It’s soon Valentines Day, the day that we do something extra for our loved ones. What is a better moment then to do something extra for our cats. This Valentine we want to give our cats various homemade Valentine treats, so I went out to research what I could possibly make for them.
Ever wanted to create some awesome cat treats for your cats? I have wanted this for a long time. I feel that the treats sold in the shops are of small amounts and are available at rather high prices. Also does nobody seem to tailor their treats towards Valentine. So instead of looking for a special Valentine treat, I did some research to produce my own cat treats. It is probably much cheaper and a lot healthier for them.
Trying To Keep Treats Healthy
I have searched on the internet far and wide to find the healthier recipes between the many recipes for cat (and dog) treats that contain a lot of additives that I wouldn’t want to feed our cats. A lot of the recipes go for the carbohydrates and oils to bind the ingredients to a throwable treat.
I also have looked into how to create wet cat food treats, because kibble, however convenient, isn’t really all that healthy for cats. The result is x recipes for homemade cat treats for coming Valentine or other celebrations.
Kibble Cat Food Treat
Although our cats love the kibble treats from Dreamies, you never really know what mystery ingredients go into these tasty creations and hence you don’t know if you do your cats a favour or whether they are harmful to them. That’s why I have found some healthier replacements you can create yourself.
I solely base my kibble cookie recipes on the ones that are available at supakit.co, because that recipe actually doesn’t use grain, gluten or dairy in their ingredients list. With already so much starches, grains and dairy products in cat food out there, we don’t need more of them.
Tuna Cookies
Ingredients:
1 tin of Tuna in oil or water, properly drained (ca 120g)
1 eggwhite
Directions:
- Preheat the oven at 170C / 330F
- Line a baking tray with a bakingsheet
- Beat the eggwhite to a fluffy white substance and set aside
- Add the tuna to a foodprocessor and process it until smooth
- Add the fluffy eggwhite and mix in with a spatula
- Add the mixture to a pastry/piping bag with small star nozzle
- Spray small cookies on the baking tray in rows (not too large!)
- Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven at 170C for about 20-25 minutes
- Cool before serving to your cats. Yields approx 50 cookies
Variations:
Instead of the tuna you could also use a tin of mackerel or salmon.
Instead of tuna you could probably even use cooked or baked chicken or minced beef.
To add more to the cats senses, you could add 1-2 tablespoons of dried catnip and mix it in with the foodprocessor at step 4.
Food Processor
If you do not possess a good food processor, it is time to get one. Food processors are a must-have in every kitchen, especially when you want to make food and treats for your cats. They are also great for producing dough, batter and cream for all types of cakes. Food processors can even be used to create the dough for bread.
I got very good experience with the food processors from Kenwood, like the one below.
Wet Cat Food Treat
We sometimes do offer our cats already a whole baked chicken dish from our oven, but this time I wanted to go a step further. I wanted to create a true wet food type of treat.
This is of course no longer a proper treat that you can give your cat anywhere, as it will need to be served in a bowl, but I am absolutely sure that you will be loved for giving it to them.
In my case I would probably not add all the extra ingredients that cats don’t need to be healthy. Many recipes add brown rice, oats and all sorts of vegetables to their recipe. I am not sure whether we harm our cats with that, so I don’t dare to add these ingredients. For those that don’t mind, I will add them as optional ingredients.
Chicken Wet Food
Ingredients:
1 cup (128g) of cooked chicken (may be broiled or baked)
1/4 cup (32g) of steamed broccoli, mashed (optional)
1/4 cup (32g) of steamed carrots, mashed (optional)
1/4 cup (32g) of organic cooked brown rice or cooked oats (optional)
Low Sodium Chicken broth
Directions:
- Place ingredients in a food processor with several tablespoons of chicken broth
- Puree or crumble the ingredients until it begins to resemble paté cat food.
- Add broth, as needed, to make the mixture smooth, but not soupy.
- Cool to room temperature before serving.
- Refridgerate leftovers – can be used up to 3 days after.
Variations:
Instead of chicken you can also use any tinned fish or ground broiled or baked beef.
I am at least going to try out one of the recipes for Valentines day!
I’d say try the recipes out. If you have already tried them out, please leave a comment in the comment section below.