MAKING CAT FOOD

Introduction

Commercial pet food contamination - especially dry food

Pet food recalls

Before you dive in

Making cat food

Cost

With bones or without bones

Meat types and sources

The ingredients/recipe

Making the food

Dental Health

Safety issues

Conclusion

Introduction

After spending a great deal of time reading and learning about the way commercial pet foods are processed, and the ingredients that go into many of these foods, I decided to start making my own cat food.  I found that I was getting more and more frustrated with the species-inappropriate and low quality ingredients found in most commercial foods so this was a very easy decision for me to make.

Also, quite frankly, the Menu pet food deaths have left me with an even deeper desire to have total control over what goes into my cats' food bowls.  I don't ever want to go through what those poor people went through when they lost their beloved pets due to human greed and deception.  I remember the relief that I felt when contaminated pet food was killing pets all around me - relief that my cats were eating a diet that I had prepared for them.

My cats are very special to me and I feel it is important for them to eat a diet that is equal in nutritional quality to what I would put on my own dinner plate.  I have been using the recipe below since early 2003 and I could not be happier with my cats' health and energy level and - again - my control over their diet.

One of the most common questions I get asked is "why can't I just use this recipe and cook it instead of feeding it raw?"  The goal here is to feed a diet that nature intended for your carnivore - as close as possible to the form and nutritional composition that your cat would eat in a natural setting.

I am not as smart as nature.  I don't know what nutrients and in what amounts and in what form are destroyed/damaged with the cooking process.  Therefore, I do not feel comfortable advising on completely cooked meat diets.

However, I don't mind 'splitting the difference' and partially cooking the outside of whole meats prior to grinding them as noted in my safety section below.  This will kill the surface bacteria and will make this diet much safer than dry food.

Please be aware that there are other steps that can be taken to 'raise the bar' in terms of safety when feeding this type of diet.  Again, please see my safety section below.

It is up to the reader to work within their comfort zone when deciding whether to go forward with this type of diet, or not.  Most things in life do have some risk associated with them but most people think that commercial diets are completely without risk and this could not be further from the truth.

Dry kibble, in addition to containing potentially deadly fungal toxins, also contains a great deal of bacteria.  Fortunately, our cats' intestinal tract is designed to handle a much higher bacteria load than that of a human, but if one is worried about the bacteria in raw meat, then the bacteria in dry food also needs to be taken into consideration because dry food is very far from bacteria-free!

The Dangers of Commercial Pet Food - Especially Dry Food   

With regard to the safety of raw meat diets, you will no doubt hear varying opinions on this issue.  Many of my colleagues are adamantly opposed to the feeding of raw meat yet they think nothing of supporting the common practice of leaving bowls of dry food sitting out for pets to free-feed from and supporting the feeding of treats which can be contaminated with fungal mycotoxins, bacteria, or chemicals.  It is very frustrating to witness this narrow-mindedness and lack of knowledge as it pertains to the contamination issues regarding dry food and treats.

I would like to see my colleagues stop reflexively telling their clients that all raw meat diets are dangerous and understand that there are ways to prepare this diet that will actually make it safer than the commercial foods that they continue to recommend without any thought as to feline illnesses that these foods contribute to, and to the contamination issues. 

I don't think that a single cat or dog caregiver in the US is not aware of the thousands of cats and dogs that suffered tremendously and died - or have been left with failing kidneys and a shortened lifespan/diminished quality of life - due to the contamination of commercial foods processed by Menu Foods in the summer of 2007.

While the Menu Foods recall was the largest pet food recall in the history of commercial pet food, make no mistake in thinking that this was the first time that many cats and dogs have died after consuming commercial pet foods that have been contaminated with chemicals, bacteria, and bacterial or mold toxins. 

However, keep in mind that the vast majority of these contamination disasters (outside of the Menu Foods tragedy) have involved dry food or treats - not canned food. Therefore, if you decide that you don't want to make your cat's food, please feed canned food and keep the dry food out of your cat's food bowl.

Dry food is simply not a healthy or safe diet to be feeding to any cat.

There have been many instances of mold toxin-related deaths of pets after eating contaminated commercial dry food.  I have listed a few below but these tragedies are too numerous to list all of them.

The regulatory body for the commercial pet food industry does allow a certain level of mold toxins (found in grains) to be present in your pets' food.  For me, this is unacceptable - especially when feeding cats - since grains have no business in their diet to begin with.

With regard to the extremely dangerous and life-threatening fungal toxins found in commercial dry food, this issue will never be a worry when feeding a grain-free diet - either in the form of canned food or the diet discussed on this page.

And if mold toxins and bacteria in dry food are not enough to cause us worry, please consider the fact that the fats contained in dry food become rancid over time - even with the preservatives that are added to the food.  Heat, oxygen and light are all factors involved in fats becoming rancid.  Keeping dry food in the refrigerator will help with the issue of heat but that still leaves the oxidation issue unaddressed. 

Dry foods that are fed to pets sit in warm warehouses and pet food stores before they even reach our pets' bowls - promoting rancidity of fats, bacterial growth, mold growth, and toxin formation, and proliferation of storage mites.

See this link for an abstract that discusses the issue of storage mites that were found in 9 out of 10 bags of tested dry food.

This link will take you to an article on a website maintained by the pet food industry.  This article discusses the use of ethanol by-products in pet foods.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that many cats and dogs have died as a result of consuming commercial pet foods.  These deaths include the various illnesses (diabetes, etc.) that manifest themselves due to the species-inappropriate composition (composition = percentage of calories coming from proteins/fats/carbohydrates) of the diet, as well as out-and-out contamination issues as discussed above and below in the Pet Food Recalls section. 

Unfortunately, humans just don't recognize these illogical and unsafe diets as the cause of the pet's illness.  Humans - including veterinarians - often fail to put 2 + 2 together in many instances of ill health or death.  Food is often the last thing to even be considered as a cause or contributing factor in the event of an illness or death.

