Home cooked meals for kitties?

I took my kitten to the vet 2 days ago for his second vaccination. They told me to make sure he gets use to eating different types of food while he's still young so he wouldn't be picky once he gets older. They also mentioned to avoid fish as much as I can since it's not as good as people believe it to be because it takes away some of their vitamins and other reasons I can't remember. She said I should stick to more meat, like chicken. Vegetables and rice are not necessary. She didn't say I should do this every day, but every now and then I should boil some chicken for the kitty. No oil or salt. So I did that, chopped it up into smaller pieces and gave some to my kitten last night. He took a few bites and didn't seem to be very interested. I don't know if it's too dry or tasteless for him, but then again, he hasn't had much of an appetite since the vet visit and been sleeping a lot. Some people said it could probably be a side affect from the vaccination and deworming. So anyways, I can't tell if he didn't like the chicken or just lack of appetite. Any ways to make him enjoy it more? Some ppl suggested pouring a bit of can tuna water to this food. Don't know if that would be a good idea. I don't plan on cooking for him all the time. But every now and then, I think it won't be a bad idea for him eat some fresh meat rather than can food that comes with all these random unnecessary ingredients. Was wondering if anyone here has made home cooked meals for their kitties?

My seven month kitten loves turkey.  When ever I cook it I am always sure to poach, boil, or bake her a little as a treat.  Turkey has a stronger flavour than chicken, which is why I think she loves it so much.  You could try turkey and see if your kitty feels the same.  I also read on a few sites that rabbit is quite popular, but I haven't tried any yet with my cat.
 

Ooh! Thanks! I'll try turkey and baking sounds like a good idea. Maybe it'll be juicer that way? After i poached the chicken yesterday, it seemed a little dry. Should I have addedsome of the water I used for the boiling the chicken?  Did you add anything else to the turkey? I feel weird cooking a rabbit though. lol. Just cause I use have one as a pet when i was a kid. Haha.

A lot of us make homemade food for our cats! Most of us don't cook it, but you can. It loses the enzymes and some of the nutrients when cooked, but if you're not comfortable with raw, cooking is an option. But... have you ever eaten sushi? Or steak tartare?

I congratulate your vet on suggesting including some homemade food - and knowing that cats don't need vegetables or grain! Let's face it - we don't put up fences around the garden to keep out the cats. :lol3: And cats eat the little critters that raid the grain stores - they don't eat the grain. Of course, kitties aren't out there cooking their prey before they eat it. I didn't know this until one of our vets suggested that the best diet I could provide for one of our sick kitties was a raw diet, but there are quite a few commercial frozen raw foods available, especially if you're in the U.S. or Canada. Some are less expensive to feed than the best canned foods. And because some people are worried about bacteria, some of them are pasteurized in such a way that they're still raw, but sterile!

If you're not uncomfortable with the idea of raw, consider offering him a little slice of raw chicken, see if he prefers that.

I don't give my cats commercial cat food any more, I make all their food. It costs less than the canned food I was feeding them, and I like having control over what goes in them. They have chicken breast, chicken thigh, turkey breast, turkey thing, lamb, beef, pork, rabbit, goat, chicken liver, beef kidney, chicken wings, cornish hen, gizzards, fed in a manner called "prey model raw." The get everything they need from the meat, bones, organs, eggs, and salmon oil and sardines.

Oh - the fish thing. Raw fish contains an enzyme called thiaminase that inhibits thiamin (vitamin B1) uptake. It's deactivated by cooking (so I used tinned sardines in water, no salt), but some raw fish - or some cooked fish - is OK from time-to-time. The main issue with fish is toxins from their environment, or parasites in farm-raised fish. That's why it's best to stick to wild caught fish, or fish that have short life spans.

Did your vet mention that the food you feed him should be kept to less than 15% of his total diet if not balanced? (And when it comes to feeding homemade food, "balancing" means balancing the meat with calcium and organs to ensure they get all the nutrition they need). If he has too much meat without calcium, he'll get soft stools.

I don't know if your vet said anything about bones, but cooked bones should NEVER be fed to a cat. When they're raw, the small bones (like chicken wings or rabbit ribs) are soft and pliable - excellent for dental health. But cooked, they become very hard and brittle, and those splinters can hurt kitty.

Have fun finding out what your boy enjoys!

If you want to learn more about feline nutrition (not raw or cooked per se, in fact the site has a lot of information about choosing commercial food), this is a good place to start: http://www.catinfo.org It's written by a vet. She does have a recipe for homemade food that is complete and balanced. She also partially cooks it, and talks about methods of cooking. :nod: Her recipe is for ground food. Many people on this site use her recipe for their homemade food. And others of us prefer giving our cats chunks to chew. :rub:

Wow, awesome! Thanks for all the info!

