I make all my cats' food. They are fed raw, as cats are obligate carnivores. I do it the easy way - buy a mix with the proper additives, minerals, supplements (taurine especially) etc. and just add the raw meat. It is all human grade - in a pinch I suppose I could fry it up in patties and make intentional human food...

Cats do go outside and forage their own fresh food.

dcarch

I'm curious salix, what are the ingredients? I've often thought of making their food. Do you only feed the softer food or do you supplement with something crunchy for their teeth?

Sorry dcarch, once I've domesticated a cat, I'm not letting them outside. Too many things can happen to my furbabies (dog bites, insects, and cars). And since they're used to being inside, they're quite happy, most of the time. The big girl lived her first six months on the streets, and so, she's more familiar with outdoors and likes to go out on a leash. She loves to be walked and let the kids pet her. Other one is terrified of being out at all??? Even on the leash. Silly boy. I promise I'm not giving him negative reinforcement. He's just unhappy feeling snow on his paws or hearing cars whizzing past. Dogs barking seem to bother him too. Can't he hear dogs inside? Sheesh. They're both rescues.

Mommy girl
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Silly boy (he won an honorable mention in our employee pet magazine issue. We have 22,000+ employees, so pretty well!)
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I did a lot of research after my precious Noel Elizabeth was diagnosed with feline diabetes. I started making her (and healthy Buster Frank's) food. The change in both of them was amazing. Noel gained needed weight and chubby Buster lost weight; their fur was silky. I was so ashamed that I had been feeding them what I thought was premium and healthy food only to find out that I was being duped by false advertising. Peppi gave me some guidance too.

Do your homework and I'm sure you will come up with the solution for your babies.

Rob, Beautiful!!

My cats are indoor-outdoor.

One is a roamer, usually 30 feet up in a tree trying to reach the squirrels, or forcing the neighbors' cats away from his territory. Another is a homebody, lives on the couch with occasional lolling on the porch. The third does some outdoor roaming but mostly busies herself with inspections of all the beds and their inhabitants. The fourth is a nervous guy, probably was abused before we got him at the shelter, he spends most of his time in the basement or in the kitchen with one eye on the basement door.

I'm interested in making their food because some of them are getting a bit chubby - if I can't be slim and trim, I can live vicariously through my cats - and because I think commercial wet cat food is stinky.

to add another dimension altogether to the indoor/outdoor cat discussion, I had a big white cat named Snowflake. He weighed 18 pounds and so my neighbors called him Snowbank. He came in when he wanted, went out as he wished. He always caught his own food, although he'd eat treats occasionally. He got that urinary tract thing that male cats get, and it killed him, he never got the chance to be on the "special diet". So, what they kill and eat isn't necessarily always the best for them either. Plus, here in town, there is traffic, they can ingest antifreeze or other toxins.

So, The Dead Cat From Hell is an indoor cat. Just like Cooper, she eats what I eat. She prefers meat and her favorite food is sardines packed in olive oil but she also likes Cheerios, cheddar cheese, sweet potatoes and buttered homemade biscuits. Well, I think she'd eat a telephone pole if you'd butter it....

She wis a feral cat that Amanda picked up from the road when she was about 10 months old. The vet told me she was too malnourished, too sick, too small to survive, that I should have her euthanized. Ashley cried so I decided to take her home and let her die somewhere warm with a full belly. Instead she's been with us for nearly 14 years now and she's still healthy, happy and active and slaps the snot out of the dogs on a regular basis. She likes Peppi, but most of my friends have never seen her, they call her "The Invisible Cat".

Pancho is 13 and has never eaten a bite of dog food in his life, he has always eaten what Elery eats, including pinto beans, one of his favorite foods.

so, the original question was "do I make cat food intentionally". Certainly and it's whatever I have for dinner. For nights when I have something she doesn't care for, I keep cooked meat and vegetables in the fridge for the pets.

Annie

I'm not going to get into cat politics but really

"Snowbank" OMG that's funny!

