How to feed raw meaty bones?

I've been reading Whole Health for a Happy Cat, and the author recommends giving cats raw poultry necks to chew on for dental health. I've seen posts here from people saying they follow this practice as well. Here is my question:

If your cats are strictly indoors only, how do you feed them raw bones without getting the whole room slimed with raw meat? Teach me your tricks, please!

That's a good question and I don't have an answer for you, other than to confine them to a small room for that meal.
I feed raw, but not chicken necks for the very reason you stated. The cats grab the neck and run off with it, and being bengals they play with it, tossing it into the air and just generally making a huge mess.
So, they get fed other raw meats that are pre-prepared along with chunks of steak for teeth workouts and they eat like nice little civilized kitties in front of their plates without playing.

I'm certainly interested in what others have to say about the chicken necks.

IMO if you are gonna do that, then put the cats in a room that is washable (no rugs) or in a large crate/carrier till they are done eating it.

I cut the neck into 2 or 3 chunks. They are reluctant to leave the bowl with food left, so they sit and eat in one place.

I know of a woman in Holland who feeds frozen whole chicks, called "Chick Pops." She spreads out newspapers on the flood first and has trained them to stay there to eat.

Are chunks of meat as effective as bones for teeth cleaning?

Originally Posted by pee-cleaner

...frozen whole chicks

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What about live chicks?

Just curious as I've never fed raw. Is it safe to just buy the chicken/turkey necks in the grocery store and wash them off and give it to the cats?

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Just curious as I've never fed raw. Is it safe to just buy the chicken/turkey necks in the grocery store and wash them off and give it to the cats?

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Seems so to me, from all of the people out there feeding these to their kitties. I always make sure to buy natural/free-range chicken as they tend to have less bacteria due to the fact that they aren't raised in a chicken coop with thousands of others.

I need an answer to what I thought the topic was asking, how do you get them to EAT raw meaty bones? My little one won't touch the meat if there is a bone in them as she hasn't yet learned to tear/rip the meat apart like in nature. If I try to sneak a little bone in one of her small chunks (i.e. game hen rib), she typically spits the bone right back out.

Mine started out eating their bones in the bathroom, they've sort of learnt not to drag them around anymore so they can eat in the kitchen area and I just mop the floor after.

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

Seems so to me, from all of the people out there feeding these to their kitties. I always make sure to buy natural/free-range chicken as they tend to have less bacteria due to the fact that they aren't raised in a chicken coop with thousands of others.

I need an answer to what I thought the topic was asking, how do you get them to EAT raw meaty bones? My little one won't touch the meat if there is a bone in them as she hasn't yet learned to tear/rip the meat apart like in nature. If I try to sneak a little bone in one of her small chunks (i.e. game hen rib), she typically spits the bone right back out.

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Though I personally prefer natural or organic .. organic do to its nature actually has More bacteria

I also use chunks but more that my first raw kids looked at me like what is it when i gave a neck

My kitty was on dry food for three years, ground raw for a year, and whole raw for about 3 weeks now. Up until a few weeks ago he has had the normal tartar you would see on a 4 year old. Now, after feeding him whole necks (along with other things that make a complete diet), his tartar is almost gone

Originally Posted by chris10

My kitty was on dry food for three years, ground raw for a year, and whole raw for about 3 weeks now. Up until a few weeks ago he has had the normal tartar you would see on a 4 year old. Now, after feeding him whole necks (along with other things that make a complete diet), his tartar is almost gone

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That's awesome chris10! How did the switch to whole raw go over? Did your cat take to it immediately? I'm stuck on how to get mine to start eating bones. As soon as she feels one in a piece of meat, she spits it out and moves on.

Originally Posted by sharky

Though I personally prefer natural or organic .. organic do to its nature actually has More bacteria

I also use chunks but more that my first raw kids looked at me like what is it when i gave a neck

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Interesting, the opinion on one of the yahoo groups is opposite. Do you know if there are any studies out there that actual compares this? I'd be curious to see the findings. The theory on the organic was that although these chickens aren't given antibiotics to kill organisms, the fact that they aren't exposed to as many makes their meat safer. I too always prefer natural/organic for my kitty and also myself.

