Did you know that cats are little carnivores? Any cat owner will tell of the little “gifts” that are proudly brought to the door by their stealthy feline hunters. I have been presented with many beheaded mice and voles. (I had to look that up the first time one was dropped at my feet. After I was done shrieking. And realized it was dead.) Natural meat eaters, cats thrive on protein. In fact, deficiencies of the essential amino acids taurine and arginine will lead to severe health problems in cats. I want to share my experiment of cooking for and feeding my cats whole food, or Paleo, if you will. Being that I only have experience with cooking for my cats, this post will focus on just that. For those of you dog lovers out there, I am not snubbing you! Cats and dogs have different nutritional needs. Dogs can have serious health problems like secondary hyperparathyroidism* if they are on all meat diets. A great brochure on the needs of dogs can be found here, courtesy of the National Academy of Science. (My brother and sister-in-law have 4 (!) rescued greyhounds that they cook for- I know they use rice and veggies with ground beef and turkey).
Jack and I have 2 cats, Zaida a pretty, haughty female tortoiseshell (is there any other kind?) and Putter, a huge lovable slob of male tabby. With the exception of a weekend when we were away traveling, (we left them dry food) we have had our kitties eating fresh meat – fish, chicken, beef, pork and eggs, since August.
I researched back in August to make sure that the cats could handle animal protein ( I didn’t know and wanted to make sure, I knew that dogs couldn’t handle it) and I found this little gem, also from the NAS. “While not essential in the diet, carbohydrates provide an abundant source of energy.” Essential amino acids, essential fatty acids… nope, you never hear essential carbohydrate, huh? Things that make you go hmmm.
Yeah, I know, you’re thinking, ” Is she out of her birdcage? I barely have enough time to cook for myself, let alone my pet!” Believe me, I thought the same thing. I actually read bout it in a book, and I thought, “That’s stupid. And time consuming. And expensive.”
Easy peasy on the time component. Family size package of chicken thighs, parts, whatever- put ‘em in a dutch oven, cover with water, set on the back of the stove. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. No spices, no stirring, no stress. And if you have a fantabulous enamel coated cast iron dutch oven, there is also no mess. (Full disclosure: for all my promotion of their products, I receive NOTHING from Le Cresuet. Sadly.)
Let the chicken cool, peel the fat off and shred the meat off the bone. Voila! Save a few bones. The cats crack them open and get the marrow out. Gross yet fascinating. If you are a parent, you understand this concept well.
Point is, while you are cooking your own food, you can make several no-brainer cat meals in one fell swoop. Dinner scraps are also another option. All done with your T-bone steak? Put it on a plate for your little guy and you will see those sharp little teeth put to good use, gnawing off meat that would have gone into the trash.
Other ideas- canned tuna, salmon with bones, sardines. While I am not a fan of canned food for either human or animal, let’s face it- it serves a purpose and I do use it from time to time.
Plain scrambled eggs. Hot wings- I’m not kidding. Maybe it’s because they’re from Jersey, but these 2 cats eat wings with Frank’s Red Hot. They also crack their knuckles when they’re done.
Price, ah yes. The great revelation. Cooking pet food is cheaper than buying it! Cost per pound of Friskies dry cat food, which is at the low end of the cat food price spectrum, is 1.09/lb for a 16# bag. IAMS dry food is 2.59/lb and Science Diet is 3.59/lb. Canned cat is even more expensive. Chicken thighs? Just picked some up .99/lb. Dark meat is always cheap. Organ meats are a very inexpensive option as well.
Seafood- scallops, shrimp, fish- these are more expensive options, so I generally just give them leftovers. I will investigate the fish counter and see if there is some type of scrap fish we can give them. If you ask at the butcher, and you tell them you are feeding your animals, they will often give you scraps, no charge, or at a very discounted price.
As far as the “stupid” part of cooking for a cat… well. I chose to give my self and my family nutritious whole foods. I love my two little ones and consider them part of my family. They visit the vet annually, I brush them and play with them, why would I give them food that is full of fillers like corn, soy and wheat, when with a bit of forethought, I can give them the protein rich diet they need? In fact, the vet is happy with their diet, and wished more of his patients owners would cook for them. They are both in very good health.
Do you cook for your pets, be it a cat or dog? Any other pet? What do you make? How do you fit it into your busy schedule? The two pics here are my fluffy Zaida. Like most cats, she only looks evil.
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea” –Robert Heinlein
Comments (15) »
“Canned cat is even more expensive” ROFL Canned cat FOOD!
OMG I’m a closet pet food cooker myself. Embarrased to tell anyone because of the strange looks I received when I was once proud of doing so. We have a dog Daisy I will post her pic on FB today and she eats shredded chicken, some kibble (yes I buy dry dog food), and loves T-Bones. See ya on FB!
LOVE IT! My manx Cosmo has been on pure Paleo for over a year. She is 15 years old and healthy & active. I put her on Paleo because she was just too fat (16 lbs) and lethargic. She dropped 7 lbs of fat on Paleo! She is a lean, mean carnivorous machine… like her mama
She too goes to a vet once a year. He was shocked at her weight loss but said she was perfectly healthy and when I told him what I fed her, he totally approved.
