Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Homemade cat food recipes are becoming more and more popular as many owners are turning away from commercial pet food. Economic conditions have also encouraged this, as people look to save pennies in tough times.

Some kitty parents will buy the best cat food they can find, and then alternate by preparing homemade meals. Or, they'll make meals for special occasions only, or just make treats.

Why Homemade Recipes?

Consumers have been getting more and more health conscious over the years. The interest in eating healthy people food has led to questions about the quality of our pet foods, and an interest in cat nutrition.

After the melt down that occurred with the massive 2007 melamine pet food recall, consumer confidence in commercial pet food dropped like a rock. Questions not only about contamination were raised, but people started looking at what's really in their pet's food.

Combine that with reports that one in four pets is overweight and an economic downturn, and it's easy to see why cat owners are turning to either organic cat food or homemade cat food recipes.

It may or may not be less expensive to make your own cat food, or buy pre-packaged or frozen meals for your kitty. It also may or may not be a healthier alternative (opinions vary).

Some cats are said to have allergies to food, and some owners are removing commercial cat food products from the equation in order to see if it helps. There are some anti-allergy homemade diets recommended by veterinarians.

In any case, thousands of cat owners are making their cat food at home. I'm not going to show you how to make cat food here. Instead, below are some places to find recipes, and some things you should know about making cat food.

Things To Keep In Mind

  • Your first priority is your cat's health. As such, you need to provide your cat with adequate nutrition. Not all recipes or foods fed over the long term will do that.
  • Check every ingredient in any recipe you find against a poisons list. Some foods, while not poisonous, may cause gastrointestinal upset in your cat. Make sure you're not feeding your cat the wrong thing.
  • If you're switching your cat's diet due to a food allergy, then have your cat tested first so that you know what to avoid in your recipes.
  • Note that some experts have warned against homemade diets, citing the difficulties of meeting nutritional requirements, and in some cases, the sanitary problems with raw cat food diets.
  • It might be best to stick with (or at least start with) recipes that are provided by veterinarians. You can then build on them from there.

    You can often find these in many of the cat magazines available, including Feline Wellness and Cat Fancy. There are a number of books out there written by veterinarians with recipes in them as well. One such book is Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats : Your A-Z Guide to Over 200 Conditions, Herbs, Vitamins, and Supplements by Sean Messonnier, DVM.

Where To Find Recipes

Here are several resources for homemade cat food recipes. If you're replacing your cat's usual diet entirely, remember to check with your veterinarian to be sure that your cat is getting adequate nutrition. Once you settle on a meal plan, bring it to your vet.

In some cases, you may need to add supplements to meet the nutritional needs of your kitty. Also remember that some ingredients may upset your cat's digestive system, as can switching diets too quickly.

  • In addition to her section on the cat box, Lisa A. Pierson, DVM has a great section on her site on making cat food, including a recipe and resources.
  • I Love Cats has a whole kitty cookbook full of cat food recipes, including chicken stir fry and kitty tacos.
  • Halo offers a sampling of recipes taken from the book The Whole Pet Diet, written by Halo's founder, Andi Brown. One of those recipes is the Big Mack For Cats (as in mackerel, of course).

Topics Related To Homemade Cat Food Recipes

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