Is it necessary to cook chicken paws for a cat, how much can you give them to a cat, chicken paws for cats

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Chicken meat, bones and offal are extremely beneficial for cats, but feeding them to pets has its own characteristics. Some chicken bones are potentially dangerous and have their own characteristics in preparation before feeding them to a mustachioed household member. Is it possible to give chicken necks to a cat? This is a question that arises among owners who want to enrich their pet’s diet with natural products as much as possible without harming it.

Cats are carnivores that need a complete diet, which necessarily includes meat and bone products. The protein contained in chicken by-products should make up at least 30-40% of the total diet of adult cats. Before giving your pet chicken bones, you need to familiarize yourself with all the dangers and features of serving this product.

All chicken bones contain useful substances necessary for the cat’s body. Chicken necks and heads are considered the most valuable due to the presence of brain in them. Brain and spinal cord is a very useful and nutritious product for cats, since in its fresh form it contains many phospholipids, calcium, trace elements, vitamins and minerals. Chicken necks should be included regularly in a cat’s diet, as an addition to the main food. Eating fresh and natural chicken bones helps improve the skin, coat and other tissues of your four-legged friend, which undoubtedly improves the condition and appearance of your pet.

Chicken necks contain:

Vitamins - PP, E, B (12, 5, 6, 9, 2, 1), A;
Minerals: (Se, Mn, Cu, Zn, Fe, P, K, Na, Mg, Ca);
Proteins;
Fats;
Carbohydrates;
Unsaturated fatty acids.

Although nutritious and healthy, some chicken bones are dangerous, and eating them by cats can cause serious health problems. The structure of the chicken skeleton implies the presence of tubular bones (feet and wings) which are very dangerous for the health and even the life of the animal. Sharp fragments of tubular bones can lead to perforation of the walls of the cat’s digestive tract. It is also dangerous to feed your pet boiled bone mass, due to possible blockage of the stomach or intestines.

About the benefits of chicken meat

It's no secret that chicken meat is considered dietary. It is easily absorbed by the body, so even people weakened after surgery are recommended to first eat nutritious chicken broth, then add white chicken breast meat to the diet.

The big advantage is that chicken meat is inexpensive and cooks quickly. The product contains a large amount of easily digestible protein, and the tender consistency of the meat is liked not only by people, but also by pets. It is provided by a minimal amount of connective tissue. The digestibility of chicken meat is 90%.

Chicken has two types of meat: white and red. Chicken breast meat is commonly called white. It contains less fat and more protein, and is considered dietary because it is low in calories (about 110 kcal per 100 g of product). But veterinarians do not recommend feeding your cat only white meat. Yes, it contains more magnesium, but red contains no less important microelements - iron and zinc, as well as vitamins.

Chicken meat contains vitamins necessary for any living organism, including A, group B (B1, B2, B4, B5, B6, B9 and B12), C, D, E, K, PP. In addition, chicken contains:

calcium;
magnesium;
phosphorus;
potassium;
sodium;
iron and other trace elements.

The rich composition of nutrients allows veterinarians to recommend feeding domestic cats chicken meat - not only the breast, but also other parts of the carcass. However, it is strictly forbidden to give skins and long bones to your cat. Leather is poorly digested in the stomach of pets; moreover, it contains a lot of fat and, if eaten regularly, even in the healthiest cats, will eventually cause problems with the liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. When chewed, tubular bones break into sharp fragments. They can injure the intestines, so they are prohibited for cats.

How to properly give chicken bones to cats

To reduce the risk of internal injuries and blockage of the respiratory tract, it is recommended to give this food in the form of cartilage, which is not capable of causing serious damage to the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines.
It is also advisable to grind the hard parts in a meat grinder or grind them to the state of bone meal, in order to subsequently add small portions to the pet’s regular food.
Thus, the pet will receive all the necessary nutrients contained in the bird’s skeleton.
All parts of the bird are suitable for processing - backs, wings, legs, necks.
It is believed that it is unacceptable to process chicken skin along with the skeleton.
The amount of meat remaining on the bones during processing should not exceed five percent.

It is advisable to grind the hard parts in a meat grinder.

