Making A Homemade Diet *willing To Put In A Lot Of Research*

[Nickki]

This is something I'm not going to do for a good two, three maybe even four years now so I've got plenty of time to research on Cat Health & Nutrition. Believe me when I say, when I move out and I get my own place with a stable income, that's when I plan on getting an animal.

That could even take five years. >_<

But in the meantime, I wish to educate myself on how I can make my animal as happy and healthy as possible, my sister's a Vet Tech, and while I plan on going into Game Design for my college education, I don't mind learning about animals in my free time.

I'd prefer if the diet was cooked. I have no qualms over cooking for my pets. I'll of course add in the recommended nutrients/supplements (which I already know vaguely about). I plan on getting a Meat Grinder, which I will use to grind bones and meat but i WILL cook them.

I read that if you grind meat & bones finely enough you can eventually cook them, if this is true, then I'd like to experiment with this (note I am not going to 'play' with my pet's health, I am just going to experiment for the next 2-5 years and see what I can come up with ^^)

I am not vegetarian or vegan, even though I'd like to eat these foods and eat healthier myself, I don't ever see myself giving up meat in MY personal diet completely (no offense to those who are on this site and are). So, handling meat is not a problem for me nor is consuming it.

I could use help here. ^^ Anything is helpful at this point.

 

[catman513]

Advice: Don't.

 

[EmmiTemmi]

It's great that you're willing to put so much research into your cat's diet, I'm sure your future cat will appreciate it!

Have you read the other homecooked threads on this site?

Home-Cooked Cat Food Resources (This one says not to use ground bone that's been cooked)
Advice On Simple Homecooked Food
Homemade Cooked

And are you looking to blend your own vitamin/supplement mix, or get a pre-mix at first? I feed completely raw (because I don't want to deal with the extra dishes, and neither of my cats are immunocompromised so they can handle raw), but I use a pre-mix currently so I can dip my toes into the homemade cat food world before diving full in with mixing my own vitamins.

If you're looking for premixes, I know there are several out there, such as EZComplete and U Stew for Cats. Others on here will be able to better advise you on mixing your own vitamins and any other pre-mixes that I don't know about.

Have fun with the research!

 

[Neo_23]

Please do not cook bones and feed them.

 

[orange&white]

If you're planning 3-5 years of research, I think you'll find that cooked bones are a definite no-no. Cooking changes the structure of bones, making them hard and brittle, possibly leading to intestinal tears and blockages. The exception to "no cooked bone" is to separate the bones and cook them to complete mush, so soft that if you pinch them with your fingers they're like clay (nothing hard or sharp remaining). That is essentially home made bone meal.

My cats and dog eat a raw diet. I started in 2008, after a couple hundred hours of reading all the pros, cons, and how-to's.

It's great that you're planning to do a lot of research. You'll learn a lot and the knowledge you'll gain will surely pay off in your future cats' health.

 

[Nickki]

If you're planning 3-5 years of research, I think you'll find that cooked bones are a definite no-no. Cooking changes the structure of bones, making them hard and brittle, possibly leading to intestinal tears and blockages. The exception to "no cooked bone" is to separate the bones and cook them to complete mush, so soft that if you pinch them with your fingers they're like clay (nothing hard or sharp remaining). That is essentially home made bone meal.

My cats and dog eat a raw diet. I started in 2008, after a couple hundred hours of reading all the pros, cons, and how-to's.

It's great that you're planning to do a lot of research. You'll learn a lot and the knowledge you'll gain will surely pay off in your future cats' health.

Who knows, when I do decide to feed my cat what I come up with, I might not feed cooked, I may feed raw. I just want to look into all available options for them.

 

[abyeb]

Hi there! Basically, the key to feeding cats a healthy homemade diet is balance. Finding good recipes for homemade cat food can take a lot of effort, so it’s good you’re starting early!

Here’s some articles to get you started:

Raw Feeding For Cats: The Ingredients (the tips here can apply to cooked as well)

Homemade Food For Cats: Consider Your Recipe!

 

[Sallysoo]

Bravo, 3 cheers for you! Beside to know yourself that you have to be ready and responsible for the fur babies, (like having pets need at least some extra $$ to provide not just for the best quality food but also vet care), you want to read into their right nutrition needs which have a great impact on their overall health!
You really can learnt a lot here as well as those great links that the members provided. Not just theory but also practical situation and the advises and tips that fur parents have.
I assure you that after all the readup, you might change your mind to giving a balance raw diet! . That happened to me almost a year back. My kitty is 100% on human grade raw muscle meat with a premix for more than 9 mths now. He is doing fabulous. I won’t say much here as you will find all you need to know reading up. Just want to like you know they are true. Of course nothing is full proof, you need to know on the precautions measure and the dons. Like the posts above a NO NO for cooked bones, no giving surpetmarket ground raw meat, etc. And maybe with all the theory knowledge you gather, you can’t wait to put them into action. That lucky kitty sure can’t wait to have you as his/her human parent..

 

[sabrinah]

Good job doing your research! I researched for a year before just recently actually working towards the homemade raw, and there's just so much I missed while researching that the members on this site have helped me with! Read all the links on this site and ask tons of questions. There's no such thing as being too prepared!