I don't use Hare Today whole ground animal as an exclusive diet, but I source other things from Hare Today I can't get (like heart, turkey thigh, etc.). But I do feed four ground meals a week, because I like them to have whole animal, more fresh bone than they otherwise get, and I hide 1/4 egg yolk in each whole animal ground meal. Mine are older, and need the yolk to help prevent hairballs.
So I decided to order 1 pound of the whole ground rabbit, fur and all. I accidentally bought that instead of the regular meat/bone/organ ground rabbit, and didn't realize it until I went to thaw the 2 pound chub. :lol3:
Well - I am NOT upset about this, because it turns out ALL of them, every last one, likes this version better. !!!!!!!!!!!!! :dk: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :scratch:
Even Lazlo, who refuses to eat any ground, eats THIS. OK - I have to form it into little lumps, like bites of meat, but he EATS it. Yes, it is drier.
And funny enough, I just recently stumbled on a study that indicates the fur (and bone) - undigestible animal stuff - acts like fermentable fiber in the guts of cats. They can't explain it, but there you have it.
The abstract of the 2011 study:
"As wild felids are obligate carnivores, it is likely that poorly enzymatically digestible animal tissues determine hindgut fermentation, instead of plant fibre. Therefore, faecal concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA, including branched-chain fatty acids, BCFA), indole and phenol were evaluated in 14 captive cheetahs, fed two different diets differing in proportion of poorly enzymatically digestible animal tissue. Using a cross-over design, the cheetahs were fed exclusively whole rabbit or supplemented beef for 1 month each. Feeding whole rabbit decreased faecal propionic (p
So I decided to order 1 pound of the whole ground rabbit, fur and all. I accidentally bought that instead of the regular meat/bone/organ ground rabbit, and didn't realize it until I went to thaw the 2 pound chub. :lol3:
Well - I am NOT upset about this, because it turns out ALL of them, every last one, likes this version better. !!!!!!!!!!!!! :dk: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :scratch:
Even Lazlo, who refuses to eat any ground, eats THIS. OK - I have to form it into little lumps, like bites of meat, but he EATS it. Yes, it is drier.
And funny enough, I just recently stumbled on a study that indicates the fur (and bone) - undigestible animal stuff - acts like fermentable fiber in the guts of cats. They can't explain it, but there you have it.
The abstract of the 2011 study:
"As wild felids are obligate carnivores, it is likely that poorly enzymatically digestible animal tissues determine hindgut fermentation, instead of plant fibre. Therefore, faecal concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA, including branched-chain fatty acids, BCFA), indole and phenol were evaluated in 14 captive cheetahs, fed two different diets differing in proportion of poorly enzymatically digestible animal tissue. Using a cross-over design, the cheetahs were fed exclusively whole rabbit or supplemented beef for 1 month each. Feeding whole rabbit decreased faecal propionic (p