Home Cooking for Cats

The following is a recipe for home-cooked cat food. After the recent rash of pet food recalls and my own cats' health concerns, my vet and I came up with this recipe. Never begin feeding your pet any home-cooked diet without consulting with a vet who is familiar both with your pets' particular needs and with veterinary nutrition.

"Turkey Stew for Cats"
16-20 oz ground turkey
1.5 cups frozen peas-and-carrots blend
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
approximately 10 vitamin tablets**

Crumble turkey in a saucepan and add water to almost cover it. Simmer until turkey is fully cooked. Add the vitamin tablets and stir for a minute until mostly dissolved. Add vegetables and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in oats and let simmer until liquid is reduced by two-thirds. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Puree in blender (or with wand-style blender) until well-combined and paste-like in texture, but not too smooth (cats seem not to like that). Just get all the bigger chunks broken up. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator up to five days. Can also be frozen if it will not be used in 5 days; placing dollops of it in mini-muffin papers is a great way to make individual servings which can be stored in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer and defrosted as needed.

**Regarding vitamin tablets: I use Pet Gold brand Vita Tabs, and since one batch of this recipe lasts my two cats five days, I use ten tablets (one tablet per cat per day). These vitamin tablets are essential since the other ingredients do not supply taurine, a nutrient cats absolutely must have to maintain eye and heart health - lack of taurine can be fatal. Talk with a knowledgeable vet about which vitamin supplement is right for your cats and what amount you should use. No home-cooked diet should be started without the consultation of a vet who is knowledgeable about feline nutrition and your cats' particular needs.