With a few simple changes, this simple healthy homemade pet food can be fed to either dogs or cats. Finding a healthy, nutrient-dense, species-appropriate, convenient, and economical food that I can feed my pets has been a quest of mine for many years.
I hope this simple, healthy, homemade slow cooker pet food method works well for you. There are so many pet food options out there: raw, freeze-dried, cooked, slow-cooked, canned, kibble, etc.
It’s enough to drive a person around the bend trying to figure out the healthiest, doable way to feed your dog or cat without breaking the bank.
In this article, I will go over what I have learned and the conclusions and methods I have come to along the way. I have also included my slow cooker pet food recipe, along with some additional video and article links from a couple of vets that I think you will find helpful and interesting.
My hope is that by the end of this article, you will feel empowered and be much further along on your journey to finding the best food for your pets.
Table of Contents
What I Feed My Animals
After doing mountains of research and trying all kinds of different recipes and strategies, I finally settled on a happy medium of high-quality kibble mixed with some form of nutrient-dense, lightly cooked food, either eggs or slow-cooked animal parts, and a small amount of raw organ meats.
I really do believe feeding a raw ,species appropriate food is probably the healthiest for our carnivore friends.
Cats, in particular, are obligate carnivores and can only obtain the nutrients they require from meat and animal sources.
But it takes an enormous amount of time to source and process all that raw muscle and organ meat.
Besides that, there is also quite a lot of science that goes into making sure the diet is balanced for the weight, growth stage, and activity level of your pet! Is your head spinning yet?
So, for me, the conclusion I came to was that it was better to feed a large variety of high-quality, nutrient-dense, species-appropriate foods with the goal of supplying them with all the nutrients their bodies need to function and thrive.
The Difference Between Cats and Dogs
Cats and dogs do have different nutritional requirements that are important to take into account.
Fortunately, there are a few really simple strategies that you can use that make it very easy to adjust for each species.
Cats
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means they can only absorb the nutrients they need from animal sources. They lack the enzymes needed to break down plant matter.
Felines can handle very small amounts of predigested carbohydrates, but it really is not the best thing for them and really just serves as roughage.
Think of what a cat would normally eat if it was left to its own devices. Mice, little hairy, juicy parcels of meat, organs, and bones, with maybe a very small amount of predigested organic matter in their little stomachs.
Another thing to keep in mind is that cats do not have a natural desire to seek out water, as they would normally acquire it from their prey.
Cats do not produce their own taurine either, as most other mammals do. So they have to get it solely from their food, mainly in the form of raw or lightly cooked muscle meats ( heat destroys taurine ).
Getting Water into Our Cats
Kidney disease is unfortunately the leading cause of death in cats; proper hydration is very important!
When I prepare my cat Merlin’s meal, I always make it into a kind of warm, soupy stew. He loves it!
But if the water is not mixed in with his food, he will not drink it. Because of this, I feed him at least three times a day. If it is hot out, I will sometimes break his meals into four, just to make sure he is getting the hydration he needs.
I have also heard of people having success using water fountains to get their cats to drink. Cats love moving water, being the smart and particular little beings that they are.
Taurine is an Essential Nutrient for Cats
Taurine is an amino acid that almost all other mammals produce themselves, except cats. It is essential and is needed along with a number of other amino acids to build and form proteins in the body, which is kind of important!
Taurine has to be obtained by cats through their food; otherwise, they can lose their eyesight, suffer heart failure, or develop severe digestive problems.
Taurine is destroyed by heat. So it is important when you are providing home-cooked meals to your cats that you feed them a healthy raw source of muscle meat.
The harder the muscle works, the more taurine it contains. So, a heart, the hardest working muscle in the body, is the perfect solution!
Raw Chicken Hearts to the Rescue
So, along with the slow cooker food that I feed my cat Merlin, he also gets one single raw chicken heart with each meal that contains any home-cooked food. This will guaranteeing that his taurine requirements are met.
Large amounts of taurine are added to commercial foods (kibble). They add extra taurine to make sure that some survives the cooking process.
Chicken hearts are naturally the perfect portion size and are very easy and convenient to handle, not to mention economical. Although chicken hearts are convenient, you can use any kind of heart meat that is available to you.
I’ve discovered that freezing them in ice cube trays with water on top is the best way to process them.
When I need one, I just pop it out of the ice cube tray, put it into Merlin’s food dish, and pour some hot (but not boiling) water over it to thaw. After a few minutes, when it has thawed, I take my kitchen shears (the best kitchen tool ever) and cut the heart up into chunks, right in his bowl. Easy peasy!
This makes a nice little stew to go along with his kibble and slow cooker food.
I’ve added a link for you to a veterinary article on feeding cats raw chicken hearts. It provides you with additional information on how taurine functions in a cat’s body and how much heart to feed.
Dogs
Dogs are much simpler; they thrive on high-quality proteins too, but can also assimilate slow-cooked vegetables like carrots, peas, and green beans.
Some people add rice and grains to their dogs cooked meals. I shy away from feeding my dog grains, but I will leave that up to you. There are many different theories out there on a dog’s ability to digest grains.
How to Adjust Slow Cooker Food For a Cat or Dog
My slow cooker recipe only includes animal ingredients, but if you are cooking just for a dog, you could add vegetables and some easier-to-digest grains if you choose.
If you are cooking for both a dog and a cat and want to add some vegetables, maybe just add a small portion of peas, carrots, or green beans—easy-to-digest vegetables that will pass through your cat easily. The meal should be made up of primarily animal ingredients to ensure proper nutrition.
Whether you’re cooking for a cat or a dog, the slow cooker method is simple and retains a lot of nutrients due to the low temperature at which it’s cooked; in my opinion, it’s the next best thing to raw food.
When trying a new food, always start with a small amount and just observe how your pet does on it.
Some Ingredient Ideas
You can use any kind of muscle or organ meat you have access to. Fish heads, chicken halves, and gizzards are all wonderful and are a few of my favorites. Leave the skin and bones in; they are a wonderful source of marrow and collagen.
Go light on the liver, though; it is very high in vitamin A, which can be toxic when used in excessive amounts, especially for cats.
Bones
I cook my slow cooker meals for at least 18 hours. By then, most of the bones, skin, and other bits will have disintegrated.
Slow cooked bones are soft and for the most part disintegrate along with everything else in the slow cooker pot and are considered to be safe for consumption.
Sometimes the large chicken leg bones are still intact. If they do not crumble apart while I am mashing up the food, I discard them. I have never had a problem with bones, but I do it just to be on the safe side.
I’ve included a link to a video created by a vet who covers some of the specifics of slow cooking for your pets. This is the video that inspired me to start slow cooking for my guys. I hope you find it helpful.
Simple Healthy Homemade Cat and Dog Food Recipe
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
- 1 potato masher
- 1 large serving spoon
- containers for freezing
Ingredients
- 1 large, frozen, raw, chicken breast with skin and bone in
- 1 package of frozen, raw, chicken gizzards
Instructions
- Add all frozen raw animal parts to slow cooker.
- Add clean fresh water until it is about half way up the frozen ingredients.
- Plug in slow cooker, put on the lid and set it to high for a few minutes till it gets warm, then set it to low.
- Leave it to cook for 18 – 20 hrs.
- Unplug slow cook, leave contents to cool a little.
- Take your potato masher and mash up the slow cooked ingredients.
- Look for any large bones that will not easily break apart, and discard them ( just to be on the safe side).
- Continue to let it cool, once cooled spoon food into glass freezer containers and freeze once the food has completely cooled
