Tonight I made this huge batch of raw cat food. Two full blenders’ worth — enough to last my two cats about a month probably. Here is the recipe. It was pretty damn easy to make and the whole batch cost less than $10 (most of that went to the meat part). I got this recipe mostly from Leonard, so thanks goes to him!
1lb. natural ground beef
1lb. boneless skinless (free-range) chicken thighs
2 small zucchini
1 ear of corn (all the canned corn at the store had added salt — a big no-no)
1 large handful alfalfa sprouts
1 cup of cooked brown rice (pre-cooked measurement)
1 jar of sweet potato baby food
1/2 cup water
Steam cook the (sliced) zucchini and corn until cooked. Slice corn off of cob. Throw into large mixing bowl. Add sprouts — chopped. Mix in cooked brown rice and baby food. Stir well.
Cut chicken into small pieces. Cook in ungreased non-stick pan for a minute or two until just barely seared. The point is to serve them raw meat, but a tiny bit of cooking adds flavor. Do the same with the ground beef, just brown the outsides and stir it around in the pan for about a minute. Add all meat to the vegetable rice mixture. Stir with a big spoon.
If you have a food processor, this last step will be MUCH easier. Blend everything very well in processor, until it is of catfood consistency. I only have a blender, so it was much harder, but I did it. When it is all blended to a mush, distribute into plastic containers that hold about one week’s worth for EACH cat you are feeding. This batch made me over six cups, so almost four weeks for two cats. One serving is about the size of a big mouse. They only need one serving a day! Supplement with a vitamin mixture you can get at good pet supply stores. I am getting some this week.
Put one week’s worth food into the fridge, and the rest goes into the FREEZER. When the first week is almost up, take a frozen portion out and thaw it in the fridge for a day.
So I made this giant batch of chicken, beef, and brown rice cat food for my cats. All raw, none of the nutrients cooked out. All good meat; no tails or tumors. No “by products.” NO FILLER. And after I was done, I put a spoonful of it in Simon’s bowl. He sniffed at it for a moment and I held my breath.
Then he gobbled it all up.
Yay! I’m glad he liked it. It took a lot of tinkering to get our mix just right so they’d both eat it, but it sounds like Simon took to it right away. The “fit for human consumption” line is right on…I don’t get grossed out feeding them this stuff the way I did their old canned junk, because I realize it’s food I would actually eat myself.
Our grocery store has canned corn with no salt, but it’s cool that you just used fresh corn. That’s probably better for the cats anyway.
And definitely get a food processor! It’s so worth it. I can’t live without mine…not just for the cats, of course, but because I do so much cooking and it makes so many jobs easier. Anyway, hooray for you! And Simon!
We may be getting a food processor as an early wedding gift. That would truly rock. I could make PIE DOUGH!
Sasha is still ambivalent about the new food, but he was the same way about the turkey oat stuff last week before he started eating it. He’s a poor little dummy sometimes.
I think frozen corn would actually be better than canned. Fresher, and a bit better than canned, IMO. I will probably get that next time.