It never ceases to amaze me when I hear people (both lay people and veterinarians) caution people about the hazards of raw meat diets but then ignore the bowls of kibble sitting out in many homes.  Dry food is far from safe and pathogen-free.  Both food forms - raw diets and dry kibble - carry risk.  However, I feel much safer feeding the diet that I prepare myself versus any dry food in terms of cleanliness and overall safety.

As stated above, we all must work within our comfort zone.  If you find that you are not comfortable feeding a raw meat - or lightly cooked - diet even when implementing the tips in my safety section, then please feed a high quality canned food and remove all dry kibble from your cat's diet.  Although my cats primarily eat a carefully prepared raw (or lightly cooked) meat and bones diet, I do feed some canned food on occasion (a few times a year) as a treat since some of my cats really like canned food.

Pet Food Recalls

Throughout the history of the commercial pet food industry, there have been numerous recalls of dry kibble pet food, as well as treats, due to contamination issues.  I will continue adding to the list below as reports of contamination are made public but I am finding it hard to keep up with all of the recalls - there have been so many lately.

This list by no means includes all reported contamination issues. If it did, this webpage would be a mile long.

I have included links below that will take you right to the websites of the manufacturers.  However, they seem to take these pages down not long after the recall is announced.  If the links below do not work, try truthaboutpetfood.com.  This website lists pet food recalls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 12, 2009: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today it was suspending the temporary Emergency Permit issued to Evanger's Dog & Cat Food Co., Inc.
 

The deviations in their processes and documentation could result in under-processed pet foods, which can allow the survival and growth of Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum), a bacterium that causes botulism in some animals as well as in humans.

January 9, 2009:  Chicken jerky treats for dogs.  Here is an excerpt from VIN (Veterinary Information Network):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received 153 complaints during the past 16 months about illness in dogs that have eaten chicken jerky treats and continues to take reports “at a steady clip,” an agency spokeswoman said Friday.

November 25, 2008:  Mars Petcare US extended its October 28, 2008 voluntary petfood recall that affected 15 states, adding more product carriers and brands affected by possible salmonella contamination.

October 28, 2008:  Mars Petcare US is yet again recalling another salmonella-contaminated dry food manufactured at one of their facilities.  This time it is Special Kitty Gourmet which is sold at Wal-Mart locations in 15 states.

October 20, 2008:  Hartz Mountain Corporation is recalling rawhide chips due to salmonella contamination.  

September, 12 2008:  Mars Petcare US, once again, is recalling salmonella-contaminated dry pet food.  This company makes many different brands of pet food.  Here is a link that discusses human cases of salmonella infection with a possible link to this food.  

August, 2008:  The California Public Health department reported salmonella contamination of Pedigree dry dog food.  Pedigree is made by Mars Petcare US.

August, 2007: The FDA recalled several foods under the Natural Balance Eatables product line due to botulism toxin contamination.

January 2006 - September 2007:  See this link for a CDC report on a multi-state (19 states) outbreak of salmonella in humans during 2006 and 2007.  The source?  Dry pet food made at Mars Petcare US.

December, 2005:  Some of you may also remember the deaths of many cats and dogs after they ate Diamond pet food in 2005.  These animals became very ill - and many died - secondary to liver failure from mold toxins (aflatoxin) that were contained in the grains of a commercial dry kibble.  Many cats and dogs died as a result of this contaminated food.  The surviving animals will have permanent liver damage. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before you dive into making cat food....

.....I want to mention that there are few things more frustrating than slaving away in the kitchen carefully preparing a wonderful meal for your carnivore.....only to have them end up sniffing it and then walking away. 

I don't like to see people get discouraged so I strongly suggest that you just take it slowly.

When I decided to start making cat food, I did not go out and buy a grinder and all of the supplements right away.  I just simply bought a chicken thigh and a breast (some cats may like dark meat more than white or vice versa) and cut them up into small pieces (the size of an eraser head or a bit larger) to see if my cats would eat raw meat.  A couple of cats went for it right away and a couple of them just walked away.  Ok....that was a start.

I then mixed in a few of these small pieces with their canned food to get them used to the taste and texture of just plain, raw meat.  I also cooked some of the pieces to see how that went over.  If your cat likes it cooked, you can then cook it less and less to get them used to eating raw meat - or continue to lightly cook the meat as described in the safety section below.

Other tips:  Coat the meat pieces in parmesan cheese or FortiFlora.  FortiFlora is a probiotic that I use to entice cats to eat.  I do not use it as the label states since I am not using it for its probiotic properties.  Instead, I am using it as I would if I wanted to season my own food with salt and pepper.  As little as 1/10th of a package sprinkled on top of food can go a long way to entice a cat to eat something new.  This is because  FortiFlora is formulated using an animal digest which is the same substance that they coat dry food with to make it very palatable for cats and dogs.

I experimented in various ways as stated above for a couple of weeks before I bought a grinder and the supplements.  Much to my surprise, several of my cats actually immediately preferred what I made for them over the commercial canned food that they were eating. To this day, several of my cats will not even eat canned food anymore - they will only eat their raw diet.  Honestly, though, this tends to be a bit inconvenient during the rare times that I have run out of homemade food and am exhausted and would like for them to just eat a meal of canned food!  I have created little obligate carnivore monsters who hold out for the species-appropriate diet......

August, 2008 update:  I just ran across a very helpful page on the Feline Future website.  It provides information on canning cat food.  My Robbie does not do well on any commercial canned food (he gets severe diarrhea) so this is a great alternative for me in an emergency situation so I don't have to use commercial canned foods.

I purchased this pressure canner and now have homemade canned chicken and rabbit cat food available for periodic feedings and for emergencies.  This canned food also comes in handy if I have to be gone for 12 hours on a hot day.  I leave this food out instead of the raw diet.

Another option before purchasing the grinder and supplements is to try a commercially prepared raw food diet   Feline's Pride  uses a recipe very close to the one on this page and several of my cats gave it a 'two dew-claws up' vote when it was offered. This diet is free of any grains, vegetables and fruits. However, when shipping is considered, it is very expensive.

