Crocodile meat?

haycat

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My friend has some extra crocodile meat from Australia. We aren't sure if it's from wild source. It doesn't sound too appetizing for me, but I can get some for my cat.

Though we've been open to adding some irregular variety to my cat's raw meal, it's not worth risking anything. I guess crocs have some unusual parasites since they are reptiles. But again, cats naturally eat small reptiles such as lizards and snakes...

Has anyone given crocodile meat to cats? Can this be by any chance dangerous for my cat? If it's not especially dangerous, I'm planning to freeze the meat for a few weeks in hopes of killing parasites before feeding. Thanks for reading! 
 
 
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margd

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I've never given crocodile meat to my cat but wanted to let you know that freezing will not necessarily kill all pathogens with which the meat might be infected.  Viruses for example are typically frozen to maintain them in a viable condition - I worked with them for many years.  It is probably not worth the risk of feeding this meat to your cat, even though I appreciate that you want to give your kitty a varied diet and you can't get much more varied than crocodile meat.  There must be an interesting story behind that!
 
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haycat

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I've never given crocodile meat to my cat but wanted to let you know that freezing will not necessarily kill all pathogens with which the meat might be infected.  Viruses for example are typically frozen to maintain them in a viable condition - I worked with them for many years.  It is probably not worth the risk of feeding this meat to your cat, even though I appreciate that you want to give your kitty a varied diet and you can't get much more varied than crocodile meat.  There must be an interesting story behind that!
Thanks for replying Margd! 


Yes, any viruses and coldproof strains of parasites from unusual meat scare me 
 I once even brought some venison juice to the vet to be tested for parasite eggs! Some parasites even live in muscle meat... guess there are viruses too.

The eerie thing is, when the pathogens survive the freezer and enter cat's body, no one can really tell what would happen as the pathogens are often not meant to exist in cat's system.  I agree we can't be too careful when feeding unusual meat. Especially meat from wild sources and rare species.

By the way, my friend often comes across something unusual 
 While the croc meat is good especially as it's rare and free, I should skip this time as you say. Cats don't eat crocodiles in the wild, so I guess few cats have actually eaten the meat. If feeding crocs happens to become popular someday, I should consider getting some then!
 

tron90210

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So this will be way too late to answer your original question. But I have a cat with a extra sensitive stomach. She only eats royal canin hypoallergenic, because everything else caused her to vomit. She used to enjoy eating meat, so I asked my vet if there was any meat I could give her as a Christmas treat. He told me crocodile. He said he went to a talk once that spoke about the benefits of feeding cats lizard meat especially if they have sensitive stomachs. I live in Australia, so croc meat is easy to source from high end butchers. At $56/kg for tail steaks it's definitely not going to be their daily meal. But I did buy them some for Christmas. To prepare it I keep it frozen for a week before serving. My vet said a couple of days would suffice in terms of killing off any parasites if I decide to serve it as sashimi. Just to be sure I always cook the croc in the oven with a bit of water. Tastes a bit like gamey chicken. My cats go mental for it.
 
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