Cosmo eats RAW. Raw grass-fed beef, raw wild salmon/fish, & sometimes raw pasture-raised chicken. Sometimes she’ll get canned sardines, but she doesn’t care for it. She also gets soft canned cat food. You really have to read the label though!! I get her 9-Lives Tuna and 9-Lives Seafood Platter. These 2 are the ONLY 2 that are grain-free, and very Paleo. I get them for her since it’s formulated with extra vitamins & minerals that she may be missing. That’s what the vet said anyway.
Also, when animals eat raw, they eat less. When she was on dry food (grain), she would eat so much (thus the fatness). Her diet now is no trouble and really, no extra cost. She even drinks way more water than she used to. All around better!!
The change of diet has not only allowed her to drop 7 lbs, but she is as active & healthy as she was 10 years ago! Senior cat? HA! You wouldn’t know it to see her. I am certain that I have prolonged her life and enriched her quality of life.
AWESOME POST!! We used to cook for our pets and now I am going to start up again!! It’s not the hard nor time consuming that you said. Thanks for reminding me how important it is to keep them as healthy as us!! Give you pet kids a kiss and hug from me!!
I have just started integrating raw meats into my cats’ diets. Here is a great resource I am using:
http://www.rawfedcats.org/practicalguide.htm
It seems like raw is really healthy for them and SO much easier on us to prepare–just hack off a piece of whatever we are eating before cooking it. Their energy and affection has been through the roof since just switching one meal to raw meat.
Are you sure it is okay to cook food for cats? I have read about the dangers of cooked bones splintering and the raw resource says that raw bones are more pliable, so they won’t splinter. Raw would also have more nutrients than cooked and is closer to their natural diet.
Regardless of raw or cooked, I totally agree with your point: that our pets need to get off the grains too! If we aren’t designed to eat them, it is even more doubtful our carnivorous and omnivorous pets are either. Plus, the less processing the better, especially with all the recalls we’ve been through. Good luck to everyone trying this out! It is well worth the effort!
Monique- yes we noticed increased energy too- and they *do* eat less also
Kristy- I found conflicting advice on raw/cooked. Raw proponents say xyz is dangerous, and cooked say abc is dangerous. Arg. We tried raw, but Putter and Zai really didn’t take to it. Except bacon. They will eat raw bacon. It makes sense that they *should* eat raw, after all, thats what they do when they are feral.
I havent had a pet since childhood but still find this all very interesting! My girls so desperately want a dog, but the landlord says no
BOO! Cool post – and nice pink bra on the bed Aileen 
smoochies!!!
Love the article! I definitely want to cook up some meat for the Lucy cat now. She doesn’t like raw meat, but is always circling like a shark when we’re eating meat for dinner. Right now I give her wet food for dinner as her treat. I’m afraid to give her meat/wet food in the morning because last time she started waking me up earlier and earlier every day. Thanks for the ideas!
Cookie- awesome, had to go back and look closer… and yup, there it is. Pink Bra on the bed!! LOL
A word of caution. A Paleo diet for your cat is a great idea, but many people making their own diets at home do not understand how to balance the nutrients in the diet such that essential amino acids like taurine and arginine are included. Cats cannot synthesize these amino acids and MUST get them from their diet. If they are deficient in these macronutients it could cause serve problems for your cat. Do your research and make sure your pet is getting everything they need to be healthy.
Good point Lisa. That’s why my vet said to supplement with canned cat food, which I do. Read the labels to be sure it’s grain-free.
9-Lives Tuna is one of the cheapest, cleanest canned cat foods you can buy, IMO. Check out your local health foods store also. I am going away for 3 days and needed to get a dry cat food as back up. Found only 1 clean one. Does have oatmeal in it, but that’s it. Free of everything else, it’s pretty good.
Hi Lisa- yes you are right that many don’t know about balancing diets for felines. Thank goodness that both amino acids taurine and arginine are found in animal protein, (as well as the 19 other aminos) so beef, seafood, eggs, poultry and pork are safe bets to feed our kitties.
Ooops forgot to add in that its is important to rotate food- example beef hearts very high in arginine; seafood and eggs very high in taurine. But they are both found (just in different levels) in all animal protein. My cats seriously dig the organ meats, its pretty funny. Good luck!
For those out there that may not want to go to the trouble of preparing your own raw diet for your cat, there are several really good commercially made raw diets on the market for cats (and dogs). They can generally be found at speciality pet food stores. From a nutritional and ingredient (gluten-free, no corn, no fillers, human grade protein source) standpoint I personally like Nature’s Variety and Wysong products (but there are lots of other great brands out there as well). They are minimally processed. I feed my cats a combination of raw, wet, and dry cat foods on a rotation diet to reduce the risk of food allergies which can develop when cats are fed the same food month after month. Ideally, I would like to rotate between protein sources (chicken, fish, venison) but one of cats requires a highly digestible meat source so I stick with rabbit.
I would encourage folks out there to do more research about their cats nutritional requirements and to remember that most vets get minimal training in nutrition. Read the labels and try other brands/raw/paleo options for your cat.
Thanks Aileen and Monique for an interesting discussion!
Yes!!! Paleo Pet Food!
We love our little carnivores, right???
I most definitely switched my cat’s diet. If I’m going to eat Paleo, how could I live with myself giving my cat dry cereal?