[Vivid Dawn]

I have always known kibble is "bad" for cats. Yes, they survive on it, but I would rather give them the best diet that I can.

For now, I can afford canned. And I was buying select formulas of 9-Lives, which seems to be better than some other "grocery store" varieties.

I got a boost of income, and also took advantage of a huge sale at Petco, and recently bought a variety of higher quality foods.

Now...when I was feeding 9-Lives, Zinny would have nothing to do with it (and I don't blame her!). I was going to follow the diet transition routine on Catinfo.org for stubborn cats.

I did good for the first two days of the year, then yesterday I was gone with doctor appointments, volunteering and running errands. Today I had more errands (had to return the heart monitor I wore the last 24 hours) and grocery shopping for ME! So I just left out kibble, as I wasn't going to be home to give regular timed meals.

Tonight I figured I'd see if the cats liked Holistic Select, one of the foods on sale. Zinny dove right in! And then she went and sampled some from the other 3 bowls... I guess she wanted to know if there was anything better in them LOL

Anyhoo...she also did take some Nutro Max I gave them at Christmas... so I guess if I stick with higher quality, I won't have as much trouble transitioning her.
I still have 3 cases (24 cans each) of 9-Lives, that I will mix 1/2 portions with the new expensive stuff to make BOTH of them last until my next paycheck in Feb. comes.


I really want to switch to raw, eventually (hopefully no later than next year). Or at least half raw and half good canned. Before I go out and buy a bunch of meat, I am going to do my research on what will be the best as far as nutrition. I will STUDY the raw forum, and other resources.

 

[Vivid Dawn]

Actually... the church food bank did give me a whole cut-up chicken the other day. I get one once a month, actually.

I don't like the wings and neck, as there's not really enough meat on them for me.
How would I go about feeding this? I've heard you split the wings into smaller portions. Just split them at the joint, or should I go invest in some GOOD kitchen scissors and further cut them up into half of those half sections?
Will the neck be okay if I just chop it into 3 sections (for 3 cats), or will that be too small? I don't want my poor kitties choking (though I will supervise the first few times I give this stuff).

I'm not going to feed Xanthe raw, because she's not my cat and I can't afford to feed her too...I get paid enough to buy her own regular food from her owner.

 

[dweamgoil]

I feed the necks whole or you can cut them in half as long as they have the jaw strength. If not you can cut them into disks about 1/2 each.

The wings you can cut at the joints and you should have 3 separate pieces. The backs are also wonderful for them and you can split that right in half or quarter it.

 

[Vivid Dawn]

Hrm... maybe I'll stick to wings and maybe back for now, until they can handle major chewing from practice on gizzards.

I do have some gizzards too, as I love heart stew and have 2 packages of a mix of hearts & gizzards.
How long can I keep gizzards in the freezer (ones that haven't been thawed out before)? I think I bought them mid-December...I'll have to check the date. I boil the hearts, so I don't have to worry too much about them going "bad' (other than maybe freezer burnt LOL)

 

[dweamgoil]

Gizzards are great for jaw strength...turkey gizzards, even better. I wouldn't worry about frozen meat from December. I sometimes feed thawed meat that was frozen for 3-6 months after I have purchased it....no worries. As far as the wings, until the jaw is stronger, I would only feed the tip of the wing and the piece between the 1st and 2 joints, the one with the 2 thin bones (the wingette):

The drummette is challenging even for advanced bone eaters.

 

[Vivid Dawn]

Oh that's alright... the drumette seems to have enough meat on it for me to keep it to myself LOL

I just realized I also have some deer steaks that are over a year old. I tried making them in the slow cooker, figuring that would make them soft/tender even with freezer burn ...eh, not really. So the cats can have that, too.