I read somewhere, although I cannot remember where, that "think feather, not fur" (or the other way round) when it comes to feeding raw protein types. Is there some truth to this? It just feels odd to feed raw beef or lamb to cats.
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"Fur" vs "Feather" proteins
- Thread starter fhicat
- Start Date
Well, many cats certainly like rabbit, and that's furry
. I've not heard of this before, and when we first started feeding raw, NONE of mine went for any type of poultry. They preferred beef and lamb...didn't even like rabbit. Now they seem to prefer turkey. They still aren't fond of chicken
. And when I tried more exotic birds, they didn't like them, so i haven't tried them again.
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- #3
Well, I don't have anything against beef or lamb, so if it's not a problem to have those in the feeding rotation then I'll just leave them there. Nice to have an eat-anything-that-looks-like-food cat.
I was just curious and cannot remember where I read that.
Rabbit is ******** expensive.
Rabbit is ******** expensive.
It depends on the cat, of course. I think the "long ears and feathers" quote is from Dr. Pierson? I feed mostly land fowl for the most part - chicken, turkey, pheasant, quail. Other fowl I feed is duck, even though one of my cats is not fan of it. I do feed rabbit, don't know why... I guess I figured "well, it's HARE today! better feed some rabbit!" LOL.
Unfortunately one of my cats gets the runs hardcore on beef, regardless of probiotics. Lamb is another protein I feed, but in freeze-dried form.
Unfortunately one of my cats gets the runs hardcore on beef, regardless of probiotics. Lamb is another protein I feed, but in freeze-dried form.
It probably depends on the cats. I'm feeding a combination of canned and cooked, and Mogli can't seem to tolerate anything with feathers, be it chicken, turkey, duck or ostrich. He does well on rabbit, venison, kangaroo, horse, veal and pork. The jury is still out on lamb, because he's only gotten small amounts mixed with rabbit.
I asked the same question months back. I'll try to find the best response I got, but to summarize: the digestive tract of the domestic cat is similar enough to those of big cats - that DO eat furry beasts (like the wildebeest) - its appropriate to feed beef, etc... Hope that helps.
Well, I don't have anything against beef or lamb, so if it's not a problem to have those in the feeding rotation then I'll just leave them there. Nice to have an eat-anything-that-looks-like-food cat.I was just curious and cannot remember where I read that.
Rabbit is ******** expensive.
Also: protein is protein - I think meat based proteins break down the same way in the cat's system - to similar amino acids so as long as there is no allergies, any protein should be ok. I am sure I'll be corrected if I am wrong about that.
FYI: my question was posed as "How do the mammals with HOOVES fit in to this...?"
I hear you on the cost of rabbit; if you think Hare Today is pricey, look at rabbit prices from vendors of gourmet foods! $15 a lb an upwards! I can get really fresh beef down the road on sale for $3.50, so Dexter has been getting lots of "Raw on the Hoof" lately. Also helps that I used to eat raw beef regularly (no so much now) and lived to tell the tale - I love playing around with dead cow for some reason.
ETA: and cats are scavengers when they have to be - a cat would gnaw on an abandoned dead deer, elk struck by a car...in a heartbeat.
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Feed as much variety as the cat will eat, I personally wouldn't worry much about whether it's a chicken or a goat. My cat is picky and mostly eats poultry so chicken, turkey, duck, game hens, grouse, goose. All she eats with fur is rabbit and mice. Anything with hooves gets ignored or puked back up. Re rabbit, do some digging, join some raw feeding yahoo lists for dogs, usually you can find a show or feeder breeder with plenty of culls to sell. My supplier mostly sells to fancy restaurants lol and has gone up in price but was about half hare todays. I need a cheaper source for duck, I did buy a bunch of ducks from a lady getting out of them for a good price but after that I'll be back to ordering. I need to make friends with some duck hunters.
