Help me add a chicken wing for a bed time snack

[Middle Child]

What's the best way to introduce a chicken wing to canned fed cats?

 

[Middle Child]

So, do I take the skin off? 

Should I just give her a whole wing, or cut it up in pieces to start?

Should I leave the skin on, for the fat/calorie content?

[Mo]

I'd try just leaving it how it is and put it on a plate - maybe with a tiny bit of canned smeared over top.  Let her decide if she wants it.  Chances are that she'll be like most cats and not consider it to be food, so then you'll have to get a bit more tricky.  If the wing doesn't work (it is fairly hard for a beginning food when cats aren't used to raw) try something easier, like chicken breast meat, and slowly work up to harder pieces of meat from there.

[Middle Child]

Thanks Mo.  She's getting some raw daily now, in the form of Stella&Chewy's freeze dried

http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=1433.msg8497#msg8497


She has eaten slivers or bits of chicken breast and steak and hamburger, so I think she will be open to eating the wing.

So the skin is okay?  The fat is good for her, right?   And of course I want her to have the calories that come with that fat.  The bone she might have some trouble with.  Should I cut it up a bit?

I know some cats can have trouble digesting bone, but Stella&Chewy's has bone ground in, so I am not worried she will have trouble digesting it, but I don't want her to choke on it, going down.

[FurMonster Mom]

Leave the skin on, but score it with a knife... just a few shallow slices should do the trick.  Skin is kinda tough, and it takes a little getting used to.  Scoring it also exposes the meat so that it's a little more familiar and tempting. 

I would leave the bones whole to encourage gnawing and scissoring the meat off.  Having to work around the whole bones also reduces the likelihood of choking.  Who knows, she might surprise you by at least eating the joint cartilage. I used to pre-smash the wing a little to encourage eating the bone (breaking the bone up inside the meat), but I now think it's better for them to figure it out for themselves.    That said, if she doesn't figure it out after a good dozen attempts, pre-smashing might be helpful.

good luck!   

[Lola]

Be SURE to keep us posted!   

[Middle Child]

I will! 

[Pookie]

(scans post, sees original poster, does double-take.  MC?!?!)

Wow, who are you and what have you done with MC?     I'm just teasing you.  This is SO COOL that you're going to try this!  Definitely let us know how it goes.  I haven't worked up the nerve to try chicken wings or wingettes with Pookie, because I don't know how he'd do with the bone, so I'm really curious to see how Little Cat does.

You GO girl!    

[Middle Child]

I'm scared to death!   I doubt I will ever have a cat fully on a raw diet.  But Little Cat has driven me to tip toe into the raw feeding arena, a place I never thought I would find myself. 

[Lola]

I'm scared to death!   I doubt I will ever have a cat fully on a raw diet.  But Little Cat has driven me to tip toe into the raw feeding arena, a place I never thought I would find myself. 

If you end up feeding all raw, I'm going to have to leave the forum...   

[Middle Child]

If you end up feeding all raw, I'm going to have to leave the forum...   

No fear of that, truly.  I don't trust ANY diet 100%. Since I have been trying unsuccessfully for almost 2 years to get this cat to eat more than 3 ounces of canned food a day, I turned to Stella&Chewy's in desperation. The wing idea has been mouldering in the back of my brain for even longer, but I've never quite got to the point of trying it.  But...I would love to eliminate that 1/8 cup of kibble she eats every night, even if only a couple times a week,  if a chicken wing would be a reasonable replacement.

[Pookie]

If you're concerned about the bone, how about something like chicken gizzards/hearts?  You can get them in the supermarket or maybe a local butcher, and the supermarket sells them cheap.  1 package goes a long way, and if she's not used to bone it might be a good way to strengthen her jaws since gizzards are so tough. 

I will warn you, though, sometimes Pookie eats his so fast that they come back up.     They'll also come up if there's a hairball in the way.  But they make a great bedtime snack -- that's when Pookie gets them.  He loooooves the raw gizzards/hearts!   

[Lola]

The majority of ours will eat raw chicken cut up.  The gizzards and hearts didn't go over so well...not with the dogs or cats. That surprised me.  BUT...I didn't try very hard either.  I just bought them because they were cheap.