- Updated: Sunday, May 05, 2019 02:34 PM
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Published: Sunday, May 05, 2019 02:00 PM
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Written by Margaret Gates
- original link - https://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers
Making homemade cat food isn't hard to do at all, anyone can! Once you
make your own, you'll realize that raw food for cats isn't complicated.
It helps to know how ground raw meals are made, because
commercially-made frozen foods are created in much the same way, just on
a larger scale. Taking the mystery out of what you feed your cats is
important. While they benefit from the nutritionally better food, the
benefit to you in terms of peace of mind shouldn't be overlooked.
What does homemade raw cat food consist of? Most importantly, it is
more than just meat. It's made up of meat, organs, bone, fat, egg
yolks, water and supplements. All of these ingredients are necessary to
make a balanced diet for complete cat nutrition. The goal is to mimic
the natural prey-based diet of cats. Notice the lack of any
carbohydrate-based ingredients. These are not needed in the diet of an
obligate carnivore. There are no
vegan cats.
Making your own raw cat food gives you the most control over what
goes into your cat's food, allowing you to select the meats and
supplements you use. Contrary to what many people think, homemade raw
cat food meals are usually less expensive than canned diets. The
supplemented, ground food can be a foundation of cat nutrition. To round
it out, we recommend varying the meats you feed and adding in whole
meats, with and without bones, to provide dental benefits and
psychological stimulation.
Depending on your available freezer space and the number of cats
you are preparing food for, you should only have to make food every two
to four weeks. Once you do it a few times, you'll realize how easy it
is. You can easily make 15 pounds of food in about an hour and a half,
including clean-up. The following is an overview of what equipment
you'll need to get started, what meats and supplements you'll need, a
recipe to follow, recipe variations, average costs and some helpful
tips.
Please note that homemade raw cat food can have many positive
health benefits, even for cats with medical conditions. But, if your cat
is ill, you must consult a veterinarian before you change your
cat's diet. This recipe may not be suitable for cats that have chronic
kidney disease or other medical issues.
Equipment
Grinder. You will need a grinder that can handle
bones. Lower-end meat grinders usually can't, so choose the most
powerful grinder your budget will allow. The more powerful the grinder,
the larger the bones you can grind. Also, the more powerful machines can
grind much more quickly, which can make a big difference if you are
making large quantities. Please note that the higher end models can be
quite heavy. Grinder parts must be hand-washed; do not put them in the
dishwasher. A reverse function is very useful. Keep in mind that it is
frequently skin, sinew and cartilage, not bone, that cause jams in
grinders. Tip: Partially freezing the meat cuts down on jams, as does
chopping the bones into smaller pieces.
A very sharp knife. Keep your knife sharp. You are more likely to cut yourself with a dull blade than a sharp one.
Poultry shears. Very handy.
Meat cleaver. You may not need a
meat cleaver if you are starting with parts, but it's a must if you are working from a whole carcass.
Set of mixing bowls. Preferably
stainless steel bowls.
You'll need at least three: a small one to mix the eggs and
supplements, a medium one to use under the grinder outlet and a large
one that's at least 8 quarts, for mixing it all up.
Plastic or glass freezable containers and labels. Or use freezer Ziploc® type plastic bags.
Ear plugs. Grinders are loud. Or you can use ear buds and listen to music.
Latex or nitrile gloves. Gloves make it easier to
reduce the possibility of contaminating other surfaces. Keep a few pair
handy so you can don new ones rather than trying to put used ones back
on.
Newspaper, paper or plastic to cover your work surface. Makes clean up much easier.
Kitchen scale. Some scales have a weight limit of 5 pounds. Be sure to get a
kitchen scale that can handle at least 10 pounds.
Large cutting board. Make sure it will fit in the dishwasher.
Freezer space. You'll need to have enough space to store what you make.
Meat and Eggs
Try to get the best quality and the freshest meat you can. Cats may
refuse meat if it's not fresh. The recipe calls for chicken hearts,
which can be difficult to source.
