If you have prepared many cat food recipes from this website and wonder now what ingredients are out there that you can safely use to make up your own home made cat food recipies, then I suggest that you bookmark this list and use it alongside with your experimentation.
INGREDIENT #1 - Meat:
As you may already know, cats are carnivorous animals! that means they were made to eat MEAT as a principal source of nutrition. Meat (red and white) as well as meat byproducts (liver, kidney heart, chicken heads, ... etc) should make up to 80% of any healthy cat diet.
The second important question with meat is whether to feed your cat with raw or cooked meat, while no answer can work everywhere, and since this question has largely been subject to debate and controversy, I will give you some facts and then let you make up your mind by yourself:
- Cats have survived thousands of years only as predators, they only eat raw meat, and their digestive system adapted to this raw diet over the generations, this means cat don't need their meat to be cooked to eat it, they just need it to be fresh.
- Eating raw meat means eating it with a lot of bacteria and this can in SOME CASES lead to infections and other complications, while cats have become very resistant to major kinds of bacteria, cooking meat for them can be a safer option.
INGREDIENT #2 - Fish:
Since meat is expensive, some cheap fish varieties can be a cost cutting option! this includes sardines and a lot of other cheap fisheries that will positively complement your cat diet (without becoming the main part of it).
INGREDIENT #3 - Eggs:
Many cats don't like to eat eggs, however eggs can be a very good (and cheap) source of protein for cats, .. I suggest you try to feed your cat both raw and cooked eggs and see what works best with it, in both cases it is not recommended to feed large amounts of eggs (or at a daily basis) to you cat.
INGREDIENT #4 - Milk, Cheese and Yoghurt:
Unlike many people think, your cat doesn't need any milk at all (except if it's a kitten), so if you feed your cat with milk this can be a good thing to an extent, the previous eggs rule works here as well: "don't feed large amounts and don't feed daily"
INGREDIENT #5 - Fats and Oils:
Cats move a lot and play a lot and hence need energy, while the amount of sugars that they take is generally close to zero, fats are their main source of energy, special care needs then to be made to the amount of fats or oils that cats eat daily, the meat based meals should have enough fats in them and non meat based cat meals can be supplemented with other oils as well (see recipes), if your cat is obese some fats can be cut, but please never reduce this amount to zero or you will kill your cat.
INGREDIENT #6 - Vegetables:
Cats are not herbivorous, don't expect them to eat a lot of vegetables, the 20% of vegetables that you find in my recipes are there only to add vitamins improve taste, improve digestibility, ... etc, don't feed to much veggies.
INGREDIENT #7 - Grains:
As it has been said before, cats don't need a lot of grains, but you can add them, this will add some carbs in your cat diet (although cats cannot process carbs very efficiently), it also adds some consistent to the cat food and improves the taste a little.
INGREDIENT #8 - Water:
Water water water ... !! never forget it! water is what keeps every human or animal alive, take that away and your cat will starve in no time.
Edit: I now have a collection (pdf file) of ready to make cat recipes, click here to download
INGREDIENT #1 - Meat:
As you may already know, cats are carnivorous animals! that means they were made to eat MEAT as a principal source of nutrition. Meat (red and white) as well as meat byproducts (liver, kidney heart, chicken heads, ... etc) should make up to 80% of any healthy cat diet.
The second important question with meat is whether to feed your cat with raw or cooked meat, while no answer can work everywhere, and since this question has largely been subject to debate and controversy, I will give you some facts and then let you make up your mind by yourself:
- Cats have survived thousands of years only as predators, they only eat raw meat, and their digestive system adapted to this raw diet over the generations, this means cat don't need their meat to be cooked to eat it, they just need it to be fresh.
- Eating raw meat means eating it with a lot of bacteria and this can in SOME CASES lead to infections and other complications, while cats have become very resistant to major kinds of bacteria, cooking meat for them can be a safer option.
INGREDIENT #2 - Fish:
Since meat is expensive, some cheap fish varieties can be a cost cutting option! this includes sardines and a lot of other cheap fisheries that will positively complement your cat diet (without becoming the main part of it).
INGREDIENT #3 - Eggs:
Many cats don't like to eat eggs, however eggs can be a very good (and cheap) source of protein for cats, .. I suggest you try to feed your cat both raw and cooked eggs and see what works best with it, in both cases it is not recommended to feed large amounts of eggs (or at a daily basis) to you cat.
INGREDIENT #4 - Milk, Cheese and Yoghurt:
Unlike many people think, your cat doesn't need any milk at all (except if it's a kitten), so if you feed your cat with milk this can be a good thing to an extent, the previous eggs rule works here as well: "don't feed large amounts and don't feed daily"
INGREDIENT #5 - Fats and Oils:
Cats move a lot and play a lot and hence need energy, while the amount of sugars that they take is generally close to zero, fats are their main source of energy, special care needs then to be made to the amount of fats or oils that cats eat daily, the meat based meals should have enough fats in them and non meat based cat meals can be supplemented with other oils as well (see recipes), if your cat is obese some fats can be cut, but please never reduce this amount to zero or you will kill your cat.
INGREDIENT #6 - Vegetables:
Cats are not herbivorous, don't expect them to eat a lot of vegetables, the 20% of vegetables that you find in my recipes are there only to add vitamins improve taste, improve digestibility, ... etc, don't feed to much veggies.
INGREDIENT #7 - Grains:
As it has been said before, cats don't need a lot of grains, but you can add them, this will add some carbs in your cat diet (although cats cannot process carbs very efficiently), it also adds some consistent to the cat food and improves the taste a little.
INGREDIENT #8 - Water:
Water water water ... !! never forget it! water is what keeps every human or animal alive, take that away and your cat will starve in no time.
Edit: I now have a collection (pdf file) of ready to make cat recipes, click here to download
