Food and Nutrition.... for a cat

Karb_Kween

I was wondering if anyone had pets and if ya'll make them food. I have a cat and been heavily considering feeding her Human grade food so I can feel better in control of what's going on in my cats diet. I've already read a little about this, and apparently I need to crush bones and stuff. But I wanted to hear personal experiences from people who actually know what they're doing.

I'm not doing the RAW diet thing, just FYI.

Thanks in advance for any advice and maybe recipes

fishshark

i feed my dogs human grade food. Comes in a box. Honest kitchen. i couldnt affoard to feed my big dogs meat everyday though.

CooCooPuff

There's a lot of material online about feeding pets, cats homemade foods.

Organ meats, which you'll need, are pretty cheap at your local butchers. I can only find recipes for raw, but here.

I know there's a good review website for pet store dog foods; I'm not sure if there's one for cats.

elphie754

I know you seem set on making your own food for the kitty, which is pretty cool. I would talk it over with your vet first though. The vet can give more information than we can.

If you decide that it's too much work, I'd look for cats food with limited ingredients. I buy Wellness dry and wet food. I can only buy grain free food because of allergies and I can't even have it in the house. The cats love it! The dry food (I get the trufood blend) isn't just your typical, brownish cat food. It also has probiotics (my one kitty has IBS and the probiotics in the food seems to have alleviated her symptoms. I also buy the wellness brand wet food. They love the shredded chicken and chicken liver bland. When I first bought it and opened a can I was shocked. It was actual shredded food ( not that generic crap that is just blended until not recognizable.

Side note: if you are going to switch up your cats diet, you need to do it slowly. They (aspca) suggests that when changing their diet, especially dry food, to mix the new food it with the old. So on week one, 3/4 old food, 1/4 new food, week 2 50/50, Third week 3/4 new food and 1/4 old food. Week four only the new food.

Karb_Kween

CooCooPuff wrote: »

There's a lot of material online about feeding pets, cats homemade foods.

Organ meats, which you'll need, are pretty cheap at your local butchers. I can only find recipes for raw, but here.

I know there's a good review website for pet store dog foods; I'm not sure if there's one for cats.

elphie754 wrote: »

I know you seem set on making your own food for the kitty, which is pretty cool. I would talk it over with your vet first though. The vet can give more information than we can.

If you decide that it's too much work, I'd look for cats food with limited ingredients. I buy Wellness dry and wet food. I can only buy grain free food because of allergies and I can't even have it in the house. The cats love it! The dry food (I get the trufood blend) isn't just your typical, brownish cat food. It also has probiotics (my one kitty has IBS and the probiotics in the food seems to have alleviated her symptoms. I also buy the wellness brand wet food. They love the shredded chicken and chicken liver bland. When I first bought it and opened a can I was shocked. It was actual shredded food ( not that generic crap that is just blended until not recognizable.

Side note: if you are going to switch up your cats diet, you need to do it slowly. They (aspca) suggests that when changing their diet, especially dry food, to mix the new food it with the old. So on week one, 3/4 old food, 1/4 new food, week 2 50/50, Third week 3/4 new food and 1/4 old food. Week four only the new food.

Thanks

elphie754

Karb_Kween wrote: »

CooCooPuff wrote: »

There's a lot of material online about feeding pets, cats homemade foods.

Organ meats, which you'll need, are pretty cheap at your local butchers. I can only find recipes for raw, but here.

I know there's a good review website for pet store dog foods; I'm not sure if there's one for cats.

elphie754 wrote: »

I know you seem set on making your own food for the kitty, which is pretty cool. I would talk it over with your vet first though. The vet can give more information than we can.

If you decide that it's too much work, I'd look for cats food with limited ingredients. I buy Wellness dry and wet food. I can only buy grain free food because of allergies and I can't even have it in the house. The cats love it! The dry food (I get the trufood blend) isn't just your typical, brownish cat food. It also has probiotics (my one kitty has IBS and the probiotics in the food seems to have alleviated her symptoms. I also buy the wellness brand wet food. They love the shredded chicken and chicken liver bland. When I first bought it and opened a can I was shocked. It was actual shredded food ( not that generic crap that is just blended until not recognizable.

Side note: if you are going to switch up your cats diet, you need to do it slowly. They (aspca) suggests that when changing their diet, especially dry food, to mix the new food it with the old. So on week one, 3/4 old food, 1/4 new food, week 2 50/50, Third week 3/4 new food and 1/4 old food. Week four only the new food.

Thanks

Oh, not sure where you live, but ASPCA has a website. They used to have a page in their website that talked about per nutrition and some information about home made food as well. Not sure if it is still there, but it might be worth poking around.

Also, just so you know, making your own cat food can get really messy and annoying to clean up. When my one cat has liver disease and was at the end of his life (even though he was only 9) he stopped eating his cat food and didn't want to eat anything. I had to make all of his food and cleanup after sucked. As time went on, he would even eat the homemade food and we had to syringe feed him this gross looking wet food the vet have us. That was also messy.

cwolfman13

I feed my dog and cats really high quality dog and cat food...there's some really good stuff out there that is probably better than anything you can make...personally, I couldn't imagine using my time that way...it's hard enough for my wife and I to prepare meals for us and our kids.

sfcrocker

I buy gravy for dogs with all the essential nutrients, then make them rice, green beans, cottage cheese and chicken. Not every day, just a couple days a week. They love it.