Hare Today
sells them at a very good price. Hearts are often available at Asian
supermarkets, so try checking ethnic food stores in your area or ask
your butcher if he can get them for you. Try to use the real organs if
at all possible; hearts are a major source for
taurine – an absolutely essential
amino acid.
If you have ample freezer space you can also try buying in bulk direct from farms or butchers in your area.
Supplements
Supplements are not optional. These supplements are required.
Skipping supplements or letting your recipe "drift" can have serious
health consequences for your cat. There are different recipes that call
for slightly different supplements, but they cover the same basic needs
for complete cat nutrition. What these supplements make up for is the
fact that we aren't feeding cats the whole prey diet they would get in
the wild. People have used recipes such as the one below for years
without any deficiencies showing up. It is always a good idea to vary
the meats you feed, not only for variety for your cat, but also to cover
any unknown gaps in the nutrient profile of a particular meat. There
may be an as yet unidentified essential micro-nutrient in one kind of
meat and not another.
The supplements are available from grocery stores that carry more
than the basics, such as Whole Foods. You can find them at health food
stores or online as well. These are all of the same supplements that are
intended for human consumption. People and animals need the same
vitamins and minerals. It's just the amounts that vary.
Note: You may also use a premixed supplement instead of these
individual supplements. Make sure that is it intended specifically for
use with raw meat and that it's not just a general nutritional
supplement. Also note that most come in different versions depending on
whether you are using meat with bone or meat without bone. Some brands
are Alnutrin, TCFeline and Better in the Raw. Please see "
Easy Raw Cat Food For the Busy Person" for links and additional resources.
Here are the supplements you'll need:
Taurine – Use powdered taurine. It comes in 500 mg capsules. You can also buy loose powder taurine online.
Wild Salmon Oil or Wild Caught Small Fish Oil – Get capsules, not a
liquid in a bottle. Once opened, the liquid can go rancid quickly. It's
okay to drop the whole capsule into the grinder, the gelatin capsule is
edible. This oil replaces the Omega acids that would usually be in the
eyes and brains of the animal eaten. Do not use
cod liver oil
as it can be high in vitamin A which is toxic in large amounts. Some
cats don't like the taste of salmon oil. If your cat turns up her nose
at it, try the small fish oil.
Vitamin E – Get the dry form in capsules, it's much easier than
using the liquid capsules. If you can't find the dry form, you will need
to pierce the capsules and squeeze the oil out as it is added to the
liquid slurry mixture.
Vitamin B Complex – Get capsules with powdered content.
Lite Salt – Make sure it contains iodine. If Lite Salt is
unavailable, use regular iodized table salt, but half the amount the
recipe calls for.
Psyllium Husk Powder – An optional ingredient that may be helpful
when first feeding raw food for cats. This adds fiber with minimal
carbohydrates.
If your cats have been eating dry food for a long time, they may have
lost elasticity in their bowels and may benefit from fiber in their
food. Also, some cats may have constipation issues when initially fed
raw food, so adding fiber in the beginning is a good idea. You can omit
it later as your cats adjust to the new diet.
Recipe Using Chicken Thighs with Bone
4.5 pounds (about 2 kg) chicken thighs with bone. Remove about 20
to 25% of the bone from the total amount of meat used. For example, if
you use ten thighs, then take out the bone from two of them. This keeps
the calcium/phosphorus ratio correct. Remove the skin from half of the
thighs. If your cats are chubby you can remove all of the skin before
weighing it. Don't remove the fat from the meat. Weigh the meat after
you have removed these skin and bone amounts. You should purchase about 5
pounds (about 2.3 kg) to start with.
7 ounces (200
grams) raw chicken liver
14 ounces (400
grams)
raw chicken heart. If you can't source chicken heart, then substitute
with 4000 mg Taurine. If you do omit raw heart, remember to make up the
missing 14 ounces of heart with additional chicken thigh meat.
