Choose the right recipe for your cat

Pick the life stage

Kittens and adult cats have different nutrient needs, so most recipes come in two versions. Pick one with the version buttons on the recipe page.

Adults Only, 12 months +: homes where every cat is grown, including neutered indoor cats.
Kitten & Adult, from 8 weeks: designed for kittens, and suitable for adults who share their bowl. Pregnant or nursing cats eat it too, until weaning.
Kittens move to Adults Only around 12 months. Large breeds may grow longer; ask your vet.
Seniors stay on Adults Only: there is no senior profile. Pick a soft texture if chewing is hard, and ask your vet about kidney checks.

The calcium source differs too. Adults Only versions use eggshell powder; Kitten & Adult versions use bone meal, made from chicken bones.

Starter meal or full recipe?

Starter meals are balanced on purpose with fewer supplements, so your first try at homemade costs less. The trade-off is tighter margins on a few nutrients. They are formulated to follow FEDIAF. Full recipes also follow AAFCO and NRC, and use more supplements for a better balance and wider nutrient margins.

Not sure yet? Treat a starter meal as a first step. If you continue with homemade, rotate it with a full recipe once cooking is routine.

Pick a protein

Start with the proteins your cat already likes. If they like more than one, pick a recipe that has them all.

Names. A name lists the main meats, the largest first. Chicken & Duck Meal has more chicken than duck; Duck & Chicken Meal has more duck. Organs such as heart and liver are added on top.
Families. The catalog groups recipes into families by their main meat. In the chicken family, chicken leads every recipe; most add a second protein, such as turkey or salmon.
Price. Chicken and turkey cost least and are easiest to find; duck and lamb cost more.
Suspected sensitivity. See your vet first; they may suggest a novel protein. A recipe's name may not list every protein. Check the protein icons and flags, such as No chicken, on each version.

Pick a texture

After smell, texture is the most common reason a cat refuses a new food, so match what your cat eats now. Most recipes offer the four below.

Texture	Extra tool	Good for
Chunks	None	Cats on chunky wet food or dry food. Whole, bite-size pieces get your cat chewing
Minced	Food processor, strainer	Cats on minced wet food
Shredded	Stand mixer with flat beater, strainer	Cats who pick at strands
Pâté	Immersion blender or food processor	Cats on pâté, kittens, seniors, sore teeth

Every texture has the same ingredients and nutrition. What changes is the preparation: how small the meat is cut and, in many recipes, how long it cooks.

Health conditions

No recipe is built for a medical condition yet. When one is, it will sit in the catalog's Special Diet category.

Time, batch size and cost

Time. About 2 hours for a 1x batch, from scale to freezer.
Batch size. A 1x batch makes 1,000 kcal of food, about 840 to 950 g (1.9 to 2.1 lb). That feeds an average 4 kg (9 lb) adult cat for about 4 to 5 days. Cook 2x or 5x once your cat eats it. Guide 7 helps you size it.
Cost. The supplement shelf is a one-time cost of about $100 to 150. Fresh food is the ongoing cost.

How many recipes

Plan on at least two. Cats can be picky. If yours turns down the first recipe, a second with a different protein or texture is your next try.

Introduce one new recipe at a time. Once your cat is settled, around week 4, rotate to a different but similar recipe in the same texture. Chicken & Turkey Meal after Chicken Meal is one example. Rotation widens the range of nutrients your cat gets and keeps mealtimes interesting. Full recipes share most of their supplements, so each new recipe mostly adds fresh food.