Flavouring Home Cooked Cat Food

[Wile]

Hi Everyone,
I've started making home cooked cat food for my two cats. One of my cats, the girl, is a picky eater. She is a kibble addict who is not food motivated and doesn't seem to like "real" food. She has never transitioned onto new foods easily. It took almost a year for her to do more than just lick canned wet food a couple of times. Now that I have to transition from canned to home cooked meals she refuses to touch home cooked stuff.

I would love it if I could get her to eat some of this home cooking. I've been trying to figure out how exactly cat food manufacturers make their food tasty for cats. She does like Nature's variety Instinct canned foods. I'm wondering if I can do something to make the food I am making match the flavour profile of NVI foods better to see if she will eat it that way. Has anyone ever tried this before?

 

[LTS3]

Try FortiFlora or crushed up freeze dried meat or seafood treats. Or mix in some of the NV food.

 

[Wile]

Try FortiFlora or crushed up freeze dried meat or seafood treats. Or mix in some of the NV food.

I've tried the freeze dried treats before, but she won't touch them. I think they're too "real." Fortiflora she's not too keen on either.

I'll try to mix it with the NVI since I do have a few cans on hand. I just keep staring at the ingredients listed on the side of the can and wondering what the difference is between what I am offering her and what is in the canned food. Is there some kind of secret ingredient that makes cat food tasty to some cats? Or maybe the canned cat food is more liver heavy?

 

[LadyLondonderry]

I've tried the freeze dried treats before, but she won't touch them. I think they're too "real." Fortiflora she's not too keen on either.

I'll try to mix it with the NVI since I do have a few cans on hand. I just keep staring at the ingredients listed on the side of the can and wondering what the difference is between what I am offering her and what is in the canned food. Is there some kind of secret ingredient that makes cat food tasty to some cats? Or maybe the canned cat food is more liver heavy?

Under the heading of "toppers," have you tried nutritional yeast? My Sylvie is recovering from a bout of constipation that reduced her appetite. I've been trying to keep her eating a good amount of wet food (with extra water added), and the added ingredient that has been a smashing success is a sprinkling of Bragg's nutritional yeast. It has a cheesy smell and taste that she finds irresistible!

 

[Wile]

Under the heading of "toppers," have you tried nutritional yeast? My Sylvie is recovering from a bout of constipation that reduced her appetite. I've been trying to keep her eating a good amount of wet food (with extra water added), and the added ingredient that has been a smashing success is a sprinkling of Bragg's nutritional yeast. It has a cheesy smell and taste that she finds irresistible!

I've wondered about nutritional yeast. It is not something that I use in my own cooking, so I don't have a lot of experience with it. A while back someone posted a video of a vegan talking about her cat's love for nutritional yeast-topped popcorn. That was the first time I'd ever heard of it.

FortiFlora does have yeast in it. Is it similar?

I might experiment to see if I can process the food a bit further to get a different texture. She is a cat who mostly licks her wet food rather than bites it, so a pate texture might entice her to eat some of the home cooked stuff.

She also comes running when she hears the click of a can opening, so I might try recording that sound and playing it before setting the food down to see if that helps build excitement.

 

[LadyLondonderry]

FortiFlora does have yeast in it. Is that similar?

From the ingredient list I found for Fortiflora online, it seems to contain brewer's yeast. I understand that brewer's yeast has a more bitter taste than nutritional yeast, though I have never tasted them side by side to compare. I do know that nutritional yeast is delicious, especially on popcorn , and that it is often used to provide cheesy flavor and an "umami" taste sensation in vegan recipes.

 

[amysuen]

I tried FortiFlora to entice our picky Snickers but he wasn't impressed. He does like freeze dried treats crumbled on top of his food or a spoonful of kibble on top - the sound of it hitting the plate piques his interest.

What if you mixed half canned and half homemade, then gradually increased homemade? Our other 3 do fine with homemade, but when I mix it with canned for a treat they're in kitty heaven!