Theo kitty is 12 years old now...he will go outside but not for long. He can't climb up on the fence anymore so just lays in the sun in the backyard (it's fenced in)

Linda

Rob, your kitties are so cute, Mama kitty looks so comfortable and silly boy looks like he wants to be naughty.

Cathy, that's a beautiful picture of both of your cats, the one that has gone on to wait and the one that is still here.

Linda, I love those eyes...

Annie

Wants to be? When isn't he? teehee

So what do your cats eat Annie? Just the carnivorous parts or the veggie parts too? Not so crazy as it sounds as the naughty one begs for squash. It is pretty good, but it seems silly as he doesn't beg for anything else??? Crazy cat.

I just love all of your cat pictures. Thanks so much.

I recently adopted a rescued cat from my vet's office. She was brought in by a good Samaritan. She was a stray that had eaten the bait off of a fish. The hook went up through the roof of her mouth and came out her eye. The vet had to remove the hook and eye and close up where her eye used to be. Izzy is so sweet and pretty, black with one big gold eye.

BTW, I feed my five kitties cat food with occasional people treats. They are all strictly indoor cats. I live in the country with all kinds of wild animals including cougars, coyotes, and even alligators to name a few. So I don't want my cats outside.

Our cats prefer catfood, although we have tried to get them used to raw meat in the past. They would sniff, lick and look at us like "Um, it's not finished...". They will occasionally eat bits of raw fish when DH is filleting bass or crappie, but that's about it. Their food is a 'no-grain' type kibble, so at least it doesn't contain corn, wheat or soy. I know there are higher protein/lower carb foods out there, but they're not available locally and are pretty pricey.
I grow wheat grass all winter so they'll have greens to chew on and of course, catnip.
Rob333, many cats like pumpkin/squash. Those that do may also like cantaloupe.
Our little bratties do demand that we offer things frequently. They more often than not turn their noses up...it's the act of offering that they insist on, LOL.

Rob, I just have one cat, that's enough, she terrorizes both dogs and the grandkids and sometimes Elery. She likes to wait until he's asleep on the couch then jump up on the back of the couch behind him and just barely touch his ear with a paw. Startles him every time and then she jumps and runs, insulted that he moved, LOL.

she eats beef, pork, chicken, fish. She'll also eat roasted butternut squash but not mashed squash, and she likes bits of fried potatoes, but no other kind. she also likes plain cheerios but not the frosted kind, sweet potatoes, anything with butter on it and occasionally ice cream, but she wants it to melt first. Cheddar cheese and occasionally swiss, not any other kind.

She's not overweight, she's black and sleek and shiny and happy and the vet says she's one of the healthiest old cats he knows. Just a couple of months ago I saw her launch herself from the floor to the windowsill to the ceiling light fixture to catch a bat that got into the house, and I have 8 foot ceilings, so that's about a 6 foot verticle jump. She caught it too, she's fast and agile for an old cat. She'd starve to death, though, if she had to do her own hunting because she'll catch mice and torture them but she never kills them. The WonderWeiner used to do the execution for me, then he'd spit the dead mouse out and look at the cat like he was saying "stupid, I've shown you this a million times", and walk away. Now I've had to go back to killing them with a broom, Cooper only barks at them.

Annie

If you make cat food, or give them people food - never, never feed them garlic, onions, leeks, raw potatoes, green tomatoes, chocolate, grapes or raisins. If they have gas - give them a teaspoon or so of plain yogurt. My cats get some canned food and dry for browsing, and almost everyday they bring me mice, voles, snakes, birds, lizards, rabbits, butterflies, and once a squirrel and a hummingbird. They are inside/outside cats and are pretty safe from cars since we are surrounded by 40 acres of woods, but I've heard there are a few coyote's out there. They are citizens of the world and come and go as they please, and always on the wrong side of the people door.
I have three "coffee" cats - Mocha Latte Claws (blackish brown and tiny) who adopted me several years ago by bringing me a dead rabbit. She had three babies - Java Bean (black, who broke her little neck at 8 wks from jumping off a too high shelf), Cuppa Joe (Russian Blue, who weighs 18# and follows me like a puppy), and Frothy DeCafe (Russian Blue, who is very shy and only lets me pet her if I use a brush). They all have huge long claws and sashay up trees and onto my rooftop like lightening. I never had cats before but the last 5 years have been truly fun with their antics.

