Is Homemade Food Healthy For Felines? Some Homemade Cat Food Recipes

Which is the best cat food or best kitten food for felines? This is one of the most concerning questions often asked by many pet parents. After this, it comes to mind of feline parents whether to feed dry food to cats or feed wet food. There are varieties of best wet cat food & best dry cat food available in the marketplace that claims to be the best food but some of them fail to keep up the promise due to several reasons like price, ingredients, quality, and many other grounds. Due to this, most paw-rents often think that is it fine that they should start preparing food for their pets at home. 

Is Homemade Cat Food Healthy For Felines?

Best dry cat food tends to be loaded with carbohydrates and plant-based proteins. Also, it doesn’t contain much moisture content in it which might become the reason for dehydration in your feline’s body. Whereas the best wet cat food can’t be kept open for a long duration after opening and that too requires to be kept refrigerated means it can’t be taken with you on long journeys. Also, these are a bit costly as compared to cat dry food. 

When it comes to preparing food for cats or kittens at home, you will be aware of everything that exactly what is there in the food because you have put it on your own. You better know your cat or kitten and through that, you will be able to prepare food for her as per the requirements to have a healthy and strong life. Your Vet will be the best person to help you with which food and ingredients should be fed to pets to provide a well-balanced diet. While you prepare whole food for your cats at home, it will be prepared with whole nutritious ingredients without any additives and preservatives, thus, it will be better for the pet’s health. 

It is just that you need to take care of a few things while preparing food for cute furry pets. For it, your Vet will be the best person to help you with which food and ingredients should be fed to pets to provide a well-balanced diet. Some of them are from where you are getting the ingredients, how much food should be fed to the cat at a time, is it required to use any supplements, do you prefer organic and similar questions should be kept in mind. Also, it is advisable that cats like to get varieties and flavours in their food, hence they easily get bored if fed the same food on daily basis. 

What’s better for Cats: Raw Food Or Cooked Food?

Many times, it can be confusing which food type would be better for cats or kittens like raw food or cooked food. While there are few parents that don’t prefer raw food due to parasites and bacteria consumed in it, there are few parents who are against cooked food due to the loss of nutrients from the cooked food in the cat’s diet. However, please make sure that your pet is getting all the required nutrients because pets require a different nutrient intake than that humans. Because they require raw food too along with cooked food to maintain proper metabolism. Thus it is better for pets if they should be preferred both raw food and cooked food in a well-balanced amount.

Mention Some Essential Nutrients Required In Cat’s Food?

Here is the list of some essential food that should be included in cat food as they are necessary to provide a well-balanced lifestyle. 

Animal Protein: 

As the cat comes under carnivorous animals, they require meat in their diet to survive because they get high protein amounts from the animal meat they eat. It is a rumor that they can be provided with proteins from soy, nuts, wheat gluten, or lentils. However, it is not true as for felines it is very hard to digest plant-based proteins.

Calcium & Phosphorus:

Calcium & Phosphorus plays a vital role in your cat’s diet to provide strong bones and teeth. Calcium is also required to enable blood clots and phosphorus increases the reparation of cells. Phosphorus helps your cat to metabolize proteins.

Taurine:

This is an essential amino acid cats won’t be able to create for themselves, this is required from the food they eat. It is found that cats that do not eat enough taurine may suffer from heart problems and vision problems that can even lead to fatal failures. 

Vitamins: 

It wouldn’t be possible for cats to convert beta-carotene from normal plant sources (they are provided in their diet) into vitamin A, so it requires to gain from an animal basis such as liver, halibut, and kidneys. 

Water:

It is necessary for cats to stay hydrated enough. However, they shouldn’t drink as much as water they should drink in a day. Thus, the proper water content should be maintained in your cat’s food. 

Some Homemade Cat Food Recipes that are healthy for your cat:

Check out some easy and healthy cat & kitten food recipes that can be cooked very easily at home and will be a nutritional full bowl for your feline pets. 

1. Vegetable Omelette:

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time:  10 minutes

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon water
• 3 tbsp cottage cheese
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp vegetables, grated 
• 1 tbsp nonfat dry milk

Recipe Preparation Instructions:

• Firstly mix non-fat dry milk powder with water after then add eggs and beat it well.
•  Now cook the mixture in a pan for about 6 minutes and make sure to cook it only on medium-low heat.
• After then flip the omelet around and then put all the grated vegetables like zucchini, carrots, pumpkin, lettuce, etc., and cottage cheese on the cooked omelet. 
• Once done you can fold the omelet and drag it from the heat.
• Please make sure to cool the omelet before cutting it up into bite-sized pieces.

2. Raw Chicken Food For Cats:

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Recipe Ingredients:

• 200 mg  Taurine
• 200 mg Vitamin B supplements
• 7 oz chicken livers
• 4.5 lbs chicken bones, thighs, and skin included
• 14 oz chicken hearts 
• 200 IU Vitamin E
• 4 whole eggs 
• 2 cups water

Recipe Preparation Instructions:

• Firstly discard and release around half of the skin and 20% of the bone.
• Slice or dice the thighs into little bite-sized pieces. (Try to leave a few thighs)
• Then grind meat, bones, hearts, liver, and the thighs which were left before. Then stir then well until it becomes well compounded.
• After then in a large bowl, blend all eggs, vitamin supplements, and a pinch of light iodized salt (only if required as too much salt might be harmful to the cat). Then add 2 cups of water to the blended mixture. Please be ensured that eggs should be well whisked.
• Once you perform all the above steps, you will now have three main varieties; sheared or sliced meat, ground meat/bone, and complements blended with eggs. You just have to mix and combine all the ingredients and things thoroughly.
• If there will be any things left that were more than required. There is no need to worry, the leftovers can be stored in an airtight receptacle that permits space for expansion as the food freezes. You will be able to put the food for a few days in the refrigerator which will be worth the same nutrition and freeze the rest of the leftovers. 

3. Deluxe Fish Ball Recipe:

Preparation time: 35 minutes

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 small can of oil-packed tuna fish
• 3 tbsp or 45 milliliters of grated cheese
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs

Recipe Preparation Instructions:

• Firstly, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Then mash all ingredients together until you will get a paste-like mixture.
• Once the paste-like mixture is prepared, shape it into small balls and keep it on a greased baking tray.
• Then bake it for 20 minutes. Make sure to check it frequently. Once you see the balls give golden brown color it means they are ready. 
• Please make sure to cool it down perfectly before serving it.

Conclusion:

There are varieties of best cat food products available in the market. However, there is no comparison of that with the food that is made with extra love and care at home by pet parents. Our pets also enjoy it from the bottom of their heart and it also keeps them healthy, strong, and happy. It is always recommended to consult a veterinarian once before feeding any ingredient to the pet to get complete details about it.