Make Your Own Cat Treats

After making the transition from working remotely to being in an office space until 5:30 p.m., I feel bad for my poor little cat. He used to be my coworker and lunch playmate, but now he’s left to fend for himself everyday.

I realize I sound like “that guy” who talks about her cat like he’s a real boy, but I’m okay with this. I love my cat, and I’ve been neglecting him as of late. To make things up to the little guy, I wanted to do something really special. I came across a recipe for homemade, crunchy cat treats on one of my favorite blogs, Design Sponge, and thought this was the perfect sentiment.

So I made up some treats, and the damn cat didn’t like them! How ungrateful can you be? In defense of the recipe, Tulco (my cat) is rather picky when it comes to food. I have faith that he’ll come around, so don’t let this keep you from trying the recipe.

After I made the unwanted treats, the apartment smelled like tuna, so I referred to Pinterest for an olfactory solution. I found a pin that recommended boiling orange peels with a half teaspoon of cinnamon. As the pin indicated, our apartment smelled “heavenly” for the entire evening and that was just what I needed to stop thinking about my failed tuna treats.

DIY Cat Treats:

recipe from Design Sponge

Ingredients

15 ounce can of tuna (no salt added, packed in water, drained)

1 cup of oat flour (ground up rolled oats)

1 large egg

1 heaping tablespoon of dried catnip

1 tablespoon olive oil

How-to

1. Use a clean coffee grinder to grind up rolled oats until they turn into a most lovely oat flour.

2. Combine all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Mine is broken, so I had to use a blender which didn’t work so well.

3. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into half-teaspoon balls and place on cookie sheet. Use a toothpick to press an “X” into each ball.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the tops are dry and slightly browned. Make sure you let the treats cool before offering them to your sweet pet.

5. Keep treats in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

You’re done! Hopefully your cat will appreciate them more than my fussy Tulco.