Making homemade organic cat food is a great way to ensure that your cat is getting the balanced nutrition that commercial cat foods often lack. Dry cat foods usually have a large amount of carbohydrates, preservatives, additives and fillers that cats don't need. Homemade food can be altered to meet food requirements for diabetic cats, kittens, or older cats, and also add variety to your cat's diet.
5 Nutrients Your Cat Needs
When making your own cat food, be sure to include these nutrients:
- Water - Having fresh quality water is one of the most important ways to keep a cat healthy.
- Proteins - The amino acids that make up proteins are essential to a cat's diet. Cat's can't synthesize all the amino acids their bodies need and have to get them through their foods. Essential amino acids like taurine and arginine are found in meat and eggs Vegetables and soy also have proteins but they aren't as complete as those that come from animals and animal by-products.
- Vitamins - Vitamin A can be toxic if offered too often. Animal organs like organic liver in small amounts can be suitable in cat food, though it should be excluded if vitamin A supplements are used instead.
- Other important vitamins include vitamin B, D, E, thiamin and niacin.
- Fats - Fatty acids like linoleic acid and arachidonic acid are essential in a cat's diet and can be found in canola oil, flaxseed oil, fish oil, sunflower oil, animal fats, meat, and egg yolks.
- Minerals - Calcium carbonate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, iron, and copper can be ingested in meat, meat by-products and cat mineral supplements.
Quality Protein for Organic Cat Food
Quality sources of proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins include:
- chicken
- rabbit
- turkey
- beef
- lamb
- fish
- cooked eggs - never feed raw eggs
- tuna - this should be limited due to mercury levels
These meats can be grounded, with or without skin and bone, and keeping the fat for nutritional benefits.
Foods to Avoid
- onions
- citrus oil extracts
- grapes
- chocolate
- milk
- pork
- raisins
- mushrooms
- bones
- raw fish
General Organic Cat Food Tips
- Combine your cat's normal food with new homemade organic food to gradually adjust digestion habits over 4 to 7 days
- Homemade food can be frozen but does lose some nutritional value after freezing and you may want to add taurine in powder form to supplement lost nutrients
- If using vitamin supplements don't use ones made for humans, buy specific cat formulas
- Vegetables are okay to add to food too, but in small amounts