Homemade Kitten Food
Homemade kitten food is an option if you want to know exactly what ingredients your kitten is consuming. While commercial kitten food easy to prepare, kitten food make from scratch can take time and effort. However, it may be totally worth it when you consider how healthy and energetic your kitten will be once it’s eating wholesome, quality homemade cat food.
Depending upon your kitten’s age and dietary requirements, you can make nutritious and tasty homemade meals. Kittens not yet weaned will need a formula for nourishment. Homemade kitten formula is easy to make and requires few ingredients. Older, fully weaned kittens can eat meals of raw or cooked meat with select vegetables added to their diets.
Homemade kitten food can be prepared ahead of time and frozen to keep it fresh. And the cost of homemade cat food is actually less than you would spend buying commercial dry and wet kitten food.
Natural fresh food has no fillers and additives so your kitten will become fuller with smaller amounts of food. Even better, you can alter your homemade food to meet your kitten’s needs by adding liquid vitamins, crushed eggshells, or whatever you like.
Do I Need Specialized Kitten Food?
Most people believe that fully weaned kittens need a special kitten food formula, separate and distinct from adult cat food. It’s true that kittens need the extra protein and fat in their diets to develop properly. And you can feed you kitten a commercial kitten food formula.
However, you can also feed your kitten cooked or raw food diets which will fit their nutritional needs. Remember you kitten’s wild cat ancestors did eat a special kitten formula as youngsters. They ate animal meet and a few greens and grasses that fully met their dietary needs. They also ate small frequent meals.
Modern day kittens need to eat small frequent meals as well. A five or six month old growing kitten should eat between four and six small meals per day. Adult cats only need to eat about two meals per day.
Importance of Meats
Meat plays an essential role in a kitten’s diets. It provides protein, a necessary nutrient that builds lean muscle and provides energy. Kittens must get meat in their diet.
Without it they can develop muscle wasting and stunted growth. Meat also provides essential water in the diet, as cats tend to get most of the moisture they need through their diets.
They best type of meats to give kittens includes chicken, fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), turkey, and venison. Beef, lamb, and pork aren’t always well tolerated by cats.
Valuable Vegetables
Vegetables, not grains, play a valuable role in a feline’s diet. They help add bulk to the stool and have beta carotene and other vitamins necessary for cats. Veggies to try in your cat’s diet include: sweet potatoes, squash, greens, and carrots. I give my cat about a teaspoon of mashed sweet potatoes as a treat every now and then. He loves them!
Most vegetables are palatable to cats. However, please avoid onions and other alliums as this can cause life-threatening anemia in cats. And nightshade family plants like white potatoes can cause digestive problems in cats. (Sweet potatoes are not in the same family as white potatoes.)
Have any great homemade kitten food recipes you’d love to share?
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