As a child I remember tales of my mother's family cats, with Uncle Tom being kept in the dark that it was his sister's cat that had enjoyed his favourite bird. Cats and birds shared the house; cat in house = bird in cage; bird free in house = cat outside screen door; I don't remember any of our cats dining on our birds though mother lost several budgies by going outside forgetting they were on her shoulder.

A long preamble perhaps but when animals are an integral part of your life one tends to treat them as family. So that, as one becomes more conscious of how one lives, by respecting the planet, eating healthily, not wasting food surely the same thing applies to how we feed our pets. I guess the principles of a healthy diet for a cat would be an organic, holistic one. Cats are carnivores - observe the number of mice that one has to dispose of, usually just the liver and intestines to be fair - our cats are thorough, unless they play with them first of course, in which case its mouse eradication from underneath grandfather clocks, heavy chests of drawers and the kitchen sink. So if one has a plentiful supply of mice a lot of problems are solved - pest extermination naturally, fresh raw meat, especially bone. However most cats have managed to domesticate humans and prefer a more varied diet. Trawling through many web sites night after night the main principles of a Healthy, Organic diet for your cat is:

Feed the diet that nature intended for your carnivore - as close as possible to the form and nutritional composition that your cat would eat in a natural setting. The diet that I choose to feed is very basic. Some of the elaborate and complicated recipes found on the internet are enough to cause anyone to abandon the idea of making their own cat food and that is a shame. It does not have to be that complicated and involved. The diet of a wild cat is pretty basic - they eat whole carcass prey, often leaving the stomach and intestines behind. In the wild, your cat would be eating a high protein, high-moisture content, meat-based diet, with a moderate level of fat and with only approximately 3-5 percent of her diet consisting of carbohydrates.

Cats are designed to obtain most of their water with their diet since their normal prey contains approximately 75 percent water.

Look for a muscle meat (preferably, not an organ meat like liver) as the first ingredient. A muscle meat is "chicken," or "turkey," etc. Not "chicken by-products" or "chicken by-product meal," or "chicken broth" or "liver". "Chicken meal" is technically a muscle meat but the term "meal" denotes that it has been rendered (cooked for a long time at very high temperatures) and is lower quality than meat that has not been as heavily processed. A "meal" product is more commonly found in dry foods. By-products can include feet, intestines, feathers, egg shells, etc. and are much less nutritious than meat.

Meat from known organic sources
Table scraps only as occasional treats
Variety

Definite No-Nos:

- Alcoholic beverages
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Grapes & raisins
- Mouldy or spoiled food
- Onions, garlic & chives
- Poultry bones
- Salt & salty foods
- Tomato leaves, stems & unripe fruit
- Yeast dough

Don't forget, though, that cats have different nutritional needs to humans so it's the principles ones follows not the actual diet.

Resources.

Written by Frank & Anne Brown

We have owned, lived with, loved and bred cats since we were both kids. The recent revelations of the horrors of the 2007 - 2008 pet food recall led us to totally re-evaluate how we cared for our pets. We now source and prepare all our own cat food. The change in both cats has been dramatic, their health, energy and sheer vitality have changed so much.

Please visit us and see how YOUR pet's health can improve with just a little effort on your part.

http://www.catfoodrecipesonline.com