slightly rotten meat?

ilikecats2013

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i think i left raw meat in refrigerator bottom a bit too long and there some blue in the meat and there's slight smell.  should i just dump it out?

or is it not a problem feeding slightly rotten meat to cat?

i mean don't lions eat dead carcasses in scorching african heat over several days/a week?  their digestive system is way superior to humans'?
 
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fhicat

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i think i left raw meat in refrigerator bottom a bit too long and there some blue in the meat and there's slight smell.  should i just dump it out?

or is it not a problem feeding slightly rotten meat to cat?

i mean don't lions eat dead carcasses in scorching african heat over several days/a week?
I wouldn't worry about it. If your cat is not picky, her nose will tell you if it's gone bad. My cat eats anything, so when he sniffs his raw food and looks at me, I know I've left it in the fridge for too long.

To be safe though, might as well throw it away. If you can smell it, imagine what she would have smelled.
 
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ilikecats2013

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I wouldn't worry about it. If your cat is not picky, her nose will tell you if it's gone bad. My cat eats anything, so when he sniffs his raw food and looks at me, I know I've left it in the fridge for too long.

To be safe though, might as well throw it away. If you can smell it, imagine what she would have smelled.
funny that you put it that way.  lions don't seem to mind on those nature programs on tv.  i think a dead carcass smell way bad after just 12 hours and they eat it over a week. 
 

meranaldar

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Of course a lion also grew up doing that, and would I imagine have a better tolerance than a well looked after house cat.

Whether it would be a problem or not, I have no idea. I only started feeding my cat (14 years) raw a bit over 6 months ago, but had been giving her an occasional chicken neck or chicken wing all her life for the dental benefits, and I used to thaw it by putting it in the microwave (not using the microwave, it was just to keep the flies away) in the morning and leaving it there all day to give her with the evening meal, and then sometimes she wouldn't finish it until the next day, which would sometimes smell a little. I never thought it was a problem for similar reasons, and I had always been told it wasn't a problem for dogs and cats to eat meat that was a little bad. And she never had any issues, has always been a healthy cat, and still is.

I kind of shudder to think back to that. I'm a lot more cautious with raw meat now, though honestly I'm not sure how much I actually need to be, but I prefer to be on the safe side than run into problems. I wouldn't forgive myself if I caused problems from giving suspect meat.
 

vball91

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If you can smell that it has gone bad, I would not risk feeding it. While your cat may handle it fine, it's not worth the risk in my opinion.
 

ritz

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I agree with all the posters.
Ritz will eat anything, any kind of meat (chicken head anyone?) But I've learned to respect her nose when I put meat in her plate and she just looks at it and then at me. She knows better. I would not take the chance (particularly since my vet blames any kind of stomach problem on 'bad meat').
PS: some meats can turn bad in a matter of hours. Several times Ritz has eaten chicken in the morning, but refuses to eat chicken from the same batch ten hours later.
 

fhicat

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Ritz will eat anything, any kind of meat (chicken head anyone?) But I've learned to respect her nose when I put meat in her plate and she just looks at it and then at me. She knows better. I would not take the chance (particularly since my vet blames any kind of stomach problem on 'bad meat').
Jed stopped eating the gizzards I bought for him though. I can't figure out why. He nommed the whole bowl the first day I brought it home. After that time he doesn't want them anymore.
 

di and bob

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If anyone could completely understand cats they would be a billionaire. ALL the cats I've ever had will eat something like it's the best thing in the world and the next day can shun it completely! I'll NEVER understand!
 

Willowy

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A bird flew into my parents' window and their cat let it lie around for a week before she ate it :dk:. So I guess cats aren't too averse to eating old meat. Some people also prefer aged meat, but of course people usually cook it first :tongue2:. I wouldn't worry about it too much---if she thinks it smells bad she won't eat it---but if you think nasty bacteria is growing on it you could cook it and see if that helps.
 

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If the cat will eat it it's probably fine.  Sometimes if my ferrets ignore a piece of meat completely I rinse it off and toss it to the cat.  The ferrets have meat out almost non stop and I just replace as needed 2-3x a day, they don't eat on a schedule like everyone else.  If meat is to the point I don't think my cat will eat it I give it to my dogs.  They have eaten rotten meat several times, after seeing them bury their meals and wait a few days to dig it up and eat I kind of stopped worrying about it.  Last week I found a whole quail in a baggie that got left out of my freezer during a rearrange, that was Monday, this was Thursday, it smelled horrendous but the dog with me gobbled it right down.  Dogs will eat anything. 
 
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