The vet didn't go into too much details in terms of how to prepare the food or what to add. She never mentioned about feeding him raw food neither, but I have read some people do like to feed their kitties raw food. But like you mentioned, I am worry about bacteria. The website you linked has so much information. I need some time to go through everything. lol.

I actually haven't eaten meat for years, so I'm not quite sure what to look for at the supermarket. Especially when it comes to organs. I notice one part she mentions she sorta half bakes the chicken/turkey to get rid of bacterias. Would that remove all of it, or just some of it? Can I do that with other types of meat too? Like pork? What types of fish do you feed your kitty raw? You mentioned tinned sardines with no salt. Are those cooked? Do you mind sharing some of your recipes? I want to try other meats you mentioned besides chicken. How long do they usually last for? Do you grind/blend your kitty food as well? How do u feed the raw bones to you kitty? I would assume they're really hard to strip the meat off when they're raw. Sorry about all the questions and thank you soooooooo much for all the information. 

So I baked the other half of the chicken and blended it with egg yolk. He just walked away from it. I think i'm just a really terrible cook. I really need to get him eating again. He's not even interested in dry food anymore. Since the vet visit he hasn't been eating, but he's still using the litterbox so i dont know where all that waste is coming from. The vet said he's also under weight and he's been lacking on energy. So that just makes me worry even more. I think most importantly is to get his appetite back so i went out and bought a bunch of Wellness/EVO/Snappy Tom wet food. Hopefully one of those will stimulate his appetite again. Otherwise I'm probably gonna have to call the vet tomorrow morning.

He got vaccinated at his visit - that might put his appetite off for a couple of days. What you may want to consider picking up is some freeze dried chicken liver or freeze dried beef liver, or freeze dried salmon or cod or shrimp or something from a pet store. These can easily be crumbled into a powder, and sprinkled on top of his food (though depends on his preferences). This will often get a kitty to dig in. :nod:

And I don't think you want any of my recipes. :lol3: It's "buy chicken wings, cut up the two smallest parts into bite sized pieces, put in a dish and put in front of cat." :lol3: Actually, it's best to leave the meat on those bones, or there's no incentive to eat the bone. And actually, they way they eat them is to take the piece into their mouths, kind of "chomp" on it to break up the bone inside the skin/meat, then just swallow it. Cats don't really chew, unless they have to. I care for feral cats, and this is how they eat mice. They just... take the mouse in their mouth, give it a couple of chomps, then swallow it. (Sorry if this grosses you out. ...but you are a vegetarian now caring for a carnivore. ).

There are a number of vegan and vegetarian members of TCS feeding raw. :lol3: Since most are vegan or vegetarian for both health and ethical reasons, once they realize that feeding a cat homemade food (usually raw) is the equivalent of a health food diet for people... they want their kitty to have the same benefits from diet that they do. :nod: It is the foundation of health, after all. It was really cute - Wolcar has been vegan for so long, she went to the butcher and thought she was getting turkey, and came home with beef brisket. :lol3:

MORE than happy to answer all your questions.

Yes, partially baking or just searing is fine, because any bacteria is on the outside: if it's there, it's there as a result of the packing/shipping/processing. It's not something inherent in the meat. Some worry about potential parasites - here is information on that: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248317/raw-feeding-and-parasites-questions (If you're squeamish, skip post #20, it's got video with pictures there you might not want to see. The issues raised in the post are addressed with text past the post).

And yes, you can do it with ANY kind of meat. :nod: Most kitties like fatty meats, like pork or lamb. Not all - but most.

I don't give my cats raw fish, just because the fish I'd be willing to feed is just too expensive (I feed 8 cats though). I'd probably give them salmon if they liked it. :nod: But I just stick to the tinned sardines (no salt, in water). I give them one sardine once or twice a week. And yes, anything canned is cooked, because the process of canning itself would cook it.

How long does the meat last? What we all do is buy the meat at the supermarket. I buy boneless, other than the chicken wings, just because it's easier to work with. Getting the meat off the bone is time consuming. I portion it up. Most cats eat about 1.5 ounces per meal (yep, have a kitchen scale!). Since I have 8 cats, my "portions" are 11 ounces each (I have two smaller kitties that eat less at each meal). People with just one cat do something like... place the portions on a tray, cover with saran wrap, and freeze. When frozen, dump them in a container, and leave in the freezer. Just take out what you want a little while before meal time, put it in a baggie or container, and dethaw under running luke warm water. Or if you're organized, dethaw it by putting it in the fridge the day before.