8 ounces (.24 liter) water. Use bottled spring water, not tap water which can have too many chemicals.
4 raw egg yolks
2000 mg Taurine. This is in addition to the taurine you may have
added if you didn't use hearts. Taurine is water soluble so you don't
have to worry about your cat getting too much.
4000 mg wild salmon or wild caught small fish oil
200 mg Vitamin B Complex
1 ½ teaspoons (8.4 grams) Lite Iodized Salt
4 teaspoons (8 grams) Psyllium Husk Powder (optional)
Since it is always hard to buy exactly the amount of chicken thighs the recipe asks for, we have a handy
Recipe Calculator/
Recipe Calculator Metric
to figure out the proportions of all the ingredients based on how much
meat you start with. Enter the weight of the meat with bone after you
have removed the extra bone and half of the skin and the calculator will
figure out how much of all the other ingredients you need. Round off
the supplement amounts as necessary.
Putting It All Together
Be organized, it will save a lot of time. Cover your work surface
with paper or plastic. Set up your grinder, cutting board, tools,
supplements and bowls. Oh, and it's probably a good idea to put your
four-footed "helpers" in another room at this point, especially if
you're going to use the meat cleaver.
Put your gloves on. Remove the skin from half of the chicken thighs, or
from all of them if your cats are chubby. Don't remove the fat. Remove
the bone from 20-25% of the thighs. Next, weigh out what you will need
(image A). Rinse the meat with water to help remove any surface
bacteria. At this point, either weigh out exactly the amount the recipe
calls for (4.5 pounds) and follow the amounts given in the recipe for
the other ingredients or weigh how much meat with bone you have, enter
it into the calculator, and then use the amounts shown in the calculator
for the rest of the ingredients. If you do use the calculator, you will
have to round off the supplements to the nearest capsule. This is okay,
it will all even out over the batches you make.
In a small mixing bowl, open up the supplement capsules and discard the
empty gelatin caps (image B). Leave the fish oil capsules, these you add
later when grinding.
Add the egg yolks and water to the bowl, and whisk until mixed (image
C). Use a fork if you don't have a whisk. Don't add the psyllium yet.
This is your "slurry" mixture.
Weigh out the liver and heart; remember to add in an equivalent weight
of additional chicken meat if you aren't using heart (image D).
Chunk up meat from the thighs. Cut the meat from the side of the thigh
with the most meat, and then cut it into roughly ½ inch pieces. Start
with smaller chunks if your cats are still getting used to eating meat
pieces. You don't have to be very precise; it's okay if some pieces are
larger and some smaller (image E).
Put your ear plugs in now. Set your medium bowl under the grinder
outlet. Start feeding the thighs through the grinder. You may need to
trim meat off the bone to fit it through the tube. Add the liver, heart
and fish oil capsules at intervals to the grinder. You can add the
entire fish oil capsule, the gelatin capsule is edible (image F). Tip:
if you don't have a bowl that fits well under the grinder outlet, set
the grinder at the edge of the sink and put a larger bowl in the sink
itself, below the outlet. This also works great if you are making an
extra-large batch and are using oversize bowls.
When it's all ground, transfer it to a large bowl if it isn't already in
one, add the slurry mixture, the chunked meat and the psyllium husk,
and mix thoroughly (image G). Don't overfill the bowl; you need room to
mix it all thoroughly without it overflowing. Using too small of a bowl
at this point just makes it difficult to mix. You can use a large
plastic tub for this step if that is easier.
Portion out the mixture into glass or plastic containers or freezer
Ziploc®-type bags, label them, and freeze (image H). You can refrigerate
any portion that you are going to use the same day or the next.
Serving variation: Place the mix into ice cube trays and freeze (image I).
Be sure to check out the "
Makin' Nuggets" video on the Feline Nutrition YouTube Channel!
