Since Meira did so well with the drumstick, I decided to get her a Cornish Game hen. The nice gentleman at the butchers was so kind to cut it in half for me. I'm a total contradiction in that I can feed my cats other animals, but I just don't want to deal with the carcass myself. Last time I tried to quarter one up myself I ended up apologizing to the bird the whole time.. Better to let them deal with that part of it, and they were more then happy to do so.
I decided she could probably deal with half a bird at a time, so I put the first half on the plate
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This doesn't look so bad.. |
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it is only going to get worse.. |
and I took it down to her... had an entire army of cats following me down begging for a chance to chew the bird. Since I've given them hens before and they were ignored, I wasn't falling for it.
Meira was happy to see me since I bring food when I show up..
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You can see just how bad she looks here |
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She got to work on it while the kittens cried at being left out |
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nom nom nom |
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She took a break to quiet the masses |
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Then gave it another go |
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Crunch Crunch Crunch |
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mmmm tastes better on the floor |
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Taking another break |
It was quite interesting watching her work on it. She would lick it and lick it then gnaw on the bones. If you have never heard a cat chew on the spine of a large bird, I have to tell you it is quite a unique almost spine chilling sound.. I was a little sad I didn't have a camera with me that could take video with sound, but then I thought you all might not be interested in that. :)
After about 20 minutes, I had a few other things to do, and left her to work on it, and when I got back later in the day the entire thing was gone. Yes, I searched the room for any sign of left over bones, hey my husband asked too.. So for dinner I weighed out the amount of food I was giving her, and yes I'm feeding her about as much as I am feeding all seven of the resident cats.. I'm hoping that soon that "empty leg" will fill up and she'll stop eating as much. Sunday morning she got the other half of the bird and the organs that came with it and made quick work of them too. Oddly enough her litter box deposits are mostly urine at this point with one nice solid dried out tootsie per day so she is utilizing all of that food.
Now that she is on a raw diet her colon is much more happy. I fed her some canned food last week and I could hear how angry it was. The kittens nursing on it made all kinds of squishy colon moving gaseous noises..I'm guessing she's not going to be able to eat anything but raw. I so hope her kittens have a stronger constitution.. Because "raw fed" is just not popular around here... although considering how adorable they are, maybe there will be a few converts :)
If you feel like reading more about feeding raw, here are a few links. There are many more out there, but I trust these two because I have spent a great deal of time reading them. The first is run by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM Her information on the feline diabetes message boards is what got me into raw to begin with years ago to try to help Em with her diabetes, and help Jack and Eli with their urinary crystals. Since switching the crew over, I've seen some wonderful first hand results, and seeing how quickly it cleared up Meira's diarrhea it is just one more gold star on the board of goodness for raw feeding.
http://www.catinfo.org
http://feline-nutrition.org/
As long as those growing babies are nursing, she'll be a lil chow hound, I suspect! :)
ReplyDeletenom nom nom.....chicken!!! we gotta get mom to get on board the chick-hen train....
ReplyDeleteWow, I don't know where she is putting all that food! I'm glad the raw is helping her system, and I'm glad you posted that link. I've long known about that site and it's a good one.
ReplyDeleteI would like to convert the furries to eat raw because I do like that they are eating something more appropriate for their system. No luck with Cosmo yet, but at least the first step of switching them to home cooked has worked. I do intend to add some raw meat and bones to the diet in time to come.
ReplyDeleteWhisky and Ling do eat raw chicken meat but have no idea how to deal with the bones.
I have never had raw chicken - my human needs to bring some home for me!
ReplyDeleteMy babies love raw but won't eat it off the bones, I have to grind it up. Then they like it. Eggs are a favorite for a treat, fresh from the farm!
ReplyDeleteMy babies love raw but won't eat it off the bones, I have to grind it up. Then they like it. Eggs are a favorite for a treat, fresh from the farm!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a great job dealing with the raw!! I’ve tried Austin and he’s really frightened of it. Weird!
ReplyDeleteWhen my guys were indoor/outdoor many years ago, they seemed to enjoy indoor dining and would bring their prey into the house and munch away. I know exactly what you mean about the spine chilling sound!
ReplyDeleteMama and the babies are just awesome. I swore I wouldn't try to catch up when I came back but following a litter from birth is just too tempting!! Yeah, I went all the way back. Makes me want a new batch of babies here (stay strong, self... you need to home two more fosters before you should do that... you can indulge vicariously through Connie and Robyn!).
Aw, glad she's eating, and hope she fills out soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by our gotcha day party!
My Mommeh would love it if she could get me to chomp on raw bones, but I will only eat my pre-made raw medallions. When Harley gets chunks of beef, he throws the meat in the air and plays with it!
ReplyDeleteOh dear... My vegetarian self is slightly grossed out right now LOL ;o)
ReplyDeleteWe have our chicken cooked, and the cats love it. It's so incredibly good for them. Yours are looking sparklingly healthy.
ReplyDeleteWe think that made the mom a little queasy. And she was glad she didn't hear the crunching spine sound!
ReplyDelete