Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Opinions are based on personal use and research.

How to Make Raw Cat Food at Home: Complete Video Guide with Recipes | Step-by-Step

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, along with a meat grinder to break down muscle meat, organ meat, and raw bone into a balanced, nutrient-dense mixture your cat can handle. In 6 short videos, I’ll show you exactly how I make Zakk’s food from start to finish.

Cats are obligate carnivores, and a species-appropriate raw food diet more closely mimics the prey they would eat in the wild — including muscle meat, organs like chicken liver and chicken hearts, and bone. Getting the right nutrient profile matters, especially for essential nutrients like taurine, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin E, and B vitamins including vitamin B1, which cats cannot produce in adequate amounts on their own.

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. Once you follow the process a couple of times, it gets easier and faster.

Ingredients

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 chicken and other meats
  • Cutting board
  • Poultry shears optional (helpful for breaking down wings and bone)
  • 2 Cookie sheets
  • Parchment paper for cookie sheets
  • Large flat spatula
  • Meat grinder (stainless steel preferred)
  • Disposable large foil pans
  • Large sturdy mixing spoon (or whisk) for mixing supplements
  • Small freezer safe food storage containers (glass or food-safe plastic containers)
  • Ice creamer scooper
  • Chest freezer to store food
  • Food scale to measure portions by body weight

! 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 — including topics like kidney disease, IBD, diabetes, and weight management. Through raw feeding, many cat owners report improvements in coat, eyes, stool quality, urinary health, and overall feline nutrition.

Please consult your veterinarian about your cat’s health before changing your pet’s diet, especially if your cat is overweight, diabetic, or has a known condition.

Video 1 — 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 cloths, which you can find at most dollar stores.
  • I put everything I’ll need out on the table and counters before I begin.
  • For this recipe, I use chicken thighs and chicken legs because they are fattier pieces of meat with good amounts of protein and natural fat — Zakk needs that fat for energy and metabolism. Chicken is an easy starting point, but other options like turkey, duck, rabbit, quail, or Cornish hen can also be used for variety and a broader nutrient profile.
  • I pre-heat the 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, which contain powdered taurine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iodized salt, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B complex, and other essential amino acids and minerals cats need from their daily diet.

I add Omega-3 fish oil — such as salmon oil or sardine-based oil — when I feed Zakk each individual meal rather than adding it to the entire batch. This helps preserve the fatty acids and keeps each serving fresh.

Video 2 — Prepping the Meat

  • My oven is pre-heating to 350° and I will be flash cooking the chicken for 15 minutes.
  • This brief heat exposure helps reduce surface bacteria and pathogens like Salmonella that may be present on raw chicken without fully cooking the meat or destroying key nutrients and digestive enzymes.
  • I cut pieces into chunks that will fit through my meat grinder.
  • I cut as much muscle meat off the bones as possible, keeping a balanced ratio of meat to bone.
  • I chop bones in half with a forceful chop using my knife — you can also use poultry shears for wings and smaller pieces. Including raw bone in the mixture is important for calcium and phosphorus balance; just don’t use cooked bones, as they become brittle and dangerous.
  • I evenly split chicken pieces between 2 cookie sheets for the flash cooking.
  • I will be doing 2 oven batches for this bulk batch.

If you’d like to incorporate organ meats beyond what’s in the pre-mix — such as chicken liver, chicken hearts, beef kidney, or gizzards — this is the stage to chunk those up and add them to your trays as well. Organ meat like liver is rich in iron, vitamin A, and vitamin B. Hearts are an excellent source of taurine, which is essential for feline heart health, vision, and reproduction. A good starting point is keeping organs to around 10–15% of the total recipe to avoid over-supplementing fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A.

Video 3 — Flash Cook & Ice Bath the Meat

  • Before the chicken is done flash cooking, I fill 2 bowls about half full with ice and cold water.
  • I want to create an ice bath to stop the cooking process immediately, so the meat stays as close to raw as possible while surface bacteria and pathogens have been reduced.
  • I recommend using filtered water — an under-sink filter is a good idea — because this water will be in contact with the food. Tap water treated with chemicals is okay to use, but filtered tap water is a better option when you can.
  • I remove the chicken from the cookie sheets with a spatula and 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 down fully.
  • The ice bathed meat is now ready to go through the meat grinder.

Video 4 — Grinding the Meat

  • Meat has been ice bathed and is ready to go through the grinder.
  • Meat goes through the grinder better if it is cool or cold — don’t worry if it isn’t fully thawed, as slightly frozen chunks actually grind more easily and help prevent pre-ground meat from getting mushy.
  • 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 into the top hopper — including any raw bone pieces, chicken hearts, and chicken liver — and use the meat tamper to push the mixture through the grinder.
  • If you’re also adding raw egg yolks for additional amino acids and fat-soluble nutrients, you can whisk egg yolks separately and fold them into the ground mixture after grinding. Raw egg yolks are nutritious and well-tolerated by most adult cats; just avoid the egg white in large amounts as it can interfere with biotin absorption over time.
  • I don’t believe they sell this exact model anymore, but there are similar stainless steel meat grinders available at grocery stores, health food stores, or online.

Video 5 — 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. This premix is formulated to provide a complete and balanced diet when combined with the correct ratio of muscle meat, organ, and bone — saving you from having to source and measure powdered taurine, iodized salt, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B complex, and other nutrients individually.
  • NOTE: Be sure to remove the freshness desiccant packet from the bag before mixing the supplement into the meat.
  • I add one package of EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement per foil pan of ground meat.
  • I sprinkle in about half 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 throughout, 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 slightly brownish color — that’s normal.

If your cat needs extra fiber for digestion or has issues with constipation or loose stool, a very small pinch of psyllium husk can be added to individual servings rather than the entire batch — it’s worth discussing with your veterinarian first. Some cat owners also add a small amount of powdered taurine or salmon oil at this stage, though I prefer to add fish oil per meal to keep it fresh.

Video 6 — Packing into Containers & Freezing

  • EZComplete fur Cats premix supplement does have a bit of a smell to it, but that is normal given the concentration of minerals, vitamins, and amino acids it contains.
  • I use an ice cream scooper to scoop food into the small freezer safe containers.
  • Portioning by body weight is important — an adult cat generally needs around 2–4% of their body weight in raw food daily, though this can vary for kittens, overweight cats, or cats managing conditions like kidney disease or diabetes.
  • Kittens require more calories and nutrients per pound to support growing, so adjust their daily serving accordingly.
  • 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. Sardine or salmon-based oils are a great natural source of fatty acids for feline skin, coat, and urinary health.
  • Be careful not to overfill the containers because the food mixture will expand in the freezer. I keep 1–2 containers in the refrigerator at a time so it is always fresh — thawed food should not sit in the fridge for more than 48 hours. 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 — never thaw raw cat food on the counter or in the microwave, and avoid re-freezing thawed food.
  • I add a dash of warm water and mix it with a fork before feeding Zakk to bring the food close to room temperature, which cats prefer and which supports digestion.

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.
  • Always wash your hands and clean any surface area that has been in contact with raw meat to prevent the spread of pathogens.
  • Handle raw food the same way you would handle raw chicken intended for your own family.

Zakk tasting his freshly made raw cat food

zakk tasking 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.