Raw eggs

[tcbemis]

So I've gotten my three girls onto mostly canned with dry out at night (which trends to make for a light breakfast, but they all nibble a little). We have homemade too that we offer, but as of yet, no one is thrilled. Except the dog who comes in for clean up.

My feral girl loves raw eggs (oddly, only the yolk). How many a week can she have? I've heard a whole egg can be a meal for a cat, but how often? I'm not saying, by any means, that this would be her meal, but more of a snack on days she doesn't eat much canned. She's turned up her nose at breakfast & lunch today, just tasting (she's amazingly picky for someone who lived outside) both meals. So I have her a raw yolk and she wolfed it down. She laying here with her happy purr going (loud and raspy!).

Is one a day Ok? More? Less?
Thanks!

 

[sivyaleah]

Raw yolks are recommended by many vets.  Our said it would be ok to give 1-2 a week, but no more but my cats are indoor only - maybe for those living outdoors it would be ok to slightly increase the amount..  We needed to put some weight on our younger one.  The older one uses it for help with hairballs - supposedly it helps pull the fur through their system so that they don't throw it up instead.  We have found it seems to work.  

Egg yolks have a lot of calories - nearly all are in that one part of the egg, the white has almost none plus, the white is not particularly recommended as a food.  I don't remember offhand but I'm sure someone else might.

If you are ever concerned about the quality of your eggs, you can heat the yolk up very minimally to kill off anything harmful to their system.  Be careful doing this - it only takes a couple of seconds to get them warm and they will start to coagulate a little but if you go to far, you'll just have entirely cooked yolks.

 

[lcat4]

I have four cats and they split an egg yolk every fifth meal or so (3 meals a day) so about 1 1/2 egg yolks a week.  I actually mix the yolk into their home prepared meals rather than serve it on the side.  The plate is licked clean faster than normal. 

There are a couple things to consider.  Yolks are fatty, so those calories needs to be incorporated into the rest of their meal plan.  All but one of my cats are on the slender side, so not a big worry in my house.  Yolks also have lots of phosphorus and not much calcium.  I stir in powdered eggshell into the yolk before I serve the cats, to have it a bit more balanced.  I add somewhere between 1/32 and 3/64 tsp eggshell, depending on the size of the yolk.  (If someone (LDG) thinks this is the wrong amount, please let me know

)

The egg white has lots of protein with low phosphorus.  It's great to give to a cat with CRF and two of my cats qualify.  Unfortunately, my cats try to avoid egg whites, no matter how well hidden, if at all possible.  You are supposed to cook it because it neutralizes the avidin in the white, which interacts with biotin in the yolk.   

 

[sivyaleah]

Thanks for reminder about the whites LCat4.  The reason escaped me as I was writing back before.

 

[ritz]

Are cooked egg yolks as nutritious (I know they have the same amount of calories)? Ritz hates raw egg yolk, but loves cooked. (I eat the (cooked) egg white.)
Thanks.

 

[tcbemis]

Thanks! Katniss (the feral) is now inside only (it'll be interesting with open windows in the spring!), so I'll stick with 1-2/week I think, unless I need to fill in some gaps. Like today when it's all she ate to 3. Then I brought home a packet of Soulistic chicken dinner in gravy... Holy moly! They all loved it! That's becoming a staple.

Thanks for all the great info!