Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Store bought food isn't always the best option for your cat. Whether its due to medical reasons or a picky eater, making your own cat food allows you to choose the ingredients in it. This page contains homemade cat food recipes.

Solutions: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

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Cat Pudding

Cats need dessert too!

Ingredients:

1 large can evaporated milk (not milnot)
2 Tbsp. plain yogurt (not diet)
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (real)
1 Tbsp. light Karo Syrup
1 pkg. Knox gelatin
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 cup water

Directions:

Mix milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, and syrup together well. Bring 1 cup water to boil and mix in Knox gelatin. Set aside. Mix egg yolk with small amount of milk mixture and beat well. Add gelatin and water to milk mixture and beat well. Add in egg yolk mixture and beat well. Pour into Tupperware or like bowl (with cover) and set in refrigerator. Pudding will last for two weeks covered in refrigerator.

Very rich in calcium, this pudding can be used as a supplement for kittens, from birth on, sick cats, and show cats to put on weight. Several veterinarians have approved this recipe as being balanced and nutritious.

Source: My Vet

By Jodi from Aurora, CO

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Cooked Chicken Instead Of Wet Cat Food

Pet food in my area has gone up and the sales are not as good, if at all. The other day, the Kroger I was in had whole chickens on clearance, for 59 cents a pound. I will cook one, discard the bones and skin, dice it up and feed it to my cats, twice a day, instead of their can food. It's cheaper, and it's good for them. No fillers. I will store it in the fridge.

If you do not have multiple cats, as I do, simply put the diced chicken, in a big plastic, Ziploc bag, and get a handful out and zap it on defrost, each day.

By julrobs from North Augusta, SC

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Homemade Cat Food

Make your own cat food by boiling 2 pounds pasta, 2 pound lentils, and 1 pound offal. Cool the mixture and blend to liquidize. Put in portion sized containers in the freezer. When it has thawed, it will have a meat-loaf consistency. Important to use offal rather than other meats for its strong flavour.

Editor's Note: Offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. According to Wikipedia.

By Verity from London UK

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Questions

Here are questions related to Homemade Cat Food Recipes.

Homemade Cat Food Recipes

I want to make some food for my cat, any suggestions?

By Rob from Boston, MA

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Most Recent Answer

By Lizzyanny11/02/2010

I make an all raw diet for my cats. If you are making more than an occasional snack it is good to understand the nutrition requirements for cat food. I got started using the catinfo.org website (see "making cat food"). My cats are thriving after 5 years on this website's recipes. The woman who put this recipe together is a vet and really understands nutrition.

Homemade Senior Dog and Cat Food Recipes

I am looking for recipes that my elderly and dog can both eat. I need to feed them the same diet.

By Rita C

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Homemade Cat Food for Cat with Food Allergies

I have a cat with food allergies, which is hard to fight with processed cat food. Does anyone have a healthy homemade cat food recipe they can share without any added chemicals?

By Cris from Central CA

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Most Recent Answer

By Sally_Admin10/21/2011

(Submitted via email)

This is not a good recipe for cats and will lead to serious healthy problems. Cats are obligate carnivores and need to have meat in their diets to be healthy. kindlyroot's recipe does not include meat and is missing other important elements such as calcium and taurine that are important for cats.

Beth S.

Homemade Cat Food

How do I make homemade cat food?

By Debbie

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Most Recent Answer

By Lizzyanny02/16/2012

Animalmcburger is right. I am a raw feeder because one of my cats is epileptic and the raw food keeps the seizures under control. But it is a lot of work. I needed to buy a meat grinder ($200) and then find a consistent source of raw chicken hearts. Just keeping fresh food on hand is a weekly chore. I set aside a half day a week to take care of business.

Cat food has improved a lot in the last few years. My other cat loves Costco dry maintenance formula. It costs only $18 for a 20 lb bag. It is the best quality. I do share chicken and turkey and salmon on a regular basis with my guys. Remember cats are obligate carnivores.

Grains and veggies don't do them much good because they have a short digestive tract and cant digest them well. Some cats can't digest them at all and have real problems with diarrhea. If you do cook for your cats find a good supplement. I like the feline vitamins from Only Natural Pets.

Making a Fish Flavored Broth for Cats

My fussy cat has taken to liking the new broths available for cats, but they are expensive for very little and packaged badly so that I always spill a bit getting it out of the vacuum pack. She loves texture and liquid as she tends to lick her food rather than taking bites.
If anyone has a good broth recipe suitable for cats I'd love to see it, please.

By Pauline D

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RE: Making a Fish Flavored Broth for Cats

By Lizzyanny08/09/2012

I got tired of paying for broth awhile back and started making my own. I save all chicken or turkey parts in the freezer. I usually have a lot of backs(back bones hide a number of small glands - adrenal, kidneys et. I pop them out as they have an off flavor), wings and leg bones etc. When the freezer gets crowded I take them all out put them in a pot and fill the pot with water. Simmer for 1 to 4 hours, let cool and strain thru a seive or cheesecloth to remove any small bones. if boiled for 4 hours you will have extracted the mineral content of the bones (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus) Now you can reduce the stock until it is the way you like it. I pour my stock into 8 oz plastic cups and freeze it. I use it to make soup, rice or whatever needs a flavor boost. One difference you will notice with the store bought stock is that yours will gel when it is cold. I am not sure how manufacturers keep the store bought stuff from gelling. It liquifies quickly when brought to room temp or a little more. You can add anything you like to broth while it is cooking. Onions, celery etc can vary the flavor and nutrition. My cats love it and I use it by the ton. A container of broth is approaching $3 at the store.