Nancy

Never use rat poison around your property.

I only use electronic rat zappers.

dcarch

Rob333, sorry to be so late getting back with the ingredients from the additive mix.. Mostly egg yolk, liver powder, whey protein, omega oils from fish, all the necessary vitamins and minerals. Just need to add water to the mix and add the raw meat, either ground or chopped. I make 5 pound batches and freeze in daily portions. I have two beautiful ragdoll boys, strictly indoors. Mustangs, your lovely furbabies look to be about the same size. John, my boys are actually on the lean side, disguised by a mass of fur. I am almost ashamed to admit it, but they have the cleanest teeth our vet has seen at that age, because after each meal (large mouse sized, three times daily), they get their teeth brushed! They don't like it much, and it isn't a very thorough job each time, my plan is to hopefully get a different spot and it will all even out in the end... I do this because even though all my cats have lived to very ripe old ages (16-20), they have always succumbed to some complication due to bad oral health, usually renal failure. Also John, I understand that dry kibble does not contribute to clean teeth because the carbohydrates are more prone to sticking and forming plaque.

My cats mostly have dry food. They will also eat canned cat food, and canned tuna. They will sometimes eat raw fish, or cooked meat, but not always. No interest in milk or cream.

For a while I tried making them food - ground beef or chicken, a small amount of brown rice and shredded carrots, a small amount of fat (oil, animal fat) and water, all moist cooked. It was quite edible if I do say so myself. Better than my usual meal in college. They liked it for a week or so, then stopped eating it.

I'd like to go back to making their food, or maybe I'll start buying tuna at the dollar store. Wet cat food is just awful smelling.

Thanks Salix! I should've asked before, where do you get the mix? I am greatly considering making them their own food. I made my son his own babyfood, so it's really not all that daunting a task.

Isn't it awful smelling John? My really old 18 year old boy was so spoiled (especially at the end), I would zap it in the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm it. Talk about really awful smelling! Ew. But he loved it. That's a cat that never knew outside. He'd only come out just outside the door into my lap after dinner on summer nights while we ate on the patio. He was very timid, but loved people.

Out of our 7 cats, only one will eat raw venison. I tried cutting it up very small and they would rather have kibble. Same goes with chicken livers. So, that all goes into dog treats. They are all outdoors except in the coldest part of winter when we let them in our guest house at night. We always feed them outdoors though so they don't get too accustomed to being inside.

Never had a need for mouse/rat poison with 7 cats! Whenever we see a mouse in the basement of our main house, we put a couple of them down there for the night. Even if they don't catch it, the mouse decides to leave. Rodents don't want to be anywhere near the smell of cats.

I am very interested also in making my own cat food. Where do I purchase everything--the health food store? I'd love any exact recipes!!

Thank you!

Kitties like their food warm i.e. the temperature of "freshly killed mice".

John, there's an interesting discussion on this topic right now on the Pets Forum (see link). As for me, I'd never consider feeding raw meat, for safety reasons. I feed my cat, Sassy, mostly commercial canned food, with a little dry food as backup.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Raw feeding thread

It is an interesting topic, what I saw, though, was referring to dogs, which are NOT obligate carnivores. Their digestive systems are quite different from felines. The ideal diet for cats of course would be whatever they could catch in the wild, small rodents, birds, insects, reptiles. However, it is just not gonna happen for my boys...

Luna Looski likes my chili. Most of the time I just call her Luna-loo or Lulu. Mostly my cats like catfood. Tuna used to eat with me and I cooked most everything for her. Tuna liked the strip side of a porterhouse cut... beef tenderloin in any form did not impress her. Yoko will take a little bit of raw chicken if I tell her it is "bird meat". They hunt in packs to kill and eat any flying insects in the house. Sometimes I let a couple cats in the garage to hunt down the mice.... yoko and lulu are best at coming back when I call so they get outside time.

