Newly Raw Fed Cat--Some ?'s about bones

[Mama2Kayla]

I have slowly been transitioning Linus over to raw. He loves everything so far except bones. He wants nothing to do with anything still attached to bone.

I started giving him chunks of the dogs meat here and there and when I realized he was loving it, I decided to try a full switch. He is great with all different kinds of meat(turkey, chicken, pork and beef) and he loves gizzards, heart and organ meats--so no problems there. How do I get him to consume bones? So far the only way he will eat them is in a turkey or chicken neck. Will he get enough from eating just those bones? I tried a chicken wing today and he nibbled a little, but he has mostly ignored it. I tried chopping it up some, but he still wouldn't touch it.

What do I do? I know bones are importent for minerals and calcium--any suggestions? Should I keep giving him dry food until I get this sorted out so I don't deprive him of anything important?

Thanks!

[Ola_]

How about giving those bone-in items a good whack with a meat mallet or a hammer? It's good that he will eat the necks, that is a start. How about chicken breasts? They are more expensive than other cuts but the bones tend to be softer, similar to neck bones.

If you're really stuck for calcium you can also use eggshell powder. We haven't done this ourselves, but from what I understand you'd want to keep your shells, dry them on low in the oven, and then grind them up. To supplement I believe it's 1 tsp of the powder per pound of meat. But I'd prefer to keep feeding the necks while trying to get him onto other bone-in bits as the powder won't give you any dental cleaning benefits.

[Mama2Kayla]

Originally Posted by Ola_

How about chicken breasts? They are more expensive than other cuts but the bones tend to be softer, similar to neck bones.

So you're thinking like bone-in chicken breasts right? I didn't even think of that--great idea, and those go on sale a lot around here.
I didn't mention before in my earlier post that he is still a kitten. We think he is around 6-7 months. Could that be why he is having trouble with bones? Maybe because his teeth are still coming in?

I don't think I will resort to egg shells yet, but that's definitely good info to keep on hand! Thank you Ola

[Ola_]

Doh, yes I meant bone-in breasts. Totally forgot that key word there, sorry!

[sunnysandiegan]

Our kitten is still learning to eat certain bones, too. What we have found helpful:

Bash the bones with a hammer until kitty decides to eat them (keep offering raw meat separate, but offer the raw bones first).

Once kitty will eat bashed up bones (literally smashed to bits the first week), then try the smallest bones you can find. We tried the tiny raw meat bones that look like they are cut cross-wise, but kitty didn't like those (and still doesn't). Next, we tried wings (skin and bones included) and she eventually got the hang of it! Wings were her mainstay of raw bones, alternating with raw meat without bones.

We also fed her whole fish (skin, bones, fins, etc....except it was gutted). We had to cut that up A LOT and be very patient. She is about a year old now and she has been eating more and more of the fish bones on her own recently, but I still cut the whole fish into about 5 parts and start the ripping process for her.

We just recently started giving her chicken legs and thighs. She will rip the skin and meat off the bone and she has started gnawing on the ends of the bones. She has recently been able to eat quite a bit of these bones, only leaving about one-third now.

Keep offering and be patient.

A holistic pet care advisor told me, "You have to teach her to eat this way because a lot of domestic cats have forgotten through the generations."

Oh, I am not fond of our source for whole fish, so I recently got a bottle of organic fish oil for pets. We started giving her a tablespoon once a week. We also give her one egg once a week. She won't eat the white, yet, and only ate a smidgen of the shell. She does, however, LOVE the yolk.

Best wishes!