Blog DIY Raw Meal for Cats: Beef Bowl Recipe
DIY Raw Meal for Cats: Beef Bowl Recipe
For those who like to fully take the reins on their journey to Truly Raw, we’ve partnered with a certified pet nutritionist to create our DIY Raw Recipes series. These meals incorporate our DIY Parts products and other raw ingredients and are step-by-step recipes that you can follow to ensure you’re feeding your pet a complete and well-balanced raw meal.
This recipe is balanced to Nutritional Research Council (NRC) nutritional guidelines for cats and kittens by our in-house certified canine nutritionist. The recipe is balanced as is and ingredient changes or substitutions can affect the balance of the recipe. While our Truly Raw base mixes are made for dogs, this recipe modifies the beef blend appropriately for cats and kittens.
Batch Recipe Ingredients
- Carnos Truly Raw Beef Mix – 10 lbs
- Carnos Chicken Organ Mix – 1 lb
- Carnos Ground Boneless Pork – 1,100g
- Carnos Ground Salmon – 100g
- Chicken Eggs, no shell – 250g (appox. 5 eggs)
- Bluebonnet Chelated Manganese, 10mg – 1.5 pills
- NOW Psyllium Husk Powder – 10-15 tsp (optional)
- NOW Taurine, 500mg – 2 pills
- NOW Iron Bisglycinate, 18mg – 5 pills
- NOW Kelp powder – 10 scoops
- NOW Vitamin E dry capsules – 4 pills
Recipe total yield = 227.8 ounces = 14.2 pounds
Recipe calories per ounce = 44.15 kcal/ounce
Recipe macronutrients = 17.2% protein, 10% fat
Required Prep Supplies
- Meal containers
- Adequate freezer space
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Kitchen food scale
- Large bowl or bussing bin
How to calculate appropriate feeding amounts for your pet.
A very general guideline for calculating feeding amounts:
Adult cats: Adult cats of average size will typically consume 3-4 ounces of food per day. Very large cats will need slightly more. Adjust the feeding amounts as necessary to maintain a healthy body condition.
Kittens: Kittens should be allowed to eat as much as they can consume in a 10-15 minute period, a minimum of 4 times per day.
Pro tip to remember: *Every cat is an individual with metabolisms unique to them. Feeding amounts should be adjusted as needed based on your specific cat. If a cat is too thin and health issues have been ruled out, increase their daily food intake. If a cat is too heavy and health conditions have been ruled out, decrease food within reason.
Meal Prep Instructions
- Calculate how many days the recipe will last your cat. The batch can be doubled or tripled if desired. Set out the required amount of tupperware or food containers to hold meals. Food storage containers off Amazon in a 4 ounce size work great.
- Thaw frozen ingredients.
- Place psyllium husk in a bowl and add the powder supplements (open and empty the capsules). Mix supplements thoroughly
- Use an extra large bowl or bussing bin. Weigh out and mix ingredients together, sprinkling supplement powder on top and mixing thoroughly. Be sure to scrape the bottom and corners, lifting into the center to incorporate everything evenly.
- Portion out food into the meal containers
- Place 2-3 containers in the refrigerator and store the rest in the freezer. Remove 1 container from the freezer each day as 1 thawed container is used. Daily containers should be split into several meals per day.
- Cats can be picky and have preferences in food texture. Break up the ground food at feeding time into bite size pieces if your cat will not do it themselves. Or mix in some water at feeding time if your cat prefers a soupier texture.
Pro Tip: Cats can be finicky and it can be difficult to transition their diet to incorporate new foods. This is because cats have “food imprinting behavior”, which means that their brain will imprint on foods from a young age to identify “safe” foods. Therefore, transitioning diets and trying new foods can take time and patience in order to show the cat that the new food is “safe”. Some cats will accept a small amount of new food mixed into their current food. If your cat will not accept that method, then try offering small amounts of the new food separate, but next to, their normal meal. When the food is presented next to safe food over time, cats will usually give the new food a try eventually. If your cat is starting on dry food, try slowly transitioning to wet food before transitioning to raw food.
Nutritionist Tip: Since cats are obligate carnivores (meaning they cannot derive nutrients from plants), their diet does not need to include vegetables, which provide fiber. In the wild, cats would normally receive their “fiber” through eating fur and feathers. Therefore, some cats may benefit from or need a fiber replacement – psyllium husk can work well for this.