuck beef for some reason. All 3 of mine don't tolerate beef.

Please let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions.

Hugs - I'm so excited for you and your kitties!

Jules

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks! I was wondering how much time you spend, how hard is it? Is it
realistic? Thank you so much!!

Answer
You are very welcome. It takes longer in the beginning, but once you have it all down, not long at all. It takes me about an hour to grind and make a batch of food for my 3 kids. I usually do around 15-20 pounds per batch, then package a days worth into either freezer baggies or freezer canning jars. My kids are pretty good eaters so I use quart-sized freezer baggies - I add approximately 5-6 *heaping* tablespoons per baggie. This will last my 3 15-20 days - depends on how much I make.

Also, if you get preground like from hare-today, it takes less time because it is already ground. But, I only buy meats that I can't get locally from h-today because the shipping to me is so high.

In the link I gave you for Holisticat, Sandy has step-by-step how to do it. She also has a wonderful book that you can get through the site - and she will autograph it for you. :)

My Maine Coon, Maxie, has EGC, so he can't eat canned food at all - no matter how great a premium brand (and I would never feed dry food). There is just something in canned food that makes his EGC flare up - and I will NOT give him steroids or other nasty drugs to control his EGC because of all the terrible side-effects of steroids, etc. Bottom line is, it's worth the time and effort for me...and my kitties. They are all doing great, even 12-year-old Abby.

If you are interested, you could join the Holisticat forum. Info is in that link to the site that I gave you - just go to Books 'n Things.

Any other questions, just let me know. I am so happy you are thinking about a raw diet! Pretty darn cool!

Hugs 'n headbutts,
Jules