It should be noted that chicken fragments boiled until soft are not a solution.

The risk of small dangerous parts entering the stomach or intestines remains and can cause injury to the digestive or respiratory system.

Should I give raw or boiled meat?

Cats are carnivores, and in the wild no one cooks food for them, so the digestive system of pets can handle raw meat quite well. Therefore, such food is physiologically closer to cats. Another thing is the individual preferences of animals, which depend on what food the animal has been accustomed to since childhood.

Chicken meat is extremely rarely infected with helminths, so in this regard, a cat eating raw chicken is not in danger. Fish and other types of meat pose a great danger - for example, pork, which veterinarians generally do not recommend giving to cats.

Much more dangerous is the possible infection of a pet with salmonellosis. The causative agents of the disease are Salmonella - bacteria that remain active for a long time and are practically insensitive to low temperatures. But at +75 degrees, pathogenic microorganisms die. A 10-minute heat treatment will be enough to kill germs. A side effect of this treatment is that some of the nutrients are lost. The conclusion suggests itself: cats can have raw chicken meat, but only if it is purchased from a trusted seller and has been tested for salmonella.

Why is salmonellosis dangerous?

Salmonellosis is dangerous not only for cats, but also for humans. And more than a third of domestic animals with strong immunity that have eaten meat contaminated with salmonella will forever remain carriers of the pathology. The weakened body of a cat (small kittens, elderly animals) may not be able to cope with the infection.

The disease is always severe and accompanied by severe symptoms. You can observe in your pet:

refusal of food;
attacks of high fever;
increased body temperature;
apathy;
diarrhea, feces have a dark, almost black color and a foul odor, and may contain streaks of blood;
frequent vomiting with foam;
cough;
labored breathing.

The cat may experience severe pain in the abdomen, does not allow it to be touched, and shows aggression. With salmonellosis, the permeability of the vascular walls increases, which accelerates the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the body. Without prompt veterinary care, kittens, animals with low immunity and elderly animals die within 1-2 days from dehydration or sepsis.

Raw chicken and turkey

Can cats eat raw chicken or turkey?
As is the case with large animals, many breeders are interested in a completely logical question: can cats eat raw chicken and turkey? After all, in fact, poultry meat is a very high-calorie, protein-rich food, which, moreover, has a reduced fat content, which has a beneficial effect on the cat’s health. And in terms of cost, which is important, chicken is much cheaper than beef, which means feeding your cat will be cheaper. When researching the question of whether cats can be given raw chicken, it is worth considering that chicken is rich in proteins and essential amino acids, but fillet has very little calcium. The ideal food option for a cat would be a whole chicken carcass, but it will be problematic for a pet to eat it. When using a grinder that allows you to process chicken bones, you will get the perfect minced meat for feeding, which will have all the nutrients well balanced, as well as the vitamins and minerals your pet needs for a full life.

So, it becomes clear whether it is possible to feed a cat raw chicken - of course it is possible and even necessary, but only after treatment at low temperatures. It is also worth making sure that your cat’s food does not contain tubular bird bones - their chips are very sharp and are quite capable of damaging the animal’s digestive tract. This can cause serious health problems and even the death of the cat.

Therefore, do not be lazy to check if there are any dangerous bones or splinters in the minced meat prepared for the animal - this will save your furry from diseases, and you from unnecessary worries.

Is it possible to give heads and paws

Chicken can be the basis of your pet's diet, but you should not feed it chicken breast alone. Already from 3.5-4 months of age, kittens can be given chicken legs, and by about a year - and heads by removing the beak.

Benefits of chicken heads:

scallops and eyes contain collagen, a component of protein;
the brain is a source of fat and B vitamins;
The soft bones of the head ensure the supply of calcium to the cat’s body.

Cats need bones because they are a good source of calcium and phosphorus. By chewing chicken heads, the cat trains its chewing muscles and strengthens its gums.

Important!

It is not recommended to give boiled bones to cats - they clog the animal's digestive tract.

It is recommended to give chicken heads to kittens - during the growth period they need to ensure that their body receives a sufficient amount of protein, fats, and beneficial microelements. Pregnant and lactating cats will benefit from calcium and phosphorus, contained in sufficient quantities in chicken heads.

