Cooked food?

Do any of your kitties eat cooked food?  (not exactly table scraps).

Does anyone cooks meat for kitties (even just half-cooking of it)?

And if yes - do your kitties do well on it health-wise?

If you do feed your kitties cooked food - can you share what do you cook for them and how?

Ambermay, my girl loves baked chicken. She simply won't eat it raw.  I only buy free range preferably organic, chicken breasts and bake it in the oven for twenty minutes, turning it after 10 (just one a week). Then I pull it apart a bit and give her a little each day (a big chicken breast goes a long way).

Since being on this site I've realised that raw is preferred, but I'm not going to deny Nilah her baked chicken since she loves it so much.

Thank you Mani!

The reason I asked is because some of my kitties occasionally get our pork chops meat (cooked in an oven as well), or beef stakes (if not spiced).  They mainly get it for a treat, even cats who are on raw only - love some of it.

My mom does exactly the same as  you say you do with chicken, but her kitty is also raw-eating cat.

But whenever they roast chicken in an oven - he is there and eats a lot of that.

Our vet feeds her kitties only cooked food.

Ambermay, the problem with cooking, is that the high temperatures destroy a lot of nutrients in the meat.... So, if it is an occasion thing, no problem (make sure no spices, seasoning, no garlic, no onions).... The rule of thumb is less than 15% of their diet.
If it is more than that, then you are looking into supplementing the meat so that they get a balanced meal. They sell supplements here for home cooked meals... some people just use individual supplements though....
But yes -when feeding chunks of raw meat/bone/organs, you don't really run into that issue.... But that is the issue with the cooked.... Aside from that, it is good.... IMHO, still better than commercial....

Thank you Carolina!  It is good to hear that cooked food is better than commercial, because I used to hear that cooked is the worst ever you can give to cats and that we shall avoid it by any means.

I'm glad though for what you said about %.  Some of my kitties would eat all in all about 5% of these 'treats' of their raw diet.

Just as an example of what they normally eat is this:



The piece of beef fillet is cut up and put on a plate for everyone who wants.

A stripe of chicken is one-third of meat cut off the drum-sticks (in three stripes).  They are with skin and gristle, but this one on a picture doesn't show skin, because May ate it.

Normally May comes to this table where I cut meat, and she eats 1.5 drum-sticks in stripes, tearing at them, not waiting for me to cut them up.  Then I cut up more for others onto big pieces (about three pieces out of that one on a picture).

Well, of course, mince meat is also put up and some wet commercial; and dry kibbles are fed as treats to those who love them.

May and Ambie will not touch kibbles, and will eat just few licks of commercial friskies (wet).

I supplement with commercial and cooked food because my raw diet is not balanced I believe.

I know that dry kibbles are not good as food, but they do for a treat. (We don't have cat treats for sale).

Out of all my cats only May and Janie will munch on cooked food.

Does anyone else feed variety of different foods?  If yes - which ones?

Ambermay said:

Thank you Carolina!  It is good to hear that cooked food is better than commercial, because I used to hear that cooked is the worst ever you can give to cats and that we shall avoid it by any means.

I'm glad though for what you said about %.  Some of my kitties would eat all in all about 5% of these 'treats' of their raw diet.
Just as an example of what they normally eat is this:


The piece of beef fillet is cut up and put on a plate for everyone who wants.
A stripe of chicken is one-third of meat cut off the drum-sticks (in three stripes).  They are with skin and gristle, but this one on a picture doesn't show skin, because May ate it.
Normally May comes to this table where I cut meat, and she eats 1.5 drum-sticks in stripes, tearing at them, not waiting for me to cut them up.  Then I cut up more for others onto big pieces (about three pieces out of that one on a picture).

Well, of course, mince meat is also put up and some wet commercial; and dry kibbles are fed as treats to those who love them.
May and Ambie will not touch kibbles, and will eat just few licks of commercial friskies (wet).

I supplement with commercial and cooked food because my raw diet is not balanced I believe.