And I never bought a grinder. I buy whole animal already ground online from http://www.hare-today.com. If you live in the east or midwest, their shipping is really reasonable, and the stuff arrives frozen, even in summer. I mostly dethaw the chubs in cold water, add egg yolks and a vitamin mix called Alnutrin, portion it up, and freeze it. I use baggies, squish them flat, and they dethaw quickly. The rest I just give them as chunks of meat. I started by cutting them into small, thin strips, then just slowly made them longer and a little wider. Most of my cats' meals are 4 or 5 strips of meat, sometimes with a little bit of liver (chicken) or kidney (beef). I sometimes use eggshell as the source of calcium ( 1/32 teaspoon per ounce of meat - I have little mini measuring spoons), or bone-in meat meals (like the chicken wings). To feed entirely prey model raw, we do have to pay attention to amounts of what. The rule of thumb is 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% "other secreting organ," which for most of us is beef kidney, because it's easiest to source. But it can be spleen, pancreas, brain, thymus (sweetbreads). Heart and gizzards are muscles, not secreting organs. But heart is packed with taurine, so I feed it as the meat portion of their meal several times a week. Wolcar was freaked the first time her duck hearts arrived from Hare Today, but she finally got up the courage to feed them. They're little, and now she loves feeding them, because she doesn't have to touch them - just spoon them into the dish once dethawed. :lol3: I also give them salmon or krill oil for the vitamin D and omega 3s (500mg daily), egg yolks for the vitamin D and choline (I give raw egg yolks once or twice a week, and mix 6 into each 2 pound chub of ground animal before portioning up), and sardines for the omegas and vitamin D. (Meat has no vitamin D, and cats don't synthesize it from sun like people do).

But I started with the sterile commercial products, because I was worried about bacteria and balancing the meals nutritionally. There are three: Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw, Primal frozen raw, and Stella & Chewy's freeze dried. This stuff looks like large kibble - you just add water. It was too expensive for me to use much of it (with 8 cats), but I always keep some on hand for someone having an "off" day food-wise, because they love the stuff. :nod: It can be given dry as a treat, and it's great for if you have to travel and you feed raw, because it's easy for a sitter to manage.

Here's info on the sterile raw food: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/10/22/sterile-raw-pet-food.aspx

Try googling to see if there's a "holistic pet store" where you live. Either that, or just look for the locally owned pet shops, rather than the large chains. Call around - unless you're in a really rural area like we are, you'll probably find some that carry the frozen raw foods. Even one not too far from us did, actually.

Don't know if I answered all your questions, but feel free to ask away!

The bottom line? There are commercial options. And even THOSE you can sear, if you want - that's a transition tip to get kitties that don't recognize raw as food at first to try it. :nod: And a number of those commercial frozen raw food options actually cost less than most canned foods. I did an analysis of the cost to feed a cat: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Canned-Raw-Table-1.pdf (Here's the article that went with it: http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...y-cat-or-i-can-afford-to-feed-commercial-raw/ ).

But there isn't any reason you can't try any meat you want - raw, seared, slightly baked, completely baked.... and to entice him to eat it. you can put some canned food he does like on top of it. Or try freeze dried meats that powder nicely. Or parmesan cheese. Or sardine or tuna juice....

I hope he gets his appetite back soon!

Hi Momo52 :hi: I see LDG is helping you with your questions. You might also try the raw food forum here on TCS. You will probably be able to get a ton of information there on both raw and home cooked diets. I don't know much about either or I'd chime in :nod:

Momo52 said:

Ooh! Thanks! I'll try turkey and baking sounds like a good idea. Maybe it'll be juicer that way? After i poached the chicken yesterday, it seemed a little dry. Should I have addedsome of the water I used for the boiling the chicken?  Did you add anything else to the turkey? I feel weird cooking a rabbit though. lol. Just cause I use have one as a pet when i was a kid. Haha.

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Any meat over cooked will be dry.  I just cook it enough, but when it comes to lean meats like turkey or chicken it is easy to over cook.  (Especially since most people feel everything needs to be cooked to the point of the Christmas turkey in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation or else they'll die of a food born parasite.)  Beyond that, I add nothing.  I do chop it up quite fine, however.

LDG said:

A lot of us make homemade food for our cats! Most of us don't cook it, but you can.

It loses the enzymes and some of the nutrients when cooked, but if you're not comfortable with raw, cooking is an option. But... have you ever eaten sushi? Or steak tartare?