However, they should be given to pets carefully - no more than one head per meal. Overeating can lead to problems with the digestive system. In addition to heads, you can give cats chicken by-products: liver, kidneys, lungs, hearts.

Important!

Cats usually love liver, but it is best to give it no more than once a week. More frequent consumption of liver negatively affects the appearance of the animal and the quality of the coat.

Kittens and adult cats, as a rule, are reluctant to eat other offal products. Therefore, they are rarely included in the diet of pets. If the cat does not refuse such food, you can give him chicken hearts instead of meat once a week.

The benefits and harms of chicken necks and bones in a cat’s diet

Despite different opinions, all experts unanimously agree on one thing: bird bones are hollow inside and, when destroyed, small particles can injure the animal’s esophagus and stomach.

Chicken bones are hollow inside, so they can injure a cat’s esophagus.

, whose teeth are not yet strong enough to completely grind solid particles for safe absorption, are most susceptible to this phenomenon But elderly individuals may also not be able to cope due to age-related wear of the incisors and weakening of the periodontium, or the partial absence of the latter.

Damage to chicken bones

According to one opinion, bones have no nutritional value.

In addition, they are difficult material for the digestive system to digest, causing clogging of the lumens of the stomach and intestines with bone fragments and, as a result, injuring the mucous membranes of these organs or leading to blockage. Due to this circumstance, there is a risk of developing severe pathologies.

Chicken bones are difficult to digest.

Possible perforation due to eating bones can lead to serious destructive effects, cause internal bleeding, provoke inflammatory processes and serious complications. It is often necessary to resort to surgery to eliminate the consequences.

Danger for old and young cats

Young cats are not able to thoroughly grind bones.

Young and old animals are unable to thoroughly grind hard material, which leads to obstruction of the respiratory tract and, if help is not provided in time, death from suffocation.

Useful video

In the video you can see more details about feeding raw meat to cats.

Can a cat eat raw meat? Opinions for and against.

In nature, cats mainly catch birds and mice. No one picks the bones from the carcass: it is completely eaten. Owners serve food selectively to domestic cats, depriving their tailed cats of valuable calcium.

Bones are a source of not only calcium, but also glucosamine, chondroitin and collagen, which, being natural, are well absorbed, unlike synthetics.

In addition, eating bones trains the jaw muscles, strengthens the gums, and cleans the teeth. That is, it is also an excellent prevention of tartar and plaque.

Bones also contribute to better intestinal motility and the formation of proper feces.

Meat intolerance

Meat treats for cats are quite weighty and tempting products that are 90% digestible. Most owners stop feeding their cats raw meat due to poor tolerance. The animal may experience an upset stomach or an urge to eat. This does not mean at all that it is a dangerous and incompatible food product for cats. Here we should focus on the potential capabilities of the digestive tract, the stomach, where hard or lumpy food is digested. Typically, in such situations, cats may have a reduced level of acidity of digestive juice, and an inflammatory disease of the stomach may develop.

The stomach stops coping with certain loads. The digestive organ can no longer cope with raw meat even if you constantly give the animal boiled food and ready-made food. require a different process for implementing the functions of the digestive glands, pancreas and gastrointestinal mucosa.

Boiled chicken bones won't do any good for cats.

, they are poorly digested and can cause. You can introduce small amounts of cartilage into your diet. They will be more useful. To obtain additional minerals, it is better to use ready-made supplements.

Let's summarize the meat products prohibited for cats:

Chicken bones and... Bones can damage the esophagus or stomach and clog the intestines.
Pork, fatty lamb, goose, duck. These types of meat products are quite fatty and difficult for a cat to digest.
Fatty, spicy, salty, smoked foods.
Sausages, canned food.
Fried foods.

Benefits of feeding cats raw meat

Fast digestibility.
The best complementary food for a kitten.
During heat treatment, beneficial substances are boiled out of meat, especially taurine is lost.
Boiled meat is less digestible.

It is known that the missing amount of taurine can be replenished with the help of special vitamins. But if done correctly, a pet can get everything it needs from meat products.

