How to cook cat food: tips and recipes

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

How to cook food for a cat? This question is asked by many pet owners who want their pets to eat a he althy and balanced diet. Of course, you can buy specialized feed in the store. But, firstly, it is not cheap, and secondly, you will never be sure of the quality of the food that is offered to you. Therefore, it is cheaper and he althier for your pet if you cook at home.

What can cats do?

Before we figure out how to cook dinner for a cat, let's find out what foods are considered allowed and he althy for her. The cat will be he althy and cheerful if you feed it tasty and varied. Raw lean meats such as lamb or beef, chicken, lean ocean fish are suitable for these pets. It is also advised not more than twice a week to give a boiled yolk or cheese egg, fermented milk products.

It is strictly forbidden to feed cats chocolate, alcohol, avocados, nuts, grapes, yeast dough, onions, garlic and s alt. These products are not only not required by the cat's body, but can alsoharm him.

Why is it better to cook for cats yourself?

Making your own cat food is easy. After all, although industrially produced food makes our lives much easier, they often contain ingredients that should not be included in the diet of our pets. That is why every year there are more and more people who prefer a natural diet prepared in a home kitchen to serial feed obtained by an industrial method.

Food specially prepared for a cat from he althy and fresh products does not have to be the basis of his diet. You may be feeding him commercial food more often, but it's still worth making a he althy and enjoyable addition to your pet's diet. And if you have enough free time, then the cat can be completely transferred to food that you cook yourself. It will be more natural than any food you can find in a pet store. But remember that you can’t just put the same food that you yourself eat for dinner on a cat, these pets have nutritional features that must be observed. Therefore, they will have to cook separately.

Repetitive menu

Another common mistake that cat owners make is the too monotonous menu they serve their pets with. It is absolutely impossible to do so. The fact is that cats need five times more protein than dogs, much more than a person needs in their daily diet. All this should be reflected in the food they receive. Need to cookfor each type of animal separately, respecting the unique features.

The main thing is protein

If you are wondering how to cook food for a cat, then first of all dwell on recipes that are rich in protein. There are a lot of them, among them there are enough simple ones that will not take you much time, but will allow you to provide your pet with a he althy and balanced diet.

Of course, do not forget that cats are very picky eaters. Therefore, it is impossible to guarantee that they will like your cooking, some types of food may not be to your taste. Remember, it is very important for cats that the dish smells delicious. This should never be forgotten when deciding what to cook for a cat at home.

Features of recipes

In recipes for domestic cats, try to use different meats, the more varieties, the better. It can be turkey, chicken, rabbit, beef, duck. In this way, you will be able to maximize the balance of nutrients, enrich feeding through all sorts of different textures and tastes. It is best to use different sources of meat at the same time, cats will especially like it.

Can bones be used in cat food? The unequivocal answer to this question is no. By all means, you should try to avoid them, for fear of suffocation, blocking the digestive tract or puncturing it, since the teeth of cats are not as powerful as those of dogs to grind bones without endangering their he alth. Although the cats themselves, as a rule, are not aversegnaw on the bones, fishing out any pieces of meat that remain.

He althy foods for cats

It is very useful to add the hearts of different animals to the cat's diet. After all, this is one of the main sources of taurine, which serves as an essential amino acid for this animal. If about ten percent of your pet's diet is made up of hearts, such as chicken, then nutritional supplements in the form of taurine are not needed, otherwise they cannot be dispensed with.

It is also recommended to include the liver, spleen, kidneys in the cat's menu, which will also be very useful. True, most animals do not like the taste of them, but they can be disguised by mixing with vegetables and meat, after chopping. From vegetables, give preference to spinach, pumpkin, carrots. Remember that garlic and onions are toxic to cats and should not be given.

What do you need to make cat food?

In order to prepare a cat's dinner, you do not need any special tools. In the kitchen, you will need to have a combine, blender, meat grinder, because most of the products will have to be chopped. There is a fundamental formula for a cat's diet - this is half protein (it is mainly found in meat) and a quarter each of vegetables (they contain fiber) and carbohydrates (these are cereals). A large amount of protein in the meat of chicken, turkey, rabbit and fish. The most optimal source of carbohydrates for animals is brown rice, and from vegetables you will have to focus on what your pet will agree to eat. In the diet, use both boiled and raw meat,mixing it with boiled vegetables and rice.

