Making Cat
Food
Lisa A. Pierson, DVM
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
January 28, 2010 update:
I frequently see
people jump into making cat food without doing their homework and
without any thought as to using a balanced recipe. This is
what gives veterinarians - including myself - a very good reason for
recommending against homemade diets.
I recently came across a post
on an internet group stating how "wonderful" my Making Cat Food
page is - including the recipe provided below. However, the poster
then went on to outline what she was feeding to her cat which was not
even close to the recipe discussed on this webpage! This poor cat
was being fed a terribly UNbalanced diet because his owner was using her
own 'creation' based very loosely on the recipe below.
She had completely missed the
boat on this very critical issue and was harming her cat - plain and
simple.
If you are not going to
follow a balanced recipe, then please feed a balanced, commercial canned
food diet. Please
see Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics
of Feline Nutrition for reasons why dry
food is not a healthy diet for any cat.
Making cat food:
Do it and do it right, or
don't do it at all. It is not difficult to make cat food but
do your homework first and avoid getting 'creative' by adding/omitting
ingredients to/from a balanced recipe.
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 - staying as close as possible to the form and
nutritional composition that
your cat would eat in a natural setting - while implementing safety
strategies as discussed below.
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.
However, I encourage people
to 'split the difference' and partially cook (par boil) 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, and raw
feeding is no exception. That said, 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 acknowledgement 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 due to their
species-inappropriate composition/ingredients, as well as 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 completely 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 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. (The above link
just takes you to the PubMed home page so you will need to type 'dry pet
food storage mites' into the search box.)
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 that manifest themselves due to the
species-inappropriate composition (composition =
percentage of calories coming from proteins/fats/carbohydrates and the
water content) 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.
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/Warnings
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 dealing with
contaminated pet foods and treats.
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 to the websites of the manufacturers or to articles
discussing the recalls/warnings.
However, they seem to take these pages down not long after the recall is
announced.
For a list of
current recalls,
please see
truthaboutpetfood.com. This website lists pet food recalls and
is much more current than the information below. I cannot keep up with
the task of posting all recalls/warnings on this page.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February/March 2010:
Nature's Variety raw
chicken products - possible salmonella contamination. This company
has recently implemented a pasteurization process to help ensure the
safety of its future products.
January, 2010: Merrick
Beef Filet Squares for dogs -
FDA warning issued due to
salmonella contamination.
October, 2009:
Wysong
recalls dry food with mold contamination.
October, 2009: Diamond Pet
Food company recalls Premium Edge dry food due to thiamine deficiency
which causes severe neurological damage and death in cats. See the
truthaboutpetfood.com website.
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 pet food recall of dry food 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
dry 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 was 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),
thoroughly rinsed the meat with water, and
cut it 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.
FortiFlora has
an expiration date on it which I don't pay
any attention to since I am not using it for
its probiotic properties. Therefore, I
don't care if the 'good' bacteria in the
product are dead or not. I am only using the
product because most cats go nuts for the
taste of it. I think that all cat
owners should have it in their cupboard in
the event that you want your cat to try
something new or they are ill and not
wanting to eat anything.
A box of it may very well last you a
lifetime!
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.
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. This canned food is also
safe for human consumption so it doubles as an emergency supply for both
two-legged and four-legged members of the house.
Please note that I said for
"periodic feedings". I have no idea what nutrients and in what
amounts are destroyed in the canning process so I would not want to feed
this diet as a sole diet for more than a week or two during an emergency
situation.
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 am grateful to
Natascha (of Feline Future) for her pioneering work in this area.
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
Tips
for Transitioning.
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.)
Also note that I have seen
cats go from dry food to a raw or semi-cooked diet - and still refuse to
eat canned food.
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 does 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 4-6 weeks 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.
The picture of the ground
thighs shown below was taken when I was just rinsing the thighs off in
water. More recently, I have been par boiling them prior to
grinding so the meat is not quite as red as shown in the picture below.