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: )
lyra

John - just regarding your comment about feeding your cat tuna. Be careful! The problem with tuna is that it is completely lacking in taurine, an essential amino acid for cats. Cats who are deficient in taurine can become blind and develop cardiomyopathy. When cat food first started being manufactured and fed on a widespread basis in the late '50's/early '60s, the cats' requirement for taurine was not known, and a leading causes of death in cats at the time was cardiomyopathy caused by a lack of taurine. It is also the reason why cats should not be fed dog food, which is lacking in taurine. There is no problem with tuna as a treat or flavoring. But the cat should not fill up on tuna and consequently not eat cat food with the essential taurine.

If you decide to make your own cat food, you have to be knowledgeable about all the vitamin/mineral/amino acid requirements of cats and have the food well balanced in these things. There are websites that have recipes that are good, or your vet might have recipes for home-made cat food. But don't just throw together some meat, rice and carrots, and think that's all they need.

Actually, the perfect cat food, the one with the perfect blend of vitamins, minerals, and grains, is a mouse (cats are carnivores, but also derive benefit from the stomach contents of the mouse which has been munching on seeds and grasses in the wild). Manufacturers have been trying to duplicate the mouse nutritional values in cat food for years, but since they have to cut costs, and have to preserve the food for shelf life (via preservatives and/or excessive heating), they cannot possibly accomplish it.

I understand your comment about wet cat food being "stinky", but it is unfair to impose your sensibilities on your cat. Wet food, from a brand that is higher in protein and low in carbs, is better for your cat. Would you want to eat cereal 24/7? Wet food is also better for your cat's kidneys, cause dry food requires the cat to drink a lot of water, which the cat often doesn't do, making the kidneys work much harder. Two high-quality manufacturers are Evo which makes low- or no-grain canned cat food, and Wysong, which does not heat its food excessively.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tuna Nutritional Values for Cats

I happened to notice that ''organic raw cat food'' at the pet store is $14 for a 24-oz tub. Whatever the additives cost, I think I can do better than that.

This site shows 20 things our cats should not eat.

Here is a link that might be useful: What Our Cats Should Not Eat

Raw is great for cats, but you must really research and read about it so that you provide the right balance of calcium, protein, and additional nutrients. Cats need taurine; they are unable to make their own. They obtain this from RAW meat, especially high in taurine is heart meat and (no surprise) mice, or it can be added as a supplement to cooked food. Cooking destroys the taurine so if cooking, you would add the taurine after. There are many great forums on raw feeding of pets. Just make sure that you don't apply all the dog rules to cats - cats require a bit more protein in their food ratio and are unable to make their own taurine unlike dogs.

Seems to me, reading this thread, that one could buy a bunch of male and female mice....a large cage or two...buy a couple of new animals every once in a while for genetic variation... might be difficult if you get attached to the mice or are squeamish. Like me.

trudymom, that's a good list. Most people would know, of course, that they shouldn't let their cats get into medicine or raw yeast dough and grapes/raisins and chocolate have been so highly publicized that it's common knowledge, I think. But milk or tuna wouldn't have occurred to me, probably. My cat won't drink milk anyway, or eat raw eggs, she likes her eggs scrambled with ham in them. As for dog food, well, she eats what Cooper eats and vice versa and they both eat what I eat, LOL.

Lucy, the Deat Cat loves our grassfed beef raw, it's the only thing she'll beg for, and I mean stand up on her back legs and beg. Maybe that's why she's been so healthy for so many years...

Jessica, wouldn't work with the Dead Cat, she'll only torture mice, she won't kill them and she refuses to eat them. No wonder she was starving to death when Amanda found her!

Annie

regarding mice: there are actually people who buy mice for their cats. The mice are called pinkies because they are babies. I'm not judging...just saying..... apparently there is a market for everything. No, I have not fed my cats pinkies although it would probably be easier than making the homemade raw mix I make now.....