Chicken Neck Protocol

I've fed some commercial raw to my guy already but I'm wanting to make the jump to chicken necks to help out his teeth. He's very touchy about his mouth and won't let me near it to brush his teeth so I'm hoping gnawing on the necks once a week or so will help (plus the benefits of eating the raw meat). Before I go out and buy some necks and slap them down in front of him, how exactly do you guys tend to feed them? Do you do it as a whole meal? Do you give your cats the entire neck straight out of the fridge or do you prepare it in some way first?

I think most people give raw necks and such more as a treat unless they are feeding frankenprey or whole prey. A chicken neck is fairly small so you can give the entire neck to a cat to chew and gnaw on for awhile. You just give it straight to the cat. No need to prepare it in any way first. Some cats like to drag bones around the house so you may want to confine the cat to one easily cleanable room while the cat has the bone.

Oh my gosh I didn't even think of that... thanks for the heads-up!

My 3 3-month-old rescues eat chicken necks every day as part of their frankenprey diet. The main reason I feed them chicken necks is to meet their daily bone (calcium) needs.

I cut the neck bones into 1 or 2 vertebrae sections and they now eat them completely, meat and bones.

When they were just getting started with chicken necks, I used to crush the bones inside the vertebrae sections with a mallet or heavy stone, but now that their jaws are strong enough, they either crush them with their side teeth, or swallow them if the bones are small enough.

If you're providing necks only for the dental benefits, then whole necks would be appropriate. But you might want to observe how your cat works with the bone, and adjust the portion size accordingly if you need to.