I know that dry kibbles are not good as food, but they do for a treat. (We don't have cat treats for sale).

Out of all my cats only May and Janie will munch on cooked food.

Does anyone else feed variety of different foods?  If yes - which ones?

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About cooked food being worst than commercial and avoiding at any cost.... nah.... not true at all.... but if that's all you feed, then it is easier to fall into imbalances.... As long as you supplement it, or feed it occasionally, perfectly fine. It can be an excellent diet when done well.
I am currently in a back and forth of kibbles and raw for Lucky - she is having a hard time on her transition, unfortunately.... Can't digest bones, so it is the second time she gets into digestive issues and I need to take a step back
I know Laurie (LDG) feeds canned to Spookie, who has some issues too, with her transition.... and sometimes she uses it as enticement for the Raw. Lauren (FeralVR), feed a bit of kibbles and canned for some as she is transitioning them all to raw. Some members feed canned and kibbles, some feed kibbles and raw, some feed kibbles, canned and raw, some canned and raw, some only canned.... All over the place

Here, these two threads might help:
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242250/survey-how-much-are-you-spending-per-cat-per-day
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/241682/what-do-you-feed-your-cat-s

Thank you Carolina.

I'm following your thread about transition - this is most helpful to me.

Yes, those links were very helpful.  And interesting about the cost.

I never took care to figure out how much we spend on feeding our kitties, but I know that it is about three times as much as we spend on our own food (Me and DH).

Well, often (like 4 times a week) I cook raw leftovers from my kitties for myself, and save some food that way.

See, I don't feed kitties on schedule - they get everything ad-lib day and night, I change it three to four times per 24 hours (excluding dry kibbles).

You can imagine how expensive that can be.

Their left-overs (often large ones) are never spoiled, just dried out a bit and then they don't eat it.  (Between myself and dogs - we share what's left).

Mine will not go near raw meat.  Personally I am happy about that.  I hear a lot of horror stories about people who gave their pet raw and they got sick... Either because it wasn't served properly or they had it out too long... People don't tell you is that raw can be very bad if served and not done correctly.  I am not bashing anyone here but people need to be aware that raw is a big commitment and it has to be done a certain way or you could be doing more harm than good.  Cats can get very sick from improperly handled raw food. 

I feed mine rare to medium cooked chicken and turkey.  Sometimes salmon.  But, not often on the salmon.  They do wonderful on it.  I don't garnish it.  I just serve it as is.  Cats don't really need garnishments for "flavor" and a lot of garnishments that people would use to enhance are actually toxic for cats.

My cats love it this way.  They are very, very healthy too.  I don't believe they are missing any nutrients in their diet or any benefits. 

Ambermay said:

Their left-overs (often large ones) are never spoiled, just dried out a bit and then they don't eat it.  (Between myself and dogs - we share what's left).

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:lol3: This made me giggle :lol3: Oh those rincess: and :king:

P3 and The King said:

I hear a lot of horror stories about people who gave their pet raw and they got sick... 

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Not to hijack, but I hear way more horror stories of people that gave their cats commercial food and they got sick.

Well, it's true that cats will eat only fresh food.  They are not scavengers.

A kitty must be really starved if he/she wants to eat food that's been out for too long.  Perhaps they can get sick from that.

But I'm happy to hear from positive experiences with cooked food.

By my own experience - the commercial wet food spoils very quickly.  Maybe not spoils, but to me it doesn't smell good if it's out for more then an hour or two.

Raw lasts longer without spoiling, but it is also a task to find a good butchery where we can get fresh kill instead of meat that's been in the freezers for too long in supermarkets.

Mine are such choosy kitties - they will know straight away if offered food from bad source and won't touch it even if just cut-up.

This is correct that to feed raw is more labor.  It has to be fresh for each serving, cut up for every kitty's liking.  Not talking about washing plates after each serving.

But there is a good side of it for physically inactive people like me - I got fitter.