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Quantity consumed seems to differ often

cooterz

Savannah Adult
I'm currently feeding my 12 week old male chicken breasts which I cube into something like 0.5"x0.5"x0.5"; it's quite the tedious process really. That's all he's eaten since being weaned from his Mother's milk. The breeder I picked him up from did provide some dry food that he may have eaten from time to time, but since I've brought him home he really shows no interest whatsoever in it. Just for reference I do supplement the raw chicken with a Mazuri powder.

My question is regarding to his consumption rate. Sometimes he seems to eat a lot of chicken (I feed him twice a day) meaning say 1/2 a chicken breast in one sitting. Sometimes he doesn't eat nearly as much (1/4 a breast) and sometimes he just ignores the food completely. What I'm mainly worried about is if his food intake is correct for his age for him to grow fully.

Some days It feels like he only eats 1/2 as much as he did the previous day. It's possible that a lot depends on the eating time as it can vary a lot in the evening; a lot depends on when I get back from work, when I have time to cut more chicken, and when I HAVE to cut more chicken :). Nothing like going to feed him and noticing that the only chicken is still frozen in the package.

I do know when he's hungry as he tells me. And by telling me I mean he meows rather loud and constantly while following me around. I can normally tell by the type of meow when he wants food. He seems excited when I place the food down for him, but then likes to just paw around it while purring vivaciously but not really eating it much. Another problem is that I don't like to leave raw chicken sitting out for a lengthy period of time which happens if I'm leaving for work in the morning (don't have this problem in the evenings).

He's definitely curious as to what I'm eating as recently he's been moving up beside me sticking his face in my plate every time i eat. I did read about placing Parmesan cheese (?) around each piece of chicken as to coax them to eat. I'll try that possibly.

Another thing I believe is the case is that he doesn't seem to lick to "pick" at each piece of chicken. So when it starts to get sticky (which happens quite fast) he doesn't seem to make much of an effort to eat it. If I hand feed him he'll normally eat quite a bit more than if I don't. I did switch from a stainless steel bowl to a ceramic plate just this morning, but it didn't seem to help much. Maybe the cheese can help with the stickiness or I can add some water into it? Again I'm not 100% sure this is the main problem.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
Cubed chicken seems a very labor-intensive meal to me... I might work on either making the chunks bigger and bigger until he's gnawing on one big piece or smaller and smaller until he's eating ground chicken (so you can use a grinder or buy pet-packaged ground meat).

I think they can be variable with what they eat each day...probably it can correspond to their growth phases &/or activity levels.

Do you leave the dry out for him while gone from the house? If he has been known to snack on it at least, it would be good to leave so if he needs food he can get it.
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
I highly recommend varying his diet. Even with the Mazuri supplement he needs much more than chicken breast. Dark meat (legs, thighs) is higher in taurine and better than white meat. Also, try adding chopped chicken heart & liver to his diet. Ground meat, stew meat, cornish game hen, beef heart & liver -- will give him more variety, develop his palate for other foods, and give him a more well rounded diet. Giving him a chicken leg with bone & skin will develop his chewing muscles and help him with teething.
 
M

MK Anderson

Guest
I highly recommend varying his diet. Even with the Mazuri supplement he needs much more than chicken breast. Dark meat (legs, thighs) is higher in taurine and better than white meat. Also, try adding chopped chicken heart & liver to his diet. Ground meat, stew meat, cornish game hen, beef heart & liver -- will give him more variety, develop his palate for other foods, and give him a more well rounded diet. Giving him a chicken leg with bone & skin will develop his chewing muscles and help him with teething.
I agree! he needs Dark meat, organs, bones, vitamins and Taurine in his diet. he is not eating a balanced diet.
 

cooterz

Savannah Adult
The choice of foods I've been feeding him are coming directly from the breeder. She informed me that I could feed him chicken breasts and chicken wings/drumettes with the bone as long as I cut off the fatty side until he gets older.

Then add in the other meats such as legs/thighs, etc.

I do agree with the selection of food as he may be getting a bit bored of the same thing every day. I'll try to switch it up a bit without straying too far away from the directions I was given.

I was thinking of trying something like this: http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers any thoughts? I'd have to invest in a food grinder first (I did see the thread regarding different types and which work for others).

Thanks for all the input!
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
That's a good start cooterz. There's additional info at catnutrition.org and catinfo.org. Have you thought of feeding whole prey in addition to home prepared or instead of? It's just another option to consider. I am way too lazy to source meats and grind it myself so I chose to feed whole prey.
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
Take a look in the raw food diet section if the forum. Lots of great info there.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 

Per Lausund

Moderator
Staff member
Chicken? I feed whole, grilled chicken to the 'orrible wild ones (i e kittens at eight to twelve weeks) and they seem to enjoy it. They also get kibble (generally RC), and seem to thrive well. when there is competitive feeding (the ones that walk the house) I generally debone the chicken, but I don't grind it.
Cats do not as a rule consume the same amount every day, and they are not harmed by occasional days with no food. But just as you can't feed kids on chocolate and Coke, kitties, as has been stated by others, need more than chicken breast.
:)
p
 
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