How to Make Homemade, Healthy Cat Food & Health Powder

As petowners become more and more aware of the importance of their pet' health as much as their own, more people are turning to preparing their own petfoods. It can be as simple as boiling 1 lb. ground meat or chicken livers, with a 1/2 cup of brown rice, grated carrot and a cup 1/4 of boiling water, cooking about 1/2 hour, covering tightly off heat till cool, adding a complete pet vitamin with taurine each day to the more intricated variable meals in recipes below. Either way, your kitty will benefit, so will you!

Following are just two, variable, healthy recipes you can make at home to insure your cat(s) are eating healthy. It is always best to obtain vitamins and minerals from fresh, natural sources, but if you are not inclined to purchase health and vitamin ingredients (which really go a long way), it is OK to use a complete vitamin/mineral with taurine daily feline supplement tablet, crushed in food, or eaten by itself, if your pet is willing. Either way, you know what your pet is eating, and more importantly, what he's not eating!

Meow Meal

(wet version recipe)

4 cups water

2 cups rolled oats or 1 cup uncooked brown rice, quinoa or millet (not instant)

1 cup yellow squash, carrots, or pumpkin, raw, chopped

2-3 egg yolks

1/2 c. dry lentils or dried split peas

2 lbs. (4 cups) boneless meat , poultry or fish- (only use fish with low mercury levels)
1c. powdered milk
1000 IU Vitamin E capsule(pierced and emptied)
(added AFTER cooling and processing food)

( Add 2 T. olive oil if using daily vitamin tabs and not vitamin ingredients listed below)

Meat may be beefheart, liver, game heart or liver such as venison, or ground beef, ground game, rabbit, etc.

Poultry may be Turkey, chicken, or hearts, livers of chicken, turkey( organ meats best for feline- do NOT use pork) May combine meats or meat and poultry as desired

NOTE- while chicken livers do not need chopping before cooking, your tougher meats should prefferably be ground or chopped small before or after cooking

Ingredients below may be omitted if using daily COMPLETE vitamin/mineral supplement for cats with taurine

4 tablespoons Health Powder (recipe below)

3 tablespoons cod liver oil

500 milligrams Taurine supplement

Directions:

Bring water to a boil. Add the meat, rice if using rice, vegetable, or, if using millet, add at this time also, cover and simmer,( after bringing to boil), 1/2 hr. -45 minutes-till rice and lentils or peas are tender.

Add oats, if using oats, at this time, dry milk, stir,remove from heat, add beaten yolks while stirring.

Cover tightly till Cool, after cool, add remaining ingredients (cod liver oil, vitamins, calcium, health powder, taurine). *If using daily complete vitamin/mineral + taurine pet tablet, omit vitamins/ health powder,etc., add 3 T. olive oil.

Mix everything together,

in 4 or five parts, blend or process in food Processor till fairly smooth. Or- if your cat likes more texture (most of mine don't), simply mash well with a potato masher. Stir all processed food together well, bag in 3-day rations in freezer bags. Do not store thawed food longer than 3 days in frig. Always warm to room temperature when serving. Tip:-take out frozen food packets night before needed to thaw in fridge..

Health Powder

This mixture of nutrients is used in this recipe, and can be used in others, (be careful not to "double" any ingredients!) It contains many important food supplements, which are available at most natural food stores: nutritional yeast (rich in B vitamins, iron and other nutrients); lecithin (for linoleic acid, choline and inositol, which help your animal emulsify and absorb fats, improving the condition of its coat and digestion); powdered kelp (for iodine and trace minerals); enough calcium to balance the high phosphorus levels in yeast and lecithin (this enables you to add this powder in any reasonable quantity to any recipe or other diet) and vitamin C (not officially required for dogs or cats because they synthesize their own, but clinical studies have found it to have value).

1 cup Nutritional Yeast (torula or brewer's yeast)

1/2 cup Lecithin granules

1/4 cup Kelp powder

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup flaxseed meal

1/4 cup Bonemeal (or 9,000 milligrams calcium tab crushed or 5 teaspoons Eggshell Powder-recipe below)

*1,000 milligrams Vitamin C (ground) or ¼ teaspoon sodium ascorbate (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a 2-quart container, cover or place in zip-lock bag and refrigerate. Add to recipes as instructed. You may also add this mixture to commercial food as follows: 1 to 2 teaspoons per day for cats or small dogs; 2 to 3 teaspoons per day for medium-size dogs; 1 to 2 tablespoons per day for large dogs. Alternatively, you can use a complete Pet (one for cats with taurine, one for dogs) multi-vitamin-mineral supplement as instructed on the label.

Eggshell Powder

You can make this calcium supplement yourself from egg shells, which are very high in calcium carbonate.

To make eggshell powder, wash the eggshells right after cracking and let them dry until you have a dozen or so. (Each whole eggshell makes about a teaspoon of powder, which equals about 1,800 mg of calcium.) Then bake at 300°F for about ten minutes. This removes a mineral-oil coating sometimes added to keep eggs from drying out. It also makes the shells dry and brittle enough to grind to a fine powder with a nut and seed grinder, blender or mortar and pestle, a good coffee bean grinder will work also. Grind well enough that there are no sharp, gritty pieces.

Kitty Kiss Kibble

2 1/2 c. chicken livers with *juice*( 1 1/2 lbs.)

1/4 c. water

1 carrot chopped or shredded

-cook on med. high till boil, then cover, turn to med. cook 15 minutes

next-

-In food processor:

add 3 eggs (two if x-tra large)

1 c. powdered milk

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 T. cod liver oil

1 T. chicken flavor powder (boulion or soup base)

2 T. health powder (omit if using complete daily cat vitamin/mineral crushed daily on food))

2 pinches taurine powder or 250ml tab crushed (omit if using complete

daily cat vitamin/mineral with taurine)

add cooked livers & carrots

Directions:

Process in processor or blender till smooth

using( 2) 9 x 13" pans or very large cookie sheet sprayed well with no stick-

Drop by large spoonsful into pan(s) evenly. Next spray a large piece of waxed paper with no-stick and place on top of dogh in pan. With glass or rolling pin spread evenly to ends of pan -(should be no more than 1/4" thick)

Bake in pre-heated 250 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, score into desired size pieces, then return to oven another 35 minutes. cool, place, with spatula into sealable bag, break up, if needed, inside bag, refrigerate what isn't served immediately.

NOTE: This will make a fairly chewy, moist kibble, if you desire crunchy and dry, score into tiny pieces, break up after baking and return to oven for 15 minutes, then turn off oven and allow to sit for 15 additional minutes. Cool on paper towels, store in sealable bags