Looking for Recipes for Cat Food and Treats

I am looking for simple recipes for cat food and cat treats. Kitty is a new mummy at 8 months old with 4 kittens still nursing.

By Seamus from San Antonio, TX

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Most Recent Answer

By Lizzyanny06/09/2010

Ther are some great raw food recipes if you are interested. It is a bit more work, but the cats thrive on it. If you want my recipe just let me know. There are several available on the web also. I have been feeding that way for 5 years now.

Previous: Cooked Chicken Instead Of Wet Cat Food

Next: Cat Pudding

Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Anyone have any recipes for homemade cat food that is cheaper than manufactured. I have several cats and spend about $100 a month feeding them and that is store brand!

Karen from Bolivar, TN

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

I have a source for free beef hearts and tongue. I boil them in water, cut into chunks, and chop fine in food processor. My two cats get some of this each night when I get home from work, and during the day they eat dry food. They love the beef! (12/03/2008)

By Ruth

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

If you plan to switch your cats to a 100 percent homemade diet, check out some of the nutritional information online, because there are certain vitamins and minerals which are very important to their health and might be missing in a diet a lay person would devise. Saving money on food doesn't accomplish much if you make it up on vet bills.

We've had several cats who didn't like canned food and who had long, healthy lives just eating a good supermarket brand of dry food. In other words, not the cheapest generic brand, but not the expensive kinds sold by vets, either. Stuff like Purina, in other words. (12/05/2008)

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

For about 6 months I made my own cat food. I bought a cat food cookbook in the cookbook section of one of the major bookstores. They loved it, but it is time consuming. I don't believe it was any less expensive, and you either need to supplement it with commercial canned food or find a place to buy things like taurine which cats need to have. They also cannot have all their meat protein cooked, I forgot why at the moment. (12/08/2008)

By Beth

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Today I began searching for dry cat food alternatives. As we can tell by this long thread, so are many of us. Here is just a little of what I have found so far that makes sense. Cats do not have a physiologic requirement for vegetables and actually lack the enzymes needed to break down this food source for efficient utilization. You can find more info: http://www.catinfo.org/#Home-Prepared_Diets

Avoid fish flavored foods or treats, which are said to be suspect in crystal formation/urinary problems in males.

Cats need very very little carbs. (ie rice/oats)

One of our 3 cats, Mia- she is not fat, just fluffy- 80% fur! As you can see she likes to eat her feet, perhaps she has found her own diet! (01/11/2009)

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Please see this site! rexforhealth.com. Click on the What's New tab, and at the bottom of the page is the simplest and most animal-friendly raw food recipe. I use it all of the time. This site also offers other valuable info. (02/21/2009)

By Shirley

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes WEB BLOG!

I know one very nice blog with plenty of good homemade cat food recipes, I think you will find there all these recipes and more, here's the address:
http://cat-recipes.blogspot.com.

More general information about how and what to feed your cat can be found in this blog:
http://feedmycat.wordpress.com. (04/06/2009)

By kindyroot

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

I find all this business of adding supplements is more expensive than buying cat food. And adding taurine is surely unnecessary if you feed your cat freshly cooked or raw meat and chicken bones. Why buy bone meal when you can grind up the bones or just give then the bones? My two cats have been doing splendidly with eating bones, plus it's what is more natural for cats. After all what how do feral cats survive?

They get to exercise their teeth and get the wonderful bone marrow! I have heard if you cook bones in a soup it makes them more brittle and perhaps more dangerous. So I just buy the ready-cooked chicken from Safeway and feed them the meat and the bones. They seem completely satisfied with the meat I give them, the same stuff I eat. I too will experiment with homemade food with a little carbs. (01/14/2010)

By woodnymph

RE: Homemade Cat Food Recipes

I've read through all the comments, info., and suggestions here concerning homemade cat food. I've also done some online research on the topic. What I have found is conflicting info about certain foods and if they are good or bad for one's cat. For example, I've read recipes calling for vegetable oil, whereas I've also read that vegetable oil is not good for cats, both posted by vets. On a dangerous note, I've read onions are toxic to cats, but then I've come across recipes including onion.

I'm pointing out these inconsistencies as a warning: do your research. Don't take one person's advice, even if they claim to be a vet (online) or claim their own pet is healthy. Ask a few local vets, pet stores, pet owners, books, and online websites that appear to be written by experts. Figure out why some people say garlic is dangerous for cats while others say it's good for them. Then you can make an informed decision based on popular opinion or plain fact. Most importantly, you are being a responsible and loving pet owner. (06/05/2010)

By jennmf