[BurmBlue]

Hi Guys,

I am starting to mix Raw with the wet food for Rocket and am getting rid of the food. Just have some questions if you can help me.

What is the best way to defrost a Chicken Drumstick? Is it best to leave it in the fridge overnight and serve the next day or put it in cold water with the snap lock bag?

Should i give raw everyday mixed with the wet or only every now and then?
How long do you keep your meat for?

Sorry i just get very paranoid about the bacteria and am just trying to make sure i have everything as safe and healthy as i can for my Kitty.

Thanks

 

[hoofmaiden]

Congrats on transitioning to raw!

What is the best way to defrost a Chicken Drumstick? Is it best to leave it in the fridge overnight and serve the next day or put it in cold water with the snap lock bag?

Personally I would not feed a drumstick to a cat--the bone is MUCH too big. I mean, it's fine if they just eat the meat off and you toss the bone, but kitty needs bone too! Quail, cornish hen, or rabbit are good choices for bone-in meat for cats. If you MUST feed chicken, stick to wings or a chunk of the breast containing ribs.

I thaw my meat thusly: I portion it out ahead of time, more or less. My cats mostly eat mice these days so i divide the bag of 50 up into baggies so there is one day's worth in the baggie. I feed 4 cats so that's 12 mice. I do the same w/ other stuff--if I get quail I thaw them all (they come 8 to a pack), halve each quail, then put 4 halves in a baggie. That's enough for 1 meal for 4 cats.

Every evening I remove enough food for 1 whole day (2 meals) from the freezer and put the baggies in a tray in the turned-off oven. That way the mice are thawed and room temp for the a.m. feeding. In the a.m. I feed their breakfast and then put the rest in a bowl in the fridge for the p.m. They prefer it room temp but will eat it cold.

Should i give raw everyday mixed with the wet or only every now and then?

Are you not transitioning to raw completely? I recommend that you do. IMO there is more risk in mixing commercial and raw than in truly transitioning to raw b/c it's almost impossible to keep the diet balanced. If your cats are eating raw, just drop the canned entirely!

How long do you keep your meat for?

Forever, thanks to the freezer! Just portion it out and freeze. Refreezing is no problem either--cats don't care. So you can thaw a bigger item, cut it up into 1-2 days' worth, and freeze.

Sorry i just get very paranoid about the bacteria and am just trying to make sure i have everything as safe and healthy as i can for my Kitty.

You really don't have to worry. Cats are very particular--if there is anything "off" about meat they won't eat it. And they have GI tracts uniquely adapted to handle bacteria. But esp. if you are feeding just 1-2 cats, thawing, repackaging, and refreezing is best.

 

[~Siameseifuplz~]

If you are worried about bacteria the best method to defrost is in the fridge, keeps everything cool so that bacterial growth is stunted. It takes about 24 hours for a small piece of meat to defrost completely, so I would always put breakfast in the fridge at the breakfast before, and dinner in at the dinner before. Then I'd take it out about 20-30 minutes before feeding so it could warm up a bit, some cats won't eat or will vomit up cold food.

I do agree drumsticks are too big for most cats, Willie could never successfully eat those bones.

If you are trying to transition to raw then feed the mix every meal and slowly reduce the amount of wet food and increase the amount of meat over time. until the cat will eat straight meat. It takes a very long time before a nutritional imbalance causes any issues, so I wouldn't worry about that right now. if they are eating a mix without issues chances are they won't take too long anyways.

I would leave my meat out for a couple of hours with no issues, though it depends on the weather, if it were really hot I wouldn't leave it out so long. usually if the outside got leathery (dried out) I'd toss it.

 

[Ritzpg]

Agree about the bacteria, drumsticks (way too big for most cats); include raw in wet food for every meal and gradually increase the proportion. It is okay to mix proteins (turkey canned food + raw pork perfectly okay). Are you feeding any organ/liver at this stage--you should if raw constitutes more than 10% of your cat's diet. My condo tends to get hot even with the ac, so I leave only two or three small pieces of meat before I leave for the day. And yeah, if there is anything "off" about the food, the cat won't touch it.

 

[hoofmaiden]

I see--you're wondering about leaving it out with the cats. I don't do that and would not--it's important to know how much each cat is eating. I expect my cats to eat up their food when it's fed and they are fed separately so I know they're not swapping around.

Even if you only have one cat, IMO it's best if they learn to eat it up when offered. If you're used to the cat snacking off and on it's going to take you longer to catch inappetence (when one of mine doesn't DIVE in I know right away that there is a problem!).

 

[BurmBlue]

Wow it is so overwhelming in figuring out how much to feed and what to feed and whatnot.
I would still prefer to give canned as well as Raw as i am currently giving Wellness which i think is one of top brand so shouldn't be too bad. I will stop mixing though and maybe just give Raw once a day. Something like canned in the morning raw for dinner and canned before bed. Not sure?

OK i won't give the Drumstick, i have heard from other people that wings are not that good as it is too much bone to meat ratio and can cause UTI and other issues.
Quail is harder to get in Australia, i will have to try and find someone that sells them.
But yeah i might go out and get some wings today.

I just find it hard to know how much to portion out and give, lol it is a headache to me.

 

[hoofmaiden]

OK i won't give the Drumstick, i have heard from other people that wings are not that good as it is too much bone to meat ratio and can cause UTI and other issues.

But your cat can't EAT the bone in the drumstick LOL, can she? If she can, it's still way too big for a cat. Keep in mind that ALL dressed bone-in meat is "too much" bone to meat ratio. An actual chicken w/ all parts intact is about the right ratio but when you remove things you change that. Breast has the lowest bone-meat ratio and even then bone is around 20%. Bone in a drumstick is 33% and in a wing is 46%. The key is to give a bony meal and then follow it w/ 2-3 meaty meat meals, adding organ in as well in small amounts. Again, chicken bones other than ribs are really too big for cats. Can they eat them? Yes, sometimes. Are they ideal? No.

Quail is harder to get in Australia, i will have to try and find someone that sells them.

Try an Asian grocery. Around here that's the only place I can get them.

 

[Ritzpg]

Rabbit is also a good source of small bones.

 

[hoofmaiden]

Rabbit is great. You can get large rabbit pieces at Haretoday.com, and if you're only feeding a few cats that might be a good way to go.

 

[~Siameseifuplz~]

Basically the only bone my cat got when he was on raw were chicken wings. So long as you are balancing it out with all meat meals it shouldn't be a problem. I fed half canned half raw for while, doing one canned meal and one raw meal, it works fine but there was no reason to keep feeding canned, Willie much preferred the raw and it was cheaper than canned.