food for thought

[carole]

i wonder does your cat eat mince, i think u might call it hamburger in usa but not sure, i have the best prime beef mince, we eat it ourselves for our dinner and i always get extras so ash and lexie can have their twice weekly treat, sometimes they yum it up other times turn up their noses, should i cook it rather than raw i dont know, they can be very fussy sometimes. any ideas?

[neko1]

My cats don't get any table food, but you should definately cook the meat first before you give it to them!:)

[carole]

can u please explain why i would need to cook it first thanks, this is the best meat u can buy, my family eats it, and its low in fat etc, probably more like your ground beef. hey is neko an abysinnian excuse my spelling but u know what i mean lol

[NoahsMommy]

We don't usually eat a lot of red meat, so the cats don't get that. BUT....they LOVE chicken and get a few bites as a treat every now and then. :)

[carole]

yes i dont eat red meat but my son and husband do, so i always buy extra for lexie and ash, my son worked part time while studying at kfc boy did ash love that stuff, actually i think thats why he first came around here, we believe ash lived outside on our outdoor set for over a year before we adopted him and was attracted by the kfc in the rubbish bins, he still likes to go out and raid them the little monster.
i always thought it was my sister n laws grey cat but oneday i noticed it was not and shooed him away, finally i felt sorry for him and started feeding him and gradually he came inside, because of my cat allergy i was not going to let him inside, but my soft side let him and now as u know i have two of them and they live all over the house, and its worked my allergy is bearable now, desensitized myself i think.
i am still wondering why its not ok to give the meat to them raw, the cattery i put my cats too gives them raw chuck steak, so i wonder .:)

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

I cant offer any advice on the raw/cooked issue. On thing that is a real treat for Ally is Ham (thinly sliced sanwich ham) - she will actually jump into the fridge to look for it if I leave the door open.

It's also funny how you mentioed that you used to be allergic - I used to visit mu mom-in-law, and immediately get red-eyed and sneezy, but then I lived with them for a while when my hubby was overseas working, and I gradually seem to have gotten "un-allergic" - thank goodness!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

The only reason I can think of to not give them raw meat is the chance of some sort of bacteria being in it. When meat is cooked to the proper temp, it kills any harmful bacteria.

I know SAS was working on getting her crew to eat a raw meat diet, but I don't know how it all turned out. I know I would never eat raw meat, and I wouldn't give it to my kitties either, because of the bacteria thing. I don't know about in NZ, but here in the states there have been many cases where people have died from e-coli which is sometimes found in raw beef, or salmonilla (sp?) which is sometimes found in raw chicken or eggs.

Neko1 is a vet tech and she might know of other/better reasons, but this would be the reason I wouldn't feed raw meat. :)

[catmandu]

If I give my Cats meat or Deli , I always microwave as it kills any chance of bateria , as cats are very vulnerable to illness!

[carole]

thank you all for your advice, i never really thought of that, dont worry we dont eat raw meat in nz the humans that is, of course we eat sushi like most countries, thanks again.

[catlady1945]

My 19 year old cat loves raw hamburger meat. I still toss her a tiny bit now and then. The reason for cooking is to kill the bacteria, but mine gets so little I guess it hasn't hurt her.