Does anyone make their own cat food?

When I get moved and finally get everything settled I think I'm going to start making my own cat food. I've been buying Primal raw cat food but it's 21.00 for a 3lb bag so I can't afford to feed my cats fully raw which is what I would really like to do. I spent some time last night working the numbers and if I make it myself, even though I'll be gaining a new cat when I move I'll be able to feed all 3 cats 100% raw. I'm pretty excited about that. What's more is that it will cost the same as it would if I just stuck to buying Friskies Pate at .50 cents a can lol.

 

If you make your own raw, it is a good idea to add something like foodfurlife to the food: http://www.foodfurlife.com/

 

I'm going to add individual supplements to it
Salmon oil, Vitamin E, Vitamin B Complex, Taurine, Morton Lite
The food will contain chicken with skin and bones, liver, gizzards, hearts, eggs yolks and water.
I'm following the guide from Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM

The reason why I want to do it this way is because I want the bones to be in large enough pieces so that the cats can gnaw on them for their teeth. I probably won't even use a grinder, I'll just cut wing and thigh bones into about 1 to 2 inch pieces. Peanut can eat a half of a wing all by himself easily and that's a 3 to 4 inch long bone. The meat can be cubed up and some of it can be put into my blender and mixed with the water and supplements. I think that I will like that consistency a lot more than what a grinder would give me anyway. It might seem like a lot of work but I'll have someone to help me
http://catinfo.org/
http://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

 

I only make about 10% of their food. Simple stuff - either cooked chicken or fish. The rest of their food is fancy feast classic.

 

@Wendy&Neko used to make her own cat food

 

I still make my own cat food. I have used the FoodFurLife EZComplete premix as well as the TC Feline premix. The reason I went with both of those is that they are lower phosphorus (use eggshell calcium instead of bone) and Neko had her CKD diagnosis at the time. We have had a number of members used the Dr. Lisa formula for making their own catfood.

Note that the thigh bones are much harder than wing bones as they are weight bearing bones. You may wish to consider grinding the thigh bones and leaving the non weight bearing bones whole.

 

Wendy, did you grind your own? I don't want to go there. I too am feeding Primal raw right now. I found a new brand and it's $3.85 a pond but I would have to add supplements to it. I guess I could try adding EZ Complete to it but that would add to the cost and I'd likely be right back up there.

 

I also follow Dr Pierson's recipe. I agree with @Wendy&Neko , regarding the bones. I would grind the thigh bones since trying to cut them you will end up with splintered bones which can do a lot of damage to a kitty internally. And I also occasionally switch it up and use eggshell for the calcium instead of bone.

 

Good point, I can also see what my blender will do to the thigh bones. I have a Vitamix and an Oster Fusion. I watched a video of people using their Vitamix to grind meat and bone together and it worked. Maybe one of my blenders could take the bones alone with some water. I could always test it on a very small batch.

Also I could use boneless thighs, use the eggshells in place of the bones there and then chop up the wings with bones to give them a bony section to crunch on. What do you think about that?
I think I might give them some chicken feet as snacks, that will help to replace bone loss from the recipe as well.

 

Chicken neck pieces are also good snacks. Give about an inch at a time. You can give them whole.

@tiffmaxee Elise, I am lazy. I buy hormone and antibiotic free organic meat from my local exotic meat butcher, and get him to grind it for me. Whole Foods sells preground chicken too, but I like to get something that hasn't been sitting around ground for long. And my butcher stocks all sorts of proteins. Some raw pet food places here sell preground meat or meat and organ packs that are frozen. That's how I got the elk I tried.

 

One of my issues is price when considering to go raw. I can't afford to buy organic like I wanted to but fortunately HEB has a line that is 100% pure. No additives or preservatives, no antibiotics, vegetarian fed, raised cage free, no added growth stimulants or hormones. It's as close to organic as I can get. As soon as an organic label is slapped on something the price is doubled. I will ask and see if HEB is willing to grind certain meat for me but I won't buy preground, it's often unwashed and that's where the Salmonella can become a problem. I would rather larger meats so that I can wash off any surface bacteria myself. I'm even willing to buy whole chickens and buy the Tasin 108 grinder if I have to. I've already invested in a Foodsaver, it's at my new house waiting for me.

 

Here is an article about making your own calcium powder from egg shells. If I was still making my own food I would do this as we eat a lot of eggs in my household.

http://en.newsner.com/after-seeing-...lls-in-the-trash-again/about/tricks,life-haks

 

thank you

 

This is just a complete breakdown for those considering making their own food as I just found out after doing the math, this is the absolute CHEAPEST way to feed my cats and I'll show that to you below

So I sat down and did all of the figures for pricing and this includes grinding my own bones as I'm not going to use the eggshell method. I was going to but then remembered that they need the bone marrow too. Anyway I'm just going to buy that Tasin 108 for 160.00 and get it over with. I'm also going to be using some boneless thighs that I can chop up into chunks for the cats to really gnaw on.
When I finished doing my figures it turns out that making my own raw food and feeding all 3 cats 100% fully raw, full time will be cheaper than feeding them the Friskies Classics Pate at only .50¢ per can. I know, I was shocked too.

I did invest in a Foodsaver but it's totally not necessary, plastic containers are just fine. I have other uses for the Foodsaver so it won't be solely for the cat food and that's why I got it. Plus it will allow me to make MUCH more at a time and place it in a deep freezer. If I'm lucky I'll only be making cat food about 4 times a year. The prices on the Foodsaver bags aren't even a concern because they have deals much of the time were you can get 50% off on those so I didn't figure those into the cost of the food, no need. AND the Foodsaver that I got will work on Mason Jars so I don't even have to buy the bags if I don't want to.

Onward...

