Adding fat to rabbit and other lean meats, lard? Beef fat?

[korina]

Three goals I am trying to achieve, and looking for the solution, I think its fat liquified and poured over raw meal.

Let me premise this by conceding that I know with a rotating diet, I could probably fit the fat in naturally.

Here are my three reasons I think adding fat would benefit my program.

1. My cats are young kittens, about to hit four months, but tiny (and the girl keeps "nursing" on her brother)

The other day I introduced them to HT bonless rabbit (dont worry, its just one lb, got plenty of whole carcass ground in freezer).  They didnt go nuts for it. Their Bravo! beef paties, not an issue.  I want them eating white meat and red meat, so I think taste is swaying them.

Now we all know rabbit is known to be a bit too lean for cats, so is it advisable to add just a bit of fat to it?

I can source untreated pork and beef fat.

2. I also wanted to use it as a flavour enhancer and a way to make sure these growing kids have all the fat and calories they need.

3. Which leads to a related issue, the boy is larger than his sister, yet he is as docscile as can be.

Not only does his sister beat on him (he barely fights back), she seems to hog his food too (I think he might be losing weight).

I need scheduled feeding training for multiple reasons, mostly so I know that one isnt eating into the other's meals.

I was thinking the enticing smell of rendered pork fat (can get top end at local farm) might get them to stop sharing bowls.

Thanks guys!

 

[korina]

I should mention this farm has duck eggs too!

 

[ldg]

While I feed pork to my kitties once a week, the problem with adding pork fat is that it is VERY high in saturated fats. It's true cats handle fat completely differently than people, and cholesterol and clogged arteries aren't a health issue of cats, but you're also talking about rendered pork fat, which is not raw fat.

Our farmed animals are very low in omega 3s as it is, and the omega 6: omega 3 ratio is completely out of whack without adding even more saturated fat to the diet. The NV "rabbit" has pork fat as the 2nd ingredient - apparently that's why my cats loved it, because they weren't very excited about rabbit at first either. :lol3:

I prefer using freeze dried meat treats (powdered) as meal enticers.

I feed 8 cats, and have two that would poach as much food off the other kitties as they could. I just have to not let them. :dk:

 

[korina]

Thanks Laurie.

I really was looking for a one stop fix for this, like I said to entice eating of rabbit (I would prefer to ke this a staple of their diet, big beleiver in those furry delectables (never tried it myyself) and poultry.

And to fill in the rabbit's lack of fat (read a few places this is of slight concern).

I honestly got the idea from NV Rabbit (never buying that freezer burned hpa treated crap)

As to feeding schedules and bowl sharing, I am sure as they become larger and more mature, they will take to seperate bowls, I just really wish they would start scarfing their food.  I generally feed them at night and while getting ready for work, it would be nice to be able to throw bowl in sink instead of them sitting there all day or all night.

Bowl sharing also makes it real hard to add more suplements like salmon oil, or say down the line a medicine.

The other problem is the girl kitten, she is a normal hyperactive nutcase kitten.

Her brother is so doscille you would think he is pushing 10 years old.

When the girl attacks him, his defense is just that, he will defend himself, but then walk away.

What can I say he is a pacifist.

Anyways, I always see the agressive sister scarfing down food, him not so much.

He feels a bitter thinner than her, and if my eyes arent wrong, he seems to go for wet when its mixed in with raw.  When he does eat I grab his sister and try to distract her with petting till he stops.

 

[minka]

If you felt like they weren't getting enough fat, I could see adding some, but not rendered pork fat. I would just find fatty cuts of meat and cut off of those.

As for the bowl sharing, I'm not sure that cats will grow out of that. You have to teach them to stick to their own bowl. Some people use placemats (like Carolina) and others use cages. Some also just place each cat in a different room. If they aren't eating all that is on the plate, either you are giving too much at each meal, or you need to teach them to eat more by picking up the bowl whether they are done or not. Then next time they will be hungrier and eat it all.

 

[ldg]

Here's a table you may find interesting - a comparison of DM% protein/fat/ash of various prey animals. Bear in mind, what we're feeding when we feed HT rabbit is domestic rabbit, not wild.

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

And actually, there are cats that live primarily on rabbit - it just depends on availability of prey for feral cats. But mice, generally, do have more fat.

 

[Willowy]

I wonder how fat domestic meat rabbits are? My pet bunny is plenty fat! :lol3:. But I think meat rabbits are slaughtered fairly young and probably don't have time to get chubby. It's an interesting question, and I'm sure they have more fat than a wild rabbit, but how much more I don't know :dk:. ETA: just looked at the link, LOL. Domestic rabbits have a lot more fat than wild snowshoe hares, for sure!, although it doesn't have a listing for common cottontails.

Chicken skin is a good source of non-rendered fat. If you gave skin-on chicken mixed with the rabbit it might bump the fat level up to where you want it. Or buy cheap fatty beef cuts, slice the fat off and add small amounts to their meals?

Kittens need just insane amounts of calories, and should be allowed to eat all they want. If the girl is always that ravenous, she may not be getting enough for her growing, active body.

 

[ritz]

I've learned the hard way that Ritz needs a certain amount of fat or she will keep on begging, meowing for food.  Ritz loves rabbit, so instead of giving her just rabbit that day in rotation, I give her half rabbit and half some other protein that has more fat, like lamb or duck.  Same with chicken breast--I combine it with a meat that has fat in it, like beef. 

She could stand to lose a few ounces, so I do not add chicken fat.

