newbie at homemade cat food

ron31416

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I have two cats, both 10. I decided to try my hand at making their food myself. I am in the early stages of this endeavor.

1) I found that neither is into raw food (chicken) AT ALL. Plan to reduce cooking time gradually over several weeks to try to wean them off cooked food. Will they change or should I just give in to their preference?

2) I found that neither of them like liver, cooked or raw. Not sure what to do about that. I tried adding a tiny bit but no go. Am adding Alnutrin to their food, but evidently it does not compensate for a lack of organ meat. Is there anything that does? Should I try heart instead of liver?

3) I tried grinding the thigh bone along with the chicken, but that resulted in shards sharp enough to poke my finger painfully. Is there a trick to this, or should I just use the Alnutrin designed for boneless meat?

Thank you for suggestions about this. I bought a grinder so I am committed to seeing this through!
 

LTS3

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Why not just feed a cooked diet? Some cats just won't eat raw. A pre-mix such as EZComplete makes it super easy and no extra stuff like liver is needed. EZComplete can be used with both raw and cooked diets and it's only meant for boneless skinless meats. Cooked bone is a no no for cats. Raw bone is ok but needs to be ground smaller than in this Catinfo.org picture:



You can find more info and recipe suggestions in the sticky threads:

 
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ron31416

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Thank you for the tip about EZComplete, I have been looking for a supplement that contains actual liver. I will try that. With any luck I can sneak it past their liver-detecting taste buds.
 

LTS3

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TC Feline has a product that includes liver: TCfeline products

EZComplete contains chicken liver. Another pre-mix you can try is UStew which contains beef liver: U-Stew for Cats

Some cats won't eat fresh raw liver but will eat freeze dried or cooked liver.
 
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ron31416

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The TCFeline product says it is for raw cat food. Since I am cooking mine, at least for the moment, would it still be appropriate or would the EZComplete, which specifies raw or cooked, be better, do you think?
 
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