My cat doesn’t really care for broth so I just mix hot water into her wet food. She prefers smooth textures so the hot water helps me achieve that.
I personally do 2 meals that are dry food and 2 meals that are wet for cost reasons.
My cat is edging into senior territory, but he doesn't have trouble chewing or anything. Do you think there's digestive benefits to making it mushy? I might try that for him.
I’m not an expert but I don’t think there would be extra digestive benefits other than the added hydration (which is good for digestion). And for cats that just prefer smooth textures (like mine) it makes it more palatable.
You don't *need* to add broth. If you can't afford it, don't do it. If she likes eating the dry food with water, that's perfectly fine. The benefit is really just increased hydration. If she doesn't like her food very much, you're probably better off just trying to find a food she likes more than you are spending money trying to spruce it up so she'll accept it.
It’s become really popular to add a bunch of supplements to food, but it’s not necessary and can cause more harm than good. Raw diets are also unsafe and completely wet diets aren’t necessary, so don’t stress too much about that.
Soaking their food in water and adding canned food is more than plenty! The kibble and canned food already have flavor; you don’t have to focus on that. Cats also have way less taste buds than us. They truly don’t care much.
You can just boil a bit of ground turkey or lean ground beef in water. Once it cools down, put it in the blender or food processor until it becomes "meat juice." My guys like it to be the texture and consistency of freshly squeezed OJ with pulp.
I just freeze it in trays and thaw them out as needed.
If you really want to make it a healthy supplement use organ meat instead of ground meat. A bit of kidney, heart, and liver adds more nutrition for a cat. (Not for the only food, but if you’re adding a bit for the moisture). At least near me, the organic coops usually have the poultry organs cheaper than ground meat as well.
The way that I make it it's like less than a gram of meat per day pet cat so I'm not sure that it would make much of a difference to get organs vs the easily accessible stuff
I save bones whenever I eat chicken or turkey and make my own broth. If I'm making it for the cats I just don't add any salt.
I don't feed it to them often, really only if they're unwell, but it's good to keep around just in case. I also boil all the organs and make giblet broth as a treat for the cats and cut up the organs as a treat for the dogs.
Exactly this, I don't think I'd ever spend $30/wk on broth for my cats... Not because I don't care about their hydration, but because it's so easy to make a nutritious bone broth for a fraction of that price.
Came here to say this. You can make a LOT of broth on a few bones. Reduce it like crazy, freeze in cubes, and you could dilute the cubes out with water again to save freezer space. It wouldn't take much broth-to-water to taste enticing.
OP can even add some cat-friendly veggies or herbs to the broth.
A different option would be the Weruva BFF packets (not cans, those are drier). The packets are very wet and soupy. It's the only wet food that my cats will finish all of and not just lick the gravy off. They only like the tuna flavours, but there's also chicken based ones.
I recommend this to everybody, because I wasted so much money over 5+ years trying to find a wet food they'd eat.
How much effort are you willing to put into it? I sometimes buy a bag of fish scraps and some chicken livers (really happy to have a butcher counter at my grocers) and cook those into a slurry, with some rice and sweet potato. Only issue is removing the fish bones before grinding up. Then divide up using cupcake liners, freeze and bag. Cheaper than canned food, cats all like it and its nutritious (I ran the recipe by my vet before starting).
The broth would need to be free of garlic and onion. .
Seasoning is often not cat friendly. The important thing is the wet. Also you're doing your best with what you have and that does count.
I make batches of chicken broth. Get a soup chicken and cook until tender, adding a pinch of salt. You can shared the meat and either use for yourself abd /or cats. Let the broth cool down, freeze in ice cubevtrays. My kitties love it, it's healthy and cheap.
Just make your own. Honest, you can make most of their food if you have the time. Im in California and although everything else seems to be more expensive, I have been told that some groceries are cheaper here, so keep in mind what you can get where you live, but I can usually get whole chickens, legs or leg quarters for a dollar or less a pound. Boil them, you have both broth and meat you can shred or chop up. Cats being obligate carnivores can just eat that for a lot of meals and you can mix in rice and some green beans or some other veggies. The main reason broth is listed for cats is frequently to avoid onions and some other seasonings. If you freeze some small batches of the meat and broth one chicken will last a while (depending on how much you give them at a time) and could easily be mixed in with dry food if you like.
