Feeding chicken necks for dental health

[Cricket776]

My vet suggested I feed my kitty chicken necks to help clean his teeth (my vet is a big supported of raw). He's been eating a commercial ground raw diet for about 10 days now, and really loves it. I gave him a neck today, and he was very interested in it, but didn't get any further than licking it all over.

I have a couple of questions:

a) I'm putting a towel down so he doesn't get raw meat everywhere, but what about when the cat gets raw meat on themselves? Do you need to bath them all the time?

b) I need to introduce him to larger chuncks of food so he can learn how to eat the chicken necks, but I'm worried that if I add chunks of muscle meat to his ground raw diet I'll be throwing things out of balance nutritionally (more muscle meat, less organ and bone).

c) I have heard that gizzards are good for them to chew on. I bought some giblets, but wasn't sure what the giblets actually are...

d) Any other suggestiosn on what would be good to clean his teeth? I also bought a chicken wing to try, and the butcher also sells chicken feet and qualis or cornish hens (I can't remember which it was, but they were super tiny!)

Thanks for your help!

[Arkona]

Originally Posted by Cricket776

My vet suggested I feed my kitty chicken necks to help clean his teeth (my vet is a big supported of raw). He's been eating a commercial ground raw diet for about 10 days now, and really loves it. I gave him a neck today, and he was very interested in it, but didn't get any further than licking it all over.

Don't fret and keep trying. Most cats take their time when adjusting to a new food.
PS.: Sounds like you found yourself a great vet!

Originally Posted by Cricket776

a) I'm putting a towel down so he doesn't get raw meat everywhere, but what about when the cat gets raw meat on themselves? Do you need to bath them all the time?

You don't need to bathe them at all. Unless your cat has a health problem and can't clean himself properly, he should be able to do it on his own just fine. They clean their own butts! I think they can handle cleaning raw food remains...
By the way, you could also feed him on a mat, and then wash the mat in the sink, or feed directly on the floor and then just clean the floor.

Originally Posted by Cricket776

b) I need to introduce him to larger chuncks of food so he can learn how to eat the chicken necks, but I'm worried that if I add chunks of muscle meat to his ground raw diet I'll be throwing things out of balance nutritionally (more muscle meat, less organ and bone).

I wouldn't worry about that much. If you're already feeding a balanced ground diet, a couple of whole raw "snacks" aren't going to throw the balance off too much. If you feed him the ground food twice a day, you could try feeding a bit less and adding the meat chunks as a third meal or "snack." You can try to estimate the portions a little bit and change it up each day to make sure he's getting variety... for example give him muscle meat/hearts on most days, then gizzards/liver/organs once a week and necks a few times a week. It doesn't have to be perfect because most of the food he's getting is already balanced.

Originally Posted by Cricket776

c) I have heard that gizzards are good for them to chew on. I bought some giblets, but wasn't sure what the giblets actually are...

Giblets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Cricket776

d) Any other suggestiosn on what would be good to clean his teeth? I also bought a chicken wing to try, and the butcher also sells chicken feet and qualis or cornish hens (I can't remember which it was, but they were super tiny!)

I think feeding quail is a great idea! I wonder if I can find a butcher that sells quail, I've been wanting to give my cat more variety because since I started her on whole prey, all she gets is mice and chicks.

I wouldn't do chicken feet, I don't think there's much nutrition in that. Chicken wings could work depending on the size. I think the bones on chicken wings are bigger than those on necks, so they might be harder to chew.

[MowMow]

When MowMow was on raw I would buy a pack of chicken wings and give him the wing tip and the midpiece. I would separate off the drumette and make buffalo chicken wings with them for ME since the drumette was always to big for my guy to eat through. OR you could smash the drummette with a meat hammer to break it up so they can eat it.

Now for raw I buy them quail from the local gourmet grocery store for their dental health and raw pleasure.

[Cricket776]

Thanks for the help! I'll start adding some chunkier peices of meat, and see how it goes.

I definitely love my vet I just adopted my kitty, and had him scheduled to go to a vet a couple blocks away, but at the last minute I changed my mind and took him to an integrative vet that is further away. I'm so happy I did, it is well worth the extra commute time because I really felt like we were on the same page.