Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[jajeanpierre]

The last one I processed was last years breeding rooster. He was a Crele Penedescnca and they have huge combs and wattles. It was tough getting to the exact place to do the cut.

He was very tasty though.

I grab them by the scruff of the neck, right at the back of the head and pull it tight. I've never had a bird with waddles, though. People forget to mention pulling tight--in my limited experience it is the only way you can get a good cut no matter how sharp your knife is. If you don't hold the skin tight, you might cut the skin but the skin will slide over the neck structures underneath and you will have cut skin only, which is really upsetting. As someone pointed out, pulling the skin really tight makes it easy to get through the feathers.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I feel like the agent of death right now; I feel surrounded by death.

I just made an appointment to put my old cat to sleep and it is killing me. He's an African Wild Cat, found in the desert on the Arabian Peninsula, and a really cool cat. He's only 11 but he's just gone down hill so fast in the past couple of months. He's started off by peeing in a box in my bedroom. I had him checked out by the vet and he has diabetes, which we tried to treat with prescripton diet. Now he is on insulin shots, still losing weight and still peeing in my bed once in awhile if I am not really careful to make sure he goes outside. I just flatly refuse to have a cat pot in my bedroom bathroom and he only comes in my bedroom because my dogs bother him... Last week he even pooed in my bed. I mean what am I thinking???? Why is this so difficult???? I also need to cull the little show Cochin. I have a rude rooster who terrorizes the hens in a cage waiting his turn, too. Oh, and remember when I asked about a crack followed by a whistling sound? I haven't seen that beautiful big buck around since.

I am not a happy girl right now. Not happy at all.

P. S. I found out commercial cat food is too high in carbohydrates and will give most cats diabetes. The big pet food manufacturers know it but refuse to change the recipe.

 

[hennible]

I feel like the agent of death right now; I feel surrounded by death. I just made an appointment to put my old cat to sleep and it is killing me. He's an African Wild Cat, found in the desert on the Arabian Peninsula, and a really cool cat. He's only 11 but he's just gone down hill so fast in the past couple of months. He's started off by peeing in a box in my bedroom. I had him checked out by the vet and he has diabetes, which we tried to treat with prescripton diet. Now he is on insulin shots, still losing weight and still peeing in my bed once in awhile if I am not really careful to make sure he goes outside. I just flatly refuse to have a cat pot in my bedroom bathroom and he only comes in my bedroom because my dogs bother him... Last week he even pooed in my bed. I mean what am I thinking???? Why is this so difficult???? I also need to cull the little show Cochin. I have a rude rooster who terrorizes the hens in a cage waiting his turn, too. Oh, and remember when I asked about a crack followed by a whistling sound? I haven't seen that beautiful big buck around since. I am not a happy girl right now. Not happy at all. P. S. I found out commercial cat food is too high in carbohydrates and will give most cats diabetes. The big pet food manufacturers know it but refuse to change the recipe.

 

[Tomtommom]

Questions on broomstick method....

I've tried to find a video and only found one. I only watched it once because I just can't stomach snuff films with my coffee this early in the morning.

I have some issues with this video and wondered if the people who are experienced with this method can comment and, better yet, post a link to videos showing the broomstick method.

I've researched a lot on slaughter and read a lot of Temple Grandin's work. One of the points she makes about slaughter--and I believe she is discussing death of cattle using a captive bolt--is that you look at the head to determine if the animal has in fact been killed. A struggling animal that vocalizes or lifts its head has not been killed with a captive bolt. A properly killed animal never lifts its head or vocalizes although it will struggle.

The chicken in this video most certainly lifted her head. How, if the spine was severed is this possible?

I've read Temple Grandin's articles on Mexican horse slaughter. In Mexico they stab the base of the neck. Temple Grandin contends that those horses are quite conscious, just paralyzed as they are disemboweled. How is this different from the broomstick method?

That video is a mess. The spanner is too short and he holds her body too close to the ground. You need something longer and lighter, hold the bird's body off the ground, just the head down and pull past the pop, so you know you truly severed it and not just broke it. That bird struggled... mine do not struggle, they don't try to shake their head, the just kick and flap afterward. There's no struggle during the process if you hold the bird upside down properly, that's just how birds work.

I will see if I got a bird that needs to go (I got one in mind, I don't think she's laying anymore), will see if we can do a quick video soon.

