DIY cat treats with real meat for tabby cats

Cats are notoriously fussy about treats — they're drawn to strongly-scented, meat-based options and will often flat-out reject anything sweet or grain-heavy. The best treats are high-protein and low in additives, which actually works in your favour if you want to go the DIY route with real ingredients. Before I point you in the right direction: is this for training, enrichment, or just rewarding your tabby — and does she have any known dietary restrictions or sensitivities I should know about?

That's a great starting point — healthy cats at three years old can handle a wide range of proteins, so you've got real flexibility. When you say DIY, are you thinking more like baking or dehydrating your own treats at home, or are you open to buying something that's basically a single ingredient you could also prep yourself — like plain cooked chicken or tuna? That distinction helps me point you to the most useful option.

Perfect — then my recommendation is Applaws 100% Natural Chicken Breast Cat Treats. It's literally one ingredient: dried chicken breast. No grain, no additives, no filler. You can buy a bag and use it as-is, or it gives you a useful benchmark for what you're replicating if you want to dehydrate your own chicken at home — same idea, just done in your oven at a low temperature until it's dry and chewy. At around £3–4 for a decent-sized bag on Amazon UK, it's one of the cheapest single-ingredient options out there, and most cats go absolutely mad for it. It's also easy to break into smaller pieces for portion control.

Really straightforward — take plain chicken breast (no seasoning, no oil), slice it thin, and bake it in your oven at around 100°C fan for 2–3 hours until it's fully dried out and firm. You can do the same with turkey breast or plain white fish like cod. Let it cool completely before giving it to her, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. It ends up almost identical to what's in that Applaws bag, just fresher and even cheaper per gram. The Applaws bag is still worth keeping handy for convenience — but knowing you can make the same thing at home is genuinely useful.

You're all set — simple, cheap, and your tabby will almost certainly love it. If you ever want to branch out, plain cooked salmon or prawns work just as well using the same method. Enjoy spoiling her.