(bouncy music)
- My cat's name is Django.
- We named Django after Django Reinhart,
the jazz musician.
So we try our best to live sustainably
and zero waste,
and we've incorporated that into how we care for Django.
- [Interviewer] So what made you guys decide to try to
make his own food,
and try to limit the waste of your pet?
- [Mom] Honestly, it was because of his health.
We were feeding him dry cat food,
but Django developed crystals, bladder crystals.
They are crystallized pieces of something that can make
it super painful for the cat.
And dangerous too, it can cause blockages.
So he was not using his box when he should've been,
that was our first alert that something was wrong.
He's all better now,
but the vet recommended that we stop dry food
and do wet food only.
- I found the recipe for Django online,
it was a Canadian vet recipe.
It's basically ground chicken liver
and some other supplements with bone meal.
Making cat food is not something you can like
come up with your own recipe,
you have to do a vet recipe because of particular
needs that our cat has.
But it sort of mimics what they would get in the wild
if they were killing birds and eating them.
We chose to make Django's food from scratch because it's
cheaper and it's better for him.
When we were feeding him the can food,
it was coming through $150 a month,
$5 a day.
With the homemade food,
it depends on how much you can get the chicken for,
but it's roughly $1.75,
or $2.00 a day.
So it's about 50 to 60 dollars a month,
which is still expensive,
but it's much cheaper than doing all can food.
- So, his poop doesn't smell so much anymore,
and his urine doesn't have that strong
ammonia smell anymore.
His coat is beautiful and shiny,
and it's just been a really great switch for him.
- I would say he has more energy,
and is peppyier,
and tearing apart our furniture as we speak.
(laughter)
- We use a pine litter which is compostable,
and we scoop out the poop because in California
it's not a good idea to flush cat waste down the toilet,
it can affect marine life.
We usually put it straight in the black bin,
and then the remainder of the litter,
because it's made from pine,
can go in the green bin and be composted.
Before we changed Django's food,
before we started making it homemade,
his cat box smelled like a typical cat box,
and we tried different kinds.
We tried a wheat litter, we tried...
- There was like a walnut shell, or something.
- Walnut shell litter.
- [Interviewer] Oh wow.
- These different kinds.
And the pine litter, we felt really kept the odor at bay.
I have a business where people can come and refill
household cleaners
and body care products in a zero waste manner,
it's called Sustain LA.
We hope to have a storefront in the future where you can
buy litter, package free.
Because it's really hard to find litter package free.
In fact,
the litter that we chose was originally in a cardboard
box, which was great,
but now they've repackaged it in a plastic bag.
A lot of litter comes in bags that aren't recyclable,
and it'd be great to have that sourced in bulk.
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Here, do you want me to tie it?
- [Dad] I've taken the chicken, raw chicken,
and baked it for about 20 minutes,
in a 350 degree oven,
which kills any bacteria.
And this way, Django gets benefits of a raw meat diet.
- When Matt went to the store,
he was able to ask for the chicken in this container,
so we received it paper, package free,
which it great.
- I'm cutting the meat off the bone.
If I had a better meat grinder you could actually just
grind the bone right in,
and then you wouldn't have to use bone meal.
And that will be a future purchase.
We have to put bone meal with this recipe 'cuz
there's a particular ratio for, I forget which nutrients,
that they have to get from the meat and the bone,
because when they eat birds in the wild
they crunch up their bones.
We're like mostly a vegetarian household,
so this is kinda funny.
Okay, so I've cut all the chicken off the bone here,
I've got the cooked liver.
(grinding)
And then we'll turn on the noisy grinder.
Making sausage is not pretty.
(laughter)
These are all the supplements we're gonna finish mixing
here, in with some water.
Wanna get it all mixed in so,
give Django no excuses to refuse the food for his
sensitive pallet.
- [Mom] He's just a really picky eater.
- [Daughter] What is that dad?
- [Dad] The dry stuff on top was the liver I ground up.
- Liver?
- The liver, the chicken liver.
Now this much food will last us about, 10 days.
You can do bigger batches,
but this is usually about what I do.
You can keep it in the fridge for like, a day or two,
but the rest has to be frozen,
and we freeze them in these little jars.
Somebody's excited.
- [Mom] Django had an infection as a kitten,
he was a rescue.
So he has a cartage spurs in his nose,
and without the probiotics he gets sinus infections.
- [Dad] Let's eat.
(laughter)
- [Daughter] No!
- You don't want this for lunch?
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