Cats need approximately 85 percent meat, fat, offal, and bone in their diet, with vegetables, herbs, and roughage making up only 15 percent of feline dietary requirements. [2] X Research source Formulating a correctly balanced diet is very difficult and something even veterinary nutritionists struggle with. If you get it wrong, the cat won’t show signs for days and weeks, but problems develop months or years down the line. Don’t change your cat’s diet without consulting a nutritionist and allow yourself to have a false sense of security that your cat seems fine and healthy.
Taurine is an amino acid that is also essential to a cat’s diet. Sufficient amounts of taurine usually exist in commercial cat foods (both dry and wet), but your cat may be at risk of a taurine deficiency if you feed it homemade foods or a vegetarian diet. Taurine deficiency in felines can cause central retinal degeneration, leading to irreversible blindness, as well as heart failure. This is why adding taurine to your cat’s diet is crucial.
Kittens need to be fed three to four times a day from the ages of six weeks to three months. By six months of age, feeding can be reduced to twice daily. Adult cats should be allowed to eat when they want, grazing throughout the day, but if that is impossible, they should be fed at least several times each day. If you have multiple cats that have different diets, you may need to figure out a feeding system that keeps them out of each other’s food.
While there are specific supplements some vegetarians feed to their cats, such as taurine, and numerous suggestions for vegetarian cat diets, a vegetarian diet for a cat can result in blindness and heart failure. Not only is this type of diet a highly intensive effort for an owner, it risks a shortened lifespan and diseases, especially if it introduces a higher level of unhealthy carbohydrate products into the cat’s diet.
Try gradually adding your homemade food to your cat’s usual food. This will acclimate them to the new textures and smells of a homemade diet. Don’t leave uneaten food out. If your cat hasn’t eaten it within the hour, dispose of it. Just try again another time.
Other ingredients to avoid include alcohol (it has the same impact as on humans only much faster — just two teaspoons of whiskey can induce a coma in a 5-pound cat), dog food (wet or dry — dog food has completely different nutrient content), candy and gum (if sweetened with xylitol, this can cause liver failure), coffee, tea, and other caffeinated products such as cold medicines, stimulant drinks and painkillers (large quantities can kill a cat and there is no antidote), and human medication of any kind (acetaminophen and ibuprofen can be deadly to cats). [7] X Research source
Limit fat trimmings and bones. Cooked bones should not be fed to cats and fat can cause pancreatitis in cats. [8] X Research source If you want to feed your cat raw eggs, only give them the yolk. Cook the egg whole if also using the white. Consider cooking the whole egg each time, as raw eggs can carry Salmonella. Even if they don’t get sick, the cat can be a subclinical carrier of Salmonella, basically meaning that it can be transferred from cats to human beings. [9] X Research source Raw meat should be frozen prior to feeding unless you are absolutely sure of its healthy origins. Feed your cat liver no more than twice weekly. Tuna can be addictive if overfed and result in a thiamine deficiency. Basically too much of the diet devoted to any kind of fish can also result in such deficiency. Milk and milk products can upset many cats, including digestion and itchiness. Talk to your vet if you’d like to continue using it; not every vet or cat owner is convinced that milk is inappropriate for cats able to tolerate it.
If you’re eager to cook for your cats all the time, it is doable, it just requires a lot of (often conflicting) research and weighing up of the options of what’s available in your area. Consider your lifestyle. If you travel a lot and have other people feeding your cats, are you going to be able to ensure that their home-cooked diet is adequate? If you work long hours, are you prepared to make up batches of food each weekend to be feed throughout the week? Some people favor feeding raw foods. This is controversial for a number of reasons, including an increased risk of infection from parasites and bacteria that are now not killed by cooking. A raw diet is currently not recommended by veterinary bodies such as the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) because the risks outweigh the benefits.
Because the balance of nutrients is so important, you should get input about your recipe from your veterinarian or an expert on cat health, even if the recipe was formulated by someone else.
Your cat may not like homemade food but it will let you know soon enough! If you have any concerns, talk to your vet about the appropriateness of cooking food for your cat, especially if your cat is growing, pregnant, unwell, or has medical conditions.
Make sure you fully cook the meat to destroy any bacteria. Then remove some of the meat from the bone and cut into chunks of around 1⁄2 inch (1. 3 cm) (12. 7mm) using sharp kitchen scissors or a knife.
If you don’t own a grinder, you can use a food processor instead. It will not be as efficient or as easy to clean but it will cut the protein into small, digestible pieces.
Pour the supplement mix into the ground meat and mix well.
Mix a little steamed rice with some chopped salmon and a little bit of water. The consistency will be soup-like; simply pour into your cat’s bowl. Cut vegetables into small pieces and add to the meal (the type of vegetables are up to you). Add oats to your cat’s food. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Follow the directions on the package of oats for water to oats ratio. Add the oats and cover. Then turn off the heat, letting oats cook for 10 minutes until soft. Some other suggestions include: An oat based raw cat food meal, tuna cat treats, and holistic cat food recipes for whole health.