Another choice for a commercial raw diet is Nature's Variety raw Medalions. This diet is comprised of 95% meat and bones and 5% fruits and vegetables.  It is also grain-free.

A third option is to purchase Instincts TC powder from the Feline Future company.  This option is also much more expensive than making your own. Here is what Anne (the creator of catnutrition.org) has to say on her website about the fine work that this company's founders have done in the area of feline nutrition research.  In fact, the recipe on this page is adapted from their original work.

I did notice one statement on the Feline Future webpage that I strongly disagree with.  I would not let a cat go without food for 48 hours when trying to get them to switch to a new diet.  There is no reason to be that extreme.  Time and patience is the key - not starvation.  I will let a healthy cat go without food for about 18 hours and then offer them some of their regular food.  See the Tips for Transitioning section contained in my Feeding Your Cat article.

The Instincts TC powder is to be mixed with water, ground meat (no bones), and liver.   Please be aware, however, that I am not advising to use pre-ground meat that has been sitting in a supermarket case so you will still have to find a way to grind up whole, boneless cuts of meat.  Food processors work well for meat (not bones). Please see the Safety Issues below for more information on pre-ground meat. 

Please keep in mind that many cats are not just going to dive into any new food right away!  It takes time, patience and some tricks to transition cats onto a new diet.  (It took me 3 months to get my cats off of dry food and eating canned food but it took less time to move them from canned to homemade.)  If your cat does not take to a new food immediately, don't get discouraged.  Try mixing the new food with their existing diet of canned food at a ratio of 10% new to 90% old and then gradually increase the new diet from there. 

Your cat may make it easy for you and show enthusiasm for the new food right away....but many (most?) of them will not.  It took one of my cats (Toby) many months before he would start eating this diet with any consistency and when he finally did start eating it, I noticed that he was picking out the pieces that got a bit cooked when I was warming the food.  Toby still is not terribly keen on strictly raw meat so he gets his semi-cooked.  See below for a picture of how he likes his 'raw' diet half cooked and half raw.  I often cook it even more than is shown in the picture below.  Interestingly, Toby is one of my cats that doest not like canned food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now....on to Making Cat Food

This page should be read in conjunction with the wonderful cat food-making section at www.catnutrition.org.  The food-making section of that site (www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking) has an easy-to-follow step-by-step pictorial on making cat food as well as a frequently-asked-questions link that addresses many of the issues that come up when people are new to making cat food. There are also some helpful shortcuts and links to find all the supplies and ingredients you'll need as well as a brief discussion of the rationale for each ingredient in the diet.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about feline nutrition, please read Michelle Bernard's excellent book Raising Cats Naturally. 

I tend to be a bit lazier than Anne so the information here will differ from her way of doing things just a bit.  I will point out where I deviate from her methods and then you can decide for yourself how you would like to proceed.

Making cat food is not difficult.  I am a walking disaster in the kitchen and it is my least favorite room in the house.  If I can make cat food, anybody can.  I won't lie - it can be a bit time-consuming - but it is definitely not difficult or complicated.  If you can follow a simple recipe, you can make cat food.  I prepare enough food for one month at a time.

The time that I spend making cat food is much less time than is involved in caring for cats that become ill from poor nutrition.

In a nutshell - before I go into more detail - I grind up meat, bones, and liver.  I then add some water that contains vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, wild salmon oil, taurine, and iodized lite salt (if using chicken thighs), and some eggs.

I also cut some of the meat into chunks for dental health. 

I mix it all up and put it into Ziplock containers and put it in the freezer.  Very simple.

  Grinding Chicken Thighs     Supplements and Water Added       Ready to Freeze

Cost

March, 2009 update:  I wrote the section below a couple of years ago so the actual prices have gone up.  However, it is still cheaper to make chicken cat food than it is to purchase a high end commercial canned food.

I will update this section when I find the time.  (Please note that I no longer buy the single-ground rabbit since the bone size is too large.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cost varies with what type of meat you feed and the source, and also the cost (usually minimal) of your supplements.  The initial expense of the supplements may seem high but they do last a long time and really do not add much to the cost. 

The following figures are my approximate costs.  They include a very rough guesstimation of 13 cents/pound of food for supplements.  As you can see, I am able to make a nutritious raw chicken diet for much less than a high quality canned food such as Wellness.

I buy free-range, antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken thighs from Whole Foods Market for $1.99/#.  By the time some of the skin is removed and I factor in the water added to the diet plus the supplements, it works out to be about $2.06/# of finished food.  My cats eat about 5 ounces/day so this diet costs about $0.64/day/cat.  I do not buy organic because it is too expensive. 

The second type of meat that I feed is rabbit and it is shipped to me from Washington - www.wholefoods4pets.com.  I buy 50# at a time of the single ground whole carcass rabbit which is $2.55/# but by the time shipping is figured in, I pay $3.25/#.  When considering the water added to the recipe and the supplements, the 'as fed' rabbit diet nets out to approximately $2.82/#.

When compared to a high quality canned food such as Wellness, the raw chicken is cheaper and the rabbit is about equal.  The 5.5 ounce cans of Wellness net out to ~ $2.80/# and the 12 ounce cans are ~ $2.35/# depending on the source.  Newman's Own and PetGuard canned foods are $4.06/#. 

The grinder that I use is a Tasin TS 108 and is the one that Northern Tool used to sell under the model # 168620.   I have had mine for 6 years and it has been great for grinding meat and bones.

Unfortunately, there have been several complaints about the grinder currently being sold under the Northern Tool model number mentioned above.  It is not the Tasin TS 108 and the newer brand is not holding up well.  It looks just like the Tasin but is not as high in quality as the Tasin.  It is less powerful and the motor is different. You can find the Tasin TS 108 at One Stop Jerky Shop or you can try other internet sources.  The current price at One Stop Jerky Shop is $185.

