I've been reading that many pet foods are made from diseased carcasses and odd animal sources (including roadkill) whether it's purchased from the grocery store or from a premium source such as a vet. I can't prove or disprove that scientifically, but it does make some sense after checking out online sources and the books I've been reading, including Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats. Today is my first attempt at mixing together a batch of (yuck) Beefy Oats, which contains a couple pounds of beef and several cups of oats to make a squishy batch of food (see picture below). 
Appetizing, isn't it? Funny, it almost looks like the batches of sausage I made a while back, but it doesn't smell as good. It smells mostly of the kelp that was part of the "Healthy Powder" which is an essential ingredient of the food. The ingredients in this recipe are supposed to nutritionally simulate what a cat would eat in the wild - i.e. a mouse or a bird - even the goodies that come along with eating a whole animal: bones, feathers, and stomach contents. Yuck. But it does make sense for my little obligate carnivores to dine on this goop. Truth be told, it does smell better than your average can of cat food - not as strong an aroma, and the kelp just makes it smell like the ocean (or that flaky fish food from the pet store).
It's not time to feed the little fur balls yet, so I'll have to report back on how they react to the food.
For the past 2 days, I have been spiking their water and food with flower essences to help settle them into condo life. Bach's Rescue Remedy is what I've been using, and I'm going to experiment with Larch, Beech and Water Violet to further calm, de-stress and help socialize the threesome. They've been living here a month now, and I still can't get them to come out and interact with me one-on-one. Not that I'm looking to rush the project, but I thought I'd try something new to get them to come out of their shells (or from under my bed in this case). So far 2 of the 3 cats seem to be a little bolder, are coming out when my reading light is still on, and they've even played with the laser pointer (from a distance of course) that Steve & Tony gave me as a "welcome back to the world of cat ownership" present. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that flower power will work wonders.
Right now I'm waiting for my dishwasher to finish its cycle - all the plastic containers that I want to freeze raw cat food in are there. I'm speculating with some certainty that the cats will eat the food I've made for them. Otherwise, it'd be kind of insulting that even cats won't eat my meal creations.
Signing off,
Chef des Chats
