Concerned About What's in Your Commercial Pet Food? Try These Homemade Cat Food and Treats

Every day lately, it seems there is another pet food recall, warning dog and cat owners not to feed their pets different brands of foods. This is getting scary. Who knows which pet food will be recalled next. Though I am still using the kibble my cats normally eat, I am now supplementing my pets with a few homemade recipes. These are not meant for feeding your pets forever, since I"m not a vet or nutritionist but they are good for filling their furry tummies while we wait out the lowdown on the canned foods, which seem most affected by these pet food recalls. Here are the basic recipes I am using, don't add other ingredients unless you know for sure that they don't hurt your pets. We all know chocolate is off-limits to pets, as are other foods such as onions. Stick with these ingredients, which seem to be pet safe, according to pet experts I've read about.

Homemade Cat Food

2 cups ground chicken, lean beef or turkey, thoroughly cooked and diced;

4 cups rice, cooked in chicken or beef broth;

1/2 cup potatoes, ground;

1/4 cup spinach or carrots, ground;

1/4 cup green beans, ground;

2 tbsp melted butter;

dash of garlic powder

Mix everything together in large pot or bowl. Make sure it is completely cool before feeding to your cat. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Homemade Cat Treats

1 1/2 cup oats, ground;

1/4 cup butter;

1/2 cup flour;

1/2 cup chicken broth;

1/4 cup cubed or shredded American or mild cheddar cheese -or- shredded chicken

Mix all ingredients together, form small cookies and bake on greased cookie sheet until done at 350 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes but check as ovens vary. Do not overcook.

Our pets deserve food that is safe, so hopefully, this current pet food crisis will alert the authorities to make sure they buy quality products and be more careful of what they put in their pet food recipes. Cats have specific nutritional needs so don't feed them any of these recipes on a long term basis, as I do not know the breakdown of nutritional value for them. But, by using fresh, healthful ingredients, cooking the meat thoroughly and storing the food you make in the refrigerator, it can help to tie your kitty over until it is safe to go buy food at the store again. Enjoy.

Carolyn McFann is a scientific and nature illustrator, who owns Two Purring Cats Design Studio, which can be seen at: http://www.zazzle.com/twopurringcats. Educated at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Carolyn is a seasoned, well-traveled artist, writer and photographer. She has lived and worked in Cancun, Mexico, among other interesting professional assignments in other countries. Clients include nature parks, museums, scientists, corporations and private owners. She has been the subject of tv interviews, articles for newspapers and other popular media venues.

Are You Frustrated With These Pet Food Recalls?

The pet food recall crisis has shed a new light to the safety of commercial dog food that we buy in cans from our supermarket shelves. The commercial pet food industry has existed only for a few decades. What did our dogs eat before the advent of these commercial foods? Their diet consisted of raw meat, bones and organs, table scraps and whatever they could catch and kill themselves. It has only been since the popular use of these commercial dog foods that we have started hearing of our our dogs dying of cancer, kidney failure and all sorts of other diseases.

The contaminated pet food has led to the deaths of dogs and cats in North America and have even sparked fears of these contaminants entering the human food chain.

The US inspectors of FDA have traced the imported gluten which was used to make the pet food as being the cause of the deaths of many dogs and cats through kidney failure.

It is illegal to add melamine to food or animal feed in the US but it seems this chemical is widely used in China in the animal feed to make them appear as having a higher protein content. Melamine is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizers. The Food and Drug Administration speculates that the wheat flour was deliberately spiked with melamine to make it look more protein-rich, thus more valuable than it was.

This pet food recall crisis has made pet owners rethink of what pet food to prepare for their pets with some of them opting to prepare the food themselves.

The only way to guarantee that the food you give your dog has no artificial preservatives and contaminants is to feed them with natural homemade dog food using ingredients that you would normally have in your kitchen. For an extra measure of protection give your dog supplements and vitamins to make sure that they get all the 38 nutrients they require daily.

You can opt to give your dog raw dog food diet and alternate it with homemade dog food recipes.

That is why it is recommended to get well formulated recipes with the right nutrients, plus supplements, and have them in the right proportions.

For more on these recipes plus more updates on the dog food recall we recommend these sites for Online Dog Food Tips and also for

Guides and Updates on Dog Food and Dog Food Recall.

A home cooked meal with the right ingredients is the BEST thing you can do for your pet! After all what were we feeding our pets before the advent of these commercial pet foods?

Maria Mbura is a publisher of a blog and a writer in a variety of issues that are of interest from time to time.