If you plan to buy a Tasin grinder on ebay, make sure that it is actually a Tasin TS108 and not a look-alike product.

American Eagle also sells grinders but they are more expensive and much heavier than the Tasin TS 108.

A discussion regarding the cost of good nutrition would not be complete without considering the cost of not feeding a species-appropriate, nutritious diet.  The saying "pay me now or pay me later" really applies here. You can feed your cats well - either with a raw diet or a high quality canned food - or you can pay the veterinarian later.  I have often said that if people would feed their cats and dogs better, more vets would be out playing golf.   

One must also consider the cost of time involved when dealing with a sick pet.  For instance, diabetes is a time-consuming and expensive nightmare to deal with.  Inflammatory bowel disease is not much fun either, nor are skin allergies to inappropriate ingredients found in most commercial pet food.  I would rather spend time making cat food than giving my cat insulin or cleaning up vomit or diarrhea from intestinal problems or dealing with any number of other diet-related problems that keep veterinarians' waiting rooms full of sick pets. 

Mikie

With Bones....or Without Bones

One of the most important issues to address when feeding a raw meat diet is the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.  This does take a bit of thought but it is not that complicated.  Keep in mind:  Bones = calcium.....Meat = phosphorus.

When a cats eats a bird or a mouse, he is getting a naturally balanced diet since he is eating both meat and bones.

Always remember that calcium is not an optional 'supplement' but a very critical component of the diet.  The bones must be ground with the meat (preferable), or another source of calcium must be added to the recipe if only meat is used.  A cat cannot live on meat alone.  Meat is high in phosphorus but does not contain much calcium. Therefore, a calcium source must be supplied and it must be done in the proper ratio considering the phosphorus in the meat.  The most obvious - and best - way to add calcium to the recipe is to grind the bones with the meat.

I am a stickler for using real bone versus bone meal or calcium carbonate.  You will not find a substitute source of calcium (bone meal, egg shells, etc.) that has all of the good things that are contained in real bone.  Plus, it is so easy to just grind the meat and bones together.

Even though bones are the most natural and optimal source of calcium, one of the most common problems that people encounter in their cats when starting to feed a raw diet is constipation.  Constipation may become an issue if too much bone is added but constipation may also be a result of introducing a diet that is very foreign to an intestinal tract that has only dealt with dry food in the past and now needs time to adapt to a new diet.

Please keep in mind that cats do not pass feces in the same volume, consistency, and frequency that a cat on a dry food diet does.  I have many people write to me with the worry that their cat is "constipated" because they are not passing stool every day.  This is not necessarily a sign of constipation.  Cats on a low residue diet like the one on this webpage will not usually pass stool every day.  There is very little waste contained in this diet and so the volume of feces will be less.  Also, the feces of a raw-fed cat is often dry and crumbly.

This is a picture of feces from 2 separate bowel movements from my cats.  In other words, an average bowel movement from my cats is half this volume.  I crushed 2 of the fecal pieces to show how dry and crumbly it is.  Feces from a raw-fed cat also has very little odor!

Signs of constipation include straining and unable to pass feces, or crying in the litter box and acting distressed.

So how do we know how much is "too much" bone?  The last thing any of us wants to deal with is a constipated cat but this is the tricky part of the equation and varies from cat to cat.

When the typical prey of wild cats is analyzed, there is a fairly wide range in the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in these prey animals so we do have some leeway when dealing with this issue.

Interestingly, rabbits have a higher bone-to-meat ratio than mice, rats, and birds which is why I am now adding in some chicken meat (with the skin) to the ground rabbit.

Taking a logical look at the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, it would seem that the easiest way to ensure that you have a proper ratio is to use a whole carcass of whatever animal you are choosing as a food source.  This is assuming that the average wild cat is going to eat the entire carcass of their prey. 

One would also assume that our commercially raised chickens, for example, will most likely have a lower bone-to-meat (higher meat-to-bone) ratio than a wild chicken would given that chicken producers do whatever they can to promote 'meaty' chickens for human consumption.  However, some people feel that an adult chicken may contain too much bone relative to the amount of meat.  Of course, this depends on how meaty each chicken is so no blanket statements can be made with regard to this issue.  Anne, from catnutrition.org, and many other people, have fed whole chicken carcasses for years and their cats have not experienced any issues with constipation.

If you choose to grind up an entire carcass and your cats experience some issues with constipation, you may want to leave out the back and neck since these are the parts of the chicken with the highest bone-to-meat ratio.

Some people may prefer to do what I do and that is to use chicken thighs instead of an entire carcass which will lower the bone content of the food since the thigh is the 'meatiest' part of a chicken's body that contains a bone. Also, cutting up carcasses is not only an unpleasant task but is also a time-consuming one.

When I first started feeding my cats a raw meat and bones diet 6 years ago, 2 of my cats did experience a few episodes of minor constipation (cried one time in the litter box but were able to pass the stool within one minute) over the course of the first 2 years.  I played around with the psyllium by increasing it, decreasing it, and then finally omitting it.  All of my fooling around with the psyllium amount did not seem to make any difference in the moisture content of the stools.

The next step that I took in trying to deal with the constipation issue was to decrease the amount of bone that I was using.  I started removing 20%-25% of the bones from the thighs.  Did this help with the constipation issues in my two cats?  I am not sure.  The problems were minimal and infrequent so this made it difficult to accurately assess the situation.   

My suggestion would be to discard 20% of the thigh bones. For example, if you are processing 20 thighs, remove 4 of the bones.

Wings, necks and backs are all parts of the chicken with a very high bone-to-meat ratio.  These parts of the chicken should never be used as the sole component of the diet.

Meat Types and Sources

In addition to chicken and rabbit, good choices include turkey, Cornish game hen, guinea fowl, quail.  The only problem with feeding turkey is that the bones are bigger than chicken bones which can be hard on the grinder. I think Anne feeds some turkey and ends up smashing the bones so that they will go through the grinder.  I have never done this.....it sounds like too much work.