Pop them out after a few hours and you've made your own nuggets (image
J). These can be really handy as they thaw more quickly than a larger
container. They also come out to a mostly uniform size of about 1¼
ounces, so portioning is easier.
Remember to hand wash your grinder parts; don't put them in the dishwasher.
The approximate ingredient cost for this recipe breaks down as follows:
$1.86 for the supplements
$9.95 for the chicken thighs (5 pounds at $1.99/lb)
$3.00 for the chicken hearts (at $2.99/lb from Hare Today, plus a bit for the shipping)
$1.22 for the liver (at $2.79/lb)
$1.26 for the eggs (at $3.79/dozen)
This works out to about $2.66 a pound, since this recipe makes
about 6.5 pounds of food. The chicken thighs can also frequently be
purchased at less than $1.99 a pound, which can bring the cost down
substantially. For example, if you can get the thighs for $.99 a pound
or are using whole chickens at this price, your cost per pound of
finished raw food is about $1.89. On a daily basis, if your cat eats 5
ounces per day, this would be 83 cents and 59 cents per day for the two
price-per-pound examples. This compares very favorably to canned food,
especially when you consider that there are no fillers, by-products or
carbs.
Optional Partial Baking Method
If you have concerns over the quality of the meat you are getting
or if you can't determine how fresh the meat is, you can partially bake
the thighs to kill surface bacteria. Meat itself is essentially sterile,
but pathogens can be introduced during slaughter or handling. This
means that the pathogens would be on the outside of the cut of meat
only. Rinsing the meat with running water helps, but is not entirely
effective. Partially baking greatly reduces the potential for pathogens,
but is not as sure as using an
HPP-treated food.
Place the whole chicken thighs on a baking sheet or pan and cook
for 10 to 15 minutes at 350°F. You want to have the thighs about 20%
cooked. Let them cool before grinding. Do not discard any liquids from
the pan; add it back into the mix.
Keep in mind that this is an optional step and is usually not
needed. Only use it if you have doubts about the meat or a reason for
extra precautions such as an immune-compromised cat or person in the
household. Remember that healthy adult cats have a high resistance to
pathogens.
Variations
Whole Chicken Version
You can start with a whole chicken as purchased from a store or
butcher. This would be a dressed chicken without head, feet, entrails or
feathers. Remove the neck and the backbone to reduce the bone content a
bit. You will need a grinder capable of grinding the larger bones in
the carcass. If a packet of organs is included, then add them to the
grind.
Turkey Version
Use turkey thighs if you can. Don't use only turkey necks or wings
as the bone to meat ratio and thus the calcium to phosphorus ratio would
be off. You can start with a whole turkey; just keep the percentage of
bone, by weight, at around 7 to 10%. You can use chicken livers and
hearts if you can't get adequate quantities of turkey liver/hearts.
Follow the rest of the recipe as shown.
Duck, Pheasant, Quail or Cornish Hen
Use the same recipe as above when grinding a whole, dressed bird.
Again, it's okay to use chicken hearts and liver. If you have them,
include the organs that came with the bird in the total weight of liver
and heart.
Rabbit
A kitty favorite! Follow the instructions above if you are using a
dressed rabbit, i.e. no head, entrails, fur, feet, etc., or if using
rabbit parts. Note: If you are using a whole-carcass rabbit, check with
your supplier to see if the thyroid gland is included. If it is, omit
the Lite Salt from the supplements.
Fish
Fish as the basis of raw food for cats is not recommended. Avoid
top-of-the-food-chain fish such as tuna altogether as they are much more
likely to be contaminated with
PCBs or heavy metals than short-lived fish lower on the food chain. Feeding water-packed sardines once a week can provide extra
omega fatty acids. For variety, you can also occasionally add a can of wild-caught salmon to the ground recipe.