MiMi_5151

Always check with your veterinarian if you are considering not feeding your cat food developed to meet the dietary need of this species. Cats need a high-protein, moderate fat, very low carb diet with a high-moisture level (think about the makeup of a while mouse or lizard; canned food >>> dry food). Cats are obligate carnivores and need meat, not veggies. They require animal-based protein, especially taurine. Taurine deficiency can lead to serious, life-threatening heart disease. As a veterinarian that has been in this field a while (over 30 years), it was heart-breaking to see kitties presenting in severe pain and distress (requiring euthanasia) because the pet food companies were using cheaper plant-based protein sources to increase their profit margins.

Karb_Kween

MiMi_5151 wrote: »

Always check with your veterinarian if you are considering not feeding your cat food developed to meet the dietary need of this species. Cats need a high-protein, moderate fat, very low carb diet with a high-moisture level (think about the makeup of a while mouse or lizard; canned food >>> dry food). Cats are obligate carnivores and need meat, not veggies. They require animal-based protein, especially taurine. Taurine deficiency can lead to serious, life-threatening heart disease. As a veterinarian that has been in this field a while (over 30 years), it was heart-breaking to see kitties presenting in severe pain and distress (requiring euthanasia) because the pet food companies were using cheaper plant-based protein sources to increase their profit margins.

Thanks

Karb_Kween

I'm still into consideration phase. I don't have a bone grinder and don't see myself making the expense. Gonna show my bf Honest kitchen and see if he wants try that.

I bought that Rachael Ray cat food and my cat keeps throwing it up. Its also kind of expensive. So I'm trying to find a reasonable meal plan for her that's not full of fillers and stuff.

cmriverside

Just don't crush cooked bones! No cooked bones!

They also need supplemental Taurine unless you are making a very controlled meal plan with organ meats in specific percentages.

Cahgetsfit

I had a cat who would only eat cooked mince and cat kibble. None of that tinned stuff - wouldn't touch it. I used to cook up massive batches of mince and freeze them in little portions in foil for use during the week.

He did however end up dying of kidney failure

Not sure if it was mince-meat related or not though.

DancingMoosie

I made food for my yellow lab for years. She had bladder issues. The vet prescribed Hills prescription diet for urinary care(I think). I thought it was odd that the first ingredient was corn. I researched low purine foods and would make a pot of rice with tomato or sweet potato, rosemary, egg or chicken. She did great on it, and eventually we weaned her back to regular kibble. She eats Purina dog chow now. My catahoula mix has chronic bilious vomiting syndrome. I put her on a similar rice diet, but the vet was worried about her nutritional needs, being as she is still young. I would mix her rice food with a can of dog food and a bit of kibble. We have slowly weaned her off the rice food as well.

cerise_noir

Karb_Kween wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone had pets and if ya'll make them food. I have a cat and been heavily considering feeding her Human grade food so I can feel better in control of what's going on in my cats diet. I've already read a little about this, and apparently I need to crush bones and stuff. But I wanted to hear personal experiences from people who actually know what they're doing.

I'm not doing the RAW diet thing, just FYI.

Thanks in advance for any advice and maybe recipes

Make sure to get the necessary amino acids like Taurine. Cats are one of the only animals that need it. You may need to pick up a special multi vitamin and mineral powder or pill for your cat.

And no cooked bones.

Wet foods are good on occasion as dry foods exclusively have been known to cause struvite crystals.

Cahgetsfit wrote: »

I had a cat who would only eat cooked mince and cat kibble. None of that tinned stuff - wouldn't touch it. I used to cook up massive batches of mince and freeze them in little portions in foil for use during the week.

He did however end up dying of kidney failure

Not sure if it was mince-meat related or not though.

Most likely lack of taurine and too much fat. Sorry.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

Karb_Kween wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone had pets and if ya'll make them food. I have a cat and been heavily considering feeding her Human grade food so I can feel better in control of what's going on in my cats diet. I've already read a little about this, and apparently I need to crush bones and stuff. But I wanted to hear personal experiences from people who actually know what they're doing.

I'm not doing the RAW diet thing, just FYI.

Thanks in advance for any advice and maybe recipes

you do not have to crush bones. pets should not have cooked bones anyway,they can splinter and cause issues. its best not to feed bones of any kind.

cross2bear

I feed our dog a combo of human and wet and dry dog food - the human food recipes I got from the internet after doing a lot of research into it and checking with the vet. Basically, the dog gets proteins (meats including chicken, beef and pork and sometimes eggs), carbs (oatmeal or brown rice) and lots of veg (sweet potatoes, green beans, etc). All cooked. But because it is supplemented with the dry and wet prepared stuff, I really dont worry that she is not getting proper nutrition. Usually I do a months worth of meal prep on a weekend, and then freeze portions in a muffin pan, then bag them up. She gets half a portion at each of two meals per day, along with a half of a container (small, like Caesars) of prepared food, and some dry crunchy bits. She is spoiled as all get go. But she looks great, nice shiny coat and is in good health. I am positive there are the same resources available on the internet for homemade cat food as I saw them when I was researching - just google home meade cat food recipes and I am sure you will find lots.