Simple Start??? Help!!!

This is the place to share your best homemade cat food and treat recipes with each other! Remember to use caution if your pet has allergies and to make any diet changes gradually so that your cat's stomach can adjust to the new foods you are introducing.

Kierra Sno

880159

Purred: Sat Nov 8, '08 5:42am PST


	Well, I have been trying to feed my cats a better diet... Researching and trying to find something good... I keep finding contradicting information... but basically I am now thinking the only way to be sure of what my cats are eating, is to make it myself. I find all the holistic and grain free foods still have fillers like potatoes and tapioca, etc, instead of grains... uhh! I'm getting so confused and frustrated... and no one seems to know what these companies are allowed to do and claim. I feel betrayed and tricked. I would like to try a simple home cooked dinner this weekend. Just to see what their response will be... Does anyone have any suggestions on a good place to start? Can I buy an organic whole chicken and simmer in water or broth, for how long, what temp? Do I have to grind it up somehow? Bones, giblets? Maybe add some shrimp or fish? Please help before I go crazy!

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Shadow

Education is the- Key

Purred: Sat Nov 8, '08 9:44am PST


	I know it is so frustrating when these companys cannot make a good food for us, they have to go and add stuff like potatoes that raises our blood sugar, and other things that we just dont need, right now im basically putting up with the potato, hopefully it is not too much that will affect my kitties. Have you been to the site called http://rawfedcats.org/ This is a very helpful site.

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Khina

Don't breed or- buy when shelter- pets die

Purred: Sat Nov 8, '08 12:31pm PST


	Go to rawfedcats.org like Shadow said. It really is as simple as handing meat to your cat. You just need to learn what ratios to feed is all. Really. It's very simple.

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Natasha

Live. Love.- Forgive.

Purred: Sat Nov 8, '08 8:50pm PST


	You could feed raw, or you could feed a simple meal of 1/3 COOKED chicken or beef heart, 1/3 cooked chicken or beef liver, and 1/3 cooked chicken meat with a sprinkle of calcium powder ( 1,000mgs per lb of mixture ), a drizzle of vitamin E, and a little bit of a taurine supplement if you feel like you need to. I personally have had better results with my cat on a homecooked diet. Her fur is softer and she takes to the food better. I don't have to grind up the bones anymore ( she's five pounds and isn't strong enough to chew through any bones except mice bones ), and her teeth are still very clean since there aren't any dyes or sugars in the recipes I use.

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Pepsi

FRISKY=RISKY,- SPAY & NEUTER!

Purred: Sun Nov 9, '08 3:30pm PST


	There's a pretty straightforward recipe HERE but personally, I don't think the veggies are essential.

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Khina

Don't breed or- buy when shelter- pets die

Purred: Sun Nov 9, '08 3:40pm PST


	Here's a post I wrote in the Raw forum as advice to a kitty who was being a stinker about eating raw: Luckily my cats were not at all hard to transition. However, the ferrets were another story completely. When I offered raw meat to them they looked at me like I was trying to poison them. Here are the methods I tried with them. I started introducing meat baby food as a treat. Neither would go for it at first so I had to force the issue a bit by smearing some on their nose to lick off. Once they got a taste they were hooked. They would lick it off my fingers and then off a spoon. After they were hooked on baby food I added the absolute tiniest pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast. I mean I chopped it up in the tiniest mince you can image. They spit out every single piece of it. Next I tried blanching the chicken and adding it to the baby food. Same result as raw. So I decided that the wet method wasn't going to be the way to go with these two. Here's what finally worked. I blanched the chicken and cut it into pieces that were the same size as their kibble (EVO), smashed some kibble into a powder and coated the chicken like shake 'n bake. I started adding bits of it to their kibble bowl. Eventually they would accidentally eat one. And so I'd add more chicken and less kibble. After a couple of weeks I was able to serve all slightly blanched chicken with just a dusting of kibble powder on top. Then no kibble powder. Then bigger pieces of blanched chicken. Then I cooked it for less and less time. Eventually they were eating all raw and they weren't quite sure how it happened. But, boy are they glad it did happen! Any of those methods may hit the mark with your cat and I'm sure there are other methods as well. I assume you're not free feeding kibble and all that, so I won't go through the laundry list of the basics. Keep trying. Eventually some combination will work. Maybe you need to give her privacy while she eats and keep all other animals out of earshot. Or maybe she'd rather you be nearby. Or maybe she'd prefer her food on a towel on the floor instead of on a plate. There are so many variables, but don't get discouraged. Try to follow her lead and don't get anxious. It'll work out. I know it can be very frustrating when change doesn't happen quickly. It's very disruptive to your life and consumes a lot of time, but in the end it's just so easy. Buy meat. Give to cat. It'll happen as long as you stick with it.

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DeVille

Two Tone

Purred: Sat Nov 15, '08 9:55pm PST


	I grind rice cooked in chicken stock, with cooked chicken breast, add pease and carrots. It gives them the protien, vitamins, and starch that they need. I then mix it in with their dry can food so they have a balanced meal. I do this every two days. When I first started to do this their stool was runny for two to three days then all went well. It is a little bit of work, I think it is worth the effort.

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Watson

He's no- Sherlock!

Purred: Sat Nov 15, '08 10:34pm PST


	If your looking for a good quality canned, you could try Evo 95% meat. I've found it is easier to transition to raw once they are on a wet diet. And it doesn't have all those nasty grains, veggies and fruits that kitties don't need and can't use anyway!

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Scooter

Even the sun- loves me.

Purred: Mon Dec 22, '08 1:36pm PST


	Darlin', you are a delight to us catsters and cats. And you are so a - me. Concerned, enlightened, determined. I make my own cat food- raw, no dry anymore either - and my cats thrive on it. I have learned a lot from my trial and error ways so let me pass on what I know. And I cook NOTHING and 10 or my 14 cats have tucked into the new diet with relish. Still working on the remaining four. I have an electric meat grinder (but good food processor could do just as well) and I get chicken thighs only with bone in and after cutting the big meaty parts from the bone, I send it all through my grinder. My cats adore their new food and when I started giving it to them, they demanded to know why I had been hiding this "caviar" for so long. Unless you have a desire to spend more on "organic" meats, just go with hormone- and antibiotic free. I do splurge on the eggs - I spend that extra 30 cents (I live in GA and wild chickens are like weeds here) for cageless/free-range chicken eggs. I got my base recipe from catnutrition.org and after a couple of small tweaks it is perfect for my clan. You can get the few supplements it calls for either online or at a good drug store. Any way you look at it, it's way cheaper and far more superior in quality than ANY store bought stuff. Again, I think you are tops for your concern about the nutrition of your cats. You so RULE! Cheers!!

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