JustMe
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« on: June 25, 2008, 05:12:09 PM » |
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I feel so guilty that I'm not feeding my cats and dogs "real food", fresh food.    Last night, I barbecued a whole chicken on the grill (Freebird). Cats and dogs had already eaten shortly before. When DH and I sat down to eat, we were attacked by 2 big dogs and 8 cats (2 cats don't know what "real" food is and could care less). The 18-year-old, Elvis, freaked out and was running around like a kitten, very animated. He was jumping on chairs trying to get at the chicken. He has been picking at his regular food. I have to keep at him every few hours until he finishes his food. But with the chicken, he went crazy. He had his canines pulled last year, but you should have seen him chowing down on the chicken.  Of course all 10 of them had some chicken. I managed to sneak a tiny piece before they grabbed it off my plate. I just can't seem to get it together.  |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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MarySmith
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« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2008, 05:17:24 PM » |
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Awwww, JustMe, don't beat yourself up over this. Some have time for it - some don't.
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MarySmith
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mgt
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« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2008, 05:30:58 PM » |
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They got a good treat last night!! maybe now and again you can boil some chicken for them, thats what I do on occasion... or also a hard boiled organic egg. They just gobble it up too... Somewhere I read that it is ok to give a boiled egg once a week...?
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2008, 05:59:40 PM » |
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JustMe, here's a thought. Instead of making gigantic quantities for your crew and then having massive cleanup and big freezer storage problems, just do a one-night batch based on skinned chicken breast and whatever else you want to add just for one meal once or twice a week. I have prep time for two down to about 15 minutes from start to finish. My longest cooking item is organic rice (cooks much faster than not organic rice); so that goes on first. Use a George Forman grill on the meat; so that's very quick. Then pulse through food processor, add some other stuff and water, and bingo, done. Easier for cats than dogs; less ingredients. You also wouldn't have to worry necessarily about adding correct amounts of taurine, calcium, potassium, vitamins at first because you are serving other things with those in them. At least it would be some home-cooked and not such a big task if it was cook and serve and watch it disappear. Just a thought. Big quantities could come later if you chose to. Not much to cleaning a food processor and washing up those grill plates in the sink. (Save the juices from the fat collector in a coffee can in the fridge) And I usually throw my food on after the cats; so it's kind of a two-fer. Feed the important critters, then you and DH.   P.S. - those juices you're saving in the coffee can are not thoroughly cooked. So you use a few tablespoons in the rice along with water, and that way it gives a little flavor to the rice and you know there's no Salmonella or e-coli 'cause it's been boiled. |
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« Last Edit: June 25, 2008, 06:27:14 PM by 3catkidneyfailure »
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sharky
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« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2008, 06:17:29 PM » |
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JustMe, here's a thought. Instead of making gigantic quantities for your crew and then having massive cleanup and big freezer storage problems, just do a one-night batch based on skinned chicken breast and whatever else you want to add just for one meal once or twice a week. I have prep time for two down to about 15 minutes from start to finish. My longest cooking item is organic rice (cooks much faster than not organic rice); so that goes on first. Use a George Forman grill on the meat; so that's very quick. Then pulse through food processor, add some other stuff and water, and bingo, done. Easier for cats than dogs; less ingredients. You also wouldn't have to worry necessarily about adding correct amounts of taurine, calcium, potassium, vitamins at first because you are serving other things with those in them. At least it would be some home-cooked and not such a big task if it was cook and serve and watch it disappear. Just a thought. Big quantities could come later if you chose to. Not much to cleaning a food processor and washing up those grill plates in the sink. (Save the juices from the fat collector in a coffee can in the fridge) And I usually throw my food on after the cats; so it's kind of a two-fer. Feed the important critters, then you and DH. that is a peachy idea ... |
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petslave
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« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2008, 06:23:55 PM » |
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When I cook the chicken FOR the cats, my black manx sits on or next to the stove crying the whole time it cooks. As it cools down in the oven, he pulls all the burners off the top of the stove & tries to get down in the oven to get the chicken. If I cook it in a pot on top of the stove, he tries to pull off the lid till it gets too hot for him to touch. He starts back up as soon as it cools down. The rest of the cats hang around on the floor staring at the range waiting for it to hand out the chicken. And when I finish making it up in big batches and feed them, they are still wanting that chicken.
They also got on the porch the other day & tore open the emergency bag of dry dog food & pigged out on that for half an hour before I caught them. Moral of the story, they are always wanting something different, no matter what you feed them.
For awhile, I was cooking chicken & giving them some smallish chunks of that every night along with their canned. Kind of as a supplement & treat. Not sure if that threw off the calcium:phosphorous balance, but they really liked it & I felt like that gave them a little bit of real food each day.