Pre-Ground Frozen Meats
This means pre-ground, unsupplemented meat/bone/organ grinds
specifically intended for use as a raw pet food. You can buy these
grinds in five-pound tubes, called "chubs," from many pet food stores or
from online pet food retailers. Thaw the meat in the fridge. You can
add the supplements as soon as it's thawed enough to mix; it doesn't
have to be completely thawed. Just add in the slurry mixture and portion
out, and then freeze. There is no problem in re-freezing the meat as
the caveat against this usually is about degradation of taste, not a
safety issue. There is approximately 5.8 pounds of meat in the chicken
thigh recipe, including the meat, bone, and organs. If you are
supplementing a five pound tube of meat/bone/organ grind, you will need
to reduce the supplements by 15%. Or, you can increase the total amount
of meat to 5.8 pounds by adding some chunked meat.
You might ask, "Why can't I just get ground meat from the grocery
store?" Ground meat from a grocery store has the potential to have
higher levels of pathogens. When meat is ground it greatly increases the
surface area where bacteria can multiply. It also spreads any bacteria
present on the outside of the meat throughout the mix. Meat ground for
human consumption is often not handled with the same care as meat used
in raw food for cats. Commercial raw cat food makers maintain very high
standards and the meat is immediately frozen after grinding to keep
bacteria from multiplying. Grocery store ground meat is intended to be
thoroughly cooked. In fact, they are counting on the fact that you will
cook it. We are not saying that all grocery ground meat is bad, just
that the potential for trouble is higher. Keep in mind that raw meat
itself is not dangerous, fresh meat is pretty much pathogen-free.
Pathogens can get introduced onto the meat – and are only on the outside
of the cut – during slaughter and handling.
Using Meat without Bone
Some people want to use a recipe that does not include bone. We
highly recommend that you grind your own from whole cuts of meat or
purchase boneless ground meats specifically made for feeding raw to
pets.
Please note: Raw bone is more than just a calcium source. Using a
calcium supplement is inferior to using real bone. We strongly recommend
using the recipe with real bone for long-term raw feeding and the best
cat nutrition.
If you are using boneless meat, you will need to add a calcium
source, since meat contains very little. You will want to add about 1000
to 1200 mg of calcium per pound of meat. The three basic ways to add
calcium are: bone meal powder, MCHA (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite) or
eggshell powder. Because bone meal powder and MCHA also contain
phosphorus and can throw off the calcium to phosphorus ratios, which are
important, we recommend using eggshell powder.
Eggshells are about 90 to 97% calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate
is 35 to 40% elemental calcium, which is what we measure. When working
with eggshell powder it is important to realize that different powders
may have different densities; some may be more finely ground than
others. For this reason, when you make your own, you will need to get an
accurate measurement of what yours weighs per teaspoon to be able to
add the right amount. You should aim to add approximately 3 grams per
pound of meat.
For example: When we made homemade eggshell powder, which is finely
ground, one teaspoon weighed 6.1 grams. This means that 6.1 grams/1 tsp
of our eggshell powder has 1921mg of elemental calcium on the low end
to 2366mg on the high end. Since we are aiming for 1000 to 1200mg per
pound, we would add ½ teaspoon per pound of meat. Measuring by volume is
more convenient, but the best way is still by weight. So, if you have a
scale
that can accurately weigh small amounts, use it to add 3 grams per
pound. This will eliminate any variations on how finely ground a
particular batch of eggshell powder is.
Eggshell calcium has the advantage that it is very low in
phosphorus, so it can be added in amounts that will balance the
phosphorus content of the meat. It also avoids the use of bovine bone
and concerns about lead, mercury and prions.
You can purchase eggshell calcium or make your own. If you
buy
it, make sure it is pure eggshells with nothing else added. Follow the
directions on the product for how much to add per pound of meat.
To make your own eggshell powder, follow these steps:
Remove any egg white from the shells but leave the membrane as it
contains valuable nutrients. Dry them by baking at 300°F for 10 minutes.
Grind them in a clean coffee grinder or food processor. Wait for 10
minutes before opening the grinder to let the powder settle and avoid a
cloud of powder coming out. One large egg will make about one teaspoon
of powder. Store the powder in an air-tight glass jar.
