Processing as cat food?

[needsnewbrain]

Ok, I've been doing searches here and elsewhere for a bit now, and I can't seem to find my answer.

So, here's my question:

Months ago, two of my chicks were thought to be young pullets, and turned out to be cockrels. Oops! We just got our first complaint from the neighbor about the crowing, and they are a good enough age and size to be butchered and processed. This will be our first processing, and will be one at a time.

We could do with a chicken dinner, but also our cats eat raw meat, mostly chicken meat. Generally ground up with bones and all. I think the connection I'm making is clear. I've seen plenty of information about cats eating chickens on here, but it's never intentional on the part of the chickens' owner!

Does anyone else process chickens as cat food? How, if at all, is it different than processing for humans? I imagine the cat could figure it out, if it weren't quite so spoiled as my cats are, if I gave them a mostly in tact chicken... but spoiled they are!

My cats thrive on their raw diet. Cats need some of the organs, and could do worse than some of the nutrients in a few feathers. The bones are an important part of their diet, along with the obvious meat.

I can't seem to find anyone who keeps chickens, feeds their cats a raw diet, and combines the two into their logical end (as I am trying to do). If there is anyone on this forum who does so, I'd love to ask some advice!

 

[annageckos]

I feed my cats(and dogs and ferrets) raw. I do not raise chickens, yet. I do, however, raise other prey for them. I don't grind the food for them, though one cat likes his cut up. I say go ahead and process your roos for your cats. If your cats won't eat the skin then maybe skinning the roos would be easier, thought the skin and fat are an important part of the diet. Some of my cats will eat chicken heads and feet, the only thing I wouldn't feed them is the digestive tract and feathers, but a few feathers won't hurt them. I also wouldn't worry about bleeding them out. My cats love blood, and it is very good for them too.

 

[needsnewbrain]

Good news, thanks!

What sort of prey animals do you raise for your pets' culinary delight?

Also, where in PA are you? We are in Montgomery County.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
I feed raw to my dogs, and just recently started feeding the cats raw. Since I'm feeding two cats and three dogs ( two toys and an 85 pound Doberman) I just cut the chicken into halves, and put organs into a baggy. My dogs won't eat the organs raw, so I sear them on a skillet, adding them into a chicken meal. For the cats, I'll take a leg or thigh and hack it with my meat cleaver to crush the bones a bit and I slice the meat into some small pieces, but I try to keep leaving it in larger and larger pieces so that they increase their jaw strength and clean their teeth.
I just found a tiny,tiny kitten ( trying to get into the chick tractor with the meat chicks) this past weekend so he's now on the feeding roster as well. He's probably 5-7 weeks of age and very underweight. Amazing how well a feral kitten will take to raw feeding, compared to an older, kibble fed cat!

 

[Oregon Blues]

My dogs eat home raised meat. I don't feed raw, but lots of people raise meat at home to feed raw to their dogs.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable with raw home raised meat than with raw store bought meat. You can control all aspects of sanitation at home.

What happens at my house is that the choicest cuts go to the humans and the rest goes to the dogs. We get the steaks, the dogs get the beef shanks. We get the chicken breast and the dogs get the giblets and the drumsticks. The people get the saddle off the rabbit, the dogs get the rest.

If you normally feed ground bone, you can buy a hand cranked meat grinder for very little. In fact, I've seen them at the thrift store for a dollar or two. You could probably grind backs and necks. Leg bones might need a more powerful grinder.

 

[Rizzo]

Quote:
What an excellent idea... and perfectly logical to me. I have 2 cats that I will try this with as we have 10 roos that we are going to have to find either new homes for or they will have to go to the pot! At least this way they are not wasted.

 

[galanie]

My son feeds his cats raw also. He has a friend that processes chickens and keeps the good stuff like someone else said, giving the animals the rest. He grinds everything up but the stomach/intestines/spleen and crop. Even the head and skin. All of it. But you don't want the stuff in the digestive tract, I'm sure you can guess why.

 

[Runt Of The Litter]

alot of people use raw diets for their cat,woud recommend do some research into it,perhaps ask an unbiased vet for their view if are due an appointment for something.
but have heard some good things about it from the cats protection leagues own magazine [the cat] and cats world magazine, one of the biggest outcomes that can remember was it helping their skin and furr condition,making it shine again,sorry cant remember anything else and dont have those particular mags to hand.

rabbit,along with chicken are good meats to try on a raw diet,rabbit can be gotten from butchers easy enough.
just make sure with any diet,that it contains balanced vitamins and enough taurine,cant remember what its in-apart from energy drinks like redbull but cant imagine anyone feeding those to their cat.

our girls love a raw diet,but they all have 'additional needs' and need something that a raw diet cant give them.

 

[Tracydr]

Beef and pork heart are very high in taurine. I feed heart many times a week as it's an inexpensive source of red meat. It's also supposed to be good for Dobermans because of cardiomyopathy issues. Something to do with taurine helping cardiomyopathy.
The fresher and sooner the meat is fed after cutting or grinding, the more taurine, along with other nutrients, it will contain. Taurine apparently degrades in meat that has been pre-ground and frozen, on reason feeding freshly cut meats is better than those commercial patties from the pet store advertised as RAW diets.