Homemade cat food
Pumpkin & Oat Hairball-Support Cookies
Soft, fibre-rich little cookies built around plain pumpkin — a gentle, natural way to help hair move through the gut and support the digestion of a cat prone to hairballs.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 35 min
- Makes
- About 24 small cookies
🧺 Ingredients
- 3 tbsp plain 100% pumpkin purée (not pie filling — no sugar, spice, salt, onion or garlic)
- 3 tbsp cooked, mashed chicken or a little tinned tuna in spring water, drained
- 3 tbsp ground rolled oats (oat flour)
- 1 egg, beaten
👩🍳 Method
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a tray with parchment.
- Combine the pumpkin, mashed chicken or tuna, oats, and egg into a thick, spoonable dough.
- Drop small half-teaspoon mounds onto the tray and flatten each into a little disc.
- Bake for 15–18 minutes until set and firm to the touch.
- Cool fully, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze.
Nutrition: Plain pumpkin is rich in soluble fibre and moisture, which helps swallowed hair pass through the digestive tract rather than being coughed up, and can gently regulate both constipation and loose stools.
📝 Notes
Introduce pumpkin gradually and in small amounts — a spoonful of extra fibre suits most cats, but too much can loosen the stools. These are a digestive support treat, not a substitute for regular grooming or a hairball-formula food, and not a nutritionally complete meal. See a vet if hairballs are frequent, or if your cat retches without producing one.
⚕️ 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.