Thinking of feeding a little bit of raw...

layitdown

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Due to a few health issues of my own, I am going to have to start buying natural, free range, hormone-free chicken for myself. 90% of the meat I eat is chicken, I hardly eat any beef, pork, or other meats, I just don't like them as much as chicken!


Well I'll be buying the chicken from a local health food store, probably most if it will be a whole chicken. I've been buying whole chickens for about a yr and a half and cutting them up myself( I find it cheaper since chicken is my main source of meat for myself and DH) it just wasn't the natural kind, it was the kind you find at any old supermarket.

My question is, when I cut the chicken up I seperate it into the usual; breast, legs, thighs and wings. Of course the wing tips, neck, back and ribs get leftover and discarded. Instead of discarding them I was wondering if it would be ok to give them to Ricky Bobby? Now I'm not meaning I'm going to feed them exclusively, he'll still get the same he eats now, just with the added raw meat and bones thrown in, seperately of course, . Can that be done? Has anyone else done anything similar? I just figure why would I waste it when I have a cat who could benefit from it? I would like to possibly do a raw diet for him, after having a little time to research and see if it's the right thing for RB and my family, but that's a possibility a few years down the road.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or experiences?
 

sharky

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Most like necks and they aid in dental care( my 6 "kids" ) will not touch... a couple of them love thighs a few only eat muscle or organ meats ... FYI the more natural the chicken usually higher the salmonella and ecoli
 
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layitdown

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Oh really, I did not know that it was higher in samonella and ecoli, yikes! Thanks I'll have to look into that!
 

fuzmugly

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Originally Posted by sharky

FYI the more natural the chicken usually higher the salmonella and ecoli
What? Source?

I would argue just the opposite.

A natural bird is a cleaner bird (not living in a tiny cage in it's own feces). Come processing time that clean bird is less likely to spread disease in unsanitary conditions. Most meat is contaminated during the processing stage when it comes into contact with something (chicken feathers covered in poop, hooves with poop in them).
 

missymotus

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Just freeze the meat and thaw before giving it to him.
 

jack31

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We've been exploring it and Jack has refused to eat raw-- he loves cooked beef, chicken and turkey but seems to have no clue what to do with it raw.

Harley on the other hand, could probably switch to 100% raw overnight.


Good luck--
Leslie
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by sharky

Most like necks and they aid in dental care( my 6 "kids" ) will not touch... a couple of them love thighs a few only eat muscle or organ meats ... FYI the more natural the chicken usually higher the salmonella and ecoli
This USDA study says otherwise:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/040920.htm

There is no discernible difference in Salmonella levels between free-range, organically produced poultry and conventionally produced birds, an Agricultural Research Service scientist has found.
 

ut0pia

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I don't mean to hijack this thread but i have a small question. I did something dumb yesterday, I was helping to cook pork chops and my mom was cutting them while they were still raw. Jake smelled it and wanted some and I, before I thought of the danger of salmonella and e. coli, gave him a tiny pea sized piece of raw pork just to try. Is there danger there?
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by FuzMugly

What? Source?

I would argue just the opposite.

A natural bird is a cleaner bird (not living in a tiny cage in it's own feces). Come processing time that clean bird is less likely to spread disease in unsanitary conditions. Most meat is contaminated during the processing stage when it comes into contact with something (chicken feathers covered in poop, hooves with poop in them).
It was a multiple brand chicken study ... I will say the extra contamination likely came from the butchering process after talking with a few butchers and farmers locally... they took Multiple samples... I will see about a link as I read it via link off another forum


http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1169031
here is one

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/71/7/4108.pdf
this is the same study but info IMHO is easier to read

http://books.google.com/books?id=Oz9...sult#PPA168,M1

much earlier study that states none of 50 samples had anything
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...pagewanted=all

http://www.aspajournal.it/abstact/20...casagrande.pdf

interesting one about different yrs having higher incidents
http://library.wur.nl/ojs/index.php/...iewFile/346/65

this compared organic , free range and conventional ....
http://www.foodmarketexchange.com/da...organic_03.htm
 

sharky

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http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:...nk&cd=19&gl=us