Canned cat food

One of the most common cat food is sold in canned form. Surely not everyone knows, but making canned food for cats with your own hands is quite realistic, however, you will have to face some difficulties. The fact is that it will be necessary to comply with the entire technological process so that bacteria do not start in them, in addition, the meat must first undergo heat treatment. It is necessary to prepare such canned food in glass jars with a capacity of 0.5 to one liter. They should be closed with tin lids. Pre-banks are thoroughly washed and boiled.

The meat and broth that you will use must be put in a hot jar, and at least two centimeters must be left between canned food and the lid so that the jar does not "explode". Once you have corked the jar, it must be sterilized in a large saucepan, pressure cooker or enclave at a temperature of 115 to 120 degrees. This takes one and a half to two hours. Please note that the jars should be lowered into already warm water. After cooking, canned fish and meat should be stored at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.

Canned Recipes

Please note that most of the recipes are suitable for both classic canning and freezing. This is an alternative option that is suitable for those who do not want to spend a lot of time preparing jars and sterilizing. The only difference will be that for the classicalcanned food, all products must be stewed or boiled, and only then poured with the resulting broth, and for freezing they can be left raw.

So, the first recipe for making homemade canned food for a cat. Take any meat (it can be veal, beef, chicken, rabbit, salmon or turkey), cut it into small pieces and stew it in your own juice. Then fill the meat with this juice, and then send it to jars or freeze.

For another recipe for canned cat food, you will need bones, like jelly, if you are going to cook canned meat, or necks and heads, if you decide to cook canned poultry. Gelatin should also be on hand. Boil a steep broth from heads or bones, add gelatin at the rate of one gram per liter of water. Only after that, lower the meat into the broth. Then transfer it to a jar and fill it with broth.

We emphasize that this recipe is not suitable for freezing, because the resulting jelly will need to be immediately laid out in forms and fed to your pet. Here's how to make cat food at home.

Dry food

Dry food from the store is a favorite treat for many pets. However, really high-quality dry food, which has all the necessary vitamins, nutrients and minerals, is very expensive. But manufacturers of cheap dry food often use low-quality ingredients, caring only for flavor enhancers, so that cats eat their products, getting practically nothing.useful.

But no one is stopping you from making dry cat food at home. It will turn out economically, tasty and safe for the he alth of your pet. To prepare it, take meat or offal, heart, liver, chicken stomachs are perfect. As auxiliary ingredients, you will need rice flour, oatmeal, vegetables, flour, fish oil, bran, vitamin and mineral supplements.

Dry food recipes

Now we will tell you in detail how to prepare homemade cat food. For the first recipe take:

• kilogram chicken liver;
• 300 grams uns alted cracker;
• large bunch of parsley.

Chop all the ingredients as much as possible in a blender or meat grinder. Add a tablespoon of olive oil or fish oil, mix everything thoroughly. After that, put the resulting mass on a baking sheet pre-lined with parchment, make a grid with a knife, it is along these lines that you will then break the food into pieces. Bake the food in the oven at 100 degrees for 20 minutes. When the mixture has cooled, divide it into pieces, and then return to the oven and dry for another hour.

Another recipe for delicious dry cat food.

You will need:

• 500 grams minced beef liver;
• 200 grams wholemeal flour;
• tablespoon of honey;
• a pinch of s alt.

Mix all the ingredients until the consistency of thick sour cream. Furthercook in the same way as in the previous recipe, only at an oven temperature of 150 degrees.

Many pets love this dry food recipe:

• 700 grams minced beef liver;
• tablespoon small oatmeal;
• two chicken eggs;
• a pinch of s alt;
• a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Mix everything thoroughly and cook as in the first recipe. Here's how to make a cat food that she's sure to love.

Various recipes for the cat's table

In addition to canned food and dry food, cook original dishes for your pets, the recipes of which you will find in this article. Here are some tips on how to make homemade cat food.

Cat lunch with chicken liver. To prepare it, take:

• half a cup of boiled carrots or broccoli;
• half a cup of boiled rice;
• one and a half cups of boiled chicken liver;
• chicken liver broth.

Place the liver, rice, carrots or broccoli in a blender and blend thoroughly, adding a small amount of broth. Your pet should love this dish.

You can also make chicken and broccoli cat food. It is necessary to boil a piece of boneless and skinless chicken breast the size of a human palm together with two or three pieces of broccoli, and then mix in a blender until a homogeneous consistency is obtained.

A shrimp dish with carrots can be a special delicacy. It will require four raw shrimp, in whichit is necessary to remove the outer layer and cut off the tail, and then boil. In parallel, cook the carrots over high heat for a quarter of an hour, and then beat in a blender until a homogeneous mass is obtained. When the shrimp have cooled, cut them into small pieces and mix with carrots.