But every now and then as I was cracking open a can of cat food, it made me think about Morgan and Seas (said SAY-ahss; she’s named for Scandinavian Electro Accoustic Systems – can you tell which cat TheScott named?), our cats, and how much they, too would benefit from food that didn’t come out of a can. I’ve always been told you can’t feed a cat human food and we never do table scraps (the few times they manage to sneak some they usually yack it up anyway). But it never quite made sense to me that the list of ingredients in my cat’s food can contained a lot of things I couldn’t pronounce.
And if that wasn’t good for me, how could it possibly be good for Mo, my favorite fuzzy-butt in the world? So I started doing some research.
Then I did some more research.
Then I did some more research. (There is a decent amount of conflicting information – particularly on whether or not to add a little bit of vegetable matter – and, as I’m trying to make my cats healthier, I want to make sure I’m doing this right!)
And tonight I finally made my first batch of homemade cat food, based on the most consistent set of veterinarian recommended cat recipes. And it went something like this…
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Say, what’s for dinner, oh human of mine?
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Hmm… Do cats eat Pyridoxine Hydrochloride in nature? Or hunt the elusive (genetically modified) soy (bi-product)? I don’t think so.
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Me: Guess what, kitties! I’m making your food tonight. It’ll be great!Mo: WHAT???
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[Spoken with a vaguely sinister-sounding Eastern European accent] This smells like actual food. Ridiculous human who ruins my life, you may have gotten something right. For once.
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You are kidding me, right? No? *sigh* I am so unconvinced.
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Look guys! It’s real meat! Isn’t that exciting? And I learned how to make a supplement that will supply the other dietary needs you would get if you killed your own mouse.
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Interesting. I will deign to try your concoction that you have made in a clear attempt to please me and stall my plans of world domination.
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Oh, hellz no.
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Me: I’ll give you catnip if you try it!
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No!
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Human! You shock me! You have done something that isn’t inane and moronic. We are now friends. No, you still can’t touch me. Ooh… here’s another bowl full. The white cat is even more stupid than you are. Can I have hers?
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Me: Morgan, if you don’t eat it, I’m going to let Seas have yours.
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Why do you hate me?
I couldn’t convince Morgan to eat more than a couple pieces (TheScott has dubbed her “McDonalds Cat”), but I will stay strong! I love my little girl, and she’s never been able to lose weight (no matter how much or little I feed her). So I really think this is the right thing to do. We’ll both eventually be happier for it… I hope!
If any of you have tried this and have advice for me, I’d really appreciate it!
5 comments
B says:
Apr 16, 2011
What is in the make-it-yourself cat food, Wise Lady? Do tell!!
Jax says:
Apr 16, 2011
Well… as you can see, I’m still not completely sure what I’m doing, so while I’m happy to say what my first attempt was, I’m definitely not at the point where I’m stating this as a suggestion for other people, more as a record of my experiment. 🙂
Ingredients:
chicken thigh (cut up into chunks)
chicken liver (1 liver per thigh)
bone meal (1 tsp-1 tbl)
fish oil (1-2 capsules)
“Vitamin supplement” (I got the ingredients for this out of a book, so it’ll be proprietary and I probably shouldn’t post it – but I saw some people who put either mashed pumpkin or sweet potato on instead)
Cut up the chicken thigh into small pieces (or grind it if they wont’ eat chunked), add a few slivers of liver (not much – liver is apparently very rich, so they need the vitamin/mineral content, but not too much). Bring to room temperature using hot water (don’t put it in the microwave). Mix in bone meal (some people do actual bones – supposedly that’s better for their teeth, but a lot of people warn not to go straight there because cats need to transition up to it!) and the supplement or vegetable mash. Pour the contents of a fish oil pill (or two) and serve 1/4 cup per cat 2xs per day.
Since it’s raw (as a cat would eat it in nature – one of the few things EVERY site I went to agreed with was that the food needs to be raw; cats actually digest it BETTER that way) don’t leave it out for more than about 30 minutes.
A few good sites:
* http://www.alt4animals.com/nutrition_feline.htm (veterinarian in Austin)
* http://www.a-house-full-of-cats.com/catfoodrecipes.html (cat owner talking about their own raw food journey)
* http://www.catnutrition.org/index.html
T.K. says:
Apr 17, 2011
Gulp!
k! says:
Apr 18, 2011
Did Mo curb her sailor’s tongue for the photo shoot? How unlike her…
Jax says:
Apr 18, 2011
I admit, there was some editing for content. 😉 (For those of you who haven’t met The Mo, you can add a bit**ez to the end of every phrase she utters and throw in additional words for flavor as you see fit. Mo did. Her “meow” is reminiscent of R2-D2 that way. You just KNOW without actually hearing the words that it’s, ahem, colorful.)