Two Cat Food Recipes

This recipe is not recommended for long term use – using real bone is better.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The recipe that follows is inferior to the “with bone” recipe. Why? Because it does not contain real bone and relies on an isolated calcium supplement. Whenever possible and unless contraindicated, cats should consume REAL bone. But if you do not yet have a grinder, this recipe will suffice for short-term use. It also has some gelatin in it to make up for missing cartilage. Please do not use this recipe indefinitely.

1400 grams [3 lbs] raw muscle meat  (i.e., chicken thighs and drumsticks meat. leaving about half the skin)

400 grams [14 oz] raw heart (chicken heart works well – if no heart is available, substitute with 4000 mg Taurine)

200 grams [7 oz] raw liver (chicken liver works well – if you can’t find appropriate liver, you can TEMPORARILY and for short-term use only substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D. Do not use the Vitamin A/Vitamin D as a substitute for real liver for more than a short period of time as it is not a viable option for weeks or months on end and create a deficiency of copper and zinc in the diet.)

NOTE: If you cannot find the heart or liver and decide to substitute with the Taurine/Vitamin A and D, then remember to REPLACE the missing amount of organ meat with the equivalent amount of muscle meat. In other words, if you cannot find heart, you add another 400 grams of the meat. If you can’t find the liver, add another 200 grams of meat/bone.

16 oz [2 cups] water

3.08 Tbsp (9.25 tsp) bonemeal (the kind intended for human consumption–not the type used for gardening)

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

4 raw egg yolks (use eggs from free-range, antibiotic-free chickens if you can)***

4 capsules raw glandular supplement, such as, for example, multigland supplement by Nutricology

4000 mg salmon oil (see note at bottom of recipe*)

800 IU Vitamin E (“dry E” works well)

4 Vitamin B-50 complex capsules

1.5 tsp. Lite salt (with iodine) NOTE:  If you’re using whole ground rabbit from a supplier, check with the supplier to see if the thyroid gland is included.  If it is, skip the salt. 

(optional: 4 tsp. psyllium husk powder (8 tsp. if using whole psyllium husks; see note at bottom of recipe**)

NOTE: If you will not be using the food immediately and freezing for more than a week or two, toss in 4000 mg of additional Taurine to make up for what may get lost during storage. It is also not a bad idea to sprinkle extra Taurine from a capsule on the food as you’re serving it two or three times a week, just to be certain your cat is getting plenty of this critical amino acid.

1. Remove about half of the skin from the muscle meat. Chunk up (i.e., cut) much of the muscle meat (minus most of the skin if using chicken or turkey, but leave skin on if using rabbit) into bite-sized (nickel-sized, approximately) pieces. Save the chunked meat for later – do not grind it.

2. Grind the raw liver, remaining meat and the raw heart. Once ground, stir this mixture well and return to refrigerator. Once ground, stir this mixture very well and refrigerate.

3. Fill a bowl with 2 cups of water and whisk everything (non-meat) except the psyllium and gelatin. If you had to replace liver with Vitamin A and D or heart with Taurine, add those substitutes now. Add psyllium (if you’re using that) and gelatin at the end and stir well. (If you add the psyllium and gelatin too soon it clumps up.) Finally, put the three mixtures together -the “supplement slurry” that you have just mixed, the ground-up meat, and the chunks of meat you cut by hand. Portion into containers and freeze.

RECIPE AND SERVING TIPS

Don’t overfill the containers. Thaw only what you can use within 48 hours. Warm the food in a plastic bag under hot water to take off the chill, and serve.

*Every two or three days, I suggest putting a few drops of fresh salmon oil from a newly-opened capsule on to the cats’ food. The Essential Fatty Acids in salmon oil are extremely fragile, and since we don’t know exactly how much gets lost during freezing, I think it’s wise to use a bit of fresh salmon oil directly on the food a few times a week. Most cats love the flavor.

**Not all cats require additional fiber (psyllium) in their diet. If your cat has been eating low-quality commercial food for several years, especially dry food, she may have lost bowel elasticity and may benefit from the extra fiber. As a general rule, I recommend using psyllium when an adult cat first gets raw food. I rarely add psyllium to my adult cats’ diet these days. Bear in mind that some cats seem to get constipated without additional fiber, whereas other cats seem to get constipated if they get too much fiber. Each cat is unique, and you’ll have to judge what works best for your cat.

***If you don’t want to waste the egg whites and don’t feel like making an angel food cake, poach them, grind them, and throw them in with the food.  A nice phosphorus-free source of protein.

If you use this link and have never ordered from iHerb before, you’ll save on your first order of the dry ingredients used in this recipe. 

Depending on which recipe you use and what you already have on hand you won’t necessarily need everything on this list. Many of the links below to the dry ingredients zap you over to iHerb, the place I get all my dry ingredients. If you use this link you’ll find the full list and, if you’re a first-time orderer, you’ll receive a discount.

Using the iHerb links also helps me out since I accumulate some credits, however you ought to get your ingredients from wherever you like. 

Vitamin A

Vitamin B-50 complex

Vitamin D

Vitamin E (dry) 

Unflavored gelatin

Immoplex glandulars, Nutricology

Psyllium husk powder

Psyllium husks (whole)

Salmon oil

Taurine (loose, powdered) 

Lite salt