them bones!

[quickbeam]

I've been raw feeding for the past three weeks now, my cat was on kibble free-feeding and three wet pouches a day. We stopped the kibble and began raw feeding by replacing one of his wet pouches everyday with a different protein.

Generally it seems to be going well! He's tried chicken, beef, lamb's heart, duck, turkey, liver and kidney. We are now upping his raw feeds to twice a day and having just one wet pouch a day. He tucks in very happily to most of the darker meat but doesn't seem too impressed by chicken but our main issue has been with getting him to eat bones.

We tried shattering the bones with a mallet to get him used to them but he just won't go near anything with bones in (he gives us a look as if to say 'you want me to eat that?!' )  We gave him half a quail yesterday and he wouldn't eat it until some of the meat had been pulled off the bones. We really want to move toward full frankenprey but can't until he will attempt to eat bone! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to encourage him to eat bone in meals? I will add him always goes for the smaller pieces of meat first when he is eating.

Since we have been raw feeding his coat has become so soft

Quickbeam

 

[vball91]

How old is he? If he's an older cat who's been eating kibble and wet all his life, it might take some time to build up the jaw strength to tackle bone-in meals. You could try sprinkling toppers to make them more appetizing. Or cutting the bone-in meals into smaller pieces. I think it helps to have fat and meat around the bones to make it all more appetizing.

In the meanwhile, you can move to full frankenprey and just supplement calcium until he starts eating bone regularly. Eggshell calcium and MCHA are two good and easy to use calcium supplements.

 

[quickbeam]

He is 14 months old.

I will try the supplements, do they just sprinkle on top of what he is eating?
 

 

[vball91]

Yes, they are just sprinkled on top of the meat. Most cats do not seem to mind the taste although you do need a lot more MCHA than eggshell, so the MCHA can make food a little dry. Eggshell powder (you can make yourself or order from knowwhatyoufeed.com) is easy. You only need 1/32 tsp per ounce of meat.

 

[ldg]

I see you're in England. You can make your own eggshell powder - though as you most likely can't grind it AS finely, you may want to use a tad more. http://www.holisticat.com/esp.html

Oh - and MCHA is microcrystalline calcium hydroxyapatite. In the States, there is only one supplement that has only MCHA as its ingredient, and that is the NOW brand. It's just called NOW Calcium Hydroxyapatite. I don't know what's available there, but that may help you find a source, if you want to give him a bone equivalent. MCHA is just freeze-dried bovine bone, usually from young animals from New Zealand.

 

[maple syrup]

It is definitely a process.  But I would suggest that you start making the meat pieces bigger and bigger so that he will have to chew a piece off to eat it.  This in itself will help with jaw strength.  I would also consider that there may be something going on with his teeth/mouth that would make it painful to chew. Our kitten stopped eating his bones when he started losing his baby teeth for instance. At that point however he would pick all the bones clean.

If you can get him to the point of successfully tackling larger pieces, then I would try the chicken rib section with the bone attached ( I usually cut the rib/breast in 1 inch widths - not cubed) because it has a lot of meat attached to a softer bone.  Start by ensuring that you place the bone side is down so that he starts with the meat and gets to the bone.  Quail is probably the best introductory bone because they are so soft.  I would quarter the quail and try the breast section, again bone down. wing tips are another option to try.

I've been marvelling this week that when I cut up the hens and feed our little guy pieces that he is able to handle bigger bones than before and there are very few bone pieces left after his meal if any.  This is after about 3.5 months on raw. Chicken necks are always our bone supplement when we are feeding boneless meat, and it is always the first bit to go - after the liver of course which is the all time favorite.

Good luck!