How to cook a cat? This question is asked by many owners of these pets who want their pets to eat healthy and balanced foods. 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 you are offered. Therefore, it is cheaper and more useful for your pet if you cook at home.
What can cats do?
Before figuring out how to cook a cat’s dinner, we’ll find out what foods are considered allowed and healthy for her. A cat will be healthy and cheerful if you feed it tasty and varied. For these pets, raw lean meat, such as lamb or beef, chicken, low-fat ocean fish, is suitable. It is also advised not more than twice a week to give a boiled yolk or raw egg, dairy products.
It is strictly forbidden to feed cats chocolate, give alcohol, avocados, nuts, grapes, yeast dough, onions, garlic and salt. These products are not only not required by the cat's body, but can also harm it.
Why is it better to cook cats yourself?
Cooking cat food yourself is a snap. After all, although feed obtained by an industrial method makes our life much easier, they often contain ingredients that cannot be included in the diet of our pets. That is why every year more and more there are those who prefer a serial diet, obtained industrially, a natural diet prepared in the home kitchen.
Food specially prepared for the cat from healthy and fresh products does not have to be the basis of its diet. Perhaps more often you will feed him with store-bought feeds, but it's still worth making a healthy and pleasant 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 found in the pet store. But remember that a cat cannot just lay on the same food that you yourself eat for dinner, these pets have eating habits that must be observed. Therefore, they will have to cook separately.
Monotonous menu
Another common mistake made by the owners of cats is the too monotonous menu with which they treat their pets. It is absolutely impossible to do this. The fact is that cats need five times more protein than dogs, significantly more than what a person needs in a daily diet. All this should be reflected in the food they receive. Cooking is necessary for each type of animal separately, observing unique features.
The main thing is protein
If you are wondering how to cook food for a cat, then first of all, stop 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 provide the pet with a healthy and balanced diet.
Of course, do not forget that cats are very picky about food. Therefore, it is impossible to guarantee that they will like your cooking, some types of foods may not be to your taste. Remember, it is very important for cats to have a delicious smell. You should never forget about this when deciding what to cook a cat at home.
Recipe Features
In recipes for domestic cats, try to use different meat, the more varieties, the better. It can be turkey, chicken, rabbit, beef, duck. Thus, you will be able to maximize the balance of nutrients, enrich the feeding due to 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 I use bones in cat food? The unequivocal answer to this question is no. By all means, you must try to avoid them, for fear of suffocation, blocking the digestive tract or its puncture, since the teeth in cats are not as powerful as in dogs to grind bones without jeopardizing their health. Although the cats themselves, as a rule, are not averse to gnawing bones, fishing out from there all the pieces of meat that remained.
Useful products 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 in your pet’s diet about ten percent is occupied by hearts, such as chicken, food additives in the form of taurine are not needed, otherwise you can’t do without them.
It is also recommended to include liver, spleen, kidneys in the cat menu, which will also be very useful. True, most animals do not like the taste of them, but they can be masked by mixing with vegetables and meat, previously grinded. Of vegetables, give preference to spinach, pumpkin, carrots. Remember that garlic and onions are toxic to cats; they 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 equipment. In the kitchen you will need to have a food processor, a blender, a meat grinder, because most of the products will have to be chopped. There is a basic formula for a cat's diet - this is half the protein (it is mainly found in meat) and a quarter of vegetables (fiber in them) and carbohydrates (these are cereals). A large amount of protein in meat of chicken, turkey, rabbit and fish. The best source of carbohydrates for animals is brown rice, and vegetables 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.
Cat food
One of the most common cat foods is sold as canned food. Surely not everyone knows, but it’s quite possible to make canned food for cats with your own hands, however, you will have to face some difficulties. The fact is that it will be necessary to observe the entire technological process so that bacteria are not brought into 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. Previously, banks are thoroughly washed and boiled.
The meat and broth that you will use must be laid hot in the jar, and at least two centimeters must be left between the canned food and the lid so that the jar does not “explode”. After you clog the jar, it must be sterilized in a large pan, pressure cooker or enclave at a temperature of 115 to 120 degrees. It takes from one and a half to two hours. Please note that cans should be lowered into already warm water. After preparation, canned fish and meat should be stored at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.
Canned recipes
Note that most recipes are suitable for the preparation of classic canned food, and for freezing. This is an alternative option that is suitable for those who do not want to spend a lot of time on can preparation and sterilization. The only difference will be that for classic canned food it is necessary to stew or cook all the products, and only then fill with the resulting broth, and for freezing they can be left raw.
So, the first recipe by which you can cook 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 in its own juice. Then pour meat with this juice, and then send it to jars or freeze.
For another recipe for cat canned food, you will need bones, like a jelly, if you are going to cook canned meat, or neck and head, if you decide to cook canned food from poultry. Gelatin should be at hand. Cook a steep broth from heads or bones, add gelatin at the rate of one gram per liter of water. Only then dip the meat into the broth. Then transfer it to the jar and pour the broth.
We emphasize that this recipe is not suitable for freezing, because the formed jelly will need to be laid out immediately in forms and feed it to your pet. Here's how to cook cat food at home.
Dry food
Dry food from the store is a favorite treat of many pets. However, really high-quality dry feed, which have all the necessary vitamins, nutrients and minerals, are very expensive. But manufacturers of cheap dry food often use low-quality ingredients, taking care only of flavor enhancers, so that cats eat their products without getting practically anything useful.
But no one is stopping you from making dry cat food at home. It will turn out economically, tasty and safe for the health 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 cook homemade cat food. For the first recipe, take:
- a kilogram of chicken liver;
- 300 grams of unsalted cracker;
- a large bunch of parsley.
Grind all 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, lay the resulting mass on a baking sheet covered with parchment in advance, make a net with a knife, it is along these lines that you will then break the food into pieces. Bake food in the oven at a temperature of 100 degrees 20 minutes. When the mixture has cooled, divide it into pieces, and then return it to the oven and dry for another hour.
Another recipe is how to cook a cat with delicious dry food.
You will need:
- 500 grams of beef liver minced through a meat grinder;
- 200 grams of wholemeal flour;
- a tablespoon of honey;
- a pinch of salt.
Mix all the ingredients to the consistency of thick sour cream. Next, cook in the same way as in the previous recipe, only at a temperature in the oven of 150 degrees.
Many pets like this dry food recipe:
- 700 grams of beef liver minced through a meat grinder;
- a tablespoon of small oatmeal;
- two chicken eggs;
- a pinch of salt;
- a tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Mix everything thoroughly and cook, as in the first recipe. Here's how to cook a cat food that she will definitely like.
A variety of recipes for the cat's table
In addition to canned food and dry food, prepare your favorites original dishes, recipes of which you will find in this article. Here are some tips for making homemade cat food.
Cat lunch with chicken liver. To prepare it, take:
- half a cup of boiled carrots or broccoli;
- half a glass of boiled rice;
- one and a half glasses of boiled chicken liver;
- chicken liver broth.
Put the liver, rice, carrots or broccoli in a blender and mix thoroughly by adding a small amount of broth. Your pet should appreciate this dish.
You can also cook chicken and broccoli cat food. It is necessary to boil a part of chicken breast without bone and skin the size of a human palm along 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 shrimps, which need to remove the outer layer and cut off the tail, and then boil. Simultaneously 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 has cooled, cut them into small pieces and mix with carrots.