Whether you’re a master chef or a cooking novice, you can successfully prepare homemade food that your cat will love. All it takes is an understanding of the process and the necessary ingredients to create complete and balanced meals.
You can choose to prepare raw cat food, cooked cat food or a balance of the two. Each option will require the following ingredients:
To be considered truly raw, the meat is not processed using any heat. Cooking with heat can cause the meat to lose nutrients, which is why raw feeding is considered to be very beneficial. However, if you are concerned about feeding your cat uncooked meat because of the potential for bacteria, Lisa A. Pierson, DVM and owner of CatInfo.org advises that you can also partially cook the meat.
Homemade Cat Food Recipes: Enjoy This Collection Of Easy To Prepare Healthy And Tasty Raw Cooked Cat Food Treat Recipes!: Rayner, Rachael: 9781695957916: Amazon.com: Books
The type and source of the meat may also influence your decision. Pierson chooses to feed rabbit 100% raw, but partially bakes chicken and turkey whole thighs. “I never feed poultry from
source in the raw form since it is more apt to be contaminated with harmful bacteria, ” she writes. If you purchase pre-ground poultry, it should always be fully cooked.
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means they thrive on diets that are rich in animal protein, making homemade raw diets especially beneficial. Raw diets:
Healthy Homemade Foods (with Recipe) For Cats
When it comes to homemade cat food, preparing complete and balanced recipes is an absolute must. In the wild, cats can get all of the necessary nutrients by feasting on the entirety of their prey, but modern cats need supplemental vitamins and minerals.
Below is a list of the supplements needed for homemade cat food. You can typically find these at specialty grocery stores, health food stores or online retailers. The supplements are the same that are intended for humans, only the amounts will vary.
Cats have evolved to get their hydration from the prey they eat, which is why they don’t have a natural thirst drive like dogs. Raw meat that is used in many homemade recipes provides an excellent source of hydration, but you should also have fresh water available at all times.
Original Raw Cat Food Recipe
You’ll also want to make sure to get the freshest, highest quality meat possible for your homemade cat food recipes. Don’t remove the fat from the meat; it’s important for nutrient utilization, cell integrity and metabolic regulation.
Pierson explains on CatInfo.org that cats cannot live on meat alone — they also need calcium. Homemade cat food then needs to include a proper calcium-to-phosphorus ratio. If cats were to eat prey in the wild, they would be consuming a good balance of calcium (from the bones) and phosphorous (from the meat).
The bones should be ground with the meat, or you should add another source of calcium and supplements if you’re only using meat. It’s crucial to include the right amount of bone because too much can cause constipation or an obstruction to the urethra. “I suggest just using poultry thighs which will lower the bone content of the food since the thigh is the meatiest part of a bird’s body that contains a bone, ” says Pierson.
What Is The Difference Between Raw And Canned Food For Cats?
Depending on what you already have in stock in your kitchen, you may need to buy some of the equipment and tools we listed above. However, most of these items will be one-time expenses.
Don’t forget the supplements. These may be expensive at first, but you can get a lot of use out of them, and they are invaluable to your cat’s health. You’ll also need ingredients like eggs and salt that can be purchased at your local grocery store.
Homemade raw diets can potentially pose health and safety issues if not prepared correctly. Here are a few safety tips to keep top of mind:
Is Homemade Food Good For Your Cat? Healthy, Simple & Economical Ideas
Note: Always consult your vet before making any changes to your cat’s diet. Your vet can also help you create a homemade food plan that’s tailored to your cat’s particular health needs.
Homemade cat food can be a healthy alternative to store-bought options, one that more closely mimics a cat’s natural diet — but what do the experts have to say about it?
Karen Becker, DVM, author, and pet nutrition educator and formulator, is in favor of homemade diets, provided they supply the right combination of essential nutrients. Says Becker:
Homemade Cat Food
“As an integrative wellness veterinarian who understands the vital connection between nutrition and health, I applaud all pet parents who make the commitment to prepare and feed only a homemade diet to their pets. But here’s the rub — if you’re going the homemade route, you must do it right. And by right, I mean
. A growing problem in my practice is pets with compromised health as the result of being fed an unbalanced homemade diet.”
