Homemade Feline Diets

Homemade feline diets are healthier than most kibbles because kibble contains preservatives and other items (vegetables, fruit, grains) that cats normally would not eat. When making a homemade feline diet, feed meat with taurine in it or supplement with taurine. Cats' bodies do not produce taurine, yet a cat will die without taurine in his diet. Taurine is a sulfer-containing amino acid that plays a large role in bile acid metabolism.

Homemade Raw Diet

Feed the cat a raw diet if she will eat it. Vary the types of meat given for each meal. If you feed chicken one day, feed beef or pork another day. Some cats may eat raw fish, but if that is "too much" for its human, you can use canned jack mackerel.

Add beef heart to the cat's meal at least every other day. Beef heart is high in taurine, an amino acid that the cat's body does not produce.

Cooked Ground Diet

Feed the cat a cooked, ground diet if he will not eat raw food. Grind fish and a protein (any meat) and a bit of beef heart together. The amount you make depends on how much the cat eats. For ground foods, whip an egg and add it to the ground mix. The egg will help hold the ground food together and give it a texture similar to store-bought canned food.

Freeze any ground foods that will not be used within three days. To save time, you can make a large batch of a ground mixture of jack mackerel, chicken, beef heart and an egg (or substitute pork, beef, lamb, duck or venison for the chicken).

Portion leftovers in small baggies or containers. Put enough for two to three days in each container. Remove the container from the freezer one day before you need it, so that it has time to thaw.

Calcium and Taurine Requirements

Add calcium to your cat's diet. If feed a whole raw food diet, give the cat half of a chicken wing (meat and bone) three or four times per week. If you feed a cooked ground diet, rinse and dry egg shells. Grind them in a coffee grinder and mix them in the ground mix. One large eggshell for two to three days of food is plenty.

The amount of beef heart you give depends on how much you feed your cat every day. From 1/2 oz. to 1 oz. is plenty of beef heart for taurine purposes if fed every other day or included in a mixture.