Does anyone make their own pet food?

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #1

Quick recap: I have a ferret who came from a Craigslist ad and they imprint on their food at a very young age and it’s tough to switch them to a healthier diet later on (I’ve tried). But since going keto I’ve taken in a brain injured cat (thrown from a car).

Initially, and in a pinch, I put him on canned kitten food (higher protein and fat) and bought Blue Buffalo grain free kibble. The more I learn about nutrition in general the guiltier I feel feeding him the low moisture, high carb kibble. I give him raw meat every time I prepare it for myself and canned food twice a day but I’m interested in formulating a “closer to wild”, more meat, less grain/veg diet for him. He’s already getting too fat and has stomatitis (inflammatory condition of the gums which could lead to full mouth extraction later in life if not addressed).

I bought myself two turkey legs that I wasn’t into so he greedily got some of those (sans tendons and bones) and will fight me for the blood left over after thawing venison. This guy knows what his body wants. I will ask google but thought I’d ask you folks also.

#2

I feed my dogs the cheapest ground beef I can get. They are now fitter and the one that has allergies seems to have less weeping from his eyes, but not perfect.

In nature, cats are obligate carnivores. That means they will thrive on an all meat diet. I’d feed him kippers, poultry, and red meat. I wouldn’t worry about “making” anything.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #3

Well, the research I’ve done so far indicates skeletal meat won’t cut it. He’ll need nutrition from organ meat and bones (which can cause a problem mechanically if not ground appropriately) so I still have a bunch of questions on the details of it all. Thank you for the reply!

#4

Whole raw bones from appropriately sized prey are fine, that’s where the kippers/ sardines come in. Chicken gizzards and hearts are cheap, and your cat will love them.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

Oh, good idea on the fish bones. Thanks!

(John) #6

A veterinarian, Lisa Pierson, has a site where she discusses making your own cat food.

https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

We did this for a while with our first kitten. Bought the meat grinder, the whole deal. She didn’t really like the food that much, probably because of the flavor from the B-vitamins added.

It was a fair bit of work to prep a big batch of food and store it in multiple mason jars in the freezer. If the cats like it, it is probably much healthier for them because you are getting human-grade meats and you know what cuts are in there, rather than just whatever leftover pieces probably go into commercial cat foods.

We eventually just settled on feeding good quality canned wet cat foods - ours don’t ever eat dry foods.

(shawnk) #7

Darwin’s Pet is a company that ships frozen raw dog food and cat food. Grain free and with bones. My holistic vet likes them, and it did wonders for my dog. We tried it with my extremely picky cat, but she wouldn’t eat it. She’ll only eat one flavor of one brand of canned cat food.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #8

Thanks guys. I wouldn’t be opposed to feeding canned cat food but I hate how much waste it makes with all the cans. I can recycle them, but it still feels like a lot. Good points, though. I checked out Darwin’s and it’s on the list of consideration. I have a lot to think about, for sure!

(shawnk) #9

Canned cat food wouldn’t be my first choice, but my cat is constipated on dry, won’t drink water (I have to add water to her canned food), and unfortunately, wouldn’t go for Darwin’s.

(Lisa ) #10

My dog gets rolls of ground up beef/lamb/mutton with nothing added. He seems far more satisfied and even lost weight after replacing the “breeder recommended” expensive kibble. He had been neutered and his weight crept up while I was away, but now he is a lean muscle machine (well I tell him that anyway).

(Carl Keller) #11

As much of the processed foods for humans is terrible for health, I imagine pet foods are even worse. But certainly I understand that it’s impractical to feed your pets healthy food since it would require considerable amounts of time out of your day. I’m at this crossroad with my dog and would love to feed her things that would drop some of her body fat as well as keep her from constantly sniffing around for something else to eat…

Are those meats fed raw? I tried to give turkey innards to my dog. She took one sniff, shot me a dirty look and walked out of the room. I then pan fried them until they were barely cooked, chopped it all up and mixed it with some kibble and she went to town on it.

(John) #12

https://feline-nutrition.org/

(Lisa ) #14

Trying to upload a photo of it for you! All raw meat.

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15474191171858499651703733055835.jpg3024×4032 2.93 MB

(Carl Keller) #15

That looks as good as or better than the grass feed beef I buy. :slight_smile:

(Doug) #16

I thought somebody had a meat foot and plastic pants. :smile:

(Ken) #17

For my dogs I follow the “Whole Animal” ratio of two parts meat to one part fat. Then, add in approx 10% organ meats. Calcium could come from fish, my preference is Jack Mackeral from the dollar store, or ground eggshells. Cats seem to enjoy lapping up raw egg, so it should be easy to mix them into whatever food mix you decide to use. They also like beef kidney if you can get it, but I have to buy it buy it by the case for my dogs.