Finicky Kitty Treat

How often have you gone looking for a recipe for your cat on the Internet to find only recipes for dogs? On one of those rainy fall days, try baking this easy treat which will also benefit your favorite feline. This recipe is easy enough for the kids to help with and this will give them a feeling of accomplishment.

Great Gift!

This is also a good treat to give as a holiday gift to your friends' cats or to take to a party as a unique and original hostess gift. Who says you always have to take a bottle of wine? This is a great treat to put into a gift basket, but be warned -- if you have cats of your own, make sure to put the gift basket somewhere inaccessible to your cats. Between the catnip and the salmon in these treats, you will be lucky if they last very long in your house. This is a sure fire treat for any finicky cat, and the not-so-finicky will love it too!

Salmon Snackers

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces of canned salmon, drained
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons dried catnip
• 2 tablespoons fish Thai fish sauce (found at many markets in the specialty food section)
• ¼ cup chopped dried fish or fish flakes (I like to save a few to sprinkle on top before baking)
• 1 2/3 cups whole-wheat flour
• ½ cup fish stock or water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Spray cookie sheet with non–stick spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of your ingredients.
4. Add some water if you need to make your dough workable. But only add a bit at a time – not too much – because you don't want the dough to be too runny to work with.
5. Take your mixture and roll into a log shape, just like the Slice and Bake style of cookies sold in the supermarket. (Sometimes I like to save some fish flakes to sprinkle on top of my treats before baking.)
6. Bake for thirty minutes, and turn off your oven to let the cookies dry out, at least three hours. The drier your treat is, the more intense its flavor and the harder it will become. If you can leave them in the oven overnight with the door a bit ajar, this will help them dry out more. In this case, the crunchier the better. Harder treats will help keep your cat's teeth clean.
7. These treats will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week in an airtight container, or for one month in the freezer.

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