Nutritionally Complete Dry Kibble for Cats (and Dogs!)

Get ready to whip up a batch of inexpensive, nutritious kibble your furry friends will love! This recipe yields enough food to feed one cat for 15 to 17 days. It features vital wheat gluten flour for protein, hemp hearts for omega fatty acids and our exclusive Nutri-Yeast for flavour. Finally, our VegeCat^TM supplement will provide all the nutrients your cat needs to thrive.

We highly recommend coating kibble in pureed vegetables or sugar-free squash baby food to increase moisture content. Serving dry kibble here and there is alright, but moistened food is ideal for urinary health! However, avoid adding too much vegetable puree, which could dilute the protein content.

This recipe contains 33% protein, 10% fat and 0,12% magnesium. Low magnesium is ideal for cats!

Ingredients

• 3-1⁄2 cups water, as needed (830mL)
• 4-1⁄2 tbsp canola oil (63g/67mL)
• 1⁄4 cup tomato paste (60g/59mL)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (34g/29mL) OR 3/4 tsp salt
• 2-2⁄3 cups whole-wheat flour (400g)
• 1-1⁄4 cup chickpea flour (180g)
• 1-2⁄3 cup vital wheat gluten flour (200g)
• 6 tbsp hemp hearts or hemp meal (60g)
• 1-1⁄8 cup Nutri-Yeast (160g)
• 7-1⁄4 tbsp VegeCat™ (72g)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F (150˚C).
2. Combine dry ingredients.
3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture, slowly adding water as needed.
4. Stir with a large spoon to form a soft dough.
5. Flour your hands and the countertop to keep dough from sticking. Knead the dough on the countertop by folding it several times until smooth.
6. Roll dough no more than 1/3-inch thick and smooth it in place on a cookie sheet.
7. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to prevent bubbles.
8. Bake for 30 minutes. Do not overcook, which could make edges brown and brittle.
9. With a large chef’s knife or pizza cutter, cut the baked slab into 9 or 12 parts. Cut twice horizontally, and then cut vertically 2 or 3 times. Then, cut each rectangle into the right size of kibble pieces for your pet.
10. Lay out kibble pieces onto two or more cookie sheets and bake at your oven’s lowest temperature until crunchy. You could also use direct sunlight or a dehydrator. Kibble is dry enough when you can’t compress pieces with finger pressure.

Note: Properly dried kibble can be stored in a closed container for up to 3 months. Refrigeration is not necessary or desirable.