[Guest]

Just received the weekly shop from Tescos today and got some lovely chicken legs and an off cut of shoulder pork from them as I had a lovely chat yesterday with a gentleman at the train station who talked me into trying Cuddles with raw food.

So my question today is, I would like to cook a chicken leg up for Cuddles tomorrow so she has some juice with it. Is it better to boil the chicken and use the water that I boiled it with or roast it?

Also what way is best to feed her the pork (This is for a future date not tomorrow)?

Also what amount am I meant to feed her, she is 4.3kg?

Thank you for any help given.

 

[carly87]

Firstly, raw is different to cooked. If you're feeding raw, then you don't cook it at all. Just cut the meat into very small pieces to try her with. Same goes for pork. I'd not worry about how much to feed her at present as this must be regarded as a treat food given that it's not complete and you're not supplementing it. Feed her as you would with any other treat food.

Secondly, if you're going to feed her raw regularly, it would be worth looking into making your own or buying in a complete food such as Natural Instinct.

 

[spid]

If you are cooking it DON'T give her the bones - very dangerous as it could splinter.

 

[Guest]

Like they said, raw means raw. You don't cook it. You offer the entire leg and anxiously await for her to drag it off as if she's made the kill herself, and then she'll consume the lot.

I personally would steer clear of pork for cats. Not that there's anything wrong with the meat, but because it's one of the lesser realistic meats to give to cats, and I'm not sure if the bones are a suitable size. Try chicken, turkey, rabbit, quail, pigeon, hare.. anything you can imagine her taking down herself. Unfortunately cats don't work in teams to take down game like deer, but I think venison is meant to be a nice meat for them anyway

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

Haven't got my head screwed on today of course raw is raw not cooked, silly me

If I give Cuddles the chicken leg as it is is it ok to leave the bone in it?

Obviously if I am cooking it I would need to remove the bone, but will leave cooking it and see if she will take the leg as it is, defrosted and raw. I think I'll leave cooking it and use this as a back up option.

I am only giving her the chicken leg tomorrow as a treat really and will see if she likes it and then look at other options for the future if she does.

 

[spid]

Yes it's fine if it is raw - she very probably won't touch the bone as a leg is quite big to start off with. You might need to cut into the flesh with a sharp knife to get her to realise what it is.

 

[Guest]

Yes it's fine if it is raw - she very probably won't touch the bone as a leg is quite big to start off with. You might need to cut into the flesh with a sharp knife to get her to realise what it is.

Would a wing be better to start her off with?

 

[spid]

Yep . . . ..

 

[hobbs2004]

But even a wing is quite ambitious imo. As Spid suggested though, cut into the meat to make her realise that there is something edible underneath the skin. If you have got a whole chicken you could start her off on some ribs and chunks of meat.

 

[Guest]

But even a wing is quite ambitious imo. As Spid suggested though, cut into the meat to make her realise that there is something edible underneath the skin. If you have got a whole chicken you could start her off on some ribs and chunks of meat.

Would it be better if I deboned the meat and took the skin off and cut it up into chunks with shreds of skin mixed in with the meat in her bowl? It's just as you said it might be ambitious for the first attempt on raw to give her a leg or wing and expect her to take it straight away.

 

[Lel]

Tom, when you are cutting up chicken etc for yourself do you ever save a couple of pieces for her to try? If she has never eaten it before you might want to do this first rather than potentially waste a whole bowl full as I know you've said before that she is a fuss pot!

 

[Lilylass]

Would love to know how it goes

I've been seriously thinking of some raw for my 2:

Archie is a prolific hunter but I still baulk at the thought of actually giving him something like a chicken leg - even tho' I often see him chomping away on something or other outside so he'd probably be fine.

He's a terrible eater (picks at both wet & dry but doesn't eat well IYKWIM) and he could really do with putting a bit of weight on.

Mia ..... not so sure about but she won't eat any wet food (that I've found so far and, believe me, I have tried everything!) and I'd dearly love to get a bit more variety into her diet and off being totally dry fed - and she really needs to lose a few lbs!

 

[Guest]

I say give her the benefit of the doubt and try her with some frankenprey (pieces that still look the same like legs and wings). If she doesn't take to it then try new things, but if you start spending a lot of effort making it perfect and de-boning and cooking and adding this that and the other she may end up *only* eating that and you'll be stuck doing it all the time.

I say give her a wing or just go straight for the leg.

 

[Guest]

Oh well never mind, she didn't take to having some raw chicken chunks. So I guess raw is off the menu.

 

[spid]

don't give up after only one attempt - you know how picky cats are - just keep trying - every time you cook offer a sliver and eventually she will get the idea.

 

[labydird]

First time I offered my cats a chicken wing, they looked at me as if I was crazy! nO interest at all!!

So I made a raw mix, I began to add pieces of raw meat to their normal wet food so they would slowly get used to the texture and chewing it (requires more strength!)

At the moment they will quite happily eat a portion of mixed raw (although still chopped. not full on the bone) with a tiny amount of wet food (in the same plate but on the side so no longer mixed together) and they will clean this all off the plate!

I went to the butchers last week and got all the components (meats, offal, hearts etc ) suprisingly the whole lot cost me around £8 (a few freebies from the butcher!) and I made 30 portions of food , each around 100g (so 2 used per day) which is very good moneywise! I've also noticed their eyes are really clear and almost sparkling everyday and their coats have a beautiful sheen to it and is incredibly soft! Like the baby downy hair you get on their belly but all over, really nice! Hopefullyits having a good effect inside as well, healthwise!

I would say don't give up just yet, it took a good month of slowly introducing bit by bit for mine to finally take it as a whole meal, and the end result will be worth it!

Here is a raw meal (yum!)

And a freezer section dedicated to cat food lol I bought tubs from Poundland which were the perfect size and have used blue lids for lamb and green lids for chicken and lamb (haven't tried any other meat with them yet!)

 

[spid]

That looks great but what are you doing for bone at the moment? - you don't want them to get deficient.

 

[labydird]

They are still relunctant to eat/ chew large bones like wings etc so at the moment its chicken ribs or chicken necks. I am still providing their wet food as I know its not complete (the raw) yet! Once they begin to eat the softer bones and I can introduce larger ones I think I would even like to try whole prey which would be great (proportioned correctly already!)

Would you recommend any bone powder type replacement I could use in their current food?

 

[spid]

Hobbs recommended eggshells

 

[labydird]

Thank you, will give it a try this evening!