Last Sunday we treated ourselves with chicken and bought an extra chicken (frozen) for our kitties to enjoy. Cats can certainly enjoy an extra treat of prepared food as long as you stick to some basic rules on cat diet. Today I share you our recipe for a delicious homemade cat food – chicken roasted in the oven.
Recipe: Homemade Cat Food – Chicken
Requirements
- Frozen or Fresh chicken with skin (no marinades or spices!)
- Oven, preheated at 175C / 350F / mark 4 gass
- Aluminium foil
- Oven dish or oven plate
Preparation
As I had also our own chicken (bigger) in the oven, I had to have two trays for our roast. My usual home made chicken dish is with butter and a lot of spices. But cats should not have these spices and things like onions and garlic are even poisonous to them.
The chicken we had for the cats was frozen, but I did let it thaw overnight in the fridge. Alternatively one can just use the frozen chicken in the oven, but than be aware that the baking time will increase.
I took the chicken out of its plastic and washed it under the tap. I then wrapped the chicken in aluminium foil and placed it inside an glass oven dish.
By using the aluminium foil you make sure that all the juices stay as much as possible inside the meat and that the chicken doesn’t dry out. The oven dish is used to be able to catch all the extra juices and fat that run from the chicken during baking.
Done?
As I had two chickens in the oven, the total baking time was also increased a little. After about 2 hours both chickens had reached the safe inside temperature of 75C / 167F. The meat was nice and white and juicy. Some of the fat had run out into the oven dish.
While we ate our chicken dish, our cats had to wait a little longer as their chicken had to cool off. When it was cooled off, I removed the chicken from the foil and started on the long job of separating bones and chicken. Even though cats can eat bones, I somehow doubt that they would eat a chicken whole and hence its better to be safe than sorry. A different solution is to grind the meat and bones, but I do not have this equipment.
Reception
I shredded the well-baked chicken flesh by tearing them into smaller pieces. Our cats loved their portions of chicken meat. You can even use the chicken fat for a broth or gravy for either yourself or your cat(s). If you have only one cat than you have plenty of chicken treats for him/her for the coming months. A good way to store the chicken is your freezer. So portion it in bags and put them in your freezer.
We have however many cats (8 as of now) and so the chicken was a welcome treat that was devoured very quickly. A small leftover portion I put into the freezer for them to enjoy another day.
Have you ever treated your cat(s) with a homemade meal? Please share below.