  
Grinding Chicken
Thighs Supplements and Water Added
Ready to Freeze
Cost
March, 2010 update:
A thoughtful reader of this webpage contacted me regarding a coupon
program at iherb.com that allows for $5 off your first purchase if you
enter the following code: LIS675. iherb.com is the company
that I order a lot of my supplements from.
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 for my comfort
zone.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
7 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.
July 2010
update:
I just received this
from a reader of this webpage regarding a
grinder that he purchased and is having good
luck with:
"I went looking for the highest wattage
grinder that I could find at the best price
and ended up getting the
1800-watt STX Turbo Force on Amazon.com.
It has worked wonderfully through my first
two 30-lb batches. For $129.80 I think it
was an excellent investment."
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 elements
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,
that is, if it can adapt.
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,
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 7 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.
Regarding rabbit and chicken: You can either buy whole
carcasses and cut them up to fit into the grinder (leaving out the
backbone),
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.
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 you order from iherb.com,
remember to use the code LIS675 for $5 off your first order.
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 14 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.
-
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.
However, if you want to add some as a fiber source, 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/skin 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
contained in the supplement. 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.
-
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.
Some people choose to poach them.
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 ~5 years because of my Robbie's
intestinal issues - wondering if the egg protein would upset him.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 but usually last 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.
Regarding grains - please
disregard recipes that add grains to an obligate carnivore's diet.
We want to refrain from feeding cats as if they were horses or cows.
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. Using sharp scissors makes chunking
much easier than when using a knife.
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:
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 (size of your thumb) 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 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.
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/liver and supplements.
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 in order to get him used to chewing on meat chunks. 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.
In order to promote dental
health, many proponents of a raw diet use meaty bones. However,
this is not within my comfort zone. Plus, I don't want raw bones
drug around my house.
Brushing your cat's teeth is
the best way to keep your cat's teeth clean if meaty bones are not fed.
Please see this
video that explains how to do this.
Please pay close
attention to the statement in the video regarding a thorough dental exam
by your veterinarian before starting a brushing program. Many cats have very painful mouths but show no outward signs of this
pain. If you try to brush your cat's teeth in the face of a painful
mouth, all you will end up with is a cat that is scared - along with
developing a strong aversion to toothbrushes. If this aversion occurs,
you may never get him to accept tooth brushing once you have addressed
the painful mouth with your vet.
I recently (January, 2010)
started brushing my Robbie's teeth after a dental cleaning under
anesthesia and am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Robbie
builds up tartar faster than any cat I have dealt with and really could
use dental cleanings 2-3 times per year.
Understand that you will not
be able to get to the inside of any teeth. I just focus the
brushing on the outside surface of the upper molars which is
where the bulk of a cat's teeth problems lie. I am not really able
to do much with the outside surface of the lower molars. I also
don't brush Robbie's k-9 teeth ('fangs') because he has only so much
patience for brushing and I want to focus on the outside of the upper
molars. If your cat has k-9 teeth problems, try to also brush that
area.
Back to making cat
food.......
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 and/or tooth brushing. If you start your cat off with clean teeth, you
can then go forward and be proactive in keeping them clean.
Safety Issues
However, I am
not comfortable with the size of bone pieces
that result from the use of this plate.
In fact, my cats have gotten bones the size
shown below stuck in their mouths causing
them great distress. I have a 4 minute
video of my Robbie violently pawing at his
mouth because of a bone fragment that had
gotten stuck. He was not happy and
neither was I!
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
very
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
or send it through your grinder using a fine plate.
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:
-
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, or antacids. 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).
-
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.
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.
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.
Updated: February, 2010
Lisa A. Pierson, DVM
Information on this site is for general informational purposes only
and is provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind. This
site is not intended to replace professional advice from your own
veterinarian and nothing on this site is intended as a medical diagnosis
or treatment. Any questions about your animal's health should be
directed to your veterinarian.
|
