Homemade cat food
Cricket Flour & Pumpkin Sustainable Bites
A low-footprint baked treat built on food-grade cricket flour — a protein that uses a fraction of the land and water of meat. A little cooked fish keeps them taurine-rich and irresistible.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 25 min
- Makes
- about 20 small bites
🧺 Ingredients
- 3 tbsp food-grade cricket flour (from an insect-protein supplier)
- 1 tbsp oat flour (to bind)
- 2 tbsp plain tinned pumpkin (100% pumpkin, no spices or added sugar)
- 1 tbsp cooked, flaked white fish or chicken (for taurine and flavour)
- 1 egg yolk
👩🍳 Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F) and line a baking tray with parchment.
- Whisk the cricket flour and oat flour together in a bowl.
- Add the pumpkin, egg yolk and flaked fish or chicken, and mix to a stiff dough — add water half a teaspoon at a time only if it is too crumbly.
- Roll into pea-sized balls and flatten each slightly with a fork.
- Bake for 15–18 minutes until firm and lightly golden.
- Cool completely before serving — freshly baked treats can burn a cat's mouth.
Nutrition: Cricket flour is a highly digestible, sustainable protein rich in vitamin B12, iron and chitin fibre. Pumpkin adds gentle soluble fibre, and the fish or chicken supplies the taurine that insect protein alone lacks.
📝 Notes
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 6 weeks. Introduce any new protein gradually and stop if you see any digestive upset. Keep treats to under 10% of daily calories — these supplement, not replace, a complete diet.
⚕️ 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.