We got our new cat, Mitzie, at the local community garden as a friendly stray last October. She was used to catching some of her food which of course has natural enzymes intact, so when she came to live with us we started giving her high quality dry food she immediately got diarrhea. I gave her some Chinese Medicine: The contents of one “Curing pill” (they work great for cats and dogs) inside a ball of canned cat food. Then we started giving her a raw egg yolk a day, and raw milk. This cleared her right up and she enjoys the raw egg and raw milk as part of her daily diet. Note: Pasteurized milk is harmful to animals just like humans as all of the beneficial bacteria and enzymes needed to break the milk proteins down are killed during the pasteurization process.
Fast forward 7 months, and we now have 4 of the cutest little kittens at home. I am such a stickler about the importance of good food that when little “Blackie” wasn’t eating I jumped to find the best possible homemade food. Cats are hunters, and of course need raw food to supply natural nutrients the way Mother Nature made them. Here’s the recipe I’m working on so far that seems to be working really well. All the kittens and Mitzie the mom love it. It makes up the main part of their diet. We also give them raw milk (they seem to like to let the milk clabber in the bowl then eat it like yoghurt), raw egg yolks and some dry kibbles (Origin Cat and Kitten) in case we are gone for longer periods of time. We leave some dry, and some in a bowl with warm broth or water to soften it.
Blackie’s Raw Chicken – Catfood recipe
- The soft, smooshie parts only of very well cooked bones (do not give animals any hard cooked bones or they may splinter causing harm), gristle, skin, cooked meat from making broth that gets overcooked – 4 cups
- Well cooked carrots – 4 carrots
- Peas – 1/2 cup
- Small amount of very well cooked kale – 2 large leaves
- Hand full of dried cranberries (I don’t know…1/4 cup?)
- 3 chicken necks and 4 thigh bones simmered as broth
I purchased 8 organic, pastured chicken thighs at Raley’s for $2.99/lb, chicken necks at the Ashland Food Coop. Removed the raw meat from the thighs and cut into small 1/3 dime sized pieces (you can cut smaller pieces for little kittens, making the pieces bigger as they grow. It’s good for their teeth to chew on pieces) Save the raw meat pieces in fridge or freezer till you are ready to mix them into the prepared food.
Place bones from the thighs and 3 neck bones skin in a pot, bring to a boil, and simmer low for 1.5 hours. Add carrots in the last 1/2 hour, peas and kale in the last 10 minutes. Remove the bones and save all the vegetables, meat, skin, fat and gristle, let cool a bit, then puree with the broth you just made. Add in the VERY WELL COOKED, SMOOSHIE bones mixture described above. (These I save from making my own longer cooked broth.)
In a bowl, mix together with the chopped up raw chicken pieces, skin, and tendon pieces from the chicken thighs.
I put the food into pint sized containers and freeze until I’m ready to use. I did the math, and it’s cheaper than canned food! And our wise littlest kitten, Blackie, was smart enough to not even touch the so called “good” canned food. She held out until we came up with the raw meat idea.
Thanks Blackie!!