I am shocked! and impressed

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Marvie and Tugger

Marvie and Tugger

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My crew ate RAW :shock: ! To be properly impressed by this you should understand that my cats Do Not Eat Human Food. BB will occasionally take a bit of deli turkey or a tiny bit of cheese, she's the only one who will even allow human food to pass her lips. I decided to try it because Echo is always gnawing on stuff. My shower curtains, lids on two liter soda bottles, my metal candle holders... so I thought he might enjoy a nice raw chicken wing to gnaw on.

I found a package of "winglettes" so I grabbed 'em and brought them home to try out. I've seen other people feed their cats raw wings and they just tossed the raw chunk at the cat who then crunched and gnawed her way through it in about 3 seconds.... yeah, not my bunch. I put a wing in each food dish and got the dirtiest look from BB and Tux :lol: Echo started sniffing and licking, Tugger started purring and gnawing and Bella just kind of looked at the foreign object in her dish with disgust. I tossed one to each drooler too.

The dogs took them but then just laid down on the floor with the wing between paws and stared at it. They weren't sure it was food I think. With lots of encouragement they started mouthing at them but weren't sure what to do with 'em.

Back to the kitchen and the cats. Tugger was trying to get something off the thing but wasn't getting very far. Bella gave up and left. BB and Tux were still giving me filthy looks. Echo gave up on his and went to check out Boomer's. Boomer may not have been sure what to do with the wing but he knew he did NOT want to share with the kitten so I had to quickly scoop the baby up before Boomer crunched him :lol:

So back to the kitchen I go with the baby. I decided to try cutting the meat up for the cats to see if that would help things along. Sure enough, once I got the meat cut up into kitty sized bites they all went to town. BB and Tux ate a few pieces and went away. Echo chewed on it for a while but not sure how much he actually got to eat because once it was cut up Tugger started mowing! Tugger ate his own dish, pushed Echo off of his dish, and then screamed for more so I gave him Bella's dish too.

I gave the bones to the dogs. Once the meat was mostly gone, they figured out right quick what to do with them lol. The sounds of crunching bones could be heard for several minutes. When Isis wanted to go outside she took her last wing with her (That was the cutest thing ever and I am SO MAD I didn't have a camera in my hand!) She made the mistake of putting it down when she went to pee so Boomer ate it :shock: . She went straight back into the house and stole his last one so all was well :lol:

Within a couple of hours Tugger had also finished all but about four bits of BB and Tux's chicken too. I'm pretty sure Bella at least ate one or two bites but she didn't love it like Tugger and the droolers. Echo didn't get to gnaw on any of the bones either, but maybe next time! So while it wasn't a total hit, they did eat it! dancing_cat
 
Wow!!! Can you talk to my crew. Mr. Darcy loves raw (well that anything else under the sun) but the rest look at me like I have two heads. Tucker thinks meat in general is gross, but raw is devil incarnate :lol:

Very impressed :)
 
WTG Marvie! Max will eat raw chicken usually, especially if it is near dinner time and he hasn't been fed yet. Truman will sniff and just back away and watch Max eat it. The drooler eats anything and everything I put in front of him (except lettuce, mushrooms, or tomatoes). I've never tried giving them wings with the bones in, tho, so maybe I'll give that a shot. I just try to give the cats some big raw hunks of chicken when I have some extra from dinner prep to help clean their teeth. I'm sure the wings would be easier and I could give them more often! :mrgreen:
 
Heheh I wish I knew what caused them to decide to eat it. It's kind of like the canned food thing. They wouldn't eat the food part of the canned food for YEARS. They'd lick the juice off and leave behind the food. I added water and they'd suck the liquid through their teeth and leave the food behind. Then one day in March they just ate it. Every bite, bowls licked clean from all five of 'em. So I took that and ran with it. Tossed the kibble and went straight to canned.

I'd never tried raw with them because they've never shown interest. I'm a messy cook and I am always dropping bits of whatever I'm cooking. They will come sniff but they have never even so much as licked at the dropped meat. Tux would go so far as to try to cover it (because it's ca-ca you know :lol: ) so I just never thought any of them would go for it. I really thought Echo would be the only one with the slightest interest. He was a street kid, the boys found him outside of a Wendy's and to this day he comes racing to us whenever we bring home fast food. I assume it's the fries? He'll eat bits of burger and bits of french fries if they're offered. He ate shrimp tails once and none of the others will touch them with a dog's mouth. So I really thought he'd get a kick out of a little chicken wing bone once in a while, even if the others thought it was gross. Boy did they fool me! :lol:

If they (any of 'em!) will eat it I will be happy to provide them with a raw snack every day. That was the first time I've seen Tugger actually act like he was satisfied, not screaming for MOAR FOODS NAO! two hours after his last meal. He lasted at least 5 hours before he yelled at me again :o I tested him again this morning because he was screaming for food less than two hours after breffis. He was running a little low, 53, so I guess he was reacting to the drop? He's been riding around in the 70's since he came OTJ but the past two or three days he's been hungrier than usual and now I guess I know why. He's never been shy about telling me when his number was falling, I just haven't paid much attention to it since he got OTJ since I know he can't hypo. Maybe I should pay attention.

