How To Make Raw Food For Cats – Whether you’re a master chef or a novice cook, you can successfully prepare homemade food your cat will love. All you need is an understanding of the process and the ingredients necessary to prepare complete and balanced meals.
You can choose to prepare raw cat food, cooked cat food, or a mix of both. Each option requires the following ingredients:
How To Make Raw Food For Cats
To be considered truly raw, the meat is not subjected to heat. Cooking with heat can cause the meat to lose nutrients, which is why raw feeding is considered very beneficial. However, if you’re concerned about feeding your cat uncooked meat because of the risk of bacterial growth, Lisa A. Pierson, DVM and owner of CatInfo.org advises that you can also partially cook the meat.
Biologically Appropriate Raw Diet — With Grace
The type and origin of the meat can also influence your decision. Pierson feeds rabbits 100% raw, but occasionally bakes whole chicken and turkey thighs. “I never feed poultry
Source in raw form as it is more likely to be contaminated with harmful bacteria,” she writes. When you buy pre-ground poultry, it should always be fully cooked.
Cats are strictly carnivores, which means they thrive on a diet high in animal protein, which is why homemade raw food is particularly beneficial. raw food:
When it comes to homemade cat food, preparing complete and balanced recipes is an absolute must. In the wild, cats can get all the nutrients they need by eating all of their prey. However, modern cats need additional vitamins and minerals.
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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 dietary supplements are the same as those intended for humans, only the amounts vary.
Cats have evolved to get their hydration from the prey they eat, so they don’t have a natural thirst drive like dogs. Raw meat, which is used in many homemade recipes, is an excellent source of fluids, but fresh water should also be readily available at all times.
You also want to make sure you’re getting the highest quality, freshest meat possible for your homemade cat food recipes. Don’t remove the fat from the meat; It is important for nutrient utilization, cellular integrity and metabolic regulation.
Pierson explains on CatInfo.org that cats don’t just thrive on meat—they also need calcium. Homemade cat food must then have an appropriate calcium to phosphorus ratio. If cats were eating prey in the wild, they would be consuming a balance of calcium (from the bones) and phosphorus (from the flesh).
Homemade Raw Or Gently Cooked And Fresh Food Recipe For Dogs And Cats, Species Appropriate, No Grains Or Other Starchy Carbohydrates
The bones should be ground up with the meat, or you should add another source of calcium and supplements if using only meat. It is important to use the right amount of bone as too much bone can lead to obstruction or a blockage of the urethra. “I suggest only using chicken drumsticks to lower the bone content of the feed because the drumstick is the meatiest part of the bird’s body that contains a bone,” says Pierson.
There are several essential tools you need before you can start preparing homemade cat food. Here is a helpful list from Feline-Nutrition:
When determining how much a homemade diet will cost, you have a lot of factors to consider.
Depending on what you already have in your kitchen, you may need to purchase some of the equipment and tools listed above. However, most of these items are one-off expenses.
Vet Approved Homemade Cat Food Recipe (easy, Healthy, And Cheap)
Don’t forget about dietary supplements. These may be expensive at first, but you can get a lot out of them and they are invaluable to your cat’s health. You’ll also need ingredients like eggs and salt, which you can buy at your local grocery store.
Homemade raw foods can potentially cause health and safety issues if not prepared properly. Here are a few safety tips to keep in mind:
Check out this recipe by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM to ease your transition to homemade cat food.
Note: Always consult your veterinarian before making any changes to your cat’s diet. Your veterinarian can also help you create a homemade feeding schedule tailored to your cat’s unique health needs.
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Homemade cat food can be a healthy alternative to store-bought options that more closely mimics a cat’s natural diet — but what do the experts say?
Karen Becker, DVM, author and lecturer and formulator on animal nutrition, advocates homemade diets provided they provide the right combination of essential nutrients. Becker says:
“As an integrative wellness vet who understands the vital connection between diet and health, I applaud all pet owners who have committed to preparing and feeding their pets only home-cooked food. But here’s the catch: if you’re going the homemade route, you have to do it right. And by right I mean
. A growing concern in my practice is pets whose health is compromised due to an unbalanced home-cooked diet.”
Raw Feeding Guide For Cats
Jennifer Coates, a DVM with over 25 years of veterinary medicine and animal welfare experience, echoes Becker’s testimony in advising pet owners to choose carefully which homemade cat food recipes to follow.
“Unfortunately, many homemade cat food recipes contain too little or too much of one or more important nutrients,” says Coates, citing a 2019 study on homemade diets for cats.
When looking for homemade cat food recipes, Coates recommends pet owners refer to and strictly follow recipes from board-certified veterinary nutritionists. “Research has shown that many pet owners make dietary changes over time and/or eliminate essential ingredients such as vitamin and mineral supplements altogether,” she adds.
“The best pet food recipes contain very precise amounts of specific ingredients and include additional sources of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, B vitamins, iron, zinc and essential fatty acids,” said Cailin R. Heinze, Board Member. Certified Veterinary Nutritionist and Chief Academic Officer of the Mark Morris Institute. “While a ‘whole food’ approach, where every nutrient comes from food rather than supplements, is tempting, meeting all of your pet’s nutritional needs without adding concentrated supplements is nearly impossible.”
Pure Recipes For Dogs & Cats
Heinze cautions pet owners against using vitamin and mineral supplements sold for pets, and instead encourages them to seek specific veterinary supplements or multiple human supplements. Like Coates, Heinze emphasizes the importance of consulting a registered veterinary nutritionist to determine the right balance of ingredients and supplements for your pet.
Finally, for pet owners looking to make the switch from store-bought cat food to homemade cat food, it’s important to be realistic.
“If you’re interested in feeding your cats home-cooked food, you have to be extremely diligent and spend a lot of time learning,” says Andrea Tasi, a Washington, D.C.-area veterinarian specializing in feline health care specializes in and feeds her own cats with home-made food. “It’s not easy. I don’t think people who want to give their cats processed food should prepare their own food as a first step.”
Instead, Tasi recommends pet owners interested in making the switch first look for commercial pet food brands that offer “pre-pasteurized, balanced, frozen raw foods.”
Fresh Vs Raw Cat Food: What’s The Difference?
A: Slow, gradual transitions tend to work best for cats, as they are notoriously picky about their food. The most important thing is to be patient. You can begin the transition from less processed foods by gradually eating small amounts of homemade raw food and slowly increasing the amount until the transition is complete. You can also check out this transition guide from the Feline Nutrition Foundation for more tips.
A: There are commercially prepared raw food meals available at pet stores. Freeze-dried and dehydrated options offer many of the same benefits as raw foods, as they either completely eliminate heat-treated ingredients or contain ingredients that have undergone only minimal heat treatment.
A: It’s best to follow the recipes carefully to make sure you’re using the right amount of ingredients. You can find recipes at CatInfo, Feline-Nutrition and CatNutriton. If in doubt consult a veterinary nutritionist.
RAWZ champions the benefits of feeding homemade raw food. However, we also understand that raw feeding may not be right for everyone. That’s why we’ve worked with leading veterinary nutritionists for years to develop “the next best to raw feeding”. Our minimally processed cat food can be offered to your cat as a main source of food or as a supplement to a home-cooked diet, conveniently in a dry food packet or wet food cans.
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A third generation member of the RAWZ family, Jim spreads the message of optimal animal nutrition through in-store product demonstrations and regular articles for the RAWZ blog. After sustaining a traumatic brain injury in 2006, Jim began attending the writing program at the Krempels Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Writing was a way to process and heal his injury – but Jim realized he could also use this skill to spread the word about the RAWZ brand and mission. Jim covers a range of pets
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