Hi,
Looking for suggestions for home cooked food for cats…
I used to give Felix wet food (chicken) to my cats, but one of the cat can't seem to digest it properly and throws up a few hours after eating it.
I am currently giving my cats dry food and add either salmon or tuna to it.
Just wondering what else can I give to them? I have tried giving them boiled/fried eggs, but they don't like it.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Maybe it is… I am open to suggestions.
It's probably a bit harder for cats as they are carniverous.
For my dog, I often make raw meatballs for them using raw beef mince, shredded carrot, celery, capsicum and a bit of cheese mixed in. She loves it.
There's a lot of groups on Facebook about raw feeding that can guide you to ensure you're getting the right nutrients for your cats :) There are completers like Raw Meow that you add to plain muscle meat like chicken mince, to make it complete & balanced.
I purchase pre-made raw food from Petbarn and PetStock (brands like Big Dog for Cats, Dr B's BARF & Proudi my cats love). I find it cheaper than buying dry food or even wet food, heeeaaaaps cheaper than prescription diet, plus my cats seem to enjoy raw food more.
Good luck with the journey!
Have you taken your cat to the Vet… cats can digest anything….
I have. Did the blood test earlier. The older cat has a thyroid problem and I have to apply a cream to the inside of the ear twice a day. She is the one who throws up the food. Dry food seems to have helped and she hasn't thrown up for last 6 days. I just want to introduce some other food just as eating dry food daily would be very boring.
What did the vet say about diet?
I have an older cat who is sadly on dry food only now. She has the hyper allergic Hills prescription diet. Prior to this she used to get a ton of ear infections and the vet suspected it was diet. Went to this and her ear infections reduced greatly. We tried to introduce other foods back but the ear infections came back. The cat is now just on this (otherwise it’s ear treatments and trips to the vet)
What did the vet say about diet?
Vet didn't say much. They were thinking that the thyroid problem was the one that was causing it. However, from my own observation, I didn't notice any change in the vomiting frequency even though the cat was being given the medication as required.
After that I thought that it could be the food. So, I tried to eliminate the wet food (Felix) and it did help. As I mentioned earlier, the cat hasn't vomited for 6 days.
When I take the cat for the next blood test to check the thyroid levels, I will discuss it further with the vet.
@RSmith: Also talk to your vet about the benefits of switching your cat to a renal diet, as long term thyroid meds can affect kidney function. Royal Canin makes both a wet and a dry version, both of which are quite palatable to cats.
Hi Gunnar, I'm an approved vet assist and my bet is ingredients in the previous cat food were the trigger. Not an allergy but a dietary sensitivity, likely from grains - cats shouldn't be fed grains but they're in most cat foods. So not an allergy if it's something a cat shouldn't eat anyway!
@RSmith have you considered raw or does it have to be home cooked? There's a great Facebook group called Australian Raw Fed Cats who will advise you in both respects. Personally I don't have any issues with home cooked but you'll need an emphasis on meat, organs (10%), and bones (10%) fed raw or ground if cooked. Some rice and veggies should be fine in moderation, but fairly unnecessary for a cat as a carnivore.
Mouse?
Home cooked mouse sounds good…
Cats are pretty boring, lots of them are totally fine with eating the same thing all the time or just eating different dried food; they are not the same as humans and dont get bored. There is no need for a cat to eat 'fresh' or tinned food or a variety of food. Many cats eat the same dried food every meal for years and refuse to each anything different. You will notice cats are pretty OCD…
Coles and Woolies have some fresh cat food in a freezer in their pet food aisle, you can try that - chicken/kangaroo/beef mince
However lots of times the problem with cats is an inability to digest the protein, so fresh food isnt much use. You can either identify the protein type by type (eg for your cats perhaps its fine with fish but not other protein) or try the hypoallergenic food (eg royal canin) which does special magic stuff to minimise that problem.
Finally, its possibly just something in that specific wet food. Have you tried other wet food?
She didn't have a problem with that wet food in the past. She would vomit occasionally but that we attributed to hairball and put her on the hairball control food (Hills science iirc).
This daily vomiting was getting quite troublesome for me as well. So just by trial and error, I managed to pin it to the wet food. She has had other wet foods in the past, but I haven't given her any wet food for last few days.
Boiled chicken is very good for cats. Whenever they get sick, we give them boiled chicken instead of the usual wet food.
The cat vomitting must have an underlying condition, he/she may need prescription wet food.
The cat vomitting must have an underlying condition, he/she may need prescription wet food.
She used to vomit occasionally but I think that was due to her grooming herself. A bunch of hair would usually come out… But towards the end of last year that frequency increased. Happened almost daily.
But not giving her the wet food is definitely helping and today is exactly a week since she last vomited.
Boiled chicken is a good idea. I am pretty sure she will love it.
I had an old cat before (now RIP). She would also vomit hairballs, so I used to give her Hills prescription medicine for hairballs (dry food), that helped her digest the hairballs.
Later on she got kidney disease, so had to buy both dry and wet food prescription for kidney so she would live longer.
All the cats I've had prefer chicken over fish, so we give them boiled chicken once in awhile or when they are sick, they love it.
My cats won't leave us alone until they get their daily dose of wet food, they remember the exact time they usually get it and demand it. It's funny to watch!
It is hard to get good nutritional advice from Vets. They tend to be trained by the large pet food companies and push their products. Do your own research and you will get a better idea.
Isn't raw better?