After I got that number I decided to weigh him and he's gained back 2 pounds. He was 19.1 the last time (4-6 weeks or so? I'd have to check his SS) and today he came in with 20.9 :shock: I'm not sure how that happened because I've eliminated one of the feedings (down from 4 times to 3 which is part of why I was ignoring his screaming) and he gets exercise daily. I weighed Echo too and will keep an eye on him because if Tugger is pushing him off the food it should start to show in his weight, I'd think :?: They are the only ones currently eating on the floor, the other three won't touch the LC food so they eat HC up where Tugger can't get to it. Echo hasn't figured out a way to get up there yet and he's happy to eat the LC food. So till Brady comes, it's just those two eating the LC. I may have to start feeding the big boys in the bathrooms so I can closely monitor how much they are getting.

Speaking of Brady, I'm going to get an egg crate and cut it down to make beds for him. I'm thinking I could slip it into some of the eleventy billion mismatched pillow cases I have in the linen closet and place them all over the house for him. (I was reading some of the old posts about Sillci this morning and saw you mentioned them) and I'm thinking that when I have a little extra ( :lol: ) cash I could get a memory foam mattress topper to cut down too. Hubby does it for his rack on the boat and says it makes a huge difference. We have steps up to our tempurpedic bed, which is Tugger's favorite place to hang out so Brady should be able to get up there too. I'm just trying to think of ways I can make things more comfortable for him, hopefully make the transition a little easier. Can you tell I'm excited about his arrival? flip_cat I bet HE will like raw chicken wings :mrgreen:

Mindy, my boy drooler spits broccoli back out if it accidentally gets into his mouth but will eat most everything else offered to him... I think he just couldn't quite figure out what it was at first? Once he got a whiff of the marrow inside the broken bone I offered him he was all "OH! It's FOOD! YAY!" ohmygod_smile
 
You might be suprised at what Brady will and wont eat. It took three months to get Sadie(GA) off dry, and she had to have the food brought to her since she couldn't walk from being so overweight. Although... one thing I will always hate myself for is I didn't check her claws. I adopted her from my vet, she was a surrendered FD, so I simply assumed certain things were done.

One day when Sadie finally stopped hating me I was doing a T-Touch massage on her. I saw her claws for the first time, they were the size of nickels and they were grown into her paw pads!!! No wonder she couldn't walk, that had to hurt. I had to take nail scissors to cut the claws in half and then pull the pieces out of her pads. Then I trimmed the claws down to a good size. I will always hate that she went through that. So check Brady's paws, if he can't stretch and use a cat scratcher, he may also have ingrown nails.

I think Sillci has a magnet bed now?? or heat?? Something really amazing. PM Dale, she'll let you know what it is, she even has video of how much Sillci loves it.
 
Oh wow! That poor girl! I hope you gave the vet's office h#ll for not checking that. Anyone would assume certain things had been done if they adopted from a vet! Thanks for pointing that out because claws are generally one of the last things I worry about with new ones. Which also reminds me to replace the cardboard floor scratcher, if he can't use a post he might be able to use one of those. I wonder if I can find the wide one locally... thinking out loud, we found one in Germany that was wide enough for Tugger to lay on so he could hold it in place while he scratched, though he's always been able to use the posts we have around too. The cardboard ones I've noticed lately are slimmer than the one we had. I do have a "pattern" for a home made one and the boxes set aside to use for it. I bet the boy would just love to have a project to occupy some of the free time he'll be having after Friday :mrgreen:
 
Do you have a Trader Joes near you? Not sure where they're located around the country but they have a nice wide cardboard scratcher.

Some of the pet supply stores in my area are carrying the double wide scratchers too, but Trader Joes is much cheaper and I think it lasts longer.

I didn't say anything to the vet, I was just thankful they didn't let her previous owner put her down.
 
We do have TJ's here. Thanks! Id never have thought of there for a scratcher but I do go get their tuna for cats and coffee there. I don't think hubby has been yet, I should drag him with me.
 
The scratchers are usually on the bottom shelf, at least here at the CT store.

I don't let DH in the place, he tries to buy everything :lol:
 
Speaking of Brady, I'm going to get an egg crate and cut it down to make beds for him. I'm thinking I could slip it into some of the eleventy billion mismatched pillow cases I have in the linen closet and place them all over the house for him. (I was reading some of the old posts about Sillci this morning and saw you mentioned them) and I'm thinking that when I have a little extra ( :lol: ) cash I could get a memory foam mattress topper to cut down too.
Click to expand...

Not to worry about the cash. I have two largish pieces of egg crate that JJ gave to me to find a home for when Gwen passed. I'll send them both down with Brady; maybe big boy Tugger will want one too.

I'm getting excited about Brady's move this week/weekend. I called Continental Cargo just an hour ago to get directions to the cargo terminal in Philly. Leslie is going to go with me, to handle any problems should they arise because I am under DR orders to avoid unnecessary stress. The Saturday ground transport down the DelMarVa peninsula is all set up. I just need to get the large dog crate set up in the spare bedroom because I don't want to try to haul Brady's big butt out from under the bed.
 