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I would feed my cats raw stuff sometimes, but I'd be weary of grocery store meat.  I have no problem with nature, but I do have a problem with the large companies and under-paid, over-worked people who are inserted into the food chain between me and my prey in modern living.  Yes, I aim to source as much of it as I can locally and organically, but that's not always feasible since traditional farming in Ontario Canada is not financially viable.

(I could get off topic, but I have a lot of friends who are farmers and they all need to either have outside sources of income such as a second job, or by being linked to a larger industrial farming operation that produces grains for big business, to make do.  One friend doubles as a wedding photographer, another has her MBA and manages estates, another is the daughter of a big grain farmer who produces canola for oil and soy and corn for everything, another has a husband working as an IMAX producer, another has a police pension, etc...)

So when it comes to sushi, I have it as a treat and pay more at higher end restaurants, however, I don't think twice about eating raw elk with my friends while hunting.  I once had elk carpaccio, it was exceptional!

Absinthe said:

I would feed my cats raw stuff sometimes, but I'd be weary of grocery store meat.  I have no problem with nature, but I do have a problem with the large companies and under-paid, over-worked people who are inserted into the food chain between me and my prey in modern living.  Yes, I aim to source as much of it as I can locally and organically, but that's not always feasible since traditional farming in Ontario Canada is not financially viable.

(I could get off topic, but I have a lot of friends who are farmers and they all need to either have outside sources of income such as a second job, or by being linked to a larger industrial farming operation that produces grains for big business, to make do.  One friend doubles as a wedding photographer, another has her MBA and manages estates, another is the daughter of a big grain farmer who produces canola for oil and soy and corn for everything, another has a husband working as an IMAX producer, another has a police pension, etc...)

So when it comes to sushi, I have it as a treat and pay more at higher end restaurants, however, I don't think twice about eating raw elk with my friends while hunting.  I once had elk carpaccio, it was exceptional!

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Well, I wouldn't buy farm-raised salmon at a supermarket that's been frozen and dethawed to make sushi. I absolutely agree - it all comes down to the processing and handling.

I felt the same way you did, and argued against feeding raw for over a year, basically, because of the concern over the safety of meat in our factory farmed food chain. But the same thing that makes sushi safe for people - freezing - makes meat safe for our kitties. They have the added benefit of being designed to eat scavanged meat that isn't in its prime. I began by feeding my cats commercial sterile raw food. I got comfortable with the concept of feeding them raw, then slowly added supermarket meat. None of my 8 cats has been sick from eating raw food I purchase at the supermarket. Don't know if you're at all interested, but when the AVMA was going to vote on a raw feeding proposal, this is a researched letter I wrote in response: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/246595/avma-to-vote-to-take-a-stand-against-raw-feeding/90#post_3229546

I personally wouldn't eat any wild game raw, and wouldn't feed any to my kitties without freezing at 0F or less for a week. :lol3:

LDG said:

I felt the same way you did, and argued against feeding raw for over a year, basically, because of the concern over the safety of meat in our factory farmed food chain.

I personally wouldn't eat any wild game raw, and wouldn't feed any to my kitties without freezing at 0F or less for a week.

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I wouldn't argue against it, I just feel uneasy about it as I feel uneasy about where modern food comes from.  Perhaps my stance can be described as "on the fence, but with a lean?"

Well I did. :lol3: And now I'm over the fence. :lol3:

Of course, the compromise is simply searing the meat, as recommended by Dr. Pierson in her homemade food recipe. :nod: I'm glad I've found it's not necessary, because it's enough of a PIA to feed 8 cats raw food, let alone actually cooking it for them.

Hey guys! Once again thank you soooo much for the info. I might consider raw, but i'm still kinda scared. LOL. Especially he's only a little kitten right now. But then again, the vet did say it is the perfect time to introduce him to varieties of food. I'll try half baking it and leave the inside raw possibly? At least I'll get the satisfaction that most of the bacterias are gone? How bout the organs? Can I leave those raw as well?

I'm still waiting for him to get his appetite back. Sometimes it seems like he's hungry and begs for food, but he never eats much. He would at least take a couple nibbles at it. It's already been 5 days since the vaccination. He still seem too calm for a kitten and not as excited about wet food like he use to. I've tried every types and brands of wet food. He's still kinda "meh" about it. Has that happen to anyone before after vaccination? Does it normally take this long to recover?

LDG said:

I'm glad I've found it's not necessary, because it's enough of a PIA to feed 8 cats raw food, let alone actually cooking it for them.

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Well, you can solve the raw food and chore issue easily, buy live mice and other small rodents and release them to your cats.     (Joking)