According to Friskies cats should be fed 3/4 oz to 1 oz per lb of body weight, well Peanut weights 15lbs, Ginger weighs 12 lbs and the new little Ms. weighs in at about 10 lbs so we have a total of 33 lbs.
That is 6 cans per day which is 180 cans per month (for Ducks sake already) and 180 x .50 = $90.00

This is my homemade recipe following Dr. Lisa Pierson's website and I tweaked the recipe just a little by adding probiotics and psyllium.
The price per batch is for 3 lbs of meat, bone and skin

RECIPE Prices Are ALL Per 3lb Batch
3 lbs of poultry thigh meat, bones and skin (1 lb should be boneless to keep phosphorus / calcium levels correct) (at 1.97/lb x 3 = $5.91)
1 cup water
2 egg yolks (.34¢)
12 oz chicken liver (.11¢)
5000mg to 10,000mg - Fish Oil (5000mg is .27¢)
400 IU - Vitamin E (.12¢)
25mg to 50mg - Vitamin B Complex (25mg is .043¢)
2000mg - Taurine Powder (.056¢)
1 tsp - Morton Lite Salt with Iodine (.15¢)
1 tsp - Psyllium Husk (.025¢)
4 Scoops - TummyWorks Probiotic (.62¢)

Adding all of this together totals $7.64 I also saw a sale for thighs in bulk for .99¢/lb which would make this $4.70

Dr. Pierson says "Most cats eat approximately 4-6 ounces/day but it depends on how much water you add to the recipe and how fatty the end result is. Fat has more calories than protein so it is more calorically dense."
So I just calculated my cat's needs based on them like Peanut is overweight so 5oz, Ginger is perfect weight and tends to have a high metabolism so 6oz and little Ms is tiny so 5oz and that's a total of 16oz per day. In making the 3lb batch, that will give me 48oz which equals 3 days worth of food. Keep in mind that if I was feeding canned that would be $9.00 vs the much more wholesome food for $7.64 or even $4.70 if I get the thighs on sale.

I know that it sounds like a lot but to make enough for a month I'll have to make 30lbs since they are consuming 1lb every day. If it costs $7.64 for 3 days then it will cost me $76.40 for a month OR $47.00 if I buy the thighs on sale.
Raw Cat Food regular price for 1 month = $76.40
Raw Cat Food on sale price for 1 month = $47.00
Friskies Classics Pate for 1 month = $90.00

 

What about all the upfront costs for the supplements / vitamins?

 

I did all of these figures with the prices from the links that were provided from Dr. Pierson's website but I'm searching to find the lowest price for each supplement and then I'm going to recalculate. I will provide the cost of each individual supplement, the total cost and the number of batches that you can get out of each one. Give me a little bit of time, I'm doing this in between packing.

 

Two tips, Taurine Powder and Rubber Maid, among many others. I always turn up my nose at Fancy "Made from old shoes" Feast but Noah eats it and maintains his weight. If I had to give him BigMacs I would. They won't eat the $3.00 healthy food. We have a sink stacked with stinky dirty cat dishes and blobs of wet food all over. So what, they eat it because they like it and they're happy and alive. Remember when butter was evil? People have been eating butter for thousands of years, dogs eat table scraps and I've eaten hot dogs. I also resent the local snooty pet food store that tells me what I'm doing wrong but have never heard of a diabetic cat. Wish I was that smart!

 

Absolutely nooooooooo rush

 

I love you ♥
That entire entry made me laugh. I totally understand where you're coming from and every cat is different. I just happened to get extra, extra, extra lucky I guess... my 2 boys will pretty much eat whatever I train them to eat and my new little girl is the same way so I have it really easy when it comes to cat food and I couldn't be happier. I also want it to be known that I didn't write this with the intention of trying to push people onto raw, I just noticed what a savings I was going to get and I was happy and wanted to share it with others. Recently me and my boyfriend of 6 years broke up and I'm going to be living in a new house in a new situation with a new added cat and I'm suddenly without income. After 6 years of being able to go out and buy whatever I wanted I'm now looking for every single penny pinching ave available and if I can feed my kids a healthier diet for cheaper then I'm on board. I was just really super excited about this discovery and wanted to share it. I really hope that I haven't offended anyone.

 

But not the "I'm all squooshy inside" love right? Can't we just be friends?
Ha! No one here gets offended. Offensive was me in 1978 working at the cow factory so I really do know what's in a hot dog. Had a choice, work in the freezers in August or get splattered in guts. We all sat at our own table in the lunchroom while the older guys had pigs feet for lunch. Too bad about your income, do butchers and stupidmarkets still give away bones with scraps of meat? The raw... The guy that runs the local Best in Town place is such a snob I want to smush his face in. The $100 dog collar made from recycled dirt? Get bent!

 

I understand on not buying preground prepackaged meat (great example is those huge logs of hamburger meat that is so nasty), but if ur lucky enough to actually have a grocer near that has a real butcher, what is the difference from buying fresh ground and grinding yourself? I see where people list that they can wash it theirselves to lower the risk of salmonella, but that isn't just on the surface of the meat, hence the reason you must full cook poultry for human consumption.

 

@Meridith and Zeke That is exactly what Wendy does. I found an already prepared raw that uses egg shell and doesn't add fruit. It's Vital Essentials. It IS pricy though plus I make a mess every time I try to open one. Kittens like it and Primal too.

 

I wonder if you could get meat from a hunter? Animals not injected with the periodic table since birth, Frankenmeat. There's lots of nasties in the forest but I'd rather take my chances there than a factory farm. Maybe not moose but duck blasters are everywhere. Call first, wear an NRA jacket. Weruva makes Paw-Lickin'Chicken and it looks like it could pass as chicken salad in a dark room and doesn't smell like a sewer. Best of all you don't need a second mortgage.