Food Safety – E. coli

* University of Minnesota Research
* Compared 32 organic farms to 8 non-organic looking for E. coli and Salmonella
o Organic produce 6 times more likely to be contaminated with generic E. coli
o Generic E. coli present in 2 out of 129 samples of conventional produce (about 1.6%)
o Generic E. coli present in 46 out of 476 samples of organic produce (9.7%)


Food Safety - Salmonella

* Salmonella and Campylobacter has been known to come from organic and free-range chickens
* 2001 study in Denmark found organic chickens 3 times as likely to be contaminated with campylobacter
* All 22 chicken flocks were infected (100%), but only 29 out of 79 conventional were infected (36.7%)
* British Food Standard Agency found in 2002 that 99% of flocks tested were contaminated and 56% of conventional flocks were as well
 

kara_leigh

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Nora loves raw chicken. When we have chicken breast (not very often b/c hubby is allergic to chicken) I give her the parts I trim off. Boneless of course. She LOVES it and gobbles it down before I have time to blink. LOL
 
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layitdown

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Thanks for those studies sharky, I will take a look at those!

Besides the neck, will the wing tips, back and ribs be of any benefit? Or, in anyone's experience, should I just stick to the necks for now?
 

missymotus

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Mine eat wings, wing tips, ribs, legs, chops, necks - pretty much anything. Wing tips & necks are usually used to start with.
 
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layitdown

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Thanks missymotus! That's what I needed to know!
 
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layitdown

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Well I was preparing my chicken to dinner just a little while ago. I was deboning some thighs and thought I would see how Ricky Bobby would approach a chicken thigh. It's pretty hard, for me at least, to get all of the meat off the bone. So I gave him a thigh left over from what I was cutting up, with a good amt of meat left on. I was amazed at how he just went at it. Tearing the meat off and crunching on the bone, I had never seen anything like that! I was getting a little paranoid about him chewing on the bone, but I had to remind myself that's what he would do if he were in the wild. I am in no way ready to do any kind of full raw diet. I'm the kind of person that would like to do yrs of research on it,plus trying to find a vet that can guide me on some aspects on it. So again, it'll probably be a few yrs down the road before I'm comfortable enough to do a raw diet. By comfortable I mean comfortable with the knowledge, resources, and finances. I think it's great that I can throw him some raw meat in the meantime though, and that he'll do good with eating it.
It just amazed me for some reason.
 
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layitdown

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Update:

I tried giving Ricky Bobby a wing tip just a little while ago. He started playing with it! He was pawing at it and slapping at it, chasing after it. Crazy cat. I left him with it for about 3 minutes to see if he would eventually eat it. He licked it a few times but he would just play with it. I know cats play with their food, but when I give him the thighs he doesn't play with those at all. He goes right to chowing down on it.

How can I get him to know it's food, not a toy? lol I tried giving him a piece of a neck about 15 minutes later. Same thing with that, just played with it. Was it because he wasn't hungry?
 

auntie crazy

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I've read that if you slice the skin so the muscle meat is exposed it'll help the cat recognize the offering as food. Also, you might smear some of the canned food (I'm assuming he eats canned food?) on the skin or even in the slice.

Good luck!
 
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layitdown

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Thanks Auntie Crazy, that makes a lot of sense! He has no problem eating it when he sees the flesh of the chicken, I'll try that next time. If that doesn't work I'll try smearing some canned food on it. Thanks! I was wondering why he would go at the thigh fine, but not the wing? It makes sense though, maybe he didn't know it was food?
 

auntie crazy

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Can you imagine what your cat was thinking? "Hey, look, mommy gave me some food!!... *sniff, sniff* er... no, she didn't, Hey, look, mommy gave me a new toy!!"

 
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