Innova vs Science Diet (c/d prescription)

[Epona142]

I use this one:

http://www.cabelas.com/spod-1/0029507.shtml

The mice are fine tossed in there whole, but I will chop the chicken and rabbit bones up if I choose to grind a whole animal into my version of pet chow.

Can you just see me hacking away at some poor dead critter with a giant knife?

 

[Livinzoo]

The leg quarter I chop off the drumstick and that usually goes through with the push stick no problem. And the thighs sometimes I have to cut into three pieces. Separating the bones at the joint and a triangle of meat. And most of the time I just take a triangle of meat out and the rest goes through with a little bending..... Hmm if interested I can see if my boyfriend can video it when I make cat food. It isn't too bad really.

Foxonfire came over her her first time and I walked her through. It was pretty fun. We have been canning stuff together too which is even more fun since you get yummy things like blackberry preserves.

I'm her bad influence cause now she has her first eggs in the bator.

But back to the topic at hand, it is rather easy. I usually make 2 batches in a row and it takes about 1 hour with clean up.

 

[freemotion]

Another question about whole mice, and now about whole pinkies: Where do you feed your cats? I feed my dog his raw wings in a crate or he will take them onto the couch, or try to bury one between the cushions if he wants to save it for later! And over the years, when I lived in an area where the cats could go outside, different cats left different parts of their prey....usually little organs, but one cat left the feet, and one left the "mouse pants!"

How do you avoid these problems in your house? Do you feed in a crate?

And, YAY, it is the cheapest grinder!

 

[foxonfire]

Another question about whole mice, and now about whole pinkies: Where do you feed your cats? I feed my dog his raw wings in a crate or he will take them onto the couch, or try to bury one between the cushions if he wants to save it for later! And over the years, when I lived in an area where the cats could go outside, different cats left different parts of their prey....usually little organs, but one cat left the feet, and one left the "mouse pants!"

How do you avoid these problems in your house? Do you feed in a crate?

I have to feed seperate. Good thing I only have 2 cats! One cat goes into the closet- my dh's where the litter box is. and the other is usually fed on the linolieum floor of the bathroom or in my GSD's upstairs crate. depending on what I'm feeding. If it's whole- crate, ground- not in crate.

The dogs are almost always fed in crates downstairs- solves any guarding issues or the grass is greener over there issues.​

 

[freemotion]

I would love to see a video of how anyone gets the whole chicken cut up enough to go through the cheaper grinders. I am imagining an ax or a machete! And yes, hacking away.....it is starting to look like a horror movie commercial (never actually seen a horror movie, never will!)

Hmmm...time to do a quick youtube search and then go to work.

Spook, you still with us? Or completely grossed out by now?

 

[monarc23]

excess quails will be going into my cat and dogs diets in the spring/summer (i dont have enough birds now to do it lol). I don't feed raw yet because we live and rent from my parents and they're big babies about it and think it's the most disgusting thing in the world. SO! For now it's Solid Gold Hunchen Flocken for the dogs, and Wellness Core for the cats (with sneaked suppliments of raw here and there).

When I did feed raw i fed mice, rabbit, chicken, some beef, and fish.

Small game season is coming back in soon....

Spring is when we bring them home trout boy oh boy do they love that!

 

[Epona142]

I just have two kitties myself, a house kitty and a feral kitty who adopted us. (I trapped her and had her spayed)

House kitty gets fed in a crate, just the same as all foster kitties. Keeps the food in one place! They learn quickly that their crate is a safe place, its plenty big enough for a bed, litter box, and a water dish. This enables me to keep fosters that might not get a long, so each gets plenty of play time, and also keeps incidents from happening when I am gone.

I also foster pregnant kitties, that's my "specialty" so crates make great safe places to have kittens.

Feral kitty let me pet her again today! Maybe one day she'll want to move in.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
crate methods are a great idea, but my trio of spoild brat babies would never think of eating in such a contraption without crying their heads off and trying to dig out. I'm hoping in my future first home to have a kitchen tha's big enough that the cats can have a large placemat on the floor where they can eat their food, AND a door to shut them in the kitchen so they can't take thier prizes to other parts of the house

I have 1 feral kitty, and one calm drop off kitty at my house. Getting the calm boy neutered first (rediculous though thati have to wait until march he's atleast 6 months old now)! The female I'll trap in the summer, because since I can't get a quick vet appt. for them (at any of my choice vets) sooner than months ahead of time, I'd rather trap her when the weather isn't horrid. She already had and obviously lost a litter in the summer (i assume she lost it no sign of kittens, she had thtem in the woods and i heard her screaming at something the one night soo i fear the worst). I hate knowing kittens are suffering, but the boy because he has more of a chance to have an indoor pet home existance i want him altered first since i dont need otkeep him trapped to keep him around lol. His names BluBlu, he's a polydactyl gorgeous blue tabby, and the female is a dillute calico we call Ghost Kitty (because she always just shows up out of no where and then disapears for days on end before we see her again). She knows we've got the food though so she always manages to come back.

I hate the human race sometimes though because people drop off cats here because they see barns (atleast that's what i believe they dump them here for). I feel so bad for the cats becfause sometimes they are skin and bones before them come to our porch looking for handouts...i'd honestly them knock on my door and say "i can't keep this cat, im dropping it off here" then sneak by at night or when we're not home and throw them off the cats dont know any better.

Shelters don't help either.... least the ones around here don't they order huge fees to drop off cats and dogs (even if theyare strays well meaning people can't care for so they hope the shelter will). Shelters act like people are the problems, well I think shelters are part of the problem too. That may be a snotty statement for shelters who mean well and do well for their pets but our local one isn't the best, and they're just not friendly people. Last two pets we adopted from them had to be put down (by the shelter) just days later, first one had congestive heart failure we took him back in to get neutered and they came out and told my mom that they put him down because of CHF without even asking my mom first (he was my dog i was at school at the time). The other one my mom took back again to get neutered and she mentioned that he got loose and attacked the neighbors akita and they put him down as well. Just an odd bunch of people there.

My brother and his wife adopted a cat from a shelter in NC, and days later they found their livingroom strewn with blood, and the cat dead on the floor. They rushed it to their new vet (for an obtopsy), who promptly called and flipped out on the shelter for adopting out a cat with a highly contagious disease (i forget which disease but it's highly contagious and most put those cats down and are not to be adopted out but this shelter did anyhow). I dont have much faith in shelter systems, so I do my own rescues.

sorry to vent just grumpy today about how late the vets appt is, and thinking about how you really cannot rely on anyone but yourself when it comes to unwanted animals....atleast I can't.

 

[Epona142]

Hey, vent away! People love to dump dogs and cats out here, because we live on 11 miles of dirt road and people have a romantic idea that the animals will be able to live "wild" and "free."

Most dogs end up dead after being caught running livestock.

I also will foster feral kittens, the rescue seems to think I have a magic touch with them.

I just carry them around in my shirt until they give in!

Don't tell them my secret though.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
LOL!!!! I love taming feral kittens, I've tamed down 3 so far. My mom caught two at her work 2 years ago, that I worked with everyday for a few weeks (they took a while because there was two of them they made eachother scared one would hiss at me and the other would freak out). Then the other one was my black and white female Ellie, I caught her by hand at a neighbors house, she screamed bloody murder (and it echoed through our wee village- dogs barking everywhere, people coming out of their houses to see who was killing a cat lol)......Ihad her purring just hours later

She's still sensitive to loud noises and such but she's the sweetest cat we have.