Preparing homemade raw cat food is a straightforward process that offers significant benefits for your feline companion’s health and your peace of mind. This guide will walk you through the essentials, from understanding the nutritional components to detailed recipe instructions, ensuring your cat receives a balanced, species-appropriate diet.
Understanding Feline Nutritional Needs
Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning their natural diet consists primarily of meat. A balanced homemade raw diet mimics this natural prey-based approach, incorporating essential components like meat, organs, bone, fat, egg yolks, water, and specific supplements. Unlike commercial cat foods that often contain carbohydrates, a raw diet for cats omits these unnecessary ingredients. By making your cat’s food at home, you gain complete control over the quality and sourcing of ingredients, often finding it to be more cost-effective than commercially prepared canned diets. For optimal health and stimulation, it’s recommended to vary the types of meat and occasionally offer whole meats with bones for dental and psychological benefits.
Essential Equipment for Homemade Raw Cat Food
To successfully prepare raw cat food, you’ll need a few key pieces of equipment:
- Grinder: A powerful grinder capable of processing bones is crucial. Look for models with a reverse function and sufficient power to handle large quantities efficiently. Remember to hand-wash grinder parts.
- Sharp Knife & Poultry Shears: Essential for preparing meat portions.
- Meat Cleaver: Useful, especially when working with whole carcasses.
- Mixing Bowls: At least three stainless steel bowls of varying sizes are recommended.
- Freezable Containers & Labels: For storing pre-portioned meals.
- Ear Plugs: Grinders can be noisy.
- Gloves: Nitrile or latex gloves help maintain hygiene.
- Work Surface Coverings: Newspaper or plastic for easier cleanup.
- Kitchen Scale: A scale that can handle at least 10 pounds is necessary for accurate measurements.
- Large Cutting Board: Preferably one that fits in the dishwasher.
- Freezer Space: Adequate space to store your prepared batches.
Key Ingredients: Meat, Organs, and Supplements
The quality and freshness of your ingredients are paramount. Opt for the freshest meat available, as cats can be particular about scent. Chicken hearts are a vital source of taurine, an essential amino acid for cats. If fresh hearts are unavailable, taurine supplements can be used.
Beyond meat, a carefully selected blend of supplements is non-negotiable for a balanced raw diet. These supplements compensate for nutrients typically found in whole prey that are often missing in muscle meat alone. The necessary supplements include:
- Taurine: In powdered form.
- Wild Salmon Oil or Wild Caught Small Fish Oil: Capsules are preferred over liquid to prevent rancidity.
- Vitamin E: Dry form in capsules is easiest to use.
- Vitamin B Complex: Capsules with powdered content.
- Lite Salt: Must contain iodine.
- Psyllium Husk Powder (Optional): Adds fiber, beneficial for cats transitioning to raw food.
Alternatively, you can use a pre-mixed supplement specifically designed for raw meat diets, such as Alnutrin, TCFeline, or Better in the Raw. Always ensure the supplement is appropriate for raw meat preparations and consider whether it’s formulated for meat with or without bone.
Basic Chicken Thigh Recipe (with Bone)
This recipe provides a foundation for homemade raw cat food. Always consult your veterinarian before making significant dietary changes, especially if your cat has pre-existing medical conditions.
Yields approximately 6.5 pounds of food.
Ingredients:
- 4.5 pounds (approx. 2 kg) chicken thighs with bone (after removing 20-25% of the bone and skin from half the thighs)
- 7 ounces (200 grams) raw chicken liver
- 14 ounces (400 grams) raw chicken heart (or 4000 mg Taurine if unavailable, substituting with additional chicken thigh meat)
- 8 ounces (0.24 liter) bottled spring water
- 4 raw egg yolks
- 2000 mg Taurine (additional if not using hearts)
- 4000 mg wild salmon or wild caught small fish oil
- 200 mg Vitamin B Complex
- 200 IU Vitamin E
- 1 ½ teaspoons (8.4 grams) Lite Iodized Salt
- 4 teaspoons (8 grams) Psyllium Husk Powder (optional)
Instructions:
- Preparation: Prepare your workspace by covering it with newspaper or plastic. Organize all equipment, ingredients, and supplements.
- Meat Preparation: Remove skin from half (or all, if your cat is overweight) of the chicken thighs. Remove bones from 20-25% of the thighs. Weigh the meat after these adjustments. Rinse the meat.
- Supplement Slurry: In a small bowl, combine egg yolks and water. Whisk together. Open supplement capsules (except fish oil) and add the contents to the bowl. Discard empty capsules. This is your “slurry” mixture.
- Weigh Organs: Weigh out the chicken liver and heart.
- Chunk Meat: Cut the chicken thighs into roughly ½-inch pieces.
- Grinding: Wearing gloves and earplugs, begin grinding the chicken thighs. Add liver, heart, and fish oil capsules at intervals during grinding. The gelatin capsules are edible.
- Mixing: Transfer the ground mixture to a large bowl. Add the slurry mixture, chunked meat, and psyllium husk (if using). Mix thoroughly.
- Portioning: Divide the mixture into your chosen containers or freezer bags. Label and freeze. Refrigerate portions for immediate use.
A handy Recipe Calculator is available to adjust ingredient proportions based on the exact amount of meat you start with.
Variations and Considerations
- Whole Chicken: Use a whole chicken, removing the neck and backbone. Ensure your grinder can handle larger bones.
- Other Poultry: Turkey, duck, pheasant, quail, or Cornish hen can be used following the same recipe principles.
- Rabbit: A popular choice; follow the general recipe, omitting Lite Salt if the thyroid gland is included.
- Fish: Not recommended as a primary diet due to potential contaminants. Occasional sardines or wild-caught salmon can be added for variety.
- Pre-Ground Meats: Supplement commercially available pre-ground raw meat grinds by reducing the supplement amounts by approximately 15%.
- Boneless Meat: If using boneless meat, add a calcium source such as eggshell powder (approximately 3 grams per pound of meat) to maintain the correct calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.
Serving and Feeding Guidelines
- Temperature: Serve food at “mouse body” temperature (thawed or slightly thawed, warmed gently in warm water, not microwaved).
- Serving Dish: Use a plate or shallow dish made of glass or metal, rather than plastic, to prevent scratches that can harbor bacteria.
- Amount: Feed 2-4% of your cat’s ideal body weight daily. For a 10-pound cat, this is about 4.8 ounces per day. Adjust based on your cat’s weight and activity level. Kittens require more food per pound of body weight.
- Frequency: Twice a day is sufficient for adult cats, though more frequent small meals are also acceptable. Kittens should be fed at least every four to six hours.
Making homemade raw cat food is an achievable and rewarding endeavor. By understanding the core principles and following these guidelines, you can provide your cat with a nutritious and natural diet.