I stick to poultry and rabbit and do not feed beef because poultry and rabbit are closer in composition to what a small cat would eat in the wild.  Also, beef and fish have been shown to be hyperallergenic in the cat and if you used beef, you would have to use bone meal and I greatly prefer using fresh bone. 

Raw fish should never be fed in large amounts because it contains thiaminase which will lead to a thiamine deficiency in the cat.

You can either buy whole carcasses and cut them up to fit into the grinder, or if feeding a partial carcass, you can use dark meats (legs and thighs), or a combination of dark meat and breast meat.  

I bought whole carcasses at the beginning of my cat food-making days but soon tired of the work involved.  Plus, I am dangerous with a knife....I ended up bleeding too frequently.  So I now purchase ground rabbit instead of whole rabbit that I would have to cut into pieces small enough to fit into the grinding tube, and I buy chicken thighs instead of whole chickens.

Chicken legs = thighs + drumsticks.  I buy thighs - not whole legs since thighs have a higher meat-to-bone ratio than drumsticks. Thighs also have less tendons than drumsticks which makes the meat easier to chunk and makes it easier on the grinder.  Chicken thighs are a breeze to send down the grinder tube. 

• I buy free-range, antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken thighs from Whole Foods Market.  I do not spend the additional money for organic but if you are so inclined, you can purchase organic meats.

• I used to buy the single ground rabbit which includes the bones and organs (skin/hair/stomach/intestines are removed) from wholefoods4pets.com.  I would then run it through my grinder to grind the bones finer but now I buy extra fine double ground.  When I switched to the extra fine double ground, I no longer used my grinder for making rabbit cat food.  I just thawed it, added my supplements and water, and then portioned the mix into containers for freezing.  However, see the March, 2009 update below.  

The ground rabbit from wholefoods4pets arrives frozen in 4# flat bags (1# and 2# bags are also available) which are easy to store in the freezer.

• For people on the east coast, a rabbit supplier is  www.hare-today.com (814) 587-2178.  I have no idea how finely this company grinds their food.

March, 2009 update:  I am back to needing my grinder (or food processor) for making rabbit cat food.  I now add some chicken meat and skin (no bones) to the ground rabbit for three reasons. 

1) Rabbit has a high bone-to-meat ratio and I want to 'dilute' out that bone with some chicken meat/skin.

2) Rabbit is a very low-fat meat.  Plus, it is skinned prior to grinding which reduces the fat content even further.  I want to add some fat/skin to the rabbit diet and using chicken is the easiest way to do this. 

3) Chicken chunks help promote dental health.

See below for more discussion about bone size.

The Ingredients

Please check back to this webpage periodically for any updates to the recipe.  

Many opinions exist regarding the ingredients that should be included in an optimal homemade feline diet.  Everyone is free to do their own research and come to their own conclusions.  The diet that I choose to feed is very basic.  Some of the elaborate and complicated recipes found on the internet are enough to cause anyone to abandon the idea of making their own cat food and that is a shame.  It does not have to be that complicated and involved. The diet of a wild cat is pretty basic - they eat whole carcass prey, often leaving the stomach and intestines behind.  They do not consume a large amount of vegetables or fruits - ingredients often present in large quantities in some recipes and in many commercial raw pet food diets.

The recipe that I started with is found on Anne's site here but I have since shortened the list of ingredients that I use.  I always use a recipe with bones. 

I get the wild salmon oil, powdered taurine, vitamin E, and vitamin B-complex from www.iherb.com or Whole Foods Market but there are numerous sources for these items.

If your cat is thin and needs the extra calories, leave all of the skin on the meat.  If your cat is chubby or has had pancreatitis, remove ~75% of the skin.  (Some cats that have had pancreatitis do better on a low fat diet.)  If he is just right, do what I do - remove ~50% of the skin.  (If processing 60 chicken thighs, I remove the skin from 30 of them.)

Do not remove the excess fat around the meat no matter the condition of your cat.  Cats need a reasonable amount of animal fat in their diet.

When I first started making cat food, I removed all of the skin - figuring that my cats are indoor-only and are not burning off as many calories as an outdoor cat would be.  (I am not sure how true this is because ever since I started feeding them a better diet, they now race around the house like crazy - even my 12 year old cats.)

My cats did lose weight (a good thing) on the skinless chicken diet but then I worried about the fact that in the wild they *would* be consuming the skin of their prey so now I use half of the skin on the chicken thighs.  As mentioned above, I have also started adding in some chicken meat with skin/fat to the rabbit meat and bones since the rabbits are skinned prior to processing and because rabbits are very low in fat. 

If you are not using whole carcasses of chickens or rabbits but are using chicken parts instead, use dark meat (legs/thighs) since dark meat has a more appropriate amount of fat than white meat.  (Breast meat does not contain enough fat if it were to make up the whole diet but it is fine to use some breast meat as long as it is not over ~15% of the total weight)

The Recipe

I use the following ingredients - in amounts listed - per 3 pounds of raw meat/bones/skin.

Please note that I do not recommend this recipe for cats with CKD (chronic kidney disease) - formerly known as CRF.  See comments below.

• 1 cup water (or more if your cat will eat it with more water)

• 2 eggs - use the yolk raw but lightly cook the white

• 2000 mg wild salmon oil (a good source of essential fatty acids)

• 400 IU Vitamin E (powdered E in capsules is the easiest to use)

• 100 mg Vitamin B-complex (You may want to start with half of this amount for the first batch.  B vitamins have a pretty strong odor and I would not want this odor to deter the cat from eating the food.  Once they are eating the food well, then go to the 100mg amount.)

• 2000 mg taurine (use powdered - either in capsules or loose)

• 3/4 tsp Lite salt when using chicken parts - see below** (Contains potassium and sodium.  Make sure that it contains iodine.)

