Chicken Thighs | Whole Meat

The instructions below work best with whole meat. Click here for other whole meat options to try.

The below information is to be used as a guideline. Please make adjustments as necessary for your cat(s) and their specific goals and Veterinarian care.

Ingredients & Supplies

Step 1:

Purchase Meat & Omega-3 Oil

  • 3+ pounds boneless or 4+ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or other whole meat (ex: split chicken breast, duck, pork, rabbit, beef)

  • Omega-3 Oil (optional)

Recommended Kitchen Supplies

  • Whisk, blender or handheld milk frother

  • Glass (preferred) or metal baking pan

  • Tin foil

  • Tool or appliance to chop the meat into small pieces - ex: sharp knife, hand-held food chopper, food processor, meat grinder, etc

  • Mixing spoon

  • Measuring cups and measuring spoons

  • Food-safe, freezer-safe plastic or glass storage containers

  • Masking tape or food labels + permanent markers

Prepare the Meat

Step 2:

Bake the meat in the oven - Cooked/Par-Cooked Option

  • Set oven temperature to 325°F

  • Grease the baking pan with coconut or olive oil (cat-safe options)

  • Place the chicken thighs/meat in the pan in a single layer

  • Cover the pan with tin foil and place in oven

  • Check meat after 25 minutes for doneness - place back in oven for 5-20 minute intervals until desired level of doneness is achieved

  • Remove meat from the oven and let cool

Flash Boil for Raw Food Option:

  • Bring a pan of water (big enough to place the meat into) to a boil on the stove

  • Once the water is at a rolling boil, place the meat into the boiling water for 10 seconds. This should kill off the bacteria on the outside of the meat.

  • Remove the meat, let cool before chopping/grinding

NOTE: You could also bake or grill the outside of the meat to kill bacteria and leave the inside raw.

We recommend cooking or par-cooking store-bought meat to kill potentially harmful bacteria on the surface of the meat.

Flash Boil (or bake/grill): If you’d like to do a raw food option with grocery store meat, follow this method to kill bacteria on the outside of the meat.

If you are experienced with preparing and feeding raw meat and take the proper bacterial precautions, you can skip this step and prepare your meat as you normally do and go to Step 3.

Chop the meat

  • If using bone-in thighs/meat, remove the meat and skin from the bones.

  • Save some of the skin to add a little fat and increase the palatability for most cats. Toss the unused skin. For meat with a lot of skin:

    • For normal weight cats: save approximately 10-40% of the skin

    • For underweight cats: save approximately 40-60% of the skin

    • For overweight cats or cats with digestive issues: only save about 5-10% of the skin or try no skin at all. If you are using chicken thighs, you can also try mixing cooked chicken breast with the chicken thigh meat or using only chicken breast.

  • Using your chopping tool or appliance, chop/grind the meat and skin into small pieces.

  • If you’d like to pureé the meat with an immersion blender, first cut the meat and skin into small chunks, then add the supplement mix + water (see Mix it up! below) to the meat before using the blender.

Depending on the meat you are using, you can remove more or less fat/skin. Example: for Split Chicken Breasts - use all of the skin because the skin to meat ratio is low.

Optional: If you have a grinder and would like to add some finely ground raw chicken thigh bones for the bone marrow benefits, feel free to do so. Weigh the ground bones and meat together to get an accurate Mix measurement.

Prep Tips

    • We prefer bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, split chicken breasts, turkey thighs or half turkey breast because the inner parts of the meat near the bones don’t cook as fast and we like to keep that part a little more pink/raw.

    • So that we don't have to toss and waste any chicken thigh skin, we purchase a package of bone-in, skin-on thighs and then purchase double that amount in boneless, skinless thighs.

    • We prefer to par-cook the store-bought poultry to kill off potentially harmful bacteria & our cats prefer it prepared this way. The inside of the meat can remain more raw if you/your cat prefers a more raw food vs cooked.

  • We like using the Flash Boil or Grilling methods for Beef cuts. One of our cats is obsessed with raw beef homemade food and these methods make it simple to prepare.

  • If using Pork, make sure to COOK THE MEAT TO AT LEAST 145°F. Pork muscle can contain microscopic worms and needs to be cooked thoroughly.

  • If your cat is used to eating wet or dry food, we’ve found it easier to transition them starting with meat that is cooked/mostly cooked and then decrease it a little more each time we make it, until we find the level of doneness that the cat prefers.

Mix it up!

Per Pound of Meat, measure out the following and add all to a bowl or blender pitcher/cup:

  • ½ cup water per pound (for raw meat, start with ¼-⅓ cup)

  • 1 tsp of Omega-3 Oil per pound (= 1 TB for every 3 lbs)

  • 1 Level Scoop of Supplement Mix per pound

  • Mix well with a whisk/frother or add to a blender and blend for 5-10 seconds

  • Add the supplement water mixture to the prepared meat and mix well with a mixing spoon - aim for at least 100+ strokes

  • If the mixture seems a little dry or hard to mix, add in a small amount of water at a time until it is mixable, but not soupy

Mix & Portion

Step 3:

Time Saver Tip:

If you have a Kitchen Aid or Stand Mixer, add the meat, water, oil and Supplement Mix to the bowl and let the mixer do the work!

Portion into containers

  • Label the containers with the date and type of meat

  • Leave one container of the prepared food in the fridge to serve to your cat(s) for the next feeding, if needed

  • Freeze the rest of the food in freezer-safe containers and pull a container to thaw in the refrigerator as needed

Our cats prefer their food frozen and then thawed vs freshly made food, so try both options with your cat(s)

Other whole meat options to try with the Supplement Mix:

  • Pheasant, Duck or Rabbit - check with a local butcher shop

  • Cornish Hens or Quail - frozen from the grocery store

  • Whole Turkey/Turkey Breast with skin/Turkey Thighs - we get a half breast from Trader Joe’s and Thighs from the grocery store (when available - they can be hard to find) and mix them together.

  • Pork (pork shoulder/chops/loin) - we remove the excess fat from these cuts

  • Split Chicken Breast - since the skin to meat ratio is low, we tend to keep and use all the skin in the food

  • Beef - we get sirloin steaks, cook the outside for about 10 minutes at 350℉ or Flash Boil for 10 seconds, leave the inside mostly raw and then grind/chop it up.

  • We DON’T recommend using fish. Fish is fatty, high in phosphorous and may contain levels of mercury that can be harmful to cats if fed often. For cats that like fish, we recommend using it as a food topper or mix a little into their homemade food. A little bit of tuna (Safe Catch is a great brand) or salmon on top is a tasty treat!

Additional Tips + Notes

It’s good to vary the proteins you feed your cats so that they don’t get tired of one protein and then refuse to eat it or develop an allergy to it.

  • Example: You could rotate protein options weekly. Some Veterinarians recommend a slow transition by mixing increasing amounts of the transition food into the current food at the beginning of each cycle.

  • Our cats prefer different homemade food proteins throughout the day - Example: Ground Turkey in the morning, Pork for mid-day and Chicken Thigh or Beef in the evening.

  • As always, make sure to experiment to discover what your cat prefers!

If your cat will only eat one protein option, try adding toppers to it for some variety - see our recommendations in the Tips & Troubleshooting section.

For help with transitioning your cat to a homemade diet and/or palatability tips, see our Tips + Troubleshooting page!

Next

Ground Meat Directions