Trying new meat this week

[koobe]

I am going to pick up some duck, turkey legs and rabbit this week from a BARF co-op. All the turkey my cats are eating now are Rad Cat commercial raw, and they love it. I hope they will also like the turkey I make.

For duck, I only gave them dry duck breast as treats before. Panther loves it, Cheetah is not that interested. I hope Cheetah will be more interested in the raw. Since Panther is allergic to lamb and beef, I hope he is not allergic to duck.

Rabbit is a totally new try. I hope it will work out well.

 

[rone]

A lot of cats (include ours) LOVE LOVE rabbit. I suspect yours will too.

I used to make one protein per batch. Whenever rabbit is served our little monsters inhale them so fast (& beg for more) I was worry they'd vomit. They're also way less enthusiastic about other proteins after rabbit batch is done. I mean, anyone can tell they eat because they're hungry not because they love the food

. So instead of making a batch of rabbit, I mix rabbit with other protein. Now they inhale whatever I put down

FYI, some cats will refuse to eat other protein after eatnig rabbit (no I am not making this up). Another reason I decide to mix some rabbit in every batch.

Good Luck!

 

[koobe]

Guess what, the supplier said the rabbit will not be available for this pick up. Will have to wait 2-3 weeks.

There are frozen rabbit at the chinese supermarkets, but they are like $20+ each. I do not want to spend that money, so I guess I will just wait.

I so hope they will like rabbit.

 

[brookesphynx]

Originally Posted by Rone

A lot of cats (include ours) LOVE LOVE rabbit. I suspect yours will too.

I used to make one protein per batch. Whenever rabbit is served our little monsters inhale them so fast (& beg for more) I was worry they'd vomit. They're also way less enthusiastic about other proteins after rabbit batch is done. I mean, anyone can tell they eat because they're hungry not because they love the food

. So instead of making a batch of rabbit, I mix rabbit with other protein. Now they inhale whatever I put down

FYI, some cats will refuse to eat other protein after eatnig rabbit (no I am not making this up). Another reason I decide to mix some rabbit in every batch.

Good Luck!

That's no joke, Rone. I fed my cats rabbit one time, and now Helen WILL NOT EAT ANYTHING ELSE. She goes on a complete hunger strike if I put anything else in front of her!! Naturally, rabbit is more expensive than everything else, too, and not easy for me to find locally... The other 3 cats will still eat anything, but now I'm constantly looking for sources to support Helen's "Rabbit Habit"!

I even warned a friend of mine not to feed rabbit to her cats unless she was prepared to feed ONLY rabbit from now on!

Great idea mixing it with other proteins...maybe I'll try that and see if Helen will be satisfied, because I think my other cats are starting to get tired of the bunny burger!

 

[brookesphynx]

Originally Posted by koobe

I am going to pick up some duck, turkey legs and rabbit this week from a BARF co-op. All the turkey my cats are eating now are Rad Cat commercial raw, and they love it. I hope they will also like the turkey I make.

For duck, I only gave them dry duck breast as treats before. Panther loves it, Cheetah is not that interested. I hope Cheetah will be more interested in the raw. Since Panther is allergic to lamb and beef, I hope he is not allergic to duck.

Rabbit is a totally new try. I hope it will work out well.

Koobe, my girl Mandy has problems with beef and lamb, but she does great with duck. Also quail, pheasant, rabbit, turkey, chicken, venison...um...I think that's all we've tried!

 

[koobe]

Originally Posted by BrookeSphynx

That's no joke, Rone. I fed my cats rabbit one time, and now Helen WILL NOT EAT ANYTHING ELSE. She goes on a complete hunger strike if I put anything else in front of her!! Naturally, rabbit is more expensive than everything else, too, and not easy for me to find locally... The other 3 cats will still eat anything, but now I'm constantly looking for sources to support Helen's "Rabbit Habit"!

I even warned a friend of mine not to feed rabbit to her cats unless she was prepared to feed ONLY rabbit from now on!

Great idea mixing it with other proteins...maybe I'll try that and see if Helen will be satisfied, because I think my other cats are starting to get tired of the bunny burger!

I also heard that rabbit is a very lean protein, so it is good to supplement our babies with other fattier meat too.

 

[koobe]

Originally Posted by BrookeSphynx

Koobe, my girl Mandy has problems with beef and lamb, but she does great with duck. Also quail, pheasant, rabbit, turkey, chicken, venison...um...I think that's all we've tried!

That is great! We had some ducks for them yesterday. Panther likes it. But after he took a few bits, I think he had a piece of duck skin and gross out by it and went away. About 20 mins later, he came back and did the same thing.

Cheetah wouldn't eat any duck. urgh!

 

[brookesphynx]

Originally Posted by koobe

I also heard that rabbit is a very lean protein, so it is good to supplement our babies with other fattier meat too.

