Homemade cat food
Chicken & Pumpkin Pill-Pocket Treats
Soft, mouldable little dough balls of chicken and pumpkin that you can press a tablet into — a homemade, additive-free way to hide medication in something your cat actually wants to eat.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 20 min
- Makes
- 2 weeks
🧺 Ingredients
- 80g cooked, finely minced skinless chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons plain cooked pumpkin (not pie filling)
- 1 tablespoon oat flour (plain oats blitzed to a powder)
- A little unsalted chicken broth if the mix is too dry
👩🍳 Method
- Blend the cooked chicken, pumpkin and oat flour into a smooth, stiff paste.
- If it is crumbly, add a teaspoon of unsalted broth at a time until it holds together like soft dough.
- Roll into small balls a little bigger than the tablet you need to hide.
- Press a thumb into the centre, tuck the tablet inside, and pinch the dough closed around it.
- Offer one plain "practice" pocket first so your cat trusts them, then give the loaded one, and refrigerate the rest for up to five days or freeze in a labelled bag.
Nutrition: Lean chicken keeps the pocket high in the animal protein cats are built for, while a little pumpkin adds moisture and gentle fibre and the oat flour is simply the binder that lets the treat wrap neatly around a tablet.
📝 Notes
This is a kinder, cleaner alternative to shop-bought pill pockets that often list a long line of additives. Always check with your vet that the medication can be given with food — a few must be given on an empty stomach or must not be crushed — and never crush or split a tablet unless your vet confirms it is safe. Give plain pockets on non-medication days too so your cat never learns to associate them only with pills.
⚕️ 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.