What to feed my cats, homemade edition

January 31, 2021 4:38 PM

I feed my forever cat, Arthur, and his foster girlfriend, Tina, the highest quality grain-free dry food I can afford, and some cheap and nasty (although not the worst) wet food sachets at night as part of the dinner routine. I am tried of the waste and general grossness of the sachets, and was thinking that I could supplement the dry food with some homemade dinner. What should I feed them?

When I have foster kittens with upset tummies, I give them the standard bland diet of chicken and rice, with a little mashed pumpkin, but ordinarily they also get a high quality kitten dry food, and supermarket kitten wet sachets.

Is chicken, rice and pumpkin (or other veggies) plus a little broth enough to go with the dry food?

Most of the advice I have seen online is for diets that consist entirely of homemade food, but this is really more of a treat, and taste/texture of something other than the dry food. I'm happy to change it up too and experiment with tuna or other meat that my cats might like.

Even though I free-feed all the kitties the kibble, they love the routine of dinner and come running for their wet food at night. I'd like to keep that aspect with something equally as tasty as the dubious sachets.

posted by Youremyworld to Pets & Animals (6 answers total)

What great cats :D

My cat only recognizes chicken pate and kibble as food -- maybe turkey pate if he's really adventurous -- so I haven't tried to make any homemade dinners as the food processor is a huge PITA to clean.

However, I think you can't go wrong with chicken / turkey in broth. Rice and vegetables are mostly entertainment for the chef, as cats are carnivores, but the broth will be great for their liquids intake, which is especially important for male cats.

Tuna can lead to mercury poisoning, and canned tuna has quite a bit of sodium (high quality dry food usually has enough sodium for cats' nutritional needs), but I imagine cooking some de-boned whitefish (for lower mercury; also, cheaper) could be a fun diversion dinner as well.

And maybe your cats would like bonito flakes as a topping or broth base?
posted by batter_my_heart at 5:17 PM on January 31, 2021

We make our own homemade wet food which you could pre-make, freeze (we usually make about 6 weeks at a time) and use as a treat. If price is a factor, this may end up being a non-starter for you - we figured it out and portion for portion the price is about the same as Blue Buffalo. If you’re interested in the recipe, it is pretty easy to make - please send me a message and I’ll send you the recipe.
posted by arnicae at 5:34 PM on January 31, 2021

Canned, unsalted, water-packed, non-albacore tuna with the juice from the can mixed in was a treat my last cat liked after she stopped eating most other things. She was even more enthusiastic about whipped cream made by taking unsweetened whipping cream and shaking it vigorously in a jar for five minutes. It's probably not a healthy daily meal for a young cat, but it's a hell of a treat.
posted by eotvos at 5:44 PM on January 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

My cats went CRAZY for home-cooked crab from the grocery store. The smell made them very, very insistent.

I would not feed them this very often, but wow, was it effective.
posted by amtho at 6:06 PM on January 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

When I was catsitting, my friend left me a note: "please occasionally give Mo some of the tuna juice from the container in the fridge." Mo was a crotchety old thing who glared at me because I wasn't Mom, and then would just stomp off to a corner and sleep. But as soon as I opened the tuna juice, she would suddenly come running and act cat-crazy, racing around and literally climbing the wall to get to the counter. Anyway, yes, canned tuna or crab can work wonders, it's kitty cocaine, or something.
posted by Melismata at 8:35 AM on February 1, 2021

If you are going to cook for the cat, it's important to balance the nutrients that they'd get in cat food; things like taurine. My cats did not appreciate any of my home-cooked kitty foods, but if yours do, look for recipes that include appropriate supplements. I used the Pitcairn book (Amazon, but many are available used) for cooking for dogs, which worked really well. I can't vouch for the cat recipes, but I would suggest at least reaching out to your vet if you intend for homemade food to be the only food for kitty.
posted by answergrape at 11:18 AM on February 1, 2021 [1 favorite]