What You Need to Make Raw Cat Food
Making raw cat food at home requires a few initial investments, but most items are things you probably already have in your kitchen. You’ll need an oven to flash cook the meat. In 6 short videos, I’ll show you exactly how I make Zakk’s food from start to finish.
How Long Does This Take
Time Investment: Expect 3-4 hours from start to finish, including cleanup. One batch lasts approximately 3 months for one cat, so you’re only doing this a few times a year.
Below is a comprehensive list of all the ingredients and supplies I use in the video series, from setup to finish.
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs
- Chicken legs
- EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement
- Omega-3 fish oil for cats
- Bag of ice
Flash Cook Temp & Time
- Oven temperature = 350°
- Flash cook time = 15 minutes
Supplies & Equipment
- Disposable plastic table clothes
- Few large bowls
- Sharp knife to cut raw meat
- Cutting board
- 2 Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper for cookie sheets
- Large flat spatula
- Meat grinder
- Disposable large foil pans
- Large sturdy mixing spoon
- Small freezer safe food storage containers
- Ice creamer scooper
- Chest freezer to store food
! IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the diet I feed Zakk. I believe a species-appropriate diet is ideal for every animal, whether they have disease or not. Through my personal research, I’ve found that much of the mainstream information about diet and disease doesn’t tell the whole story.
Please consult your veterinarian about your cat’s health before changing your pet’s diet.
Video 1 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Quick Overview
- This video walks you through the initial prep work and setup.
- Before I start making raw cat food I remove everything from my counters and table.
- I cover all my work areas with disposable plastic table clothes (you can get these at most dollar stores).
- I put everything I will need out on the table and counters.
- I use chicken thighs and chicken legs because they are fattier pieces of meat and Zakk needs the fat for energy.
- I pre-heat oven to 350°.
- For this batch I bought approximately 26 lbs of a combination of chicken thighs and chicken legs.
- I bought 2 bags of the small pre-mix packets on Amazon.
- I add Omega-3 fish oil when I feed Zakk each individual meal rather than adding it to the entire batch.
Video 2 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Prepping the Meat
- My oven is pre-heating to 350° and I will be flash cooking the chicken for 15 minutes.
- I cut pieces into chunks that will fit through my meat grinder.
- I cut as much meat off the bones as possible.
- I chop bones in half with a forceful chop using my knife.
- I evenly split chicken pieces between 2 cookie sheets for the flash cooking.
- I will be doing 2 oven batches for this bulk batch.
Video 3 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Flash Cook & Ice Bath the Meat
- Before the chicken is done flash cooking, I fill 2 bowls about 1/2 full with ice & cold water.
- I want to create an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
- I recommend an under sink filter for the cold water because this water will be in the food.
- I remove the chicken from the cookie sheets with a spatula.
- I split the flash cooked chicken into the 2 ice bath bowls.
- I dump water as needed but be sure to leave enough in the bowl to cool the meat.
- Ice bathed meat is now ready to go through the meat grinder.
Video 4 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Grinding the Meat
- Meat has been ice bathed and ready to go through the grinder.
- Meat goes through the grinder better if it is cool or cold.
- I put a disposable foil tray under the grinder to catch the ground meat, and have a second tray nearby to switch out once the first one is full.
- I load meat in the top hopper and use the meat tamper to push meat through the grinder.
- I don’t believe they sell this exact model anymore, but here are some similar meat grinders to consider.
Video 5 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Adding Supplements to the Ground Meat
- I evened out the ground meat between 2 foil pans since I am using 2 bags of EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement.
- I add one package of EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement per foil pan of ground meat.
- I sprinkle in about 1/2 the bag to start, adding more as I go until the whole bag is mixed in the pan.
- You want to mix the premix supplement in as thoroughly as you can so it is consistent, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.
- It took me about 5 minutes to mix an entire package into one of the foil pans of ground meat.
- When you’re done adding the premix, the meat will be a little brownish in color.
- Note: Be sure to remove the freshness desiccant packet from the bag before mixing the supplement into the meat.
Video 6 How to Make Raw Cat Food
Packing in Small Freezer Safe Containers & Freezing Cat Food
- EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement does have a bit of a smell to it, but that is normal.
- I use an ice cream scooper to scoop food into the small freezer safe containers.
- I do use Omega-3 fish oil in Zakk’s food, but I add a little squirt to each meal rather than add it to the entire batch of ground meat with premix.
- Be careful not to overfill the containers because they expand in the freezer.
- I keep 1-2 containers of food in the refrigerator at a time so it is always fresh.
- I filled a total of 115 containers for this batch.
- Once all food is packed into containers, I put them in a chest freezer.
- I take out what I need each day and let it thaw in the refrigerator.
- I add a dash of hot water and mix it with a fork before feeding Zakk to bring the food close to room temperature, which cats prefer.
- IMPORTANT FEEDING GUIDELINES:
- Do NOT heat raw cat food.
- Do NOT thaw raw cat food in the microwave.
- Thawed cat food should be eaten within 48 hours or discarded.
Zakk tasting his freshly made raw cat food
Additional Resources on Raw Cat Food
Here are a few resources on raw diets if you’d like to do some research before following the “How to Make Raw Cat Food” video series.
- One veterinarian’s experience with owners who are feeding raw meat to their pets
- Homemade Raw Diet – includes important pointers on how to make raw cat food