 

[soysos]

there is another option. most butcher shops today carry fat back. this is the cut that lard is rendered from. its also what sausage manufacturers use to up the fat content of their products. it's about 90% raw untreated pork fat.

 

[korina]

LDG: thanks for the link, great one to bookmark. comparing it right to chicken I see how lean it is.

I just got started on HT, I may have made a mistake trying the bonless one first. Sunday night I defrosted and mixed with alnutrin the full carcas variety. Before freezing it I gave them a dollop which was finished quickly, maybe the bonless is very bland (boneless might have organs, but def no head).

Willowy: I am no farmer, but if I ran the HT business, I would let those rabbits get as fat as possible, its all sellable weight when its ground and blended.

However I do notice that whole rabbits come in multiple sizes on HT, the bigger the more expensive.

Ritz: my issue wasnt begging, as much as fear they were not eating enough. I think the mistake I did was the first batch was boneless rabbit.

Anyways, you got me thinking, instead of rotating lets say every 1lb served (or every three days) to a different protein, what is stopping us from blending white and dark meats at the time of adding the alnutrin.

Ideas would be rabbit/lamb mix, chicken beef mix, duck goat mix, etc

I think that would be logical, Im sure some would claim upset stomach fears.

soysos: That was the idea, but I am still not clear what is so terrible about melting down the fat to a liquid form to drizzle on food?  Sure I could chunk it up and toss it in, but my idea was more an alternative to the fish flake stuff folks use.

Also, am I right to assume that fat is far more impervious to bacteria then the rest of the animal.

Meaning, if I buy fat back lard, do I need to wash it, do I need to freeze it like meat to kill bacteria?

 

[soysos]

soysos: That was the idea, but I am still not clear what is so terrible about melting down the fat to a liquid form to drizzle on food?  Sure I could chunk it up and toss it in, but my idea was more an alternative to the fish flake stuff folks use.

there really isn't animal fats like lard, tallow, and shmalts, are not actually cooked their rendard. fats don't change chemically until they reach their smoke point, with animal fats about 400 degrees. the big exception being commercially available lard, it goes through a refinement process that burns off anything that is not fat. one big thing to keep in mind though these fats are mostly saturated as such remain solid at room temperature. their only a liquid above 120-150 degrees. lastly in their rendard state they have a shelf life just shy of uranium and are shelf stable. since fat back still contains some meat as well as more water it will keep about 4-6 weeks in the fridge or 2-3 years frozen.

 

[soysos]

just one other thing. if your gonna add fat like that I would suggest duck schmaltz over lard. it's easier to render because you render it just by cooking a duck if you use the steam and sear method like I do and there is no waste. second I've never met a cat that didn't like it, lard is incredibly bland to them. third it becomes a liquid at around 80 degrees, that's the temperature a serve my cats. just something to think about.

 

[korina]

Soyos 

   I obviously don't know much, I thought rendered meant melting, I didn't realize it was akin to pasturizing and processing.

I knew lard had a long shelf life, had no idea it was processed like that.

I also didnt realize it was bland for them, I figured as others when NV started putting it in their raw rabbit medalions, I figured there was something to it.

I probably also humanized their appetites as humans seem to go goo-goo for pork fat (ie see bacon, see oreo cookies, we used to make french fries in lard

I will keep an eye out for fat back in raw form, chop it up and freeze.

Now onto Schmaltz, never heard that word before, had to wiki it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmaltz

I get how you make it, Im guessing you steam cook a duck in a pressure cooker or something like that, and the fat comes off and pools at the bottom.

My mother is the poultry cook in our family, we grew up on Greek baked chicken and potatoes, you can see the fat in the broth (all ingredients reside in the baking pan), but with all the lemon, oregano etc, I won't be able to spoon it out.  I don't think I can convince her to steam a chicken, although she is on anti fat health kick after her last blood test wasnt so great, so maybe I can get her to do it.

So as to Schmaltz, is that sold as a commercial product?

Can I get it in a grocery store, or a Kosher or Halal store?

I could also make it at home, doesnt seem that complicated but I dont know where to get the type of trimmings that would be needed.

As to an update with my kitties, I get the feeling like others they prefer red to white meat,  I brought back the bravo beef patties and they are finishing the meals much faster.

Today I receive my order of Radcat (got all three varieties).

Will serve lamb first, then turkey (higher salt, and in my opinion darker/richer than chicken), then work back in HT rabbit and HT duck.  By then they will be a bit older and a bit hungrier!

 

[soysos]

here is how I render schmaltz typically I use duck, it does work with chicken, though the yields are lower and you wouldn't want to eat the result. first I portion the duck, I cut the wing flats off and feed to the cats, I cut the back off, and cut the hindquarters off the breast. this gives me 4 pieces of duck and about a pound of cat food. I do soak the duck in a brine of salt brown sugar an black peppercorns for about 2 hours. then lay the pieces around a steamer basket and insert into a pot with about two inches of just simmering water for 45 min. you now have a pot of duck schmaltz floating in boiling water. at this point you could either refrigerate then pull the solid fat off the top, or boil out the remaining water careful not to burn it. as for the duck while the it's still steaming put a cast iron skillet in a 475 degree oven. when its done steaming sear the legs 2 min on each side, 2 min skin up on the breasts and dinner is served. this method also makes some delicious buffalo wings.

 

[minka]

I'm a bit lost when it comes to cooking, but I wouldn't feed my cat fat that came off of meat that had been marinated in salt, sugar and peppercorns. All those extras aren't good for cats..

 

[soysos]

the brine is not vital to the process it just makes the meat taste better. this is mainly a description of the steam and sear method to not only render fat but also yield an eatable product.