Have i got it right? Homemade Cat Food Question.

by Colin
(Somerset, UK)

Hello again,

I’ve started feeding my 2 cats a mixture of 2kg of raw chicken thigh muscle, bones and skin minced with 400g of liver I couldn’t get heart from the market or butchers so I just bumped up the liver. They seem to like it which I am pleased about. However I’m going to have to ditch some of it because I was slow in preparing the minced mixture and freezing it and now it kind of smells eggy. They still eat it but I’m going to get some more as soon as the butchers open. Could that make them ill or would the smell tell them to stop eating if it was that bad?
I've heard that people mince whole chicken carcases or rabbits with all the organs inside to make it a complete meal. If I were to get 2 chickens or a similar amount in rabbit and ask the butchers to mince it up would it be nutritionally balanced? Do I stick with chicken thighs or do you rotate certain meats with bones.
I’m getting some salmon oil and some taurine supplement in the week to supplement like suggested buy can’t find a supplement which covers only the water soluble vitamins for cats as the risk of toxicity would be lower and need replacing more frequently than the fat soluble vitamins. With minerals I’m worried that id mess the ratio of minerals because I already have bone and muscle meat.
as my cats now rely on me to provide their food for them and not the pet food company’s I want to be confident that I am feeding them right and not end up making them ill!
I’d appreciate any feedback you can give me on this topic.

Yours thankfully

Colin

RESPONSE:

Kudos on trying raw meat homemade food for your cats! But you are correct to be concerned. If you are grinding up the bones with the meat then you don't need to worry about calcium and phosphorus as the bones give them enough.
Taurine is an absolute MUST unless you can give them enough heart meat. Adding more liver will not make up for the absence of Taurine. We usually can't get enough but even if we do, taurine is added anyway just to be safe. Adding the salmon oil is good but they also need the B and E vitamins. Use supplements made for people. There are no cat specific vitamins for making raw meat food. And the stuff made for people is the safest.
As far as the types of meat, we use mainly thighs because it is the cats preference but we also mix in the light meat because some cats prefer the taste. Fixing for so many, we find it easier just to mix it all together. You don't need the skin unless you cats are thin and need to put on weight. The thigh muscles contain enough fat for most cats.
As to the food going bad, we find that most of the cats will turn up their noses at it if it isn't fresh enough (even if it smells OK to us!)but some are just little pigs and will eat anything so if it doesn't seem fresh, we toss it just to be safe.
When it comes to making homemade raw meat food for cats, we HIGHLY recommend following the recepie on our site. This is a tried and true, tested recepie that provides nutritionally complete food for cats. Not adding the supplements can risk doing more harm than good unless you are supplementing with a commercially prepared canned cat food.
As for grinding up the whole carcass, organs and all, there is nothing wrong with that but it is still not nutritionally complete. You still need to add the supplements.
Good luck with the food and we are not surprised your cats like it!

Donna
House Full Cats Mom