Olive’s First Raw Chicken Wing

[KarenKat]

I've heard about how raw chicken wings can help clean teeth. Olive has sampled some raw chicken before, and she likes the Nature’s Variety Raw Dehydrated Rabbit. She’s on an all canned diet at the moment, though.

So I bought a raw chicken wing at the grocery store, but what (if anything) should I do to prepare it for serving? Do I leave the skin on? I read somewhere to put it in a bag and smash it a bit so it’s easier for her to eat, is this recommended?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Azazel]

Definitely don’t smash it. If the pieces are too small she can choke. You can take the skin off if you’re worried about too much fat. You might YouTube some videos of cats eating wing tips.

 

[molly92]

I wouldn't smash it-you don't want to create dangerous bone shards. You can leave the skin on, or you can cut off chunks to make it easier for him to eat it and get the hang of it the first time around. It seems like it's a good idea to hold on to one end to help them while they're getting the hang of it. I have to do this for my 16 year old at least, because she's missing half her teeth. But she loves raw chicken necks anyway! Even though she can't really get through the bone itself, she gnaws off some skin and meat and likes licking what's left. I figure it's a good enrichment activity for her at least.

My younger cat won't really touch the raw chicken neck unless I slice off bite sized pieces of skin and meat for her-the bone itself remains untouched. But my goal is to keep exposing her to it and eventually get her interested in tackling it herself. We'll see! She was never one to do things on her own that her human could do for her!

 

[KarenKat]

Ok, thanks A Azazel and molly92 ! I like the idea of holding it for her at first to see how it goes. I definitely won’t smash it, I was also concerned about the bone shards.

 

[KarenKat]

Well, it went pretty well. I did hold it for her for the first few (hundred) chomps. She had trouble with the skin, so next time I’ll remove it. And of course she traveled around the room with it. She really enjoyed herself though, and ate about half of the wing.

 

[abby2932]

I love that!

When I first started my cats on prey model, I started out with quail. The wings are quite a bit smaller and easier to chew. They were able to eat the entire quail, head included (Not all in one sitting). No bone was too big. By the time I moved on to chicken wings, they knew what they were doing.

 

[KarenKat]

She lived outside for a while and I know she ate rats and mice at least. And she is always excited about any raw food we are cooking. So I knew she would like it, but she did seem a little confused about it at first. I’ll look into the quail, that might be easier for her.