You can prepare meals for your healthy cats as easily as you do for yourself. The following simple but nutritionally complete recipes contain foods that you commonly use for your own meals. Below are several recipes for healthy growing kittens and adult cats.

Several important points...

1. These recipes are all nutritionally balanced and complete for healthy kittens and adult cats without any serious medical problems. Cats are true carnivores and need lots of animal protein to thrive. They require few if any carbohydrates and do not have the necessary digestive pathways to metabolize them.

2. Do not feed just one diet constantly. Alternate diets so that your cat receives a wide variety of animal proteins. 

3. Kittens and cats need about 32-36 Calories per pound of body weight per day. So if your cat weighs 10 lbs, he or she needs 320-360 Calories per day divided into 2-3 meals. The Calorie count for each recipe is listed at the bottom of the recipe, so adjust the amount you make and feed. And remember to divide the total Calories required per day into 2-3 meals per day.

4. In many recipes vegetable (canola) oil is the primary source of fat. If your cat is overweight, you will need to slightly decrease the amount of oil in the recipe. If your cat is underweight, you will need to slightly increase the oil. 

5. Vitamin-mineral supplements are needed to balance the diet. Use a name brand cat vitamin-mineral supplements such as Pet-Tabs,or you can use a high quality human vitamin such as NOWFOODS Daily Vitamins. If you use a human vitamin-mineral supplement, use 1/5 of a human vitamin tablet for each cat vitamin tablet listed in the recipe.

6. Bonemeal is required to provide a balanced ratio of calcium and phosphorous and provides essential trace minerals. If you use bonemeal powder, 1 tablet of bonemeal listed in the recipes is equal to a level 1/4 measuring teaspoon.

7. The Sardine and Salmon diet requires Calcium Carbonate tablets as a source of calcium.  If you use powder make sure to adjust the amount to get the required amount on calcium in mg. For example, if you use NOWFOODS Calcium Carbonate Powder which has 1200 mg calcium per level measuring teaspoon, you would use 1/3 teaspoon to get 400 mg. 

8. Add the vitamin-mineral supplement and bonemeal after you cook any food and before feeding. Cooking destroys vitamins

9. All of these recipes come from the book Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets - The Healthful Alternative, by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD. If you are interested in pet nutrition, this book is a good place to start. It is a comprehensive reference written in clear, easy-to-understand language.

Turkey Diet

6 ounces ground turkey (raw weight), cooked

1/2 egg, large, hard-boiled

1 teaspoon vegetable (canola) oil

1/8 teaspoon salt substitute - potassium chloride - NoSalt is one brand name

3 bonemeal tablets or 3/4 teaspoon of bonemeal powder

1 cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 372 Calories.

 Chicken Diet

1/2 pound boneless chicken breast (raw weight), cooked

1/2 egg, large, hard-boiled

1/2 ounce canned clams, chopped in juice

4 teaspoons vegetable (canola) oil

1/8 teaspoon salt substitute - potassium chloride

3 bonemeal tablets or 3/4 teaspoon of bonemeal powder

1 cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 471 Calories.

Beef Diet

1/2 pound lean ground beef (raw weight), cooked

1/2 egg, large, hard-boiled

1/2 ounce canned clams, chopped in juice

4 bonemeal tablets or 1 teaspoon of bonemeal powder

1 cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 447 Calories.

Tuna Diet

4 ounces tuna, canned in water, without added salt

1 egg, large, hard-boiled

1 tablespoon vegetable (canola) oil

2 bonemeal tablets or 1/2 teaspoon of bonemeal powder

1 cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 326 Calories.

Sardine Diet

4 1/2 ounces sardines, canned, in tomato sauce

1/2 egg, large, hard-boiled

calcium carbonate tablets or powder to equal 400 mg calcium

1 cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 266 Calories. 

Salmon Diet

5 ounce salmon, canned with bone

1/2 egg, large, hard-boiled

calcium carbonate tablets or powder to equal 500 mg calcium

1  cat multiple vitamin-mineral tablet or 1/5 adult human vitamin tablet

Provides 259 Calories.