We know our #ketocats are spoiled, but they are not cooked meals each day spoiled. We do have a routine in the mornings when Bill gives the cats their water and food for the day. Link is especially fond of this routine, and gets us up on weekends to get things going. But, today is “Cook for Your Pets Day.” Here are some tips if you are thinking of cooking keto cat meals for your furry loved ones.
A History of Pets
National Today says that dogs were domesticated as of 16,000 B.C. There is some debate, especially in our house, whether cats are actually domesticated. That being said, we do know that cats were worshiped in ancient Egypt. There are stories of Siamese cats guarding temples. The bottom line is that our furry friends have been a part of our lives for many, many years. It is more recently, however, since we started feeding them different foods from what they hunted themselves or what we ate. In the 1980’s, national requirements for packaged foods were introduced, ensuring that our pets were getting packaged food that offered complete and balanced nutrition.
What Not to Feed Your Cats
Since we have cats, I’m going to focus on them for this article. It should come as no surprise to cat lovers that cats are more complex in their diets. There are certain things that cats cannot digest and can be extremely harmful to your four legged overlords.
- Onions
- Garlic
- Raw eggs
- Raw meat
- Chocolate
- Caffeinated drinks
- Alcohol
- Milk
- Grapes and raisins
These items should be avoided. Cats, like many people, are lactose intolerant and you should not feed them milk and be careful with milk products, such as cheese. Goomba and Link both enjoy cheese, but they get little bits we accidentally drop to the floor. So far, it doesn’t seem to bother them.
How to Make Keto Cat Meals
So the first and most important step to cooking for your cats is to talk to a vet. Like I said, cats have very complex nutritional needs, and you may need to supplement recipes with vitamins and minerals. The Spruce Pets suggests that you do lots of research before attempting to go this route. Often, a vet will recommend a certain brand of food that will offer your cats better all-round nutritional meals.
If you talk to your vet and do some research and decide to go ahead with cooking for your cat, begin with proteins. The nice thing about being keto is that we have some knowledge of how all these macronutrients work and what is in certain foods. The protein should be free range and hormone free. Make sure to cook the protein fully. Then, grind the protein to make it easier for your cat to eat. This is where I am out. I was a vegetarian for years – I’m not grinding protein for anyone!
After you have your protein cooked and (eww) ground, add water and other vitamins and supplements to the meal. You may also want to occasionally add nutritious foods like rice, vegetables, and oats to their meal. These additions should not make up any more than 15% of the meal, and should not be included in all meals.
Finally, make meal-sized portions and freeze them. Cats are supposed to eat 4-6 ounces a day. Don’t tell Goomba – it will stress him out and he’ll stress eat twice that. Because the foods you are using are fresh, it needs to be frozen or used within 1-2 days of making the meals. Cats are susceptible to food poisoning and e-coli too.
The Complex Nutrition Needs of Keto Cat Meals
Remember that cats are primary carnivores. They need the vitamins and nutrients from organ meats and bones (again, as a former vegetarian, I say eww). It’s hard to believe that animals who have lived for centuries on birds and mice could be so complex with their nutritional needs. But, they instinctively eat certain parts of their prey and leave others. Unless you do a lot of research and talk to a knowledgeable vet about cooking for your cat, this may be something you leave to the professional companies.
We will give our keto cats a little canned tuna today as a reminder that we love them and we want the best for them. Other than that, our #ketocats will get their regular food and love. Link will be happy we aren’t changing up his routine.
Wendy
