How to teach cat to chew?

[mangojuusu]

Hi all,

So I tried before to get my kittens on 100% raw food, and it never worked out. They hate anything that's mushy, cooked or raw, so I gave up temporarily just so I could get them to eat. After doing some research, I think it's worth giving prey model raw a try.

Both of them love to chew, but they chew different things. He's great at chewing food, and when I've tried giving small pieces of chunked raw (chicken thighs and gizzards, mostly) he goes to town. She, on the other hand, will only chew objects - plastic, toys, and stuffed animals. She will only eat very very small raw chunks, and usually will just lick them instead of eating them. She will watch him eat, but she won't try herself.

They're still on half-dry, half-wet food for now, so there isn't any rush. But I'm nervous that if I switch to 100% prey model raw with her unwillingness to chew anything, she won't consume any raw meaty bones and she'll be deficient in calcium. So, how can I teach (or encourage) my cat to chew her food?

Thanks!

 

[She's a witch]

I have similar pair, one is a licker, the second one is a biter, as I call them. To the point that the biter even try to bite water the rare times I saw him drinking It's funny to watch but also disturbing as I really think he simply doesn't know how to drink, that's why he doesn't (not a big deal since he's not having dry food anyway).

The licker girl is super excited with raw meat, she goes crazy when given raw pieces (especially not previously frozen) but she doesn't know how to deal with them. She cries, she growls, she meows, she tries, but eventually she would go away sad rather than try to bite off and chew the big pieces (unless it's small enough to swallow it, then she does that but then inevitable regurgitates it). I want to encourage chewing for teeth benefits but the only way I found that works with her, is when I cut the pieces into long strips (like julienne cut but much longer), she would then sort of chew them. But since they don't get such pieces often these days, it seems that she needs to learn it over and over again every time they get it.

So yeah, maybe start by giving her long strips of meat and slowly incorporate bigger pieces in her meal? Hopefully someone else will come with experience and better advice as I would also love to know how to make her chew.. Although I also heard that cats don't really chew food, but only tear it and then swallow, but clearly my girl is unable to tear it as well.

 

[nycats]

Lol I was just about to post the same thing. I decided to give some raw chicken gizzards cut in small pieces as snacks to my cats, and they don't know what to do, except for the 8 month old foster kitten. He growls and gets super excited and goes to town. No problem eating it. My adults on the other hand, licks it, then bites it and tries to chew? But then the piece somehow falls out of their mouth. Then they just look at me, instead of picking up the food and eat it. WHY CATS, WHY!? I wanted to see if anyone had tips on how I can get them to eat raw pieces of food, properly.

 

[Ardina]

I had to train Saipha to eat chunks, whereas Mishka was a kitten and picked it up on her own.

For Saipha, I figured out something that she found irresistible - chicken hearts - and started out by mincing them. Then slowly increase the size of the pieces. Eventually they do learn to chew. Definitely start with boneless soft pieces first. Then move onto chewier tougher things like gizzard. Finally you can try soft chicken wings cut into pieces (bone included). At this point, Saipha and Mishka are both experts and will eat anything they physically have the jaw strength to crunch.

 

[nycats]

I had to train Saipha to eat chunks, whereas Mishka was a kitten and picked it up on her own.

For Saipha, I figured out something that she found irresistible - chicken hearts - and started out by mincing them. Then slowly increase the size of the pieces. Eventually they do learn to chew. Definitely start with boneless soft pieces first. Then move onto chewier tougher things like gizzard. Finally you can try soft chicken wings cut into pieces (bone included). At this point, Saipha and Mishka are both experts and will eat anything they physically have the jaw strength to crunch.

Ooooh I didn't think of how gizzards are tougher meat! Great advice, thank you so much. I'll try with softer meat. They did do much better with chicken breasts before, although I did have to cut them into small pieces. For now, I'll cut the gizzards into tiny pieces and see if they'll eat better.

 

[mangojuusu]

I had to train Saipha to eat chunks, whereas Mishka was a kitten and picked it up on her own.

For Saipha, I figured out something that she found irresistible - chicken hearts - and started out by mincing them. Then slowly increase the size of the pieces. Eventually they do learn to chew. Definitely start with boneless soft pieces first. Then move onto chewier tougher things like gizzard. Finally you can try soft chicken wings cut into pieces (bone included). At this point, Saipha and Mishka are both experts and will eat anything they physically have the jaw strength to crunch.

Thank you so much for this advice! I tried very small pieces of gizzard (since that's what I had defrosted) and my "licker" cat has started to get the hang of it. I'm going to start them all on strips of boneless meat as well, to build up their jaw strength.

Thank you so much everyone for your help!

 

[nycats]

My cats are starting to eat the gizzards a little better when cut into small pieces! I'll try softer organs or muscle meat next time. I'm giving them as night time snacks.

 

[darg]

Cats are enigmas. Mine ate dry for 12 years. Never really chewed it much unless it was a larger, flat kibble. He was mostly eating Blue Buffalo which were like pea size kibble. Picked it up with his tongue and swallowed. At any rate, when I switched him to canned and homemade I quickly realized that he doesn't like to chew canned. He wont eat canned chunk, shred or morsel type foods. He will only eat pates and then, he will mostly lick them and leave a dry clump of the pate. I have to puree them into a "gravy" with an immersion blender. Then he'll finish the plate, no problems. But with his ground, homemade turkey meals he'll lick first and then pick up the ground meat and chew it and finish the plate.

I've given up on trying to figure out the whys.

 

[nwc]

Cats are enigmas. Mine ate dry for 12 years. Never really chewed it much unless it was a larger, flat kibble. He was mostly eating Blue Buffalo which were like pea size kibble. Picked it up with his tongue and swallowed. At any rate, when I switched him to canned and homemade I quickly realized that he doesn't like to chew canned. He wont eat canned chunk, shred or morsel type foods. He will only eat pates and then, he will mostly lick them and leave a dry clump of the pate. I have to puree them into a "gravy" with an immersion blender. Then he'll finish the plate, no problems. But with his ground, homemade turkey meals he'll lick first and then pick up the ground meat and chew it and finish the plate.

I've given up on trying to figure out the whys.

lmao what in the hell