cooked bones are what splinter. when you start a raw diet they tell you to grind the bones up because that's how an animal eats in the wild. if you're worried, just cut the meat off the bone. i'm thinking this is a treat and you aren't making your own cat food.

 

.......grind the bones up because that's how an animal eats in the wild.

I'm confused. How does the whole prey get ground up in the wild? Is there a kiosk they drag it too? :wink

 

Are animals susceptible to salmonella poisoning? I know we are cautioned against raw chicken and cutting boards etc. And since we cook most of our meats thorougly the bacteria is killed? I'm curious. In the meantime I will stick to canned food for my indoors.

 

Hi,

Personally, I would stay on the safe side and avoid giving her chicken wings.
Tho your cat may catch prey (rabbit, mice, birds etc), these are natural things for your cat to eat...I'm not sure a raw chicken part is...


Perhaps you could contact your vet to get more info about this, as well as the possibility of salmonella... I'm sure your vet would have the answers, as well as appropriate raw food ideas and recipes for your sweetie!

Best of luck, and please keep us posted.

sandyrivers

 

Chicken wings are fine (although I wouldn't offer the drumette to new to raw kitties - it's too tough to get through).

Cats won't get salmonella poisioning (also, have you heard of all the recalls related to salmonella in kibble lately? It's not just raw meat you need to worry about, people.), they can choke on KIBBLE - so saying they're a choking hazzard is silly, animals don't eat GROUND bone in the wild *LOL*, and finally - most vets are uneducated in proper nutrition and will always strongly suggest AGAINST raw in any form - so if you ask your vet, be prepared to have the bejesus scared outta you. My own vet told me at first that the raw bones would cause serious damage (impactions, perferations, tooth issues) - after months of seeing the health of my kitties he changed his mind.

 

If your cat ate the whole rabbit, bones and all, I'd say go for it. Maybe supervise and see how it goes with the drummette (the biggest bone in the wing, with the most meat), but sure he can have it.

Healthy cats shouldn't get salmonella. They are designed to eat raw, unground, animals. Their digestive system is built so that they can do this without getting sick. However, if you've always fed your cats kibble their digestive system will have weakened and will need some time to adjust to raw.

Never feed any raw meat if you have fed (or left available) dry food within 12 hours. Dry food digests slowly and the raw food will get stuck behind it, giving bacteria and parasites a better chance of staying in the cat.

 

I would definitely say that if you cat ate a rabbit, he can handle a chicken wing, trust me. I feed my cats raw and I butcher the animals and ration them out for my cats. An entire chicken bone-wise is way less intimidating that a rabbit. I feed my cats from local ethnic human food markets among other sources...it is perfectly fine to feed this way...no worries. Chicken hearts are my brood's favorite treats...they eat those like we eat chocolate truffles

 

Healthy cats shouldn't get salmonella. They are designed to eat raw, unground, animals.

yes, cats are carnivores, however, human beings have bred an ultra-salmonella with the unsanitary conditions of poultry (any meat really) breeding. so they technically "can" get salmonella, but it has to exist in much higher amounts than is harmful to a human being''

it's practically nosocomic but it doesn't exist in a hospital. there are two schools of thought on raw food, and while i think it's probably more natural to feed raw, i've been a vegetarian myself for 37 years and i'm just not comfortable touching and having all that raw meat in my kitchen.

even though i'm borderline vegan (just not ultra 100%) i know cats cannot be vegetarians and in no way try to make them practice that i just feel like eating flesh is relatively unhealthy for humans and packing house practices just make it worse. and i'm not a psychotic PETA member won't eat honey because the bees are made into little slaves.

 

Well I returned from "hunting". I captured a package of chicken forearms.
I made a big deal of it to the four cats. They took one sniff and looked at me and said
: "What did we do wrong"
Pauli, the rabbitphile, wouldnt touch it.
Only Buster tried gumming one for a while[ he has few teeth]
Tried to interest them in warm wings but no.
So now I have 15$ worth of wings [ not even drumsticks] to boil or cook for my self.:-|

 

awwwwwwww. and after all that. i know how you feel except not with cats, i just got back from a redbox kiosk that STILL isn't working for the third night in a row . . . and it's cinqo de mayo . . . and the kiosk is in a mocdonald's . . . downtown LOL. i felt like i was in the jungle.

i have no idea what my cats would do with raw chicken meat. i do know they are insane about tuna but i really don't give it to them because of the ash content. i found a better replacement for the tuna-vaseline hairball casserole i used to give them: chicken baby food mixed with vaseline (about 50:50). i only use gerbers's (no onion) and i tried multiple hairball remedies my vet sells, only to have them turn up their noses or run bug-eyed from the room.

i also know mcdonald's fries are one of their favorites because a friend of mine used to walk in with them and the cats would climb her like a tree. that's how i know they still use beef fat to fry them, no matter what they say.

 

You might try giving them a small chunk of raw boneless meat for a couple of days and once they can eat that without a problem move on to using wings. Many cats are skeptical about raw meat at first because it doesn't seem like the food they are used to. Some cats may be brave and nibble at it but if they have no success they quickly abandon the effort because they really don't think it's worth it. Wings can be difficult, far too difficult for a little nibbling to get anything off. If you can make it super easy for them to eat it then if they give it a try they'll be able to eat and taste it and realize it's good, so start with small pieces of boneless meat. Then, once they know it's yummy food, they'd be more willing to put in some effort to chew through a difficult wing.