cat food

[jonc]

Is there anybody here that makes their own food for their cats? I'm thinking about trying this as the tins we currently buy seem to consist mainly of ash and grain, with a little (probably unethically farmed) meat thrown in as a token gesture. There's also quite a lot of packaging involved. There's lots of information on the internet, but almost too much! I've read there is a big argument for feeding them raw rather than cooked meat, but I don't know anybody who's actually tried this.

[Pilsbury]

my Dad got into the habit of cooking for the cat everyday but he just used to stew up cheap meat and feed the cat every day, probably not what you are looking for.

[glenniedragon]

I always think catfoods should be more, authentic- I mean the chances of my mog bringing down a tuna is somewhat small. Maybe you should think on the lines of squirrel, rat and blackbird flavours-you could corner the market and rid some vermin (esp rats) at the same time...

Kind thoughts
Deb

[Shirley]

LOL Deb!!!!!

We use dried food for our cat - it doesn't really cost much for the amount she eats - James Wellbeloved is the flavour of the month - salmon flavour I think... and as there was a salmon lying on the road earlier this year there is even a chance that she might get to eat salmon naturally... though I think little birds and mice would be her natural choice.

[den_the_cat]

I feed mine a real mix of stuff, they like human food quite a bit (chinese noodles and bombay potatoes are favourites, strangely) but basically they're carnivores who enjoy but don't need veg to stay healthy (they can synthesise vitamins that humans and dogs cant and in the wild would eat only protein and some occasional grass, according to my 'everything you could ever want to know about cats and then more' book).

Mine love raw meat but only get it when there are meat trimmings around (pretty rare in a veggie household so may be the novelty value) and I know you shouldn't feed cats exclusively on fish, presumably for iron related reasons. Theres also a risk of worms with raw meat and fish, as well as wild 'prey' so you have to dose them religiously if you feed lots of raw stuff.

Tinned food is meant to be specifically balanced to meet a cats needs, and so is meant to be the best stuff for them. In general though since they seem to lick off the jelly and leave the meat I think feeding them a mix of that, casseroled offcuts from the butcher and the occasional raw stuff and fish is a good balance, plus mine always have crunchy available and sometimes get treated to some ham (not good for their little hearts I suspect with the salt content but they virtually inhale it when I let them have some)

Millions of cats coped quite well before tinned food on leftovers, mice and whatever they could pinch from the larder, but I doubt they were as healthy as cats in general today. I doubt they'd be harmed by any reasonable diet as long as they had either lots of variety or something scientifically balanced (like commercial cat foods).

There's a book on Amazon somewhere about cooking for your cat but its not something I've ever really read up about so I cant say if its good or not....

[Ranter]

Mine really only likes the dry stuff. I give her tinned meat occasionally & all she does is lick the gravy, even mashing the meat chunks doesn't help. I tried her on sardines in tomato sauce & all she did was lick up the sauce. She eats dry stuff & drinks plenty of water (from little pots of it all over the house, never out of the bowl next to her food dish) so I leave it at that.

yep, you've worked it out: my cat is so neurotic she makes me looks sane

[Millymollymandy]

They do need something crunchy for the health of their teeth and gums - they tend to get scaled up if they eat soft food all the time. In the wild they don't have this problem because they are munching on mice and bird bones.

Can I just ask this question of everyone whilst we're on the subject:

Does tinned cat food in the UK now contain vegetables like carrots and haricot beans? Ever since we moved from England we've found tinned cat food to contain these veggies - first when we lived in the Netherlands and then in France. I find it really wierd. My old English cat was really put out at first to discover carrots in with his meat!

[den_the_cat]

tinned not so much but the sachets and luxury stuff does yes. Strange for cats, although mine like it, but I think it started in dog food and there was probably a reason for that as I think dogs need veggies to be healthy?

[tremone]

If you feed them meat then they won't go after vermin as they'll have had the meat quota, give em nuts & keep them hunting.

[jonc]

They like the wet more than dry at the moment - always dried left at the end of the day, but one of them eats the wet so fast I'm always amazed she isn't sick!

[Christine]

I'm reassured that other people's cats just lick off the gravy or jelly and leave the lumps. I thought mine had just got picky with age. I suspect their reluctance to eat the lumps is due to the lack of smell (you're right about the content), as they 'taste' with their noses rather than their tongues - like dogs. Just as well, though, when you think where else their tongues go ...

Mine goes crazy for meat and fish while it's cooking or still warm and loses interest once it's cold (except ham, like Den's, and tinned tuna). If she gets furballs, she inhales her food and then upchucks it undigested. When that happens, I give her just a little wet food in the morning when I go to work. She always has crunchies available and they're better for her than wet.

[the.fee.fairy]

there's a website somewhere, called rawbones or sopmething (i'll try to dig it out) and its mainly about feeding dogs a raw food diet, i havenb't tried it. i think there was a section about feeding cats too.

[taralastair]

My husband has investigated this a bit. Our cats get cheap crunchies but husband cooks for them so they have wet food most evening. Here's the run down


Cheapest - ox liver from butcher or morrisons about 76p/kilo

Next is T***o value chicken portions at about 1.110p/kilo

Cats favourite and reasonably cheap is pigs hearts (from the butcher) - don't know exact price but it's all meat and no bones for the price. Cats weren't too keen on Ox heart (bit tough and fatty)

As a reserve we keep in tinned pilchards which also works out about the same price as most cat foods. One pilchard per cat is sufficient.


He cooks a big batch of whatever he's got and then chops up and freezes in small portions. Cats are always happy with any of these and are very healthy. We never throw away anything but a few crunchies. I think most tinned cat food is a lot of money for water, offal and a bit of fluff off the factory floor. It's no wonder some cats turn their nose up at it. Also if you give them FOOD (instead of filler) they only need to eat a small amount so still pretty economical.

Hope that gives you and your cats some food for thought.

Tara

[Christine]

Thanks for those ideas, Tara - does your husband just boil it all up or do something gourmet with it? I'd be willing to try out even the offal (yuck - can't touch it myself) having seen the enthusiasm with which my cat greeted the odd bits of semi-cooked minced lamb I gave her last night.

Only thing is that the vet said cats need a low-protein diet if their kidneys are dodgy - very common in middle/old age apparently. Presumably this means specialist crunchies but I can't see mine willingly eating a plate of vege!

[PurpleDragon]

If you feed them meat then they won't go after vermin as they'll have had the meat quota, give em nuts & keep them hunting.

I dont think my cats have read that part of the 'Cat Behaviour' book.

Mine get tinned cat food - half in the morning and half at night (each) and they leave feathers and fur around the place for disposal every day in life. They thoroughly enjoy birds, mice, voles, rats, rabbits - anything that moves and they can catch.

They stay away from the hens though - they met them when they were still kittens, though they were for play, and soon got disabused of THAT notion.