Are you interested to know what homemade foods are healthy for your cat? Well, by reading this article you will quickly understand what foods are healthy for your cat and how easily you can prepare a healthy, fresh and delicious treat for your feline. Let’s see what can cats eat?
Giving the fact that cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they must have a diet based on meat to survive and be healthy (cats don’t do well on vegan diets), you can prepare delicious home cooked meals for your kitty every day.
Human Foods That Are Safe For Cats
People also eat meat, so many of the human foods based on meat will be healthy for cats.
1. Chicken
Chicken is pretty popular among humans, because is cheap, easily available, contains a good amount of protein and can be cooked in many ways.
If you like to eat chicken when your cat is around, be sure that your kitty will feel the smell of chicken, and will start begging for what are you eating.
Knowing that your cat is a natural meat eater, you can prepare some tasty chicken for her or him, but don’t rely on chicken too often because too much chicken meat can upset its stomach.
The chicken should be only boiled, without seasoning oil, garlic, onion, etc.
2. Salmon
Salmon is very healthy for people and cats too due to the Omega 3 fatty acids contained, and due to its brain boosting properties.
Salmon is also a nutritious and delicious food for felines, so your car will love it.
Giving them a piece of salmon, would be the perfect treat, however, before giving salmon to your cat, be sure that you have removed all the bones.
To get rid of any parasites and dangerous bacteria, be sure that you cook the salmon a little bit.
Never share your sushi (raw fish) with your cat.
You can prepare very delicious recipes based on salmon for you and your kitty to make her (or him) feel wonderful.
3. Oatmeal
Oats are considered super healthy for people due to their impressive nutritional content.
Oatmeal can be used as an addition to your feline’s diet because compared to other grains, oats have higher nutritional value.
Being packed with fiber, antioxidants and other essential nutrients, a little oatmeal added to your cat’s diet will bring minerals like iron and calcium, and vitamin B6.
If you haven’t done it yet, you have to slowly include this awesome meal in your cat’s diet.
Remember that this is only an addition to the main meal based on meat for your cat, and you have to introduce it slowly.
4. Blueberries
Blueberries are known for the high amount of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients contained, which are very beneficial for humans.
They are also considered a top food for maintaining a good brain health.
Cats can also benefit from these awesome nutrients if you include blueberries in their diet.
Blueberries will make for an awesome addition to homemade cat food.
Always use raw blueberries, and include them into a chicken or salmon meal.
Limit the usage of berries to about 20 calories per day, and if you see that your cat starts gaining weight from the human food, you have to cut back on the treats.
5. Turkey
Another lean meat highly appreciated by people that is also beneficial for cats is turkey.
If you have turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving, you can use them to feed your cat.
However, you have to remove all the bones, skin and fat from the roasted meat before giving it to the cat because bones can splinter and the fat is not healthy for her.
If you have turkey organs such as liver, heart or gizzards, they can offer a great nutritional benefit for the cat as long as you cook them properly.
You can also cook and freeze gizzards and use them as refreshing treats from time to time.
To protect your cat’s teeth you can use dehydrated organs as a great chewy snack.
6. Bananas
Humans love to eat bananas, but what about cats?
If your cat shows an interest in bananas, you can use these exotic fruits to replace highly processed treats which are less healthy for your kitty.
Exactly like you, your cat can benefit from the high concentration of potassium (K), fiber and vitamin B6 in these fruits, but because bananas also contain a pretty high amount of sugars (a large banana can contain about 17 grams of sugars), it can affect the cat’s health.
I suggest you to use bananas only once a week, because if you do it more often, a diet containing high amounts of sugars can lead to diabetes and feline obesity.
7. Peas
For humans, peas represent a great source of protein, they help control your blood sugar and they also improve digestion.
Green peas are high in fibers and in vitamin A and C, and this would be a reason why some cat foods include peas in their commercial food production.
If your kitty is new to peas, try to add a few mashed cooked peas to their food before working up to fresh peas because it will ease digestion of the new food.
8. Spinach
Spinach is very healthy both for humans and felines.
Packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals such as iron (Fe) and potassium (K), spinach is very beneficial for cats.
However, you have to limit the spinach consumption up to one or two leafs served occasionally in your cat’s food.
Being natural born carnivores, cats can live exclusively on a meat based diet, but if you can add a little spinach to their food from time to time, it will only help them.
9. Eggs
Eggs consumed almost daily at breakfast, are very beneficial for humans, but cats can also benefit from a diet containing eggs.
Being packed with vitamins such as A, B6, B12, D, E, K and lecithin, and minerals like zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), selenium (Se) and copper (Cu), fully cooked eggs are a great addition to your cat’s diet.
Eggs are also rich in amino acids, but you have to use them only as an addition (from time to time) to the cat food.
10. Carrots
Carrots are a great source of fiber, vitamins like A (from beta carotene), B6 and K1, and minerals like potassium (K), which means that are very healthy for humans but also for cats.
Carrots can improve eyesight, and the fiber, vitamins and minerals contained could be the perfect addition for your kitty.
11. Fish Oil
Fish oil is extracted from fish tissue and is considered a healthy dietary supplement.
For people, consuming one or two teaspoons of fish oil weekly, will support their heart health, reduce inflammation and promote weight loss.
For cats, fish oil has a similar effect, so to keep your cat’s heart and kidneys healthy you have to include fish oil in it’s food.
If you have an older cat, fish oil can reduce the pain in their joints produced by age related arthritis.
12. Fresh fruits
If you notice that your cat starts chewing on house plants it means that your cat needs more vitamins and minerals in its diet.
Cantaloupe and melon would work perfectly in this case (remove all the seeds), but like any vegetable food for cats, you have to introduce these fruits in their diet in small quantities.
Conclusion
I know that many of you are used to buy packed food for your cats, but from time to time, you should try to prepare some homemade cat meals because this will make your kitty happier.
