anyone make their own cat food?? And no,, not mice,, mine will play with them,,kill them,, but wont eat them,, but they tear up chipminks pretty well,,(good thing),, does anyone have a recipe,, that will work to make / can cat food?

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 25, 2001

Answers

I have no "recipes" for cat food, but keep one thing in mind - cats are obligate carnivores, e.g., they are meat-only eaters. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had a cat that ate green beans too, but she wouldn't have lived very long on a diet of them. Dogs, by contrast, are NOT obligate carnivores and can extract a certain amount of non-meat based protein from vegetative sources, such as rice. Cats can't.

Why do you want to make your own cat food? I can get cat food for around $5 to $6 for 20 lbs. - you'd be hard pressed to do as well making your own. You can always let them have the offal from butchered chickens, and pressure cook bones until they're soft and feed that to cut the feed bill, too.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), August 25, 2001.

I mix raw hamburger, garlic powder, bone meal, B vitamins, eggs, & milk, and chopped fresh catnip for my 6 cats. Form it into tiny patties & freeze on a cookie sheet; then when frozen, put into bags in the freezer. I get out 5 at a time, thaw, & mix with their canned cat food to give them a little boost. Unfortunately at this time all my cats are indoor cats and don't know what mice & chipmunks are...hopefully that will change when I move, and they can be outdoors all day & in at night. At least I don't have any bugs or earwigs in the house this year!! They track them down and harass them to death because they're bored from being in the house!

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), August 26, 2001.

Yes...read "The Natural Cat" at the library or buy a copy. Great recipe ideas, including illness issues. No, I won't copy the book or recipes here....too much info. Check out a copy at the library.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), August 26, 2001.

A great book, I have it. Also very good (for recipes for cat and dog food and for health issues, though slightly more oriented to dogs) is Dr. Pitcairn's Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.

-- Cathy (logholm@rangenet.com), August 27, 2001.

If you buy dry avoid high ash content. Its hard on their kidneys. Also if you can make your own add a little bit of MSG to the mix if you have dogs in the house. Our vet said it keeps the hounds from raiding the litter box for a snack.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 27, 2001.

OH! I have an answer to this one, and just in time : )

In the June 1984 Countryside, they published recipes for dog and cat food, so here's the one for your feline friend:

1 cup meat powder (meat meal?)

1 cup fish meal

1 cup milk powder

1 cup beaten eggs or eggpowder made up in water

1 Tablespoon lard

Mix to a smooth paste using enough water to get a consistency like cream cheese. Store in refrigerator in airtight tin or freeze in small amounts. This is a week's supply for a cat with a good appetite.

Bon Appetit!

-- Kristin, in LA (sevenstonestile@earthlink.net), September 03, 2001.