Seeking Easy Chicken-Based Cat Food Recipe :-)

[michaelm101]

....For healthy 10-yr old cat who'll eat anything that is considered "food." She's not the slightest bit finicky.

We can't leave anything out because she will pry, bite, or chew her way into it.

If she's unsuccessful, the container gets knocked onto the floor with hopes that the impact may scatter the food across the floor for easy pick'ins.

I'm already cooking up batches of a chicken breast, rice, carrot & green bean concoction for our dog who has advanced stage renal disease.

I'm thinking I could do the custom cat-food regimen while I'm at it...

Thanks very much for your attention and time!

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey there,
The super simplest home made chicken based recipe would be using chicken meat plus EZ Complete to make the food balanced. Two ingredients, rofl. It doesn't get any easier than that! EZComplete Premix Information (foodfurlife.com)

Also, EZ Complete can be used with other meat as well. It doesn't have to be chicken.

 

[cejhome]

I just started feeding our cat (Buddy) homemade. I am doing cooked. I cook the meat in my crockpot with added water. He's not a water drinker, so this way he gets plenty of moisture in his food. About 1/2 cup water per pound of meat - makes nice juice.

You must add supplements to any homemade food you make, regardless of using cooked or raw meat. In the old days, we had to raw feed our kitty (Puddin) back then - she was very allergic to chicken and fish and had stomatitis. She came from a home where she was raised on raw and then ended up in a rescue after her 1st person died. At that time, there were only one or two supplement mixes available and both had chicken derived ingredients in them. Puddin was so allergic to chicken and fish, I couldn't use powdered eggshell for calcium or fish oil.

EZ Complete has chicken liver powder in it, so I couldn't give that a try. Our current cat, Buddy is allergic to chicken. EZ Complete does get good reviews. There are a number of other supplement mixes out there that look good. I will list them below, but just google the names and you can find them (Google superior feline supplement mix, Alnutrin supplement mix, etc.)

The ones I looked at (all are fine to use for cooked or raw):

• Superior Feline: I am using this one. I add a bit of pork liver (cooked as well) to his food. You can also order their anchovy oil (Buddy loves it) or Chia oil, if you cat is sensitive to fish derived ingredients. They are very helpful and responsive to all questions. I do not use their liver powder, I prefer real liver. They have trial sizes available.
• Alnutrin: I am using this one as well. I rotate between this one and Superior Feline. The website is a bit antiquated, but look around and you can find the info you need. They will mail you a sample if you send them a self addressed and stamped envelope. I went ahead and ordered a package. You can choose the type of calcium source to be included in the mix you purchase. I did some reading and I did find several places that said that egg shell calcium is not good for kitties with constipation issues, which Buddy has. She is pretty responsive to questions - it can take a couple days, but she does answer. She advocates using real liver, not powder. She has a recipe for chicken on her website, but it contradicts the amount of liver you should use vs. the recipe on the package. There is a wide weight range of liver that safe to use.
• Holistic Vet Blend: Looks good, but it does come with powdered beef liver as an ingredient.
• TCFeline - available in the US from "TheTotalCat".com: This has been around for a long time. They have a lot of versions, there are two versions with added liver powder (chicken or beef), and one version without, that you add your own liver to. As well as a low phosphorus//protein version. They offer a trial size version. They do not include egg yolk powder. You will have to add your own egg yolk.

Follow the transition suggestions - don't just go to homemade from your kitty's current diet.

So far, Buddy is doing great on the homemade. His energy levels are amazing. I am still working on his constipation - playing with the amount of Miralax he gets, etc. I started giving him 1/2 dose of a probiotic at well. I did some research and found that quinoa is safe for cats and good to add a bit of fiber IF it is needed. Hopefully adding a little of this will help with his constipation.

I love making the homemade. I puree the majority of the meat in a medium sized food processor (cheapish one I got of Amazon with a glass bowl - it works great), and reserve a portion of the meat to cut up into small chunks. I puree the cooked liver with the rest of the meat. I cook the liver separately, as I have to buy it frozen (pork liver). I cook that up in a crockpot when I get it and freeze it when cooked in weighted portions (along with the juice). I use a cooking thermometer to see when its done - you can't look at liver and tell. I then crockpot whatever meat I am going to use. I am currently using pork tenderloin roast and boneless pork loin chops (on sale for both of them, yay!) I work from home, so crockpot cooking his food is very easy. I always use a meat thermometer and stop cooking it when it reaches a safe temperature.

You must read the instructions for each mix! Weigh your meat as directed. A cheap scale from Amazon works well. One that you can measure in grams or ounces.

I actually add more water (warm water, to warm up the refrigerated food portion in his plate). He loves it that way and I finally am getting a good amount of water in him.

I have canning jars that are freezable already, so I am using them with BPA free plastic tops - I freeze the food in these and thaw the day before I need it.

I am going to try venison and rabbit as a part of food rotation when I have his diet down and am comfortable with it. I probably can't get venison unless its ground, and will need to see if I can get rabbit where we live.

I am down to 1 small 2.5 oz can of his canned food per day (mixed in with his homemade). I will be keeping a bit of canned in stock for emergencies. It is very hard to find a canned food he can eat that doesn't have a ton of garbage ingredients added or a ton of thickeners in it.

I have been feeding Lotus Just Juicy Venison or Pork - its very expensive. Homemade is tons cheaper (not that it matters, I will do what is best for Buddy). One of the other foods I was feeding him started to add chicken to their food and that made Buddy have an allergy reaction - he scratched his ears (back of ears) up and then had a sick tummy for a few days. That was the last straw for me. Ever since COVID, it seems like its very common for any manufacturer/food producer to move to the cheapest quality ingredients/parts they can get away with in their products. COVID was the excuse back then, now its just greed.