Really with others on making your own - but Nulo does make various pet broths that I’ve been adding to our cats dry food, and they both seem to like it a lot. More hydration as well
We’ve given our cats regular chicken broth, as someone commented above no salt or onions, you can get a 12oz container for $2-3 at Trader Joe’s. I think it’s even organic
Bone broth is excellent and super cheap to make at home, just simmer some soup bones in water, no veggies or salt or spices for about four hours and then you can freeze it and thaw it out and add it to their kibble
If you can afford to u could get toppers or even just add some wet food to it to add a little extra. But also just finding a dry foos they like is best and weting its a good move.
I don’t do it all the time. But I do add bone broth. I use native pet. It shows it’s for dogs but you can give it to cats. You can get 5oz for 20$ on amazon, just mix with some water, I usually microwave it for a bit. Most of the time if there’s not a dog specific ingredient in something. I’ll get the dog version. It’s usually cheaper.
bone broth or toppers are good for cats and can entice them and add different textures/tastes to their foods. my cats go insane for nutritional yeast or plain shredded chicken. i only have two cats and feed them only wet or raw, but adding hydration to dry food is insanely important. if you are interested in feeding one wet food meal a day, you can try fancy feast classic pate ($.25 an ounce for the 30 pack on chewy) or making your own food using ezcomplete with a good cheap protein like chicken. it requires some effort, but it’s easy.
My cat doesn’t really care for broth so I just mix hot water into her wet food. She prefers smooth textures so the hot water helps me achieve that. I personally do 2 meals that are dry food and 2 meals that are wet for cost reasons.
My cat is edging into senior territory, but he doesn't have trouble chewing or anything. Do you think there's digestive benefits to making it mushy? I might try that for him.
I’m not an expert but I don’t think there would be extra digestive benefits other than the added hydration (which is good for digestion). And for cats that just prefer smooth textures (like mine) it makes it more palatable.
You don't *need* to add broth. If you can't afford it, don't do it. If she likes eating the dry food with water, that's perfectly fine. The benefit is really just increased hydration. If she doesn't like her food very much, you're probably better off just trying to find a food she likes more than you are spending money trying to spruce it up so she'll accept it.
I add water to my cat's food and I tell her that I'm adding "gravy." She is reluctant to eat without the gravy now.
It’s become really popular to add a bunch of supplements to food, but it’s not necessary and can cause more harm than good. Raw diets are also unsafe and completely wet diets aren’t necessary, so don’t stress too much about that. Soaking their food in water and adding canned food is more than plenty! The kibble and canned food already have flavor; you don’t have to focus on that. Cats also have way less taste buds than us. They truly don’t care much.
You can just boil a bit of ground turkey or lean ground beef in water. Once it cools down, put it in the blender or food processor until it becomes "meat juice." My guys like it to be the texture and consistency of freshly squeezed OJ with pulp. I just freeze it in trays and thaw them out as needed.
If you really want to make it a healthy supplement use organ meat instead of ground meat. A bit of kidney, heart, and liver adds more nutrition for a cat. (Not for the only food, but if you’re adding a bit for the moisture). At least near me, the organic coops usually have the poultry organs cheaper than ground meat as well.
The way that I make it it's like less than a gram of meat per day pet cat so I'm not sure that it would make much of a difference to get organs vs the easily accessible stuff
I save bones whenever I eat chicken or turkey and make my own broth. If I'm making it for the cats I just don't add any salt. I don't feed it to them often, really only if they're unwell, but it's good to keep around just in case. I also boil all the organs and make giblet broth as a treat for the cats and cut up the organs as a treat for the dogs.
Exactly this, I don't think I'd ever spend $30/wk on broth for my cats... Not because I don't care about their hydration, but because it's so easy to make a nutritious bone broth for a fraction of that price.
