Homemade Cat Food for Senior Cats
Choosing to make your own food for your senior cat can help you avoid poisoning and other health problems that can arise from contaminated commercial foods. The dietary needs for most senior cats are almost identical to the needs of younger cats. Senior cats with health problems may need additional fiber, fatty acids and antioxidants. Use meat, bones and organs to make up the majority of your senior cat's diet.
Making Cat Food
Many people choose to feed their cats a raw diet that closely resembles the diet a wild cat would eat. Check with your veterinarian for recommendations on homemade raw diets and whether your cat should be on one. Remove half the skin from about 4 1/2 pounds of raw meat with bones. Choose dark chicken or turkey meat, such as drumsticks or thighs, or rabbit meat. Cut as much of the meat as you can into small, bite-sized pieces.
Place the remaining meat and bones in a meat grinder with 14 oz. of raw heart and 7 oz. of raw liver. Grind the mixture to a fine consistency and stir it well. Use the heart and liver of the same animal as the meat. If you cannot find raw heart meat to purchase, use 4000 mg taurine instead. Substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D if you cannot use raw liver. If you are replacing the heart and liver with supplements, do not add them in the meat grinder. Save them for later and grind the remaining meat and bones only. Add additional meat to make up for the lost ounces if you use supplements to replace the heart and liver.
Mix 2 cups of water, 4 raw egg yolks, 4000 mg of salmon oil, 800 IU of Vitamin E, 200 mg of Vitamin B, 1 1/2 tsp. of salt with iodine and 4 tsp. of psyllium husk powder in a bowl. Whisk the ingredients together. Add taurine, Vitamin A and Vitamin D to this mixture if you are using supplements to replace the heart and liver. Mix the chunked meat and the ground meat and bones in with this mixture until well blended. Portion out the mixture into plastic containers and freeze whatever you will not use in the next 48 hours. Before feeding, scoop out a small portion that your cat will eat and place it in a plastic sandwich bag. Run the bag under hot water until it is warm to make it more palatable to your senior cat.
Cats With Health Conditions
Senior cats with health conditions may have slightly different dietary needs than healthy cats. Talk to your veterinarian before making any dietary changes to get suggestions specific to your cat's condition. Cats with diabetes, constipation, and colon or anal conditions may benefit from increased fiber. You can add more fiber to your homemade food by increasing the amount of psyllium husk powder. Cats with heart disease may benefit from an additional few ounces of raw heart or additional taurine in their diets. Senior cats with heart disease should also get less sodium. Cut back on the amount of skin you leave on the meat and the amount of salt with iodine in the food. Cats with cancer can benefit from additional fatty acids. Consider adding more salmon oil to your cat's food if it has cancer and replace the salmon oil every few days by adding a few drops to the thawed portions of food since some fatty acids may be lost during the freezing process. Cats with kidney disease have difficulty breaking down waste, so do not feed them homemade diets without checking with your veterinarian first.
Tags: heart liver, meat bones, benefit from, fatty acids, Senior cats with, with heart