It probably doesn’t surprise you that I make my own cat food, considering I make my own baby formula and created Yin Yang Diet. I’m SUPER passionate about using food as medicine. (take the QUIZ to find out your Yin Yang Diet)

Making your very own homemade cat food can sound like a daunting task, but in all honesty, it’s not that hard. I’ve narrowed down the process to take about one hour, only once a month! I’ll tell you though, when I started, I was spending at least 3+ hours each time. I slowly found short cuts and little tips to make the process a lot smoother, and I’m here to share them with you today.

Image courtesy of bogeysblogsphere

The reason I started to make my own cat food, was due to my cat, Nemo, having a lot of digestive issues. Diarrhea. Chronic mucousy diarrhea. The best part was that after he went, he’d love to smear his butt on the carpet leaving a lovely stain. Oh yeah, it was not fun.

I brought him to different vets, conducted numerous tests, and also put him on the most hypo-allergenic professional food brands that I could buy, yet nothing helped. At the end of the day, his diagnosis was IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) coupled with him just having a “weak constitution”.

After speaking to some friends and doing a lot of my own research, I collaborated a few recipes together, mostly from Anitra Frazier The Natural Cat and Cat Nutrition. I went and sourced out the ingredients, made my first batch and within 3 days Nemo’s diarrhea stopped: permanently.

Cost wise, it’s extremely cost effective. Not only do they rarely ever have to go to the vet, but their fur coats are silky and beautiful, and being seniors they are still bursting with energy. The supplements initially cost me about $100.00, and now I only spend $15 here and there throughout the year to top up my supplies. Some things last me a full year, while others (like bonemeal and gelatin) last me about 3 months. As for the raw ingredients, I only spend about $23/month.

The recipe below is good for two adult cats for approximately 25-27 days.

Homemade Cat Food Recipe

Step 1:

6 lbs ground chicken meat (thigh, breast, drum)
1 lb chicken hearts
1 lb chicken livers
6 cups water

Step 2:

6 eggs
16000 mg Wild Salmon Oil capsules (get 1300mg gelatin capsules, so you’ll need 12 of them total, I buy from Natural Factors)
2 tablespoons Kelp powder (seaweed, can buy at health food store)
2 tablespoons Dulse powder (seaweed, can buy at health food store)
4 tablespoons Bone Meal powder (health food store, for human consumption, I buy from Now Brand)
12000 mg Taurine (health food store, amino acid in gelatin capsules, I buy from Now Brand)

Step 3:

3 cups of uncooked rice
2 carrots grated
1 zucchini grated
2 x 796ml pure pumpkin canned

Step 4:

2 tablespoons Psyllium husks or Nutracleanse
4 tablespoons gelatin powder

**You will make this in 2 batches**

BATCH #1

My Supplies

1. Get a large stock pot and pour in half of the water (3 cups). Add 3 lbs of ground chicken meat and 1 lb of chicken hearts. Bring the meat and water to a boil and stir it up. Cook the meat until it begins to turn white, then turn off the heat. (I cook the meat to about 60% to kill any bacteria – this is what I’m most comfortable with).

Cooking the meat in boiling water

2. Now add 1/2 of the quantity of the supplements into the water from Step 2. Also add half of the eggs. Put them right into the boiling meat concoction. Let the gelatin capsules dissolve and egg whites cook. Stir until combined.

Putting in the eggs

Adding the Kelp & Dulse powder

3. Add 1/2 of the cooked rice, all of the grated zucchini, and 1 can of pure pumpkin puree. Stir together until mixed.

Adding in 1/2 of the rice and pumpkin

Adding the zucchini

4. Sprinkle on 1/2 of the psyllium husks/nutracleanse. Mix together. Now sprinkle on 1/2 of the gelatin powder (it may begin to get sticky and thick).

Sprinkled on the psyllium/nutracleanse & gelatin

5. Scoop the cat food mixture into some tupperwear containers. Let them cool on the counter for about a 1/2 hour and then store them in the freezer. The containers I use are the average sandwich size. I divide one container into 8 portions. This gives me 2 feedings, for 2 cats, for 2 days.

Here are all the containers of cat food!!

Time to make batch #2!

BATCH #2

Follow the above directions (1-5), but with the remainder of the ingredients.

You should have 3 lbs of ground chicken meat and 1 lb of chicken livers left over. Use those with the remainder of the supplements and eggs from Step 2. Then in Step 3 you will use the grated carrots along with the other ingredients and finish everything up in Step 4 with a sprinkling of the psyllium/nutracleanse and gelatin.

FINITO, you are Done!! 🙂

This is my other cat Osten: he is one happy kitty!!

When its time to serve up their food, I will put a portion of the food into their bowls and then add approximately 1/4 cup of boiling water from my kettle. This warms up the food and makes it a lot easier on their digestion (in Chinese Medicine, warm-cooked foods are much easier to digest – the Qi Diet is based on this). I will also sprinkle some digestive enzymes on their food to keep their bellies happy.

I started adding rice to their food because Osten has been diagnosed with some degree of kidney failure for the last 3 years. Decreasing his protein content was advised by the vet in order to put less stress on his kidneys. If you like, you could take out the rice and put in more organ and muscle meat. If you did want to do that, add another 1 lb of chicken hearts and 4 lbs of ground chicken meat to the recipe.

Happy Cat Food Making!