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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-15-09 07:20 PM
Original message
Homemade cat food recipe (comments/criticisms?)
I've been feeding my cats a home-made concoction with the following ingredients over the past year.
They seem to love it, and be very healthy, shiny coats, not to mention that it is cost saving. But I don't have the advantage of long term experience with it. It's not scientific so if you've been doing something similar, I'd appreciate hearing your feedback, observations, share recipes, etc.

I throw all of these ingredients into the food processor and then freeze what I don't think I'll use within the week. I also serve this to them along with some good quality dry food on the side. The meats are human grade, bought at my grocery store:

One container chicken livers (about 3 Cups)
One package chicken hearts
One package chicken gizzards
(equal quanities of each meat - so that each makes up 1/3 of total)
3 raw eggs (I buy them as cheap as possible but still hormone free)
1/4 C. goats milk
2 T. turmeric
3 T. ground flax seeds (I just buy this separately because I add it to my OWN meals too)
3 T. Solid Gold brand Seameal (also comes with flaxseed meal)
http://www.petco.com/product/15044/Solid-Gold-Seameal-Mineral-and-Vitamin-Supplement-for-Horses,-Dogs,-and-Cats.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGooglebase-_-Cat-_-Solid%20Gold-_-764329&mr:trackingCode=EE07EC15-8381-DE11-B7F3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-19-09 09:55 PM
Response to Original message
1. I don't know, Dover.
I lost my Natural Cat book years ago in a move. She wrote recipes similar to that in the book.
I'm pretty sure my cat would love it! I wish I had the where-with-all to make it for him.

Do you have any new kitties?
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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 08:18 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Hi Syz. Yes I have some new kitties. How did you know?

I would encourage you to consider making your own cat food. It takes a matter of minutes to throw it all in the food processor and then pour it into containers (some to be frozen). I wish making OUR meals was that quick!

As I mentioned in another post, my animals don't have fleas and I suspect it's due to their diet.
Don't know how else to explain it. I don't use any type of flea medication.
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glinda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 12:07 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Cats need Taurine don't they?
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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 01:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Yes, that's what I've read.
Edited on Fri Aug-21-09 02:13 PM by Dover
Natural sources of taurine are eggs, meats, dairy products and fish proteins.

Besides that it's in the dry food that I give them to supplement the wet.

Found this article online and the "nutritional guidelines" linked to at the end has caused me to rethink a couple of things in my recipe. First, perhaps I should reduce the amount of liver and also should probably include some dark meat and a calcium source (bones). My grocery store sells chicken feet which I think I'll try.

=======

Dark poultry meat, such as turkey and chicken contain high amounts of taurine, so you're on the right track. Cooking depletes the amount of bio-available nutrients and taurine content, as well as helpful enzymes that aid in digestion. I would offer the meat raw or very gently seared. For some cats who do not like it raw, it is sometimes simply a matter of warming it up a bit for them to accept it. I put the meat in a zip lock bag and let it sit in a bowl of hot water for a couple minutes and then serve it to the cat immediately.

Here is the most sound source of information, in regards to taurine that I have found thus far:
http://www.serve.com/BatonRouge/taurine_chmr.htm

I believe that this is one area of research that needs more attention. The "ideal" feline diet is one that is comparable to her natural feeding tendances. Meaning, that whatever she is fed should be modeled after the prey based diet that she would be eating naturally.
This is where it becomes challenging to provide precise numbers, because the taurine analysis of whole prey (rodents, small birds, etc) is unavailable, so far unpublished, as far as I am aware.

Here is some interesting information from the website I provided above:

"There's always the question how much taurine may be present in a whole mouse carcass since it is a natural prey of cats. So far, I was not able to find any scientific source to verify data. C.J. Puotinen claims that a typical mouse will contain 2.4 mg/g taurine or (for better comparison with the other values: 100 g would contain 240mg or 1 kg of mouse carcass would raise these values up to 2400 mg). Unfortunately, he does not indicate his source of reference. The same values have been published in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th Edition, various contributors, published 2000 by Mark Morris Institute. Well, actually they say that the taurine content of mouse carcass is 7000mg/kg but on a dry matter basis. Since mice are 60-65 water the conversion will bring it down to the values Puotinen published. Again, no source of reference. If these values are correct then - compared to Laidlows findings - dark turkey meat sure would meet the values of an equal amount of mouse carcass or even exceed it."