Oh that's awesome Venita! Thanks =)

We're just about as ready as we can get here, just been trying to think of little last minute things I can try to do to make things easier for him. I'm going to pull a few things out of hubby's office to make some more space for Brady and I'll put one of the sets of steps in there so he can get up on the futon if he wants to. We're going to get the scratcher tomorrow as well as the LB that I never got round to picking up a while back. We've got his canned food set aside, hubby accidentally fed a can to our crew before I labeled it but Tugger voted with his feet so I doubt Brady will have any competition for the stuff... hopefully he will eat it, but you said that's what he eats down at the shelter right?

I have hubby to drive the van Saturday, we decided it would be more comfy than his little car and it will give me room to really get back there with Brady for the ride home. Not sure if I'll let him out like we did Bean, I guess it will depend on what sort of passenger he is =)

I can't wait! I want the rest of this week to hurry up! :mrgreen:
 
Myrtle was CRAZY for raw meat. She knew that when I came home from the supermarket on a Saturday that I would have some raw rabbit or horse meat with me for her, and she'd sit under my feet meowing while I unpacked the other stuff. The noise increased in volume as I cut the meat into bite sized pieces and she was almost dancing on the spot in anticipation.

One night I made the mistake of leaving some frozen ("human intended") steak on the bench to thaw. In the morning there was a bloody trail across the kitchen floor and a tiny piece of meat left on the living room carpet. (She had eaten till she could not fit in a single piece more... but wasn't sick, just asleep!)

Her message: I iz a carnervor, dessended from lieons and tygas! See my teef? Fur rippin up ror meet!
 
Can you tell me why raw chicken is good for cats? and Dogs? I've always heard/believed they couldn't/shouldn't have raw meet, especially chicken and chicken bones for dogs was always a no-no.

Congrats on your Brady...I'm getting excited for you and I've only just now read the post. :)
 
I'm not going to claim to be knowledgeable about raw diets but I do know that in the wild cats and dogs don't cook their prey over a fire ;) I always thought the same about chicken bones but someone explained to me that raw bones are fine but cooked bones can splinter and cause problems. Animals are designed to handle it raw. They process it fast enough that the things that would make humans ill don't have time to make them ill. At least, that's the very basic way it was explained to me. I know there are raw feeders around here who could explain it much better.

I'm not trying to switch my crew over to raw but if a snack of raw chicken breast satisfies Tugger and gives me a few hours of peace... he can sure have it :mrgreen: I'll try a few other things too probably, just to see what his tastes are.

I think a lot of us are excited for Brady to finally get here =) We tried to arrange it last month but fell just short of the goal with each attempt. A lot of people have helped us get him out of there and halfway across the country later this week =) He's been patiently waiting for someone to find a place for him and now he'll have his forever home :-D And I'm one step closer to being the crazy cat lady :lol:
 
Wow Marvie! that is awesome...where is he coming from? Is there a link to the whole story? I'd love to hear/read it. :)

I see you're in VA Beach...I'll soon be moving to Greensboro, NC...we'll be stately neighbors LOL.

Thanks for the info on the food. I just bought some Evo : The Ancestral Diet for my crew. Well, GG, especially, but I figure it might help with Mystery's loosed bm's too.

Is it any kind of raw meet or only poultry? I'll have to try that sometime.

Peace
 
Amber, Brady's story is here on DCIN's blog. It's kind of heartbreaking. I'm so excited that he'll be here soon! He leaves Louisiana tomorrow dancing_cat

I tried Evo on our bunch, they wouldn't touch it. Wellness either. They are a picky bunch. I do have Evo kibble that I give a wee bit of to Bella (civvie) when she is on hunger strike. I use it as a dressing over her canned food. I just dribble 6-8 pieces over the food and mash it into the top so when she tries to get the kibble she gets wet food too. So far it's working. It's such a balancing act to keep them all happy and healthy lol. I have two who can't eat beef, none of them like the high end foods, three won't touch LC food to save their lives, and all five of them will decide out of the blue to no longer like flavors they've been happilly eating for days or weeks. Oh, and two who will eat the dog's kibble if I don't pick it up the instant the dogs walk away from it.

I'm not sure if there are any meats that aren't good to feed? I can't imagine there are unless your kitty has allergies. I won't be able to let Echo or Bella eat beef because it makes Echo have Exorcist-pukes and makes Bella's ears get gushy and nasty. Otherwise, I'm planning to try whatever I can find to see what they like. We're having chicken for dinner tonight, so I'll cut up the extra piece for them and see how it goes for round two =)
 
Now I'm really excited about Brady's trip to his new home. Fantastic! I'll be sure to continue reading your updates about how he's doing in his new home!

I'll also keep updates on the food situation with my crew...
 
Brady will have a daily condo in LL starting Sunday (or Saturday evening if I just can't wait lol) I've already set up his SS so it's ready for his first set of numbers =) I just need to put it in my signature once he's here.

Good luck with the food =) It's not always easy to introduce new things to kitties! There are folks here who can advise if you need/want help =)
 
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