Jennifer Coates, a DVM with over 25 years of experience in veterinary medicine and animal welfare, seconds Becker’s statement and advises pet parents to be judicious about which homemade cat food recipes they follow.
Homemade Cat Food Recipes For Cats With Kidney Disease
“Unfortunately, many recipes for homemade cat foods contain too little or too much of one or more important nutrients, ” says Coates, citing a 2019 study of home-prepared diets for cats.
When looking for homemade cat food recipes, Coates encourages pet parents to look for those provided by board-certified veterinary nutritionists and to follow them to the letter. “Research has shown that, with time, many pet parents make substitutions in the diet and/or completely stop including vital ingredients, like vitamin and mineral supplements, ” she adds.
“The best pet food recipes will include very precise amounts of specific ingredients, and will include added sources of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, B vitamins, iron, zinc, and essential fatty acids, ” says Cailin R. Heinze, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and Chief Academic Officer of the Mark Morris Institute. “While a ‘whole foods’ approach where every nutrient comes from food, not supplements, is appealing, it is nearly impossible to meet all of your pet’s nutrient needs without adding concentrated supplements.”
Responsible Raw Feeding For Cats And Dogs
Heinze cautions pet parents against using vitamin and mineral supplements marketed for pets, instead recommending that they seek out specific veterinary supplements or multiple human supplements. Like Coates, Heinze emphasizes the importance of consulting a board-certified veterinary nutritionist to identify the right balance of ingredients and supplements for your pet.
“If you’re interested in feeding your cats home-prepared food, you have to go into this extremely carefully and you have to spend a lot of time learning, ” says Andrea Tasi, a Washington, DC area vet who specializes in feline healthcare and feeds her own cats a homemade diet. “This is not easy. For people who want to feed their cats less-processed foods, I don’t think they should be making their own food [as the] first step.”
Instead, Tasi recommends that pet parents interested in making the transition start by researching commercial pet food brands that offer “pre-pasteurized, balanced, frozen, raw food diets.”
Homemade Cat Food: 'how To' Guide Plus Easy Recipes
A: Slow, phased transitions tend to work best with cats, since they are notoriously picky with their food. The most important thing is to be patient. You can start the transition from less processed food by phasing in small amounts of homemade raw food and slowly increasing the amount until they are completely transitioned. You can also review this transitioning guide from the Feline Nutrition Foundation for more tips.
A: There are commercially prepared raw meals that are available in pet stores. Freeze-dried and dehydrated options offer many of the same benefits as raw diets because they either completely avoid heat-processed ingredients or contain ingredients that have gone through very minimal heat processing.
A: It’s best to follow recipes to a T to ensure that you’re including the right amount of ingredients. You can find recipes from CatInfo, Feline-Nutrition and CatNutriton. When in doubt, consult with a veterinary nutritionist.
Homemade Raw Cat Food Recipes • New Life On A Homestead
RAWZ is an advocate for the benefits of feeding homemade raw diets. However, we also understand that raw feeding may not be right for everyone. That’s why we’ve spent years working with leading veterinary nutritionists to develop “the next best thing to feeding raw.” Our minimally processed cat food can be offered as your cat’s main source of food or as a supplement to a homemade diet, all in the convenience of a dry food package or wet food cans.
A third-generation RAWZ family member, Jim spreads the word of optimal pet nutrition through in-store product demos and regular articles for the RAWZ blog. After sustaining a traumatic brain injury in 2006, Jim began participating in the writing program at the Krempels Center in Portsmouth, NH. Writing was a way to process and heal from his injury — but Jim realized he could also use this skill to spread awareness of the RAWZ brand and mission. Jim covers a range of pet health issues for the company blog, as well as more personal stories that connect to the causes RAWZ supports. His favorite thing to write about? People’s strong bonds with their pets.
Tips to Try How to Use CBD Oil for Cats: Benefits, Dosages & Key Facts Read More Pet Health Dental Care for Cats: How to Prevent & Treat Dental Disease Read MoreHomemade cat food used to scare me. I was afraid of nutrient imbalances, didn’t know
0 Comments
Posting Komentar