 

[Wile]

I tried FortiFlora to entice our picky Snickers but he wasn't impressed. He does like freeze dried treats crumbled on top of his food or a spoonful of kibble on top - the sound of it hitting the plate piques his interest.

What if you mixed half canned and half homemade, then gradually increased homemade? Our other 3 do fine with homemade, but when I mix it with canned for a treat they're in kitty heaven!

This I have tried before, but it unfortunately did not work. She either walks away from the food entirely or licks around the homemade meat (which tends to chunk together after going through the food processor). I would probably have to blend the food together in a blender, and that is a lot of cleanup to do twice a day!

 

[lalagimp]

My girls like Instinct, too
Have you tried EZComplete with cooked chicken?
I'm not sure what kind of home cooked you're trying to get them to eat.

 

[Wile]

My girls like Instinct, too
Have you tried EZComplete with cooked chicken?
I'm not sure what kind of home cooked you're trying to get them to eat.

Unfortunately I'm dealing with poultry food intolerance issues. They are getting the Hilary's balancer hypoallergenic supplement with cooked rabbit rather than the EZComplete, which contains eggs. The rabbit is poached or cooked in my slow cooker and then mixed in a food processor with oils and the balancer supplement. I'll also add some of the broth at the end when getting the jars of food ready for freezing. It is very basic food that my boy really loves, but the girl doesn't seem to care for.

I'm trying to figure out what it is she likes about commercial food (she is happy to eat NVI canned rabbit) so that I can try my best to replicate it in the home cooked food to get her to eat something other than kibble. It could be a smell issue, it could be a texture issue, it could be flavour. I honestly have no idea.

I don't have a whole lot of room to add other ingredients to their current recipe. I am worried about introducing a potential allergen or somehow upsetting the nutritional balance of the food. I'm just looking for ideas on things to try to enhance its palatability for this one picky cat.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I've wondered about nutritional yeast. It is not something that I use in my own cooking, so I don't have a lot of experience with it. A while back someone posted a video of a vegan talking about her cat's love for nutritional yeast-topped popcorn. That was the first time I'd ever heard of it.

FortiFlora does have yeast in it. Is it similar?

I might experiment to see if I can process the food a bit further to get a different texture. She is a cat who mostly licks her wet food rather than bites it, so a pate texture might entice her to eat some of the home cooked stuff.

She also comes running when she hears the click of a can opening, so I might try recording that sound and playing it before setting the food down to see if that helps build excitement.

A vet I know considers that sound of the can opening/can opener kind of like Pavlov's Dogs. The sound precedes food, 100% of the time!
What type of home cooked meals are you offering? Are they chunky pieces of meat added with the other stuff, or is the meat more "shreds"? If you can, mash the crap out of the homemade food, add in 1/4 or so of a can, and mix it up into a huge blob so she can't separate things out.

 

[Wile]

A vet I know considers that sound of the can opening/can opener kind of like Pavlov's Dogs. The sound precedes food, 100% of the time!
What type of home cooked meals are you offering? Are they chunky pieces of meat added with the other stuff, or is the meat more "shreds"? If you can, mash the crap out of the homemade food, add in 1/4 or so of a can, and mix it up into a huge blob so she can't separate things out.

I run the meat through a food processor, so it is pretty finely blended. Once the food cools though it does chunk together. I would liken it to the texture of ground beef after it has been cooked on stovetop, just with less fat.

I'll try mashing it and see if that makes a difference. Thanks!

 

[1 bruce 1]

I run the meat through a food processor, so it is pretty finely blended. Once the food cools though it does chunk together. I would liken it to the texture of ground beef after it has been cooked on stovetop, just with less fat.

I'll try mashing it and see if that makes a difference. Thanks!

If the food chunks together, maybe adding some canned food, then sealing it up in a container and letting it come to room temperature submerged in a bowl of cool/room temperature water might help separate any "chunky" material. Quick stir, serve. It sounds like a lot of prep work, but it's not so bad. We've done it.
If she's a licker and not a chewer, sometimes adding warm water to the mix helps make it more palatable, too.