You can certainly cut the head off after plucking, that's what I do. I don't get much blood out, so it's gotta be in the head portion. I have no doubt my birds are dead before I pluck them.

 

[dekel18042]

There are some grain free cat (and dog) foods on the market, both canned and dry. Since the food is more nutritious, they eat less, about 25% less. (Or they gain weight on the same amount.)

 

[jajeanpierre]

That video is a mess. The spanner is too short and he holds her body too close to the ground. You need something longer and lighter, hold the bird's body off the ground, just the head down and pull past the pop, so you know you truly severed it and not just broke it. That bird struggled... mine do not struggle, they don't try to shake their head, the just kick and flap afterward. There's no struggle during the process if you hold the bird upside down properly, that's just how birds work.

I will see if I got a bird that needs to go (I got one in mind, I don't think she's laying anymore), will see if we can do a quick video soon.

You can certainly cut the head off after plucking, that's what I do. I don't get much blood out, so it's gotta be in the head portion. I have no doubt my birds are dead before I pluck them.

Oh, don't shorten a little hen's life for me. It seems everything I have anything to do with lately is getting killed.

I would like to see a video of it. I thought that video was a mess and I think he broke/crushed her neck and didn't sever the spinal cord. It looked awful to me. I'm glad your say yours aren't like that video.

Does the bird go through its death throes as violently as when a head is copped off?

 

[jajeanpierre]

There are some grain free cat (and dog) foods on the market, both canned and dry. Since the food is more nutritious, they eat less, about 25% less. (Or they gain weight on the same amount.)

It's the carbohydrate level. My vet feeds the prescription diabetic cat food to his own cats. Anyway, this is my last cat.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

It's the carbohydrate level. My vet feeds the prescription diabetic cat food to his own cats. Anyway, this is my last cat.

A wildcat and a domesticated cat will have drastically different nutritional needs. So sorry you are having a tough time. Don't give up on a joy just because it also brings sorrow!

 

[jajeanpierre]

A wildcat and a domesticated cat will have drastically different nutritional needs. So sorry you are having a tough time. Don't give up on a joy just because it also brings sorrow!

I don't know what the dietary difference would be. I told every vet he went to that he was not a domestic cat, (Felis silvestris catus), but an African Wild Cat (Felis silvestris lybica). I never thought there would be a problem with commercial cat food. African Wild Cats are so closely related to domestic cats. My current vet says there is a huge problem for domestic cats with commercial cat food. Anyway, my last cat. He is an incredible cat and he is just failing. He's lost some strength in his hind end--his hocks are really dropped. He couldn't cope with me just kicking him outside--he's too frail now.

 

[Kusanar]

I don't know what the dietary difference would be. I told every vet he went to that he was not a domestic cat, (Felis silvestris catus), but an African Wild Cat (Felis silvestris lybica). I never thought there would be a problem with commercial cat food. African Wild Cats are so closely related to domestic cats. My current vet says there is a huge problem for domestic cats with commercial cat food. Anyway, my last cat. He is an incredible cat and he is just failing. He's lost some strength in his hind end--his hocks are really dropped. He couldn't cope with me just kicking him outside--he's too frail now.

Any wild cat, including Bengals and savanna Cats which are only part wild, should be fed an all meat, raw meat diet. I have a barn cat that I try to keep on a raw meat diet, but it's a pain to have to process the meat all the time for him and keep it from freezing at the barn. When he's on all raw meat for a while you can tell the difference, he slims down some but retains all of his muscle and energy, he also gets super shiny and soft. All I do is buy a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters and then cut each piece up into 3 pieces (drumstick, and cut the thigh in half) and give him a piece each day, granted, he's also hunting on his own, so that's not ALL he's eating, but his diet goes from fresh kills plus cat food to fresh kills plus raw meat. I don't grind it or anything for him, it's kind of frightening actually to give him a chicken thigh and hear him in there crunching through those big bones like they're not even there... course I've come in the barn and found just a rabbit head and guts before, so he did the same to an entire rabbit... The raw meat diet may be more expensive and harder to deal with, but it's definantly better for the cat since cats can't process plant based anything and that's almost all that is in commercial cat food. Also, sometimes the meat byproducts are ground up and processed pets that have been put down.... kind of gross if you think about it.