Feeding boiled chicken liver

[JulietteTruong]

I’ve been slowly, little by little, entertaining the idea of making cooked food for the kitty. It’s been a thought for a while now.

Today, I did buy some fresh chicken liver and boiled about two or three tablespoons of it. I chopped it up finely. Juli sniffed it, and had zero interest. So I mixed it in with her can of wet food, and she ate it. That’s okay right?

This is a once in a while treat of course. I’ve read up on the dangers of too much vitamin A for cats.

 

[Maurey]

Starting with organ meat for transitioning is generally not the best idea, as it can have a laxative effect. That said, if she’s doing fine, and you’re feeding no more than 10% of her daily calories, it should be fine. Just keep in mind that complete cat food also has vitamin a in.

Here‘s a very detailed guide on transitioning. It’s for raw, but it details the introduction very well. Keep in mind that if you plan to make a cooked diet, you’ll definitely need supplements for the lack of nutrients, while raw is possible to balance without if you have a good source of fresh meat. With cooked, it may be easier to forgo organ meat entirely, and just feed muscle meat with EZcomplete. I’ve personally not come across cooked homemade recipes for cats that I feel confident are balanced.

Raw Feeding Guides for Adult Cats - Perfectly Rawsome

Free nutritional resources on how to feed an adult cat a fresh food diet balanced with all essential nutrients required for optimal health.

perfectlyrawsome.com

 

[LTS3]

Not all cats will eat fresh cooked or even raw liver but will (usually) happily eat it if it's canned cat food mixed with other ingredients Plain liver has a strong taste / smell that some cats just don't like. If your cat doesn't like the liver very much, just stick with plain cooked meat as an occasional treat.

 

[Beholder]

Morty had to be on a cooked diet for a few months. I used the recipe from felinenutrition.org and cooked it up in a frying pan. The smell of cooking liver is horrendous but you have to add it when using Alnutrin. Luckily, the package says it's still okay to use with cooked meat/liver so long as it's added afterword. This is their recipe and it works with just about any protein:

3 pounds of muscle meat
7 oz liver
14 oz heart

After cooking it I added Alnutrin with eggshell (for no bone) and other supplements that Morty needed. Fish oil also should be added. I then mixed in some water and made it into a pate in my food processor. The cats really enjoyed it, so much so that it was difficult to get them back to raw after Morty's issues got better.

As stated above I wouldn't suggest just feeding raw/cooked liver by itself, and it's unlikely that your cat will like it. If you're looking to get more organ meat into their diet before you decide if you're going to make a full transition, they sell freeze dried treats that are just heart and liver that my cats really like. Tons of different brands sell them, and since they're meant as an occasional treat I don't worry about Vitamin A toxicity.