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

Interesting, the opinion on one of the yahoo groups is opposite. Do you know if there are any studies out there that actual compares this? I'd be curious to see the findings. The theory on the organic was that although these chickens aren't given antibiotics to kill organisms, the fact that they aren't exposed to as many makes their meat safer. I too always prefer natural/organic for my kitty and also myself.

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Yes actually multiple studies .... I believe they are Human ... I came across some at the local agriculture dept courtesy of the local paper , some at the vet and one of my health magazines ... the main study which was duplicated with simliar results was checking how much bacteria was on and under the skin... In reality organic or natural chickens are usually free range and often are walking in their manure and eating bugs from it so having higher levels made sense ... a quick google search yielded a good way to kill it off

Originally Posted by sharky

Yes actually multiple studies .... I believe they are Human ... I came across some at the local agriculture dept courtesy of the local paper , some at the vet and one of my health magazines ... the main study which was duplicated with simliar results was checking how much bacteria was on and under the skin... In reality organic or natural chickens are usually free range and often are walking in their manure and eating bugs from it so having higher levels made sense ... a quick google search yielded a good way to kill it off

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Thanks! I'm going to do some searching myself.

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

That's awesome chris10! How did the switch to whole raw go over? Did your cat take to it immediately? I'm stuck on how to get mine to start eating bones. As soon as she feels one in a piece of meat, she spits it out and moves on.

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I was lucky and mine switched to raw over night. I did ground and worked my way up to eating whole necks. Others have reported taking months even years to switch to raw.

Try cooking the meat(no bones) first and see if she eats it. If so then just cook it less and less each time. Also you can try some tasty salmon oil (efa source) on it and see. Don't give up but you will need a lot of patience

Originally Posted by chris10

I was lucky and mine switched to raw over night. I did ground and worked my way up to eating whole necks. Others have reported taking months even years to switch to raw.

Try cooking the meat(no bones) first and see if she eats it. If so then just cook it less and less each time. Also you can try some tasty salmon oil (efa source) on it and see. Don't give up but you will need a lot of patience

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Hi chris10. I guess I should have been more clear. My cat has been eating raw meat (chicken/game hen) for several weeks now and absolutely loves it. However, she refuses any pieces with even the tiniest bit of bone in it. I gave her a thigh off a game hen I was cutting up last night and she did start eating the meat off of that, so I guess it's a start. My next plan is to get some necks to try as I've read they are the softest and easiest to start with.

Originally Posted by tamgirl99

Hi chris10. I guess I should have been more clear. My cat has been eating raw meat (chicken/game hen) for several weeks now and absolutely loves it. However, she refuses any pieces with even the tiniest bit of bone in it. I gave her a thigh off a game hen I was cutting up last night and she did start eating the meat off of that, so I guess it's a start. My next plan is to get some necks to try as I've read they are the softest and easiest to start with.

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I dealt with that to. And even right now two of my kitties will only eat necks that have been chopped into about 6 or 7 pieces. The way I worked my cats up to it was instead of grinding the bones fine I just coarse ground them (which left some pieces too big to swallow). Also I increased the size of the meat chucks in the food. They ate that for awhile getting use to chewing a few bones here and there. But they defiantly protested it a few times. Next I moved on to chopped necks. Once they got the hang of that I moved on to the next size. I got up to the point where two will eat whole and the other two will eat good size portions of necks. Also you can try gizzards, they are fairly tough to chew and might get your cat use to chewing something harder than meat.

Good luck

Thanks chris10. Is anyone having problems with tendons? My poor little one seems to have a bit of a problem with this as well. She'll have a piece with a tough tendon running through it and get a concerned look on her face if she can't chew through it quickly. She eventually gets through it so I guess this is a good way to work her up to bones, but she sure has that look of worry like she isn't sure about it. It's amazing to me how tough some of those tendon are to cut with a knife, much less her teeth. By the way, these are game hen tendons I'm speaking of, after cutting up a whole hen.