• Liver - If using ground rabbit (which includes liver) from wholefoods4pets.com, do not add additional liver.  If using chicken legs, thighs or a whole chicken carcass minus the organs, add 4 ounces of chicken livers per 3 lb of meat/bones/skin.

• Psyllium - I no longer use psyllium in my cats' food but I suggest that it be added when first starting a cat on a raw diet (more on that below).  Use 2 tsp if using psyllium husk powder.  If using whole psyllium husks, use 4 tsp.  If using psyllium, be sure to add at least 1 cup of water to this recipe, if not more.

Most cats eat 4-6 ounces/day.  Therefore, this recipe yields enough food for one cat for approximately 10-14 days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March, 2009 update:  I have been using the above recipe for the past 6 years and my cats have thrived on it.  However, I am now adding some chicken meat and skin (no bones) to the ground rabbit for three reasons:

1) Rabbit has a high bone-to-meat ratio and I want to 'dilute' out that bone with some chicken meat and skin.  I am hoping that this will help with some minor constipation issues with a couple of my cats.

2) The rabbits are skinned prior to grinding.  Rabbit is a naturally low-fat meat and when the skin is removed, that makes the rabbit even lower in fat. Therefore, I want to add in some skin/fat and using chicken is the easiest way to do this.

3) Chicken chunks help promote dental health. 

For the recipe above, use 0.5 - 0.75 lbs of chicken meat/skin with 2.5 lbs of ground rabbit for a total of 3 - 3.25 lbs of meat/bones/skin.  Cut some, or all, of the chicken meat into chunks so that they have something to chew on.

I make 30 pounds of food at one time and I am adding in ~15-20% muscle meat to the ground rabbit.  In other words, if I am using 25 pounds of rabbit (meat and bones) I am adding in 5 pounds of chicken meat and skin for a total of 30 pounds.  (5 divided by 30 = 17%)

For the boneless chicken meat and skin, you can either use a grinder or a food processor for the meat that you don't chunk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes on why I omit certain ingredients:

• Dietary fiber is a bit of a controversial subject among raw feeders.  Many cats, including my own, do just fine without additional fiber added to their diet.  I have experimented with adding different amounts of psyllium and then started leaving the psyllium out of the diet completely.   All cats are individuals and you may have to experiment a bit with the psyllium content of the diet.  Other fiber sources include zucchini and peas. 

• Kelp - You will see recipes on the internet that use kelp.  Kelp is very high in iodine and the thyroid gland is very sensitive to iodine levels that are either too low or too high.  Given the fact that hyperthyroidism is very common in the cat, I do not want to add too much additional iodine to the diet.  Chicken meat (no bones) tends to be low in iodine but this does not take into account that we are feeding bones with this recipe.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to find iodine levels in whole carcass chicken or in chicken bones.  For that reason, I am adding in a small amount of iodine to this diet in the form of Lite salt (iodized) if chicken parts are used.  This is because the thyroid gland of the chicken will not be present.  The thyroid gland is a natural source of iodine. 

 

**If using ground rabbit, I would assume that the thyroid gland is included.  However, you may want to call your supplier and ask if this is the case.  If it is, I would not add the iodized lite salt.  Be sure to use all of the blood that comes with any ground food since blood contains valuable nutrients.

• Multi-glandular supplement - I initially added this item but when Mad Cow disease surfaced, I discontinued the use of this supplement.  Also, I have my doubts that there is any benefit derived from this supplement - other than its iodine source if thyroid glands are used.  It is more than likely just a very expensive source of protein which ends up being digested just like any other protein that is ingested.  If you wish to use this supplement, here is a link to the product that Anne uses.  Unfortunately, that webpage does not list the iodine content so I have no idea how to work that in with the iodized salt that I have in the recipe for use with chicken parts. 

• Dulse - This is an optional trace mineral supplement.  Many people feel that the mineral content of our soil is not what it used to be so this is one reason why some people choose to add it to the recipe.

• Raw heart - Heart is a very good source of taurine but I have never been able to find a convenient source for a large quantity of hearts so I add powdered taurine instead.

• Egg whites - Raw egg whites contain avidin which binds to biotin in the intestinal tract and prevents it from being absorbed.  It is thought that this could lead to a biotin deficiency but I have my doubts that this would be a significant factor with this recipe.  There is biotin in the egg yolk and there is plenty in the B-complex so I doubt that the avidin in the raw egg whites would cause a problem.  But, that said, I would still go ahead and lightly cook the egg whites anyway. 

Egg whites are an excellent source of phosphorus-free protein.  This is a great additive as long as the cat has not shown any allergy/intolerance for egg protein.  For cats with gastrointestinal issues, I would suggest omitting the eggs when first introducing this diet.  They can always be added in later as a single change to the diet.  That way, any negative reaction can be monitored.  If your cat does not like the diet, try omitting the eggs.  Some cats just do not like eggs.

(I have not added eggs to my cats' food for the past ~4 years because of my Robbie's intestinal issues - wondering if the egg protein would upset him.  However, I have recently started adding them back in because of the nutrients contained in the egg yolk - especially the choline.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: I do not recommend this recipe for CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) cats. 

(CKD is also known as CRF - Chronic Renal Failure - but we are trying to move away from the word "failure" because it is such a negative term.)

There are other recipes that are more suited to feeding cats with this condition.  However, the nutritional needs of these cats must be discussed on an individual patient basis.  The reader can reach me via email to request a phone consultation if they wish to discuss an appropriate diet for a CKD kitty.  All consultations are conducted via the phone only after lab work has been provided for my review.  General CKD medical management to prolong length and quality of life, in addition to appropriate dietary issues, is discussed during the consultation.  My CKD consultations last a minimum of 1.5 hours of phone time and often go to 2 hours.  You do need to be online during the discussion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You will note that I do not include any vegetables or fruits in my cats' diet.  There seems to be a strong anthropomorphic drive for the addition of vegetables to a carnivore's diet - some people just can't get past the idea that while vegetables may be good for humans, they are not a dietary necessity for a carnivore and will often cause problems in the digestive tract of the cat if fed in large amounts. 

