Homemade Hypoallergenic Cat Food and Treats

If you don't know by now, I have a cat who is extremely allergic to everything - he has both food allergies and airborne particle allergies!  This makes it extremely tough on us.  Because of him, I have to make homemade cat food and treats, and try to make sure that he does not get ahold of any food particles he is not supposed to have.  All of that entails actually having to hide the dog's food bowl, feed the OTHER cat homemade food as well, make sure all dishes in the sink have no food particles, and also establish special feeding times (3 times a day) when I microwave the cat's meals for them.  Not to mention all of the pills.  Sheesh, I swear, you'd think I'm a crazy cat lady!

O'Malley and Pinky enjoying their treats

When I first realized I had to make homemade cat food (due to lack of response to steroids and antihistamines), I was very overwhelmed.  Where do I start?  What protein source do I use?  How do I make sure they are getting all of their vitamins and nutrients?  What is the easiest way to do it so I can have it stored and frozen and ready for use?  Over time, all the kinks worked themselves out, and now I have a foolproof method down pat.

It's recommeded to use lamb as a protein source, because lamb is supposedly a "new" antigen that most cats won't have come into contact with.  I get my lamb ground, from Whole Foods, in 8 pound increments every month.  I end up making cat food twice per month, and I use 4 pounds of lamb at a time, keeping the other 4 pounds frozen.  Through trial and error, we have found out that my cats enjoy potatoes as a carbohydrate source, as opposed to either peas or rice.  Not russett potatoes though; only red or Yukon Gold.  Your pet may have different tastes; the vet did say that peas were actually the most popular with cats.  I use a 5-pound bag of potatoes for every 4 pounds of lamb. 

Your ingredients: (should last 2 weeks)
-4 pounds of ground lamb
-5 pounds of potatoes
-12 t of vegetable oil
-8 T (or 24 t) of calcium diphosphate, or Bone Meal (Whole Foods)
-8 500mg capsules of taurine
-8 500mg multivitamin tablets
-8 500mg calcium tablets

Cat Food
1.  After defrosting the lamb, I throw it in a large pan on the stove, and let it sit on medium heat, stirring and breaking into clumps intermittently. 
2.  As soon as I put the meat on, I start boiling water in a huge pot and wash all of my potatoes, then cut them into pieces for a quicker boil. 
3.  Get out food processor (if using one), and plug in
4.  Get out small bowl, place all pills inside
5.  Get out mortar and pestle (if using one), and place 8 tablets inside
6.  Check if water is boiling.  If so, put all potatoes in pot
7.  Grind up pills, place in small bowl, grind up next set, and so on. 
8.  Add 24 t of Bone Meal to ground up pills; mix together
9.  Don't forget to keep stirring lamb!  You probably won't forget, because it sizzles and crackles quite a bit
10.  Wait for lamb and potatoes to be thoroughly cooked, let cool for 1/2 hour or so (hot foods can not be put in the food processor
11.  Set aside a bit of meat and potatoes for treats; about the size of your palm
12.  Take spoon, draw 2 diagonal lines through meat in pan.  This should form 4 quadrants.  Do the same with the ground-up pills
13.  Put 1 quadrant of meat, 1/4 of potatoes, and 3 t of vegetable oil in food processor.  Sprinkle 1/4 of the pill mixture on top. 
14.  Pulse mixture until uniform, it should turn into a lumpy mass with potato chunks still evident. That is ok. 
15.  Dump mixture into large bowl; repeat 3 more times. 
16.  Divide mixture into sealed containers (should make about 5 smaller ones).  Freeze.

Treats
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Put leftover meat and potatoes in food processor
3.  Place processed meat and potatoes into bowl
4.  Place a sheet of parchment paper over cookie sheet
5.  Get a bowl filled with water
6.  Get fingers wet, grab tiny amount of meat mixture, roll into a ball, set on cookie sheet.  Do this until all mixture is gone
7.  Put cookie sheet in oven for 15 minutes.
8.  Turn off oven.  I sometimes forget that (crucial) part
9.  Let cool, then place in ziplock in the fridge. 
Give treats whenever, or try to hide pills in them!