Things to Consider When Feeding Cats a Homemade Diet

If you are still seriously considering feeding a homemade raw or cooked diet for your cat, I strongly suggest that you do your own research on the subject. It is all well and good for one person to give advice on a subject, but I believe it is only possible to make a well-informed decision on anything by reading all you can about it, both pro and con, and then figuring out how you feel about it. I do believe that either homemade diet is superior to anything commercial, even prescription diets. You need to discover for yourself how and why this is so, and understand biologically why cats, just like humans, "are what (they) eat".

That said, I do have a few tips that I will pass on in regards to homemade cat food, some of which I read about and others I discovered on my own. I've already mentioned the protein factor in homemade cat food, and I would like to extrapolate on that. First, don't substitute tofu for part of the protein. This is OK for dogs, whose protein requirements are not as stringent as those for cats, who of course would never eat such a thing in the wild. Also, tofu is bean curd, which could possibly cause intestinal upset. Also, never give cats raw egg whites (yolks are OK). I cook the whole thing in with the food, which works great. Raw albumen contains a substance called avidin, which prevents the absorption of B vitamins.

As I've mentioned previously, I don't add bone meal to the cat's food for the calcium component, due to the lead contamination issue. I use ground eggshell powder, which I make myself. I rinse the eggshells really well, then freeze them until I have a baggie full. I cook them at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes to dry them and kill any bacteria. Then, I grind them in a coffee grinder. A large ground eggshell contains about 2,000 mg. of calcium and 75 mg. of phosphorus, which is a good ratio for cats. I don't add this to the pot of food, but use it as the base for a daily supplement I make for my cats.

Whenever you cook meat for your cat, it is very important not to throw out any broth or drippings, as this is where the amino acid taurine will escape to. Cats with a taurine deficiency will develop serious eye and heart problems. I add taurine to the supplement that I give to my cats, as well.

If you decide to change your cat to a homemade diet, you will never regret it. I have a friend who has many cats, and she uses the food I make to treat elderly cats for a variety of problems such as hyperthyroid and chronic diarrhea. She claims it works better than prescription cat food and drugs, combined!

Just So You Know: For healthy cats, the stool becomes small and odor-free, since there is so little in the diet that the cat's body cannot use. What a bonus!
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Preparing a Homemade Diet for Your Cat

Now that you have decided to start feeding your cats a homemade, cooked food diet, let's talk about exactly what this entails.

First of all, many people make the mistake of assuming that since cats are obligate carnivores, all they need to eat is meat, and nothing else. This is a mistake that can cause multiple health problems for your cat. Whether you decide upon a raw food or cooked diet, cats need more than meat in their diets. Of course, the cat food manufacturers tell us that cats love meat (true, of course) and then go on to create dry cat food which is anything but meat. When you open a can of cat food, it looks like meat and nothing else, right? But we all know all of the nasty additives that are found in these products, many of which are not even related to food (like melamine!). Therefore, we need to take our cue from nature, as well as those who understand cats and their nutritional needs, rather than corporations.

That said, let's talk specifics. How much of this diet should be made up of meat? Most texts will tell you to use 60% protein (meat), 20% vegetables and 20% grains. The protein portion can be made up of mostly meat (recommended) as well as eggs and organs. You can be a little bit loose with these percentages, but they are all necessary. I'm not sure that my recipe follows them all that closely, but it works very well, so I keep on keepin' on.

By taking one bit of advice here and another there, I figured out the recipe I now use. I buy whole chickens, since this is the best and most bio-available protein for cats (turkey runs a close second). I put approximately one pound of another type of meat in each batch just for a bit of variety: Beef, pork, gizzards, heart, liver, etc. Of course, all the "guts" that come with the bird go in the pot, as well. I usually toss in a few eggs, as they are a good, cheap protein that really helps thicken the broth, too. Brown rice, barley, oatmeal--these are good, easily digested carbohydrates that need to be added into the mix. Cover with water, simmer on low heat for about 50 minutes--hey, it's chicken stew! Last thing, I throw in a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, just so they are lightly cooked.

Once I remove the bones, the whole pot of goodies goes into the food processor, then freezer-safe containers. I take them out to thaw as I need them, so they're always fresh. Easy as pie!

Tomorrow, I'll discuss more cat nutrition tips to go along with your new homemade cat diet!
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Cooking for Your Cat

What do you do if you're dissatisfied with commercial canned cat food but not wild about trying a raw food diet? Well, you cook for your cat, of course!

I know this sounds like a lot of work and maybe just a little bit crazy, but bear with me. I have been doing this for nearly three years now and, even though it is tons of work, I feel that it is well worth it. Of course, I work from home and don't have kids around, so I have a bit more time than many of you. I also have a background in veterinary science and animal care, so I had some of the research material I needed right on my bookshelf. I can tell you, though, that anyone determined enough can do this. As for the time involved, well, I've learned that time is an elastic thing: When you need to get something done, you manage to do just that. People who work outside of the home full-time often seem to get more done in a day than people like myself, simply because they have to be more organized. As a wise woman I worked with for many years used to say, "If you want something done, ask a busy person."

What do I mean when I say that cooking food for cats is "well worth it"? As I have mentioned before, the three cats that live here are litter mates and are 12.5 years old. If you saw them, you wouldn't believe it! At this moment, they are downstairs raising a ruckus because they think I am overdue feeding them (they're not used to the time change yet!). They keep running up here to yell at me, then fly down the stairs when I act as if I'm getting up. Every night between 8 and 9 p.m., they all wake up from their naps and go berserk, just like youngsters. They still jump and land easily and run and play like kittens. They have no skin problems and their fur is soft as silk. To what do I attribute all this? Diet, of course!

Was it hard to change them over to the homemade food? No, not at all. They were all indoor cats all their lives and I always fed them a premium diet, so their health was excellent to start with. I would add a little more into the bowl at each meal. Do they like it? Absolutely. They are fed at proscribed times, but they start nagging about an hour early, since they love it so much. There's an added benefit: They get lots of exercise while they're bugging me for meals!

Over the next few posts, I'll talk about what you need to know to get started cooking for your cat.
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