Homemade cat food
Lamb & Pumpkin Novel-Protein Mince
A soft, warming mince built on lamb — a less-common protein — with a spoon of pumpkin to settle the stomach of a cat trying something new.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 30 min
- Makes
- 4 portions
🧺 Ingredients
- 180 g lean lamb, boneless and trimmed of fat
- 2 tbsp plain cooked pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
- 60 ml unsalted water or plain broth
- A vet-recommended supplement if lamb is fed regularly (ask your vet)
👩🍳 Method
- Trim away visible fat, then cut the lamb into small pieces.
- Simmer the lamb gently in the water or broth until fully cooked through, with no pink remaining.
- Let it cool, then finely chop or pulse into a soft mince.
- Stir through the pumpkin purée and a little of the cooking liquid to make a moist mince.
- Serve warm but not hot, and offer a small amount first to check it agrees with your cat.
- Refrigerate the rest and use within three days.
Nutrition: Lamb offers a flavourful, less-common protein rich in B vitamins and zinc, while pumpkin adds gentle soluble fibre that helps firm up loose stools when introducing a new food.
📝 Notes
Lamb is a useful alternative protein for cats bored of chicken or fish, but it is richer, so trim the fat well and keep portions modest. This is a topper or meal component rather than a complete balanced diet unless your vet has balanced it, so keep it under 10% of daily calories. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
⚕️ 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.