With dog food, they recommend not supplementing more than 10% of the commercial food with extras unless the extras are nutritionally balanced. Has anyone heard of this rule for feeding cats too?
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Orange Fuzzball
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« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2008, 06:26:45 PM » |
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Every now and then I've tried to give KD a "treat" of a piece of cooked chicken or whatever meat we're having. She looks at it, sniffs it, bats it around the floor a little bit, then walks away. Probably a good thing since my husband and I both work full-time and live in a small apartment with very little storage space.  I concur with the previous suggestion though. If your critters like it so much but you don't have time to follow through on a full-out homecooking dietary plan, just do it as a supplementary treat a couple times a week. You could throw on some extra when you cook your own meat (although with that houseful, that's a lot of extra!). That way you don't have to worry about balancing the nutrients and storing big batches of food, but you still get to see them go nuts over "real" food. |
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lesliek
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« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2008, 06:28:34 PM » |
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Justme- Even if you just add some real food to the pf it will help. Just make more of whatever you & DH are having or cook a little chicken or scrambled eggs. They wil still get the supplements from the pf & the benefits of real also.
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"the world's most inept extortionist"
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JustMe
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« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2008, 06:36:42 PM » |
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Wow. Great ideas and encouragement. I just did a little calculating and figured between the dogs and cats, it's like feeding 2 more people (who eat a lot of meat  ) total critter weight : approximately 275-280 pounds I don't know why I'm thinking it has to be all or nothing. (Hits self on head) |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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catbird
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« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2008, 07:02:13 PM » |
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Because of lack of time, lack suitable supplements, and not being able to find enough acceptable (to the cats and to me) ingredients, I have never gone to complete home cooking. (Besides, one won't eat it at all, and another will eat exactly two hand-fed bites, no more.) My cats get one meal out of four as home-cooked, and this is probably as much as it will ever be. Sometimes they get bored with it, and I stop for a week or so. The novelty does wear off.
I figure they are eating better than they ever did and I am using about one-fourth less commercial pet food. I am satisfied with that.
I think an occasional treat of home cooked meat is a wonderful idea, especially if you can prepare it with your own food.
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"When Mother Nature saw fit to remove the tail of the Manx, she left, in place of the tail, more cat." --Mary Stewart
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JustMe
Global Moderator
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Posts: 3335
I Want to Believe
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« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2008, 07:04:42 PM » |
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When I cook the chicken FOR the cats, my black manx sits on or next to the stove crying the whole time it cooks. As it cools down in the oven, he pulls all the burners off the top of the stove & tries to get down in the oven to get the chicken. If I cook it in a pot on top of the stove, he tries to pull off the lid till it gets too hot for him to touch. He starts back up as soon as it cools down. Yikes. He's persistent. Guess he loves your cookin'!  We have to pull the fuses for our stove when we aren't using it. Electric stove. One night recently, 2 or 3 cats were fighting on top of the stove and managed to turn one of the burners on. I just got there and the burner cover was smoking. |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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dingbat
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« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2008, 07:48:43 PM » |
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total critter weight : approximately 275-280 pounds Ours come in at about 450 lbs (used to be 600 before we lost Buck and Maggie), so any kind of home cooking is out, barely can feed ourselves real food. SO stop feeling guilty, we all do as much as we can. db |
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disclaimer: All comments above are my opinion, any reference to persons living or dead are purely coincidental, no claims are made to the verifiability of any statements that could be misconstrued as being verifiable.
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Don Earl
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« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2008, 07:49:45 PM » |
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I've been able to pick up boneless, skinless chicken breast regularly at $2 per pound lately. IMO, it's easier to work with and I don't think there's a huge price advantage of whole chicken over breast meat by the time you throw away the bones and skin. Even if it isn't practical to home cook for a large herd, if the guys like it, it might make a good source of treats. Compared to pet treats in the little packets that work out to $9 per pound, it's a good deal, and a lot better for them.
A local grocery store had 5 ounce cans of all natural white chicken on sale last week at a buck a can. I tried some and my cats seem to like it, so that might be an option. IMO, it's too pricey at the regular cost, but it's not too bad if you can get it on sale.
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3catkidneyfailure
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« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2008, 07:54:28 PM » |
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Forgot the most important ingredient: 1/2 glass wine for the cook and a whole glass for
the D/H. Keeps 'em busy while you cook and the time just flies by!
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lesliek
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« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2008, 09:21:15 PM » |
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3cat- That is definitely the most important ingredient ! |
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"the world's most inept extortionist"
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