Homemade? Is It Safe?

[British Girls]

Hey guys! Does anyone here know if homemade cat food is safe? I have heard some people mentioning it and was curious about it. Thanks

 

[kittyluv387]

It's safe if you do everything correctly and not take short cuts. Basically if you're not willing or able to follow instructions for a recipe exactly then you should stick to commercial.

 

[Columbine]

It is perfectly possible to feed a homemade diet safely, either raw or home cooked. You do have to have appropriate recipies to follow though (and not every cat food recipe out there is balanced/complete - especially those found in cutesy 'gourmet' cat food recipe books).

There are three basic approaches to making a safe and appropriate homemade diet:-

The first is to get an appropriate balancer-type vitamin/mineral mix and follow the pack instructions on what types of meat and how much are required to make a balanced food. It's the same principles as baking a cake from a shop-bought premix.

The second is to use a 100% scratch-made recipie, buying and adding the necessary vitamins/minerals etc individually. In this type of recipe, you'll use a combination of different meats and offal (and bone or eggshell for calcium) to create as balanced a mix as possible before supplementation.

The third approach is prey model raw (sometimes called Frankenprey). Here, you feed muscle meat, meaty bones and offal, balancing out the diet by using a variety of protein types. The aim is to create an equivalent diet to the naturally hunted diet a wild or feral cat would eat. This diet should balance out over a few days or a week.

Homemade Food For Cats: Consider Your Recipe!
Raw Feeding Cats: Types Of Raw Diets & Feeding Options

 

[British Girls]

Thanks you guys!

 

[British Girls]

I was interested because in live in Kuwait and the cat food here is completely unhealthy except for a couple of brands which literally cost 7kd ($24)for a 1kg bag. I have been buying the expensive one but my cats decided that they don't like it for some reason or another. So I started googling it and came across homemade Thanks ya'll have been really helpful

 

[LTS3]

There are lots of homemade recipes online but many are not proper complete diets for cats. They're just a bunch of things thrown together by a person who means well but has zero knowledge of how to create a balanced diet for a cat.

Are you looking for a homemade raw diet or a homemade cooked diet? See these for good balanced recipes:

Home-Cooked Cat Food Resources
Raw Feeding Resources

 

[di and bob]

The one thing you have to watch for is that you make sure they get Taurine in their diet which is found in animal products. Taurine is an essential amino acid that is critical in normal cat health. That is why vegetarian diets don't work for cats.

 

[British Girls]

Thanks you guys! You all are so helpful!

There are lots of homemade recipes online but many are not proper complete diets for cats. They're just a bunch of things thrown together by a person who means well but has zero knowledge of how to create a balanced diet for a cat.

Are you looking for a homemade raw diet or a homemade cooked diet? See these for good balanced recipes:

Thats what I figured and why I went to thecatsite; I felt that people that have a lot of knowledge of this stuff would be able to advise me (which is what is happening) I really appreciate it everyone! Thanks!

 

[British Girls]

The one thing you have to watch for is that you make sure they get Taurine in their diet which is found in animal products. Taurine is an essential amino acid that is critical in normal cat health. That is why vegetarian diets don't work for cats.

Thanks for the info! I will make sure that they get enough Taurine. Thanks!