Cat Food: Save Money by Making Homemade Cat Food

These days we are all looking for ways to save money. If you own a cat or several cats, buying commercial processed cat foods is expensive. Homemade cat food is very economical to cook and is cheaper than buying it whether it is dry kibble, pouches, or cans. Cats need lots of protein, and specifically meats, fish and poultry. Blindness and death can occur in cats who do not eat these proteins, because of a deficiency of the amino acid, taurine. Vegetable proteins such as tofu are not sufficient to prevent taurine deficiency in cats. Cats are classified as Carnivores, and require only meats, fish or poultry and water for optimum nutrition. Cats even make their own Vitamin C, and so they are immune to Scurvy (deficiency of Vitamin C resulting in bruising, bleeding, and death), a handy trait for cats in ages past on long sea voyages.

Cats have been domesticated and have lived with people for about 5000 years and they are accustomed to eating scraps of foods from our dinner tables. Most of these table scraps are cooked foods, and our domesticated cats digest cooked foods better than raw ones. The improved digestibility of cooked table foods results in better nutrition for our pet cats. Unlike wild cats, such as Tigers and Lions, our domesticated pet cats thrive on cooked foods, and have illnesses such as diarrhea, vomiting, and food poisoning from eating raw meats, fish or poultry. The feeding of raw meats, fish or poultry is problematical in our pet cats. Raw meats often contain bacteria such as Salmonella, raw fish often contain bacteria, and thiaminase, causing vitamin deficiency and illness, and raw poultry often contains bacteria such as Salmonella, resulting in food poisoning in our pet cats.

You can cook for your cat safely by using cooked fresh ingredients and storing the prepared cat food properly in air tight containers in the refrigerator for up to three days. Homemade cat food can also be frozen in Seal-a-meal vacuum sealed bags, thawed overnight in the refrigerator, and rewarmed in the microwave on the warm cycle before feeding. Following is a recipe that you can make in less than thirty minutes. For larger quantities, just double or triple the stated ingredient amounts. This recipe can also be fed to kittens. Give your cat or kitten a daily vitamin mineral supplement in addition to the homemade cat food. Please enjoy this recipe for wholesome cat food. Yields 15 meals (feed one meal twice daily) for one adult cat, or enough for one week of meals.

TUNA PATE

Recipe by Dr. Amy L. Cousino

Ingredient List:

#5 x 6 oz. cans chunk light Tuna, drained, (opt. use 20 oz. fresh tuna that you have poached, cooled, and deboned)

5 Eggs, hard boiled, cooled, peeled

5 T Olive Oil, extra virgin

Preparation:

Put all ingredients into a food processor. Process until cat food is very smooth.

Divide this recipe into seven clean, dry, small air-tight plastic containers, or seal-a-meal bags (vacuum seal the bags). Keep up to three days of meals

in the refrigerator. Freeze the remainder (thaw overnight in the refrigerator for the next day feeding). Kitten feeding guide: feed 1/2 to one ounce

3-5 times daily. To keep food cool for feeding you may fill a small bowl with ice cubes, and lay the plate with the food on top of the bowl.

The bowl and plate should be about the same size so that they nest well. Pick up and discard leftover food after two hours. Always feed fresh food at each meal.

Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/854211/cat_food_save_money_by_making_homemade.html