Healthy Snacks & Treats For Cats

Treats are perhaps something more closely associated with dogs than cats, but they can be a valuable inclusion in your cat’s diet – for training, nutrition and just joy!

It can be easy to overdo packaged treats as they’re often not particularly healthy, but there are plenty of nutritious real foods that you can try and add to your routine. 

We have created a range of nutritious freeze-dried treats that are perfect for cats and can be cut into smaller pieces to make them go further and ensure they’re not overfed.

We’ve chosen turkey, which is high in taurine, an essential nutrient for cats. We freeze dry it to lock in all of the nutrients of raw food, with the benefit of being shelf stable. 

You can feed up to 10% of the diet as treats, and this can be something as simple as diced meat (like chicken breast or kangaroo) from one of the recipes, lightly pan fried.

Cats can be curious in their tastes so finding things around your house that can be healthy treat swaps may require some experimentation.

Some cats won’t touch fresh fruits or vegetables, whereas other love things like cucumber. Try different things from the lists below and see what inspires your puss and then include the things they like for a bit of variety.  

Some cats will enjoy playing with enrichment feeders and puzzle toys, which can be filled with dehydrated or freeze-dried treats.

You can also try giving your cat catnip and see how they respond, or buy your cat buy Matatabi sticks, which are natural chews that contain oils that promote a similar effect to catnip. 

If you want to try making your own treats, try some of the following ideas:

• Tinned mussels or oysters, chopped in half and dried in a dehydrator, very low temperature oven or air fryer with a dehydration setting 
• Tinned salmon, broken up with a fork and mixed with an egg and some psyllium until a wet dough is formed, then rolled into small balls and lightly baked or cooked in an air fryer 
• Chicken hearts, sliced into halves or quarters and dried in a dehydrator, very low temperature oven or air fryer with a dehydration setting until all moisture is removed
• Meat jellies: prepare beef gelatine and mix it with minced meat or tinned fish, then set in an ice cube tray to make individual cat sized portions