What Ingredients Are Needed for Homemade Adult Cat Food?

Making your own homemade adult cat food is a nutritious alternative to canned, processed, commercial cat foods. If you decide to make your own cat food, use only high-quality ingredients, especially if the cat food you make will be your cat's only or primary source of food. While many variations are possible, certain ingredients are the most important for your cat's health.

  1. Meat

    • When making your own cat food, you must decide whether to use raw meat or cooked meat. While cooked meat lasts longer, the cooking process destroys some of the vitamins essential to your cat's health. Another decision to make regarding meat is whether to remove the skin and excess fat. All of the fat should not be removed because cats need a small amount of animal fat in their diets. However, you can remove all or some of the skin, which contains extra calories.

    Fish

    • Fish is an important ingredient in cat food because it provides a source of protein as well as natural oils that help to keep a cat's coat smooth and shiny. Fish, like meat, can be cooked before adding it to cat food, and it doesn't lose as many nutrients in the cooking process as meat does. In fact, cooking fish is recommended because it will soften any bones left in the fish that could choke your cat if swallowed.

    Liver

    • Liver is an excellent source of vitamin A and protein in homemade cat food. However, liver should not be the main source of protein because excessive vitamin A can be harmful to a cat. Limit your cat's intake of liver to about 10% of its diet by adding only 4 oz. of liver for every 3 lbs. of meat in your homemade cat food recipe.

    Dairy Products

    • Dairy products such as milk and cheese are excellent sources of protein, calcium and carbohydrates, but they should not be the main ingredients used in cat food. Milk, especially, should be used in moderation because too much lactose may give a cat diarrhea. Cheese, on the other hand, can be used as a regular ingredient in cat food because it does not contain lactose. Eggs are another good source of protein, but they should only be fed raw to cats once per week.

    Vegetables

    • Vegetables contain many healthy vitamins and nutrients, but in the wild, most cats do not eat many vegetables, so they are not a mandatory ingredient in homemade cat food. Vegetables, like meat and fish, lose many of their vitamins during cooking, so they should not be overcooked. When used in homemade cat food recipes, vegetables are a good source of vitamin B and add color and texture to the cat food.