Cats lack the enzymes necessary to process raw vegetables and fruits into an efficiently usable form.  Many people insist on adding large amounts of species-inappropriate vegetables to a carnivore's diet arguing that they would eat them along with the stomach and intestines of their prey.  However, these arguments do not  take into account the fact that this vegetable matter is pre-digested by the prey's own enzymes - enzymes that are lacking in the cat. 

In addition to this very important fact, the amount of vegetable matter in the average bird or mouse is extremely small and often the stomach and the intestines are not even eaten.

That said, some people do use a small amount of vegetables, such as peas, as a source of fiber and I don't have a problem with that as long as the amount is minimal (~5%).  If a vegetable is used, I would pick peas or zucchini over a vegetable like broccoli since broccoli tends to produce more gas in the intestinal tract.  If you choose to use a small amount of vegetable matter in this diet, do not feed them raw.  Steam the vegetables first to help break them down to a more usable form for a carnivore.

Putting the Recipe Together

See Anne's Pictorial here.

I prepare food for my cats in two basic ways - depending on if I am using pre-ground rabbit or whole chicken thighs from Whole Foods Market:

1) Ground rabbit (meat, bones, and liver): The ground rabbit is shipped to me in a frozen state in 4 lb packages.  I thaw it, add in the ground and chunked chicken thigh meat and skin as discussed above, add the supplements and water listed above, and then portion into containers and put them in the freezer.

Exception to the above:  If your cat is good about chewing on chunks of meat, don't grind any of the chicken meat that you add to the rabbit.  Just cut it into chunks as shown below. 

You can also cut up the skin by hand using scissors - or run the skin through a food processor or grinder. 

2) Chicken thighs:  The second way that I make food is to:

• Boil the chicken thighs just long enough to cook the outside ~15% of the thigh leaving the majority of the meat raw

• Remove from the hot water and put in cold water to stop the cooking process

• Remove some of the meat from the bone for chunking

• Cut the meat into chunks for dental health.... as much as you have the patience for!  ( I hate chunking meat but since switching from using a knife to now using a pair of sharp scissors, it is not as annoying to chunk meat.) 

When I say "chunks" I mean pieces of meat about the size of a die (~1/2 inch cubes) or a bit smaller at first and then larger (as shown below) once your cat gets the hang of chewing on them. 

If you prefer using a knife, it is much easier to cut meat that is semi-frozen and I used to do it this way until I started boiling the chicken thighs to increase the safety of the diet.

I now use a pair of sharp scissors to cut the meat into chunks.

I would prefer it if the chunks were raw like the ones in the middle of this picture but I boiled the thighs for this batch a bit too long.  I aim for just the surface of the intact/whole thigh to be cooked (~15% of the whole thigh).  Raw meat is harder to chew than cooked meat so it seems to exert more 'cleaning action' on the teeth.

• Run the meaty bones through the grinder using this plate:

Since I really hate chunking meat by hand, I tried the plates below which were a waste of money.  Even the one with three large holes ground the meat too finely to allow for any dental health benefits.

• Run the appropriate amount of liver through the grinder after grinding  the meat and bones.  It is also a good idea to run the cooked egg whites through the grinder.  This way, they will be broken up and more evenly dispersed through the food.  (Some cats don't like the taste of egg whites.) The ground meat/bones/skin/liver/eggs and the chunks of meat are then mixed together and placed in the refrigerator while the supplements are mixed up.

   

   

• Whether you are using pre-ground rabbit or chicken that you have ground yourself, it is now time to combine the water, raw egg yolks,  vitamin E, vitamin B-complex, taurine, and salmon oil with a whisk.

   

  Remember to add the Lite salt if using only chicken parts.  This is an important source of iodine since the thyroid gland is not included when using only chicken parts.

   

  After all of this is mixed together, stir in the psyllium - if using this ingredient.  (Be sure to add the psyllium last otherwise it tends to clump.)

   

  Pour the supplement slurry into the meat/bones/skin/liver/egg mixture.  Mix very well then portion into containers and freeze.

Ideally, the food should only be in the refrigerator (in a completely thawed state) for about 48 - 72 hours so keep that in mind when choosing your container size.  The average cat eats about 4-6 ounces per day.  When I was first starting to feed raw, I used baby food jars so there would be no waste during the transition.  I then quickly graduated to larger plastic containers that hold 1-1.5 pounds.  People with just one or two cats may want to use smaller containers.

You will note on Anne's site that she prefers not to warm the food in the microwave.  Instead, she heats it in hot tap water.  This method would never work for me since it takes forever to get hot water at my sink and I hate wasting water.  Plus both my cats and I are impatient, and I never remember to take the food out of the freezer in time to feed my hungry cats.  So all of my cat food-warming is done in the microwave.  Depending on the level of thawing, I may heat it for 10 -15 seconds then stir.  I repeat this several times so that the food is not cooked but is just warmed to 'mouse body temperature'.

Exception to the above:  I found that one of my cats, Toby, was (is) very stubborn about transitioning to raw but I noted that he would eat the 'accidentally-cooked' pieces if I left it in the microwave too long.  This was a great discovery as then I stated cooking the food just a bit for Toby.  I have tried to cook it less and less over time but he is really stubborn about eating it completely raw so I humor him and feed it to him half cooked and half raw - or sometimes it is cooked even more than is shown in this picture.

Toby eating his half raw and half cooked rabbit.

I do not worry about cooking the ground bones.  I grind them so finely that this is not even a remote concern for me.

Dental Health

Unfortunately, I have been ignoring my cats' dental health when using finely ground meat and bones and they are paying for it with unhealthy mouths.  Hopefully you will do better for your cat.

The reasons why my cats' dental health is not being addressed are:

1)  I am being lazy.  De-boning and cutting up meat by hand is time-consuming.