This is true. Helen (who will only eat rabbit now) has lost a bit of weight on the rabbit diet. (This is good, because she had a bit of weight to lose, but now I have to feed more for her to maintain.)

Rabbit also lower in taurine, so since my guys eat almost all rabbit now I have been supplementing them with extra taurine.

BUT, it's fantastic for cats with IBD - has a really high success rate, even when other proteins may not work.

 

[sharky]

Rabbit is normally very lean but there are easy ways to up the fat in a diet

 

[brookesphynx]

Originally Posted by koobe

That is great! We had some ducks for them yesterday. Panther likes it. But after he took a few bits, I think he had a piece of duck skin and gross out by it and went away. About 20 mins later, he came back and did the same thing.

Cheetah wouldn't eat any duck. urgh!

Ah! Hopefully soon you'll be able to find 3 or 4 proteins that both cats can eat, and won't have to deal with that frustration much longer!

I can always tell when one of the meats I'm trying isn't going to be a favorite because Walter will walk around the plate trying to bury it.

Almost as if it stinks or he's so grossed out that he doesn't even want to look at it anymore. He's even covered the plates up with cat toys, blankets, my SHOES, anything he can drag over to it!

Oh, btw, koobe - I've told you Mandy throws up beef immediately after she eats it. Well, the last 2 days, I gave her some rabbit with beef mixed in (because my boys are sick of the rabbit and I have tons of it, trying to make it appetizing for them). Anyway - for two days now, she's been able to eat beef without getting sick! I wonder if mixing it with a different meat did the trick, and if you'd have similar luck with Panther? Just wanted to share that with you...It was about 2/3 rabbit and 1/3 beef.

 

[koobe]

Originally Posted by BrookeSphynx

Ah! Hopefully soon you'll be able to find 3 or 4 proteins that both cats can eat, and won't have to deal with that frustration much longer!

I can always tell when one of the meats I'm trying isn't going to be a favorite because Walter will walk around the plate trying to bury it.

Almost as if it stinks or he's so grossed out that he doesn't even want to look at it anymore. He's even covered the plates up with cat toys, blankets, my SHOES, anything he can drag over to it!

Oh, btw, koobe - I've told you Mandy throws up beef immediately after she eats it. Well, the last 2 days, I gave her some rabbit with beef mixed in (because my boys are sick of the rabbit and I have tons of it, trying to make it appetizing for them). Anyway - for two days now, she's been able to eat beef without getting sick! I wonder if mixing it with a different meat did the trick, and if you'd have similar luck with Panther? Just wanted to share that with you...It was about 2/3 rabbit and 1/3 beef.

Thank you, BrookeSphynx!

Right now, both of them will eat quail, cornish hen, turkey, and pork. Cheetah will eat lamb and beef, but he has not been showing too much interest in this batch of lamb I made, I am blaming it on me puting too much bonemeal in it. But Cheetah also does not seem to liking any type of meat in particular.

Panther loves turkey, the Rad Cat commercial raw. I bought some frozen ground turkey last week from the raw feeder co-op, I will me able to tell if he likes mummy's homemade turkey later. Panther likes ground meat, but I try to get him pieces of meat or large pieces of treats, so he can exercise his jaws and clean his teeth.

That is good news on Mandy!! Panther had his first taste of beef in a beef canned food. And since he does not really like pate, I blended the can with water. After a few licks, he threw up. I thought it was because the blend was gross. Then I bought some stew beef. I smelt a slight sour taste when smelling very closely. I looked online and found out the beef is still good and the slight sour smell is natural. So I fed Panther a spoonful of beef, and he threw up. Anyway, we decided next time, we will make sure the beef is fresh, and no smell at all before we let him try again.

As for lamb, I am pretty sure he cannot take any. He was fine all day, and he ate maybe 5 small pieces of lamb, and he threw up those 5 pieces. Oh well, no lamb, Panther!

 

[koobe]

Cheetah now eats duck. I am happy that he finds another source of protein.
Panther loves duck over mummy homemade turkey.

Panther loves Rad Cat turkey a lot, I wonder what can I add to my turkey to make it tastier.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by koobe

Cheetah now eats duck. I am happy that he finds another source of protein.
Panther loves duck over mummy homemade turkey.

Panther loves Rad Cat turkey a lot, I wonder what can I add to my turkey to make it tastier.

silly question can you get fresh duck locally>?

glad you found another meat for the menu

your turkey is made with love and likely far fresher

 

[koobe]

Originally Posted by sharky

silly question can you get fresh duck locally>?

glad you found another meat for the menu

your turkey is made with love and likely far fresher

I purchase the duck from a raw feeder co-op. Yes, it is local.
When I went to pick it up, it is 12 duck legs in a sealed bag with duck juice, not frozen.

I also bought rabbit, but I haven't had time to prepare it. Cutting the duck legs took me a few hours last week.