Homemade Cat Food Advice and Ideas

For some time now I have been concerned with my pet food bill and finding helpful ways I can shave a dollar or two off the cost, perhaps by supplementing healthier sources in combination with the no name dry and canned products I purchase now.

There are many good ideas on the net for making homemade cat fare and I have tried some of them usually with mixed reactions from my cats. I decided to pursue a safer method and researched several vet sites to get the input of professionals. I found some interesting insights for feeding an all-natural diet but drawbacks arose with the added expense of buying specialty items like whole rabbits, especially if you lack a local supplier and depending on how dedicated you plan to be in this venture, making volume amounts of animal provisions is the more beneficial way to go as it does involve some work.

If you're unsure how your cats will react to raw meat try giving them a little. When I'm preparing dinner using meats like fish, chicken, turkey or liver I cut small chucks and offer them to my felines to test how easily they will take to it. Usually all four will eat it without hesitation and beg more. You can also experiment with trying them on cooked meats to see how readily they will eat that.

To change your pet’s diet to completely natural foods you will need a quality Grinder. I purchased a Tasin 180 online from the States after learning they're not available in Canada. It was cheaper than I thought and the company got it to me within three days. This machine is recommended because of its ability to grind small, cooked bones well. Adding bone to your mixture insures the much needed calcium content of the food. If you're not certain about grinding the bone sufficiently, save eggshells and wash them well; leave to dry out completely for a few days then use a coffee grinder to grind the shells to a fine powder. Add a teaspoon to the finished food. I’ve done this myself so I know it works. I found this very idea on several vet sites that prepare whole raw diets for their cats otherwise I would never have tried it.

The easiest way to start is to take leftover cooked chicken or turkey and separate the meat you want to use; be sure to add skin and fat along with at least two small thigh or leg bones. Add a few slices of raw liver for more nutrition. Please note that you don't need to add much bone to get the amount of calcium required and because they are cooked they will go through more easily. With a half cup of water grind the meat and bones. I put it through twice, then I 'feel' the finished meat to find the larger pieces of bone to remove them. Adding water brings the moisture content up and makes grinding easier on the machine. Refrigerate in air tight containers and serve.

Since it comes out like wet canned food sometimes I will add chunks of meat to make it more attractive. Some cats prefer chunky fare as apposed to a more liquified consistency. Don't include a lot of vegetables in the meat mix. I have tried this and it was not a grand success. Cats are primarily meat eaters, though I have found that if I add a small chunk of potato, they like it better; you don't need to add spices of any kind either.

As an additional advantage to being a proud owner of a Grinder, I make my own sausage by cutting beef and pork roasts into chunks and mixing in my special spices. The cats love that too and its pure meat.

After reading about all the herbs and supplements I would need to invest in and the access to certain animals like rabbits and other smaller prey that I'd need to purchase again online, from the States; well, I had my budget to consider so I decided to go with half measures instead. Surely I could improve their diets by adding to rather than by making a complete and drastic change right now. Its gone well so far and my pocketbook, as well as my cats, are the happier for the alterations.

Catspaw

Sassy Has a Tail to Tell

Cat Friend Two

We’d been hearing an otherworldly meowing for three or four days. Boo and Molly were inside but we could never be sure if it wasn’t them playing. Winter hit hard that year, a cold snap that included gale force winds and freezing rain like daggers, turning to blizzard blowing snow. We lived in a trailer less than a quarter mile from the farm Merrill worked at; since he had decided it wasn’t much sense to drive such a short way he walked. This particular morning I was to discover where the source of the ethereal meowing was coming from. 

Just before 8 am I opened the porch door for Merrill when we both caught a glimpse of an orange cat before it vanished down a hole in the skirting around the trailer. How long it had been under there we didn’t know but now we had an accounting for the ghostly meowing we’d been hearing. After he left I opened a can of tuna, bundled myself into my parka, boots, mitts and scarf and sat myself down next to the hole with the tuna held out just far enough that it had no choice but to crawl out to get the food. The bribe didn’t take long to work but the feline fought like a wildcat to get free of the towel and my grasp. In the dead of winter and so obviously a  ‘throw-away’, an unwanted that someone dumped because, being near a farm thought there would be a means of survival or they just chucked the helpless little thing out to die in the freezing cold. Someone was grievously in need of a heart.

Once I managed to get this struggling little bundle inside and while the cat ate I had a better look at it. ‘It’ was not a cat in the real sense of the word, more like a pale shadow of one. The sad package before me was a dirty orange color, more bone than skin or fur and ferocious when defending food. Boo and Molly didn’t know what to make of this unwelcome, belligerent stranger suddenly in their midst so they stayed at a constant distance and gave way in everything so now, there was a perpetual tension in the house. Kitty was equally vicious towards us. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, I had to be extremely careful when putting food down so as not to lose a hand to a sudden flash attack at anything that threatened the food and milk dishes; the cat was utterly convinced that I would the food away from it. 

Puss was sick, undernourished and piddled everywhere. I soon learned that we had another female in the house, unsprayed. Now I had to practically reinvent patience when it came to teaching her to use the cat box, this only when she would allow me to touch her, let alone to pick her up but as time went on and with slow improvement, she started gaining some weight. As her health improved so did her temperament, somewhat, but still she remained openly defiant and distant as if afraid to give in and rely on me for her care. It took several months to win her trust and more than a few more months before the three of them would learn to like each other and get along. It was a long winter! 

She took delight in doing her level best to dominate Boo and Molly. Taking over their personal places and making them hers; eating out of their dishes and playing with their toys. I think it amused her to annoy them and get away with it but eventually Molly began to take exception and quarreled with her over things that were rightfully hers. So the sparing events started. It was not unlike the Roman Gladiators, all one had to do was put armor on them and a sword in their paws and Wawla!  Gladiator Cats!  

They never actually hurt each other and even Boo would wake up and take notice; it was the loud caterwauling that got the neighbors attention and brought an almost endless stream of visitors and sudden friends to my door. For obvious reasons we named her Sassy because of her sassy disposition. Eventually, Sassy and Molly worked out their differences and played together, this usually involved racing up and down the hallway to see which of the two was faster and squabbling over the highest seat on the cat tower Merrill made for them, much to the annoyance of Boo. 

For a time Molly forgot about venturing outside to follow Boo, now she had a new friend to play with. Summer wore on and after a time it became a little too quiet in the house; I went to check. Merrill had repaired the screen in the spare room window, now I found it torn again and this time, two kittens were out and about in the neighborhood. 

Sassy has had a happy home with us for the past few years and joined us on our adventurous cross Canada road trip to PEI. 

Catspaw