# Homecooking for Cats



## CavePaws

Does anyone have any experience home cooking a diet for cats? Liam does not want to eat his wet food anymore (I don't blame him) and is just picking at his kibble (I don't blame him)...He has been receiving a lot of cooked meats recently - which could be why he doesn't want to eat the kibble and canned food. I'm not sure at all about the nutritional value of cooked meats and am realllllllly bad at math so I'm super scared I would screw up a cooked diet for a cat horrendously. Any one have any reading suggestions, links, or advice from experience? It would be of amazing value to LeeLee and I. 

Honary picture of the picky king.


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## naturalfeddogs

The only thing thats cooked, I guess that Smokey eats is canned salmon, Only because I can't find decent raw fish around here. Canned I know has a lot of omega 3's and calcium. As far as cooked, thats about my knowledge right there! (because its on the can)! Maybe that is something you could consider a starting point, maybe? Sorry I'm not much help.


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## werecatrising

One of the vets I work with home cooks for her cat. I can ask her about it if you'd like.


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## Paws&Tails

One pound of meat, cubed/minced (or shred after cooking)
Four ounces of organ meat, minced (my kitties will only eat it if it's cut into really small pieces)
One teaspoon eggshell powder
One teaspoon Berte's Green Blend
Quarter teaspoon Berte's Immune Blend per 10 pounds body weight daily 
Pinch of taurine (from 500mg capsule) added twice daily AFTER heating up

Cook meat and organ meat and mix together with eggshell powder and Green Blend. Add Immune Blend and taurine before serving. 

Amount you feed varies according to weight (2-3% of bodyweight daily). Hare-Today has a feed calculator. All you have to do is put in your pets weight and percentage of bodyweight you want to feed and it will give you an exact amount of ounces/pounds a day they need to eat.

This is very easy to make. If you feed fish you won't need to supplement with fish oil. Feed as wide a variety as you can. The taurine is very important to add, as cats can not synthesize their own taurine from other building block amino acids and taurine is broken down by heat, thus cooking destroys over half to maybe 2/3 of the taurine that was available raw.


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## KittyKat

can you overdose with taurine?


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## werecatrising

KittyKat said:


> can you overdose with taurine?


Nope. Any excess is excreted through the urine.


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## hmbutler

This is interesting for me too, I am trying to get my cat to switch from kibble to raw, but it's proving difficult just to get her to switch from free feeding to meal times - she just seems to ignore me when I put her food down, even when it's been away all day... then she picks a few pieces out and goes away, obviously thinking she'll just come back later. She isnt even eating half the recommended daily amount on the bag of felidae... As well as this, I too am VERY worried about getting the balance right for my kitty, because of the taurine


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## werecatrising

I have a 13 month old cat who was weaned directly onto raw. Her taurine levels were checked recently and were fine.


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## Paws&Tails

hmbutler said:


> This is interesting for me too, I am trying to get my cat to switch from kibble to raw, but it's proving difficult just to get her to switch from free feeding to meal times - she just seems to ignore me when I put her food down, even when it's been away all day... then she picks a few pieces out and goes away, obviously thinking she'll just come back later. She isnt even eating half the recommended daily amount on the bag of felidae... As well as this, I too am VERY worried about getting the balance right for my kitty, because of the taurine



Honestly, I asked my vet how much taurine to add and she okay-ed the amount I'm using (a pinch from a 500mg capsule at two meals a day, but I do it at three meals to be safe). If you're worried, it's fine to give more. Any excess is just secreted by the body. I've also had taurine levels checked after 3 months on this and they are a-okay.


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## naturalfeddogs

Where do you find taurine capsules? I've never seen any.


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## werecatrising

naturalfeddogs said:


> Where do you find taurine capsules? I've never seen any.


You can get them at healt food stores. I tink next time I get some I'll buy from Amazon.com


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## Paws&Tails

naturalfeddogs said:


> Where do you find taurine capsules? I've never seen any.


You can get it at Wal-Mart, iHerb, Vitacost, Amazon and vitamin/supplement shops etc. and probably Target. You just need to look in the vitamin/supplement area. Make sure there isn't a bunch of crap added to it. I got the now brand from Wal-Mart. Next time I need some I'm buying it from Vitacost though. Much cheaper prices (and $5 shipping no matter what size order) quality products and quality service. I order things regularly from there anyways.


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## RachelsaurusRexU

I have a couple questions and figured I'd just add onto this topic. 

My cats are currently eating canned food (95% meat EVO and By Nature) with some raw meals and canned fish. Im not too keen on the way one of my cats looks. She's overweight, her coat sometimes looks greasy and dull and her skin is dry. Unfortunately I found it nearly impossible to transition all of them to 100% raw. I tried for months and some won't eat bone, some won't eat organ, some would only eat one or two proteins and snuff the rest. I'm ordering supplements and trying home cooked. I'm pretty sure they'll eat it and I'm hoping they'll do really well on it. 

My first question is about calcium supplementation. Between bone meal (human grade) and calcium carbonate, which is superior? In the recipe posted by Paws&Tails, if I were to substitute pure calcium carbonate powder for the crushed eggshell powder, would I use the same amount? If I used bone meal how much would I use?

Also, what is the purpose of the Bertes Green Blend and is it really necessary?


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## Paws&Tails

RachelsaurusRexU said:


> I have a couple questions and figured I'd just add onto this topic.
> 
> My cats are currently eating canned food (95% meat EVO and By Nature) with some raw meals and canned fish. Im not too keen on the way one of my cats looks. She's overweight, her coat sometimes looks greasy and dull and her skin is dry. Unfortunately I found it nearly impossible to transition all of them to 100% raw. I tried for months and some won't eat bone, some won't eat organ, some would only eat one or two proteins and snuff the rest. I'm ordering supplements and trying home cooked. I'm pretty sure they'll eat it and I'm hoping they'll do really well on it.
> 
> My first question is about calcium supplementation. Between bone meal (human grade) and calcium carbonate, which is superior? In the recipe posted by Paws&Tails, if I were to substitute pure calcium carbonate powder for the crushed eggshell powder, would I use the same amount? If I used bone meal how much would I use?
> 
> Also, what is the purpose of the Bertes Green Blend and is it really necessary?



As for calcium supplementation, all that's needed is 1,600mg per pound of food. One teaspoon of eggshell powder gives roughly that amount, plus some other nutrients. I chose to use eggshell powder because I can control the source and quality by making my own using eggshells from local, free ranging chickens eggs. 

I'm not sure about the bone meal or calcium carbonate. Let me get back to you on that one after I've done some searching.

The purpose of Berte's Green Blend is to provide trace minerals.


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