Ah yes, Whole Foods- I have to check them out for all these new meats I'll be buying now. They're opening up one soon in a town nearby. Good to know about the cleaver and the neck bones.
The livers are probably best from Whole foods as they have a policy of no hormones, antibiotics, etc. for their meat. The chicken hearts are pretty small, so I usually give them as whole. Sometimes the livers are a little large, and I remove the membrane stringy stuff. The neck bones, I usually cut into about 3 or 4 sections, as the cats seem to like them a little smaller, and I normally just have the 1 neck, and 4 kitties! I remove the shin, it just seems too thick, and would probably come off when cutting. I usually have to use my cleaver ( inexpensive at the Asian stores) on the necks, and just whack away! I have/had good intentions of doing the raw food thing, even bought the grinder! (which is still in the box) and then read an article called No More Grinders. I know that the cats need the calcium from the bones, but part of the raw feeding is for the cats to gnaw on the bones to help remove the tarter. So, needless to say, I give them raw goodies, canned food, and NO dry!
mschauer- I have been thinking frankenprey since I thought it seemed easier and to avoid the cost of a grinder. Do you think ground is better as long as you also include some bone-in parts?
If you feed canned food I don't understand why an article that I presume opposes feeding a ground raw diet would stop you from making your own ground raw food. The food in the cans you are feeding is ground. There are raw feeders who are, shall we say, passionate about promoting their method of raw feeding as being the best. Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is true about the article you read since I haven't read it, they can be rather obnoxious in how they portray other methods. Don't be put off by what one person says. You can still feed bone-in parts for dental health along with a ground raw diet.