Homemade cat food

Duck & Pumpkin Mince

Rich minced duck cooked down gently and softened with pumpkin purée — a novel protein worth trying when chicken and fish have stopped impressing.

Difficulty
Easy
Time
20 min
Makes
2–3 small meals

🧺 Ingredients

  • 150 g minced duck breast, skin and visible fat removed
  • 2 tablespoons plain pumpkin purée, unsweetened and unspiced
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • Nothing else — no salt, oil, onion, garlic or five-spice

👩‍🍳 Method

  1. Trim away the skin and any obvious fat from the duck before mincing or, if using ready-minced duck, drain it well as it cooks.
  2. Put the mince in a dry pan with the water over a low to medium heat.
  3. Cook gently, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon, for 10–12 minutes until no pink remains anywhere in the mixture.
  4. Tip the pan and spoon off any rendered fat that has pooled — duck releases a good deal of it.
  5. Take the pan off the heat and stir the pumpkin purée through until the mince is evenly coated and soft.
  6. Check the tin carefully if using shop-bought pumpkin: it must be plain purée, never pie filling, which contains sugar and spices.
  7. Cool to lukewarm and serve a small portion alone or spooned over your cat's regular food.
Nutrition: Duck counts as a novel protein for most cats, which makes it genuinely useful when working through a suspected sensitivity to the usual chicken, beef or fish — and it brings a naturally high iron content along with useful B vitamins. Pumpkin contributes soluble fibre that absorbs water in the gut, which is why a spoonful is so often suggested for both loose stools and mild constipation, and it adds moisture and bulk without meaningful calories.

📝 Notes

Duck is a fattier bird than chicken, so trim and drain thoroughly and serve modest portions — and give it a miss entirely if your cat has pancreatitis or is on a fat-restricted diet without speaking to your vet. This is a treat or meal-topper, not a complete diet: it contains no added taurine, calcium or vitamin supplementation, and a cat fed only home-prepared food of this kind will become deficient over time. Keep treats and toppers to around 10% or less of daily calories. Introduce any new protein slowly, over three or four days, watching for loose stools or itching. Refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze in single portions for up to a month.

⚕️ 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.

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