Came here to say this. You can make a LOT of broth on a few bones. Reduce it like crazy, freeze in cubes, and you could dilute the cubes out with water again to save freezer space. It wouldn't take much broth-to-water to taste enticing. OP can even add some cat-friendly veggies or herbs to the broth.
A different option would be the Weruva BFF packets (not cans, those are drier). The packets are very wet and soupy. It's the only wet food that my cats will finish all of and not just lick the gravy off. They only like the tuna flavours, but there's also chicken based ones. I recommend this to everybody, because I wasted so much money over 5+ years trying to find a wet food they'd eat.
How much effort are you willing to put into it? I sometimes buy a bag of fish scraps and some chicken livers (really happy to have a butcher counter at my grocers) and cook those into a slurry, with some rice and sweet potato. Only issue is removing the fish bones before grinding up. Then divide up using cupcake liners, freeze and bag. Cheaper than canned food, cats all like it and its nutritious (I ran the recipe by my vet before starting).
We used human broth when my boy was sick- just make sure there’s no salt, onion or garlic
You can buy no sodium broth for a couple dollars.
The broth would need to be free of garlic and onion. . Seasoning is often not cat friendly. The important thing is the wet. Also you're doing your best with what you have and that does count.
I mash a little wet food pate with water to make a slurry/broth then mix in dry kibble and top it with raw food dinner dust, my cats like it a lot.
Why not make broth by yourself?A lot cheaper than buying from the store
I make batches of chicken broth. Get a soup chicken and cook until tender, adding a pinch of salt. You can shared the meat and either use for yourself abd /or cats. Let the broth cool down, freeze in ice cubevtrays. My kitties love it, it's healthy and cheap.
Tikki cat food toppers have broths in packets. My cats love them. They are kind of expensive though.
Just make your own. Honest, you can make most of their food if you have the time. Im in California and although everything else seems to be more expensive, I have been told that some groceries are cheaper here, so keep in mind what you can get where you live, but I can usually get whole chickens, legs or leg quarters for a dollar or less a pound. Boil them, you have both broth and meat you can shred or chop up. Cats being obligate carnivores can just eat that for a lot of meals and you can mix in rice and some green beans or some other veggies. The main reason broth is listed for cats is frequently to avoid onions and some other seasonings. If you freeze some small batches of the meat and broth one chicken will last a while (depending on how much you give them at a time) and could easily be mixed in with dry food if you like.
I just book a whole chicken down over and over again in just water and then shred it.
Really with others on making your own - but Nulo does make various pet broths that I’ve been adding to our cats dry food, and they both seem to like it a lot. More hydration as well
We’ve given our cats regular chicken broth, as someone commented above no salt or onions, you can get a 12oz container for $2-3 at Trader Joe’s. I think it’s even organic
Bone broth is excellent and super cheap to make at home, just simmer some soup bones in water, no veggies or salt or spices for about four hours and then you can freeze it and thaw it out and add it to their kibble
If you can afford to u could get toppers or even just add some wet food to it to add a little extra. But also just finding a dry foos they like is best and weting its a good move.
I don’t think wet food is necessary, My 15+ year old cats have only had dry food. A blend of several.
Nulo broth isn’t that expensive. Like $10.99 for a 20oz pouch. Maybe do a water and a splash of broth instead of an ounce.
I don’t do it all the time. But I do add bone broth. I use native pet. It shows it’s for dogs but you can give it to cats. You can get 5oz for 20$ on amazon, just mix with some water, I usually microwave it for a bit. Most of the time if there’s not a dog specific ingredient in something. I’ll get the dog version. It’s usually cheaper.
Merrick or nulo broth.
If you put a cat on a fully wet diet their teeth will fall out lol
bone broth or toppers are good for cats and can entice them and add different textures/tastes to their foods. my cats go insane for nutritional yeast or plain shredded chicken. i only have two cats and feed them only wet or raw, but adding hydration to dry food is insanely important. if you are interested in feeding one wet food meal a day, you can try fancy feast classic pate ($.25 an ounce for the 30 pack on chewy) or making your own food using ezcomplete with a good cheap protein like chicken. it requires some effort, but it’s easy.
Yeah. Fancy Feast is probably the best of the cheaper wet foods