Homemade cat food
Quail Egg Kitten Custard
A soft, spoonable custard designed for kittens making the awkward jump from milk to solid food, and equally useful for elderly cats who have lost teeth or find chewing uncomfortable.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 15 min
- Makes
- 2 days
🧺 Ingredients
- 4 quail eggs (or 1 hen egg)
- 60ml kitten milk replacer, made up as directed
- 40g cooked chicken breast, very finely minced
- 1 tsp plain full-fat natural yoghurt (optional)
👩🍳 Method
- Whisk the quail eggs thoroughly with the made-up kitten milk replacer until completely smooth.
- Pour into a small heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of barely simmering water.
- Stir constantly for 5–7 minutes until the mixture thickens to a soft, loose custard. Do not let it boil or it will scramble.
- Remove from the heat and beat in the finely minced chicken.
- Stir through the yoghurt if using — it adds a little tang that many weaning kittens find appealing.
- Cool to lukewarm and test on the inside of your wrist before offering. It should be barely warm, never hot.
- Offer on a flat saucer rather than a deep bowl so a kitten can reach it without climbing in.
Nutrition: Egg is close to the perfect protein, with an amino acid profile the body can use almost in its entirety, plus biotin, choline and vitamin D. Quail eggs are naturally portion-sized for a small animal and are slightly richer in iron and B12 than hen eggs.
📝 Notes
Refrigerate for up to 2 days and rewarm gently before serving. Eggs must always be cooked for cats — raw egg white contains avidin, which binds biotin and can cause deficiency over time. This is a transition food, not a complete diet: kittens should be moving onto a complete kitten food within a week or two of starting solids. Never use cow's milk, which most cats cannot digest.
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⚕️ 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.