Homemade cat food
Chicken & Catnip Training Treats
Firm, pea-sized bites made to hold their shape for training and reward-based play — with a pinch of dried catnip to make them extra motivating.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 25 min
- Makes
- About 40 tiny treats
🧺 Ingredients
- 150g cooked chicken breast (finely minced)
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp oat flour (plus a little extra if needed)
- 1 tsp dried catnip
👩🍳 Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking tray with parchment.
- Blitz or finely chop the cooked chicken into a smooth, mince-like texture.
- Mix the chicken, egg, oat flour, and dried catnip into a firm dough — add a little more flour if it is too sticky to handle.
- Roll into tiny pea-sized balls, keeping them small so they work as single training rewards.
- Space them on the tray and flatten each very slightly.
- Bake for 15–20 minutes until firm and dry to the touch, then cool completely before use.
Nutrition: Lean chicken supplies complete animal protein, while egg binds the treats and adds amino acids and biotin. The catnip is not nutritional — it is a behavioural motivator that makes these bites especially rewarding for clicker training, recall practice, and enrichment games.
📝 Notes
Keeping the treats tiny is deliberate — training works best with many small rewards rather than a few large ones, and it keeps calories in check (treats should stay under 10% of daily intake). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. Skip the catnip for kittens under six months, who typically do not respond to it anyway.
⚕️ Before you cook for your cat
- Homemade food must be balanced. Cats need taurine, and deficiency causes heart and eye disease.
- Treat recipes are supplements to a complete diet, not a replacement for it.
- Check any new ingredient against the toxic-foods list, and ask your vet before switching diets.