Pet Food Alternatives for Long-Term Emergencies
by Tess Pennington Recently by Tess Pennington: The Silver Bullet: Making Your Own Colloidal Silver
In a long-term emergency we want our entire family to thrive, and that includes our beloved pets. Dogs and cats will have vital roles to play during a long-term emergency and we want them on their A-game! Cats are very skilled at trapping and will keep the rodents away from your retreat and your food supply, thus keeping diseases at bay. Dogs on the other hand, are ideal to have on a retreat because they will be a good alert system, make excellent hunting companions, protect the family and help to herd livestock. Larger breeds could even help pull small wagons to help even more around the homestead. To keep these animals healthy, keep their needs in mind when making your emergency preparations. Due to the cost of pet food, storing dry food is preferred over storing the wet food. When storing dry goods for dogs and cats, look for dry food that does not have a lot of oils in them; as the oils can make the food go rancid more quickly. Stockpiled pet food will only last for so long. What’s a pet owner to do when the kibble supply runs dry? Making your own pet food is a more financially reasonable option for some. The cost is actually comparable to the price of kibble, and the nutrition content of homemade pet food is far higher.
Creating pet food is not so much about having the recipe to do so – it’s about knowing the proper ratios for optimum nutrition for your pet. The following information is geared towards healthy adult pets without special dietary needs. A Feast for Felines Cats have different nutritional requirements than dogs. When a cat in the wild catches a mouse or a bird, they generally eat it, bones, organs and all. They receive a small amount of vegetables and grains, based on the stomach contents of their prey. Cats require more protein than dogs, and do not digest corn or grains well. Meat is the number one element of homemade cat food. Bones are also a very important addition to the feline diet – this is how your cat gets enough calcium. Liver is an excellent addition to your homemade cat food but should not make up more than 10% of their intake. Much of the waste that you would throw out when preparing a whole chicken for your family would be a welcome addition to the cat food dish. Use this ratio to create your own cat food, based on the items you have on hand. Meat: 3 parts Organs: 1 part
Grain: 1 part Veggies: ½ part Some cat approved vegetables include: lightly steamed broccoli, carrots, zucchini, caulifower, or any other vegetables that your cat happens to enjoy. Some cats even like the taste of fruit such as melon, mango or apple, and if your cat enjoys these healthy treats it is fine to supplement their diet this way. The meat in this mixture can either be lightly cooked or raw. I include the skin in the cat food, as it gives them some much needed fat. The grain and veggies should be cooked. If you have a meat grinder, you can put the entire concoction through the grinder before feeding it to your cat. To supplement the diet, you will need to add some olive or flax oil and some bone meal (either commercial or grind your own in the meat grinder). I use broth to cook the grains that I include in my homemade cat food. The meat can be any kind of meat. Canned fish, like sardines, are especially good for cats because of the high calcium levels. However, the cat should not subsist only on fish. You can find some homemade cat food recipes HERE. April 13, 2012 Tess Pennington joined the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross in 1999 Tess worked as an Armed Forces Emergency Services Center specialist and is well versed in emergency and disaster management and response. You can follow her regular updates on Preparedness, Homesteading, and a host of other topics at ReadyNutrition.com. Copyright © 2012 Ready Nutrition
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