2)  My cats are also lazy (Robbie has a perpetual 'Mommy, please cut my meat for me' look on his face....) and will often just eat around the chunks.  Not only is this frustrating because the meat is wasted, it can also lead to an unbalanced diet. 

If a large percentage of the meat in the diet is chunked....and the cat eats around the chunks....they will be eating too much ground bone and liver. 

Therefore, watch your cat to make sure that he is consuming both the chunks and the ground-up portion.  Otherwise, he will be eating an unbalanced diet. 

And....if you have a kitten, train him to eat chunks of meat early in life!

One trick that you might try is to serve a full meal of 100% chunks - when your cat is ~12 - 18 hours hungry.  Hunger goes a long way when trying to get a cat to embrace any new food.

As mentioned above, you can also try coating the chunks of meat in parmesan cheese or FortiFlora.

See Anne's pictorial here where she shows the size of the meat chunks that her cats are chewing on.  You may have to start smaller.  Unfortunately, most cats are not used to doing what nature intended for them and they may take some time to get used to gnawing on chunks of meat. 

When first starting to feed raw, you many not want to do much chunking if your cat will not readily eat the chunks.  First things first....ie....get them to embrace the ground up raw diet first....then see if you can get them to chew on chunks of meat.

Another good dietary option to promote dental health for your cat is to feed them gizzards.  Gizzards are very fibrous and tough to chew and If your cat will eat them alone, they can be used as a great dental snack.

Of course your cat has to have a healthy mouth to start off with when pushing the chewing issue.  No cat will want to chew on any type of food if he has a painful mouth!

Keep in mind that chewing on meat will NOT remove the plaque that is already on the teeth. 

I find that people (including myself....) do not take their cats in for dental cleanings/exams as often as they should.  We need to stop overvaccinating cats and pay more attention to their dental needs.

I would encourage you to have your cat's teeth properly cleaned and examined (under general anesthesia) if you have not already done so.  You want to know that your cat's oral cavity is in a healthy state before you push the issue of chewing on chunks of meat.  If you start your cat off with clean teeth, you can then go forward and be proactive in keeping them clean.

Safety Issues

• Bone size:  Many people, including Anne, chunk a portion of the meat and then send the rest of the meat and bones through this course grinding plate.

I have never heard of any cats having problems with this coarse grind but it is my personal preference to grind the bones into smaller pieces.

I often get asked about acceptable bone size.  This is where I differ from many raw feeders.  I tend to err on the side of caution and grind the bones finely.

This picture illustrates a bone size that I am not comfortable with.

These bone pieces were taken from a single ground rabbit product obtained from wholefoods4pets.com.  At my request, Mary (at WF4P) now offers an Extra Fine Double Ground product using what she jokingly refers to as "Dr. Pierson's microplate" to appeal to my paranoia about bone size.  (The regular double ground still yields the bone size as shown in the picture above.) 

If you want to save money, order the single ground (this will yield the bone sizes shown above) and then it will be your choice to feed as is (as many people do) or send it through your grinder using a fine plate.

• Pre-ground supermarket meat:  I hear you asking "But I don't want to buy a grinder....so why can't I just buy ground meat at the supermarket and add a calcium source?"  I would never do this for reasons stated below but many people do feed pre-ground meat without any problems.  However, this method is definitely outside of my comfort zone and is not one that I can recommend. 

With regard to adding a basic calcium source (like calcium carbonate) - instead of using bone -  you run a real risk of feeding an unbalanced diet because these calcium supplements are just that - calcium only.  Chicken meat can be low in copper and in zinc.  Copper and zinc, in addition to other important minerals, are contained in bone. 

I buy only whole meats from the market for the following reasons:

1. The surface of whole meats can be washed with cold water before we grind them.  This helps remove the surface bacteria.  Going one step further, the whole meat can be put into boiling water for a couple of minutes to help kill the surface bacteria.  I suggest doing this for any animal that may be immunocompromised due to illness, advanced age, or if they are receiving any immunosuppressive medications.  I also suggest boiling the meats for a couple of minutes if you are unsure of your meat source.

For the first 6 years of making cat food, I simply rinsed the meat and skin off with water and then sent the meat/bones/skin through the grinder.  I never encountered a single problem when preparing cat food in this manner.  I was always careful to source the freshest meat possible by checking with my butcher regarding shipment dates.

However, just recently I decided to increase the safety of the diet even more by boiling the thighs just enough to cook the outside surface (~15% of the thigh thickness).

2. Once we grind the whole meat during our cat food preparation, it goes directly into the freezer.  Ground meat that you buy from the supermarket has had the surface bacteria ground into it.  Once the meat is ground, the surface area increases, which makes a great breeding ground for bacteria.  This meat then sits in the refrigerated section of the meat department.  It is not immediately frozen which would halt any further bacterial growth.

What this boils down to is a personal comfort level and I am not comfortable buying ground meat from a supermarket for raw feeding.  If you choose this route, please be very careful of your source. 

You may be wondering what the difference is between the ground meat at the supermarket and the ground rabbit that I buy from wholefoods4pets.com or hare-today.com.  Wholefoods4pets and hare-today process the rabbits and then they immediately freeze the final product versus refrigerating it.  It arrives on my doorstep frozen.

• Source fresh meat:  Check with the butcher who you are purchasing from and see what his delivery schedule is so that you may purchase the freshest meat possible.  Sometimes I will ask my butcher if he has anything fresher in the back - versus what is in the display case.

• Safe food handling principles:  Basic hygiene practices should be followed when preparing meat for yourself or your carnivore.  My kitchen counters and cat feeding areas are kept very clean with a 1:22 bleach/water (1 part bleach to 22 parts water) solution.

Conclusion

As noted above, I encourage everyone to do their own research regarding feline dietary issues and to formulate their own conclusions.  Dr. Zoran's wonderful article linked in the sidebar of this site is a great place to start. 

As stated above, if you decide that you are not comfortable preparing your own cat food, please feed canned food and get the dry food out of your home.