With the dark poultry meat you're providing, I would not be worried about the lack of taurine.

However, since you didn't mention it, I do wonder if you are providing a calcium source, and other supplemental nutrients? It really is not difficult to prepare your own balanced diet. Again, simply look at natures model for guidance. For instance, a whole prey animal will offer a cat roughly the following:

10-15% edible bones
10% organs (1/5 of this being liver)
75-80% meat, skin, fat, connective tissues, and other "by-products"

The bulk of the diet is "meat," so you are on the right track. Just be sure that you are providing the other necessary elements as well. The average adult cat needs only about 8oz of liver per month, 8oz of other mixed organs, and about 1 -1.5lbs of bone per month. Really, these amounts are not that substantial, but they are very important in creating a balanced diet.

Here is a great nutritional guideline, written by Dr. Tom Lonsdale:
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cat-Food-3490/taurine.htm

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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-22-09 12:37 AM
Response to Reply #4
8. Revenge of the chicken feet.
Okay, besides being tough to buy (ewww!) they are also VERY tough to eat.
Try as they might, my cats could barely make a dent. And they kept looking at me as though
they suspected they might have been punked.
So, I figured I'd make it a little easier by throwing the..er...feet...in the food processor. Seemed only fair.
HA! After a couple of minutes of leaning on the lid so the whole machine didn't leap off the counter in a mechanical spasm, I removed the lid to check my progress and once again....not a dent. I think chicken feet might survive a nuclear blast!

So then I boiled them for about 5 minutes and when they cooled handed one to my dog.

SUCCESS!


So if there's ever a nuclear event I suspect the world will be littered with chicken feet...and hungry cats.
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 10:55 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. I didn't "know" .. but
I know Benny left a huge gap in your life. Wanna tell us about the new ones?
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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 11:17 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Awww...thanks for remembering Benny, Syz.
Well like ALL my pets, these latest two just 'showed up'. It was after a powerful storm came through (even knocked down a tree!). They are brother and sister and adorable together.
He is all black and on both front paws he has an extra toe. So it looks like he has these
mits for paws...actually very cute. And the little girl is a pale grey and white spotted coat.
I've named them Gracie and Griffin. They were so tiny when they showed up, frail and very thin.
Maybe only just 4 weeks old. Now they are a couple of months old, robust, shiny, and still just precious together and so sweet natured.

My oldest cat whom I was told was in the beginning stages of kidney failure perked up when these two
youngsters arrived and seems to have, for now, found a new energy and looks terrific. She has become something of a mommy figure to these youngsters, which she never got to do before because I had her spayed.
It's nice to have that 'young' energy around.

Thanks for asking. :hug:
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Why Syzygy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-21-09 11:47 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. That's so sweet.
Once I had a male orange tabby, Wilson. I can't even remember where I got him. I wasn't supposed to have pets, and the landlady told me once to get rid of him. But I just hid him in the closet when she came by. He didn't mind. I moved to a larger house, and went out to a house on the highway (near Corsicana) and got a white and black female kitten. She was so tiny. As she was standing on my desk one day and let out a little toot which scared her into jumping off the desk, I named her Tootie. She followed Wilson everywhere. The house was next to a large field. After they mowed it, Tootie would bring field mice in, but Wilson had to finish the job. I still remember the site of her following him out to the barn every day for their naps in the cool darkness. They got new homes in 1998, but I still miss them both. Your place sounds like a wonderful home for pets.
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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-22-09 01:43 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. Wilson and Tootie.....love their names!
That must have been so hard to part with them. :cry:

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