Home-Made nutritionally sound cat food books

Our question this week was:

Dear Dr. Debra,

With the recent tragedy regarding commercially prepared pet food, I now wish to make my own cat food, from scratch!! I am sure many pet owners feel the same way. Can you recommend some good books soon, in your newsletter? I understand that certain nutritional requirements need to meet, for a healthy cat. I no longer trust what the marketplace is offering.

Thanks so much,

Helen Edelstein

Answer

Hi Helen– thanks for your email. I totally understand what you must be feeling. As a pet owner, it is frustrating to think you are doing the right thing, buying a good food to find out that it could cause harm. I can’t image what pet owners are doing that are or have experienced the problem.

The hard part is that it can be difficult to create a balanced diet that is home made. Over the years, dozens of pets with nutritional deficiencies have been identified from poor food manufacturers or home made diets. If you do it – you need to make sure you do it right. If you choose to cook for your pet, take the recipe and discuss it with your veterinarian to ensure it is right for your pet.

As far as recommended reference for books on pet nutrition, here is one:

Source:
Pocket Companion to Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th Edition
Editors: Michael S. Hand, DVM, PhD, Diplomate American College of Veterinary Nutrition and Bruce J. Novotny, DVM, Helios Communications, LLC
Copyright 2002 by Mark Morris Institute

For more Information on this book:
Mark Morris Institute
P.O. Box 2097
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2097
Phone: 785-286-8101
Fax: 785-286-8173

Here are two recipes from that book that indicate that they meet AAFCO Guidelines:

Balanced generic formula for healthy adult dogs that meets AAFCO guidelines:
Daily food formulation for an 18-kg dog

Ingredients Grams Percent
Carbohydrate, coocked* 240 58
Meat cooked 120 29
Fat* 10 2
Fiber+ 30 7
Bone Meal++ 4.0
Potassium Chloride++ 1.0

Nutrient Content (%DMB)

Protein 21
Fat 20
Crude Fiber 6.5
Calcium 0.66
Phosphorus 0.59
Magnesium 0.1
Sodium 0.2
Potassium 0.6
Kcal (as fed) 820

* Examples include rice, cornmeal, oatmeal, potato, pasta and various infant cereals
Examples include all typical meats, poultry, fish and liver.*Chicken fat, beef fat, vegetable oil or fish oil.
+Prepared high-fiber cereals (All-Bran, Fiber One) or vegetables (raw or cooked)
++Dicalcium phosphate can replace bone meal.
+++Readily available as a salt substitute in grocery stores.
Human adult vitamin-mineral tablet (9g/tablet, give 1 tablet/day)

Directions: Bake or microwave meat component and cook starch component separately. Grind or finely chop meat if necessary. Pulverize the bone meal or dicalcium phosphate. Mix with all other components except the vitamin-mineral supplement. Mix well and serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. Feed the vitamin-mineral supplement with the meal; give as a pill or pulverize and thoroughly mix with food before feeding.

Balanced generic homemade formula for healthy adult cats that meets AAFCO allowances:
Daily food formulation for a 4.5-kg cat

Ingredients Grams Percent
Carbohydrate, coocked* 60 50
Meat cooked 40 34
Fat* 10 8
Bone Meal+ 1.2
Salts (NaCl/KCl++) 1.0
Taurine 0.5

Nutrient Content (%DMB)

Protein 31
Fat 28
Crude Fiber 2.0
Calcium 0.69
Phosphorus 0.58
Magnesium 0.1
Sodium 0.4
Potassium 0.75
Kcal (as fed) 250

* Examples include rice, cornmeal, oatmeal, potato, pasta and various infant cereals.
Examples include all typical meats, poultry, fish and liver.*Chicken fat, beef fat, vegetable oil or fish oil.
+Dicalcium phosphate can replace bone meal.
++Readily available as lite salt in grocery stores.
Human adult vitamin-mineral tablet (9g/tablet, give 0.5 tablet/day)

Directions: Bake or microwave meat component and cook starch component separately. Grind or finely chop meat if necessary. Pulverize the bone meal or dicalcium phosphate. Mix with all other components except the vitamin-mineral supplement. Mix well and serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. Feed the vitamin-mineral supplement with the meal; give as a pill or pulverize and thoroughly mix with food before feeding.

Best of luck!

Dr. Debra

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