Melamine to Frankenprey: A Documented Journey

This is so much fun!

 

 

Tonight, they all got chicken gizzard pieces and shared a whole Cornish Hen. Everyone ate the gizzards, but holy cow; those suckers were not easy to cut. I seriously need to upgrade my knife set.

 

The hen was interesting. I wanted to see how many of the cats, if any, would venture to eat bones, so I threw the two wings down first. Surprisingly, Spencer, one of the kittens, grabbed the first one. Though he worked on it for quite a while, he didn't get far eating it. Meghan ate the other one. It was really weird hearing the bones crunch, I've got to tell you. I'm soooo conditioned to think bones = bad,bad,bad!, and I kept wincing.

 

I also cut off some of the ribs with a bunch of meat still attached. Spencer and his sister, Heather, ate them with no problems at all.

 

While I was socializing/fostering Heather, I had several conversations with the shelter about her slow growth and thin body. I even asked them if they would do a blood panel when she went in for her spay (they refused). They kept telling me some kittens grow slower than others. Well, finally, finally! my little girl is putting some weight on! And it's only been three days with a single raw meal each. Although … er … she's been eating a lot at each of those meals!

 

Something else I've noticed is the condition of their fur. Right up front, I'll be honest and say I've always rolled my eyes at folks who've talked about a difference in their cats' fur after only a few days on a new diet. I mean, come on, it takes several days for fur to grow! However, my cats' fur really is softer, most especially the two shorthairs Spencer and Meghan. Interestingly enough, I've noticed another difference on my other skinny girl, Rachel. She's always had a patch of slightly oi ly fur on her back, near the base of her tail; this patch is now nearly gone.

 

So I'm wondering, maybe the change in diet affects their skin condition and that's why their fur feels different? Or maybe it's a change in their saliva and that affects their fur when they groom? I've been told that folks who are allergic to cats often have fewer symptoms around raw-fed cats.

 

The things I'm learning!

 

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up some rabbit, quail, chicken and turkey from a local butcher and spend some time cutting and packing single meals to cover the next week (or two, if I can get enough), so I don't have to do it every night. That part gets tedious real quick!

 

I was talking to folks at work today about what I'm doing and one of my coworkers was adamant I'm endangering my cats … right up until I asked her: "Have you ever seen zoo tigers fed anything other than raw meat? Can you even imagine a tiger eating pate-style glop from a can?"

 

The conversation got much better after that. She even let me lend her my copy of Elizabeth Hodgkins' book, Your Cat, Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life.

 

 

People keep asking me why my cats have taken to raw so quickly. I don't have an answer, but maybe it's because I've always fed a really large variety of foods. There was usually between 15 to 21 different canned flavors in any given two-week period.

 

No bones tonight. We had chicken breast again, along with chicken heart and some chicken liver. Everyone ate what I gave them; although I helped the adults along with some Whole Life™ freeze-dried chicken treat sprinkles. They started eating quite eagerly, but I think they began to tire halfway through the meal and needed an incentive to finish it.

 

Each kitten got a small whole chicken heart, but the adults got two large hearts cut down for them. That was a little … um, gross. They bled when I cut into them, and kinda squished, too. Cats aren't the only ones who have to get used to the whole "raw" thing!

 

My cats eat on a long narrow table. Last night, I set up a separate one for the kittens so that everyone will be able to eat sitting quite some distance away from each other; the three cats on the original table that all five were using, and the kittens on their own table. I was hoping that this would allow them to become comfortable enough to stop running away with the food, 'cause that was making me uncomfortable.

 

No one ran off with any pieces tonight, so my little scheme worked, yay! Everyone but Rachel was growling though. I had to laugh. I'm happy they liked their dinner so much, but I'd rather they just relaxed a bit, you know?

 

My shopping trip lasted three hours and was rather disappointing. The butcher shops were closed; I don't know why I just assumed they'd be open today. So I had to go hunting through several grocery stores. I picked up a couple of Cornish Hens and whole small chickens, as well as a couple packages of chicken hearts and gizzards. Not much variety, but at least enough to last 'til next weekend.

 

Dealing with the whole bird is confusing. I pulled the first one out of the package and then just stared at it for a minute. What the heck am I supposed to do with this thing? I finally pulled and cut the legs off, then pulled and cut them into two pieces each. I also pulled/cut the wings off, but left them whole. Then I cut off the breast meat and diced it. Finally, I cut the ribs off the spine on both sides.