Homemade Cat Food

I keep my cat on a semi-natural diet. 

Most meals are a chunk of meat flung on his dish with maybe a sprinkling of dulse (seaweed) for minerals.  The recipe and cooking thing is just too much work for me (tried it), and he loves his meat chunks.  He makes wild cat noises and sometimes brings me a piece to share if he's had enough. 

Also, I would use very little grain -- cats only need a tiny bit or none.  All they would get in the wild would be what is in the stomach of their prey.  I wouldn't cook it either.  They enzymes are destroyed by cooking and, and they have a very short digestive tract, designed for raw flesh with high bacterial activity.

But since my cat doesn't get a real natural diet (whole mice or birds) with the innards, fur, and everything, he's not getting everything he needs, so when I'm out of the raw food, or too lazy or whatever, I give him a some high quality commercial cat food, like Innova or California Naturals.  If a food has grain based protein substitutes, I don't buy it.  All of the ingredients should be either a whole food or a vitamin, mineral, or supplement like fish oil.

Also, cats can eat raw bones.  They cannot eat cooked bones -- that can kill them!  The connective tissue is very good for them, and it can keep their teeth clean, if they get it often enough.  If you can find small enough bones, like maybe quail ribs or something, you could give it a try.  I give my cat the little ends of the chicken wings that usually get thrown away.  He crunches them right up.  At first he didn't know what to do with them so I had to slather it with a little wet food to entice him.

If you are interested, you can google "barf diet for cats" for more info.

My cat is turning 15 this summer, so raw food hasn't killed him yet (or made him sick). 

My two German Shepherds have been eating au naturel for 5 years now.  My male has elbow dysplasia and is still asymptomatic at 7.5 years.

Good luck with your kitten!  Kittens rule!!