Make the following adjustments to the recipe when using boneless meat:
Use 3 pounds of raw muscle meat (boneless chicken or turkey thigh
meat with half of the skin removed, or boneless rabbit) instead of the
4.5 pounds chicken thighs with bone. As the total recipe weight will be
about 4.5 pounds, including the meat, organs and yolks, add about 13.5
grams eggshell powder. This would be about 2¼ teaspoons of homemade
powder if yours weighed the same as in the example above.
Follow the rest of the recipe as it is, including adding the hearts, liver, raw egg yolks, water and supplements.
Serving
Ideally, cats want their food at "mouse body" temperature. The best
way to accomplish this is to put thawed or partially thawed food in a
Ziploc-type baggie. Squeeze as much air out as you can and then place
the baggie in a bowl of warm water for five minutes or so. This warms it
up without cooking it. It's best not to microwave it, since this does
cook it. To serve, cut off the corner of the baggie with scissors and
pour or squeeze it onto their plate. Serving the food cold can cause
stomach upset, and your cat may throw it up.
Cats usually prefer to eat off a plate, rather than a bowl. For
feeding raw food, glass or metal is preferred because they won't get
bacteria-harboring scratches the way plastic will. A low sided Pyrex
baking dish or pie plate works great; they are heavy enough not to move
around as the cat eats and they usually come with covers for
refrigerating leftovers. Some people like to use paper plates for easier
clean up.
How Much to Feed
Generally, for adult cats you should feed 2 to 4% of ideal body
weight per day. For example: for a 10 pound cat at 3%, this would work
out to 4.8 ounces a day. When starting out feeding raw food, try the
middle percentage of 3% and monitor your cat closely to see if she gains
or loses weight, then adjust the amount you feed up or down
accordingly. Cats will vary in how much raw cat food they will want to
eat in a day; one day they're ravenous and the next they're leaving food
on the plate. This is normal. Feed at regular mealtimes; twice a day is
fine, but you can do it in three or four meals if you want. Kittens can
require twice as much food per pound of body weight as adult cats, as
they are growing, not just maintaining their weight. Kittens should also
be fed at least every four to six hours.
If your cat is overweight, try feeding the amount they would need
for their ideal weight, not the weight they are now. They will then lose
weight slowly down to their ideal.
Get a good scale to keep accurate track of your cats' weights, even if they are not overweight.
Health-O-Meter
makes a good baby scale that works well for cats. It features a very
useful averaging function that will get an accurate weight even on a
squirming cat, and a zero-out function that allows you to get a weight
even if you have to wrap the cat in a towel or put her in a carrier to
weigh her.
For Quick Reference
Download the "
Easy Recipe for Success"
One Page Guide for a quick reference page that includes the ingredients
list and basic instructions. Get the A4 version if you want metric
units.
Making Raw Cat Food is Easy
Homemade raw cat food is easy. Once you do it a few times, it gets
even easier. Most people end up feeding a combination of homemade,
commercially-made raw meals and whole meats. This is actually preferred,
as variety is important, both in the types of meat and the different
recipes. This variety helps to even out the nutrients provided.
Including whole meat chunks, both with and without small bones and as
big as your cats will tackle, is also recommended for superior cat
nutrition.
Once you've made raw cat food yourself, you'll gain a better
understanding of how commercial raw foods are made, as the process is
nearly identical. Take a look at "
A Visit to a Raw Food Company" for a peek at how one manufacturer does it. It's very different from processed, cooked food and much simpler to put together.
And, yes, it's okay if kitty wants to lick the bowl.
Margaret Gates is the founder of the Feline Nutrition
Foundation. Contributors to the recipe formulation and this article
include Feline Nutrition Advisory Board members Marta Kaspar of
Alternative Nutrition and Mimi Stein.
The Feline Nutrition Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non profit
organization, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates
Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means
for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to
amazon.com.