It is important to know which types of meat contain more taurine and other substances

You need to use different types of meat products all the time

, vegetables and cereals in order to diversify the natural diet of your pets as much as possible.
For them, feeding one type of offal, cereal, or constantly repeated other foods can result in a loss of important amino acids. And constant jumps from natural ingredients to industrial feeds can negatively affect the digestive system. If an animal eats meat, then its systems are configured to process tough food. If this is food, then it must be given out at the same time and of the same type.
If you combine two types of feeding, the digestive system will malfunction and stop working at full capacity. It is better to immediately decide when and what type of feeding you will begin to introduce to him.

Very often we feed our beloved pets “from the table” and do not think about the fact that this can harm them. What about raw meat? Can cats eat meat in any form?

Cats are “predators” by nature. So let’s create the right meat diet for our domestic animals! After all, for your pet to please you with good health and good appearance, proper nutrition is a prerequisite.

So, in order not to harm your pet, you need to figure out what kind of meat you can give and which one is better to refuse (as in the case).

Reference!

In the wild, where cats have to survive, they often eat meat. Namely mice and birds.

Natural cat food

The most comprehensive answers to all questions about bones in cat diets

Can cats be fed only meat?

Cats are strict predators. Over thousands of years, cats evolved as a species by feeding on animal prey. Their entire physiology, gastrointestinal morphology and metabolism are tailored to obtain useful substances and building blocks for their own body from their prey. Cats have a very limited ability to obtain nutrients and energy from plant foods and all their needs must be met from animal foods. However, cats cannot eat only meat. The cat's diet should be designed so that calcium and phosphorus enter the body in a ratio of 1.3: 1 (this is not an exact ratio; it would be more accurate to say that the Ca: P ratio should be in the range from 0.9: 1 to 1.5: 1, i.e. it should not always be constant, but can float around acceptable values, however, a long-term bias towards calcium or towards phosphorus will result in serious consequences for the health of your pet). If a cat does not receive enough calcium for a long time, then its blood calcium level decreases, and this, in turn, leads to increased production of parathyroid hormone by the parathyroid gland. Under the influence of this hormone, increased removal of calcium from the natural depot (i.e., skeletal bones) and its transfer into the bloodstream begins to maintain normal blood composition. In this case, the rate of bone destruction turns out to be higher than the rate of formation of new bone tissue. Bones become thinner, weaker and brittle. An excess of phosphorus in the diet further aggravates the problem, because interferes with the normal absorption of calcium in the intestines. As a result, secondary hyperparathyroidism develops - a severe metabolic disorder, the consequences of which can lead to the death of the animal. An insufficient amount of calcium in the diet of a growing kitten is especially dangerous when its own skeleton is just forming and growing rapidly.

It is known that most of the body's minerals are contained in the bones of the skeleton. Bones are mainly composed of calcium salts. Bones also contain large amounts of phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and other elements necessary for the body to have a healthy metabolism. Thus, bone represents the most natural set of all minerals necessary for a predator, since it is bone in its natural habitat that serves as a natural mineral supplement to its meat diet.

Any meat and other soft tissues of the body usually contain a lot of phosphorus and little calcium, for example, chicken meat contains 200 mg of phosphorus and only 20 mg of calcium, i.e. the ratio turns out to be 10:1, instead of at least 1:1! In bones, the situation is the opposite: they contain more calcium than phosphorus; to compensate for the phosphorus in meat, it is enough to add about 5-10 g of raw bones for every 100 g of meat.

Why shouldn't cats be given boiled bones?

After heat treatment, calcium compounds in bones transform into forms that are more resistant to the action of hydrochloric acid of gastric juice and are less soluble, which can more likely lead to intestinal obstruction.

It's all about the different content of hydrogen ions in calcium salts. Salts with a high hydrogen content - calcium hydrophosphates and dihydrogen phosphates - dissolve more easily in the hydrochloric acid of gastric juice, and calcium phosphates, which have lost hydrogen ions, are more difficult to dissolve. When boiling (frying, baking, etc.), all tissues are dehydrated - both meat and bone. In this case, dehydration is the loss of hydrogen ions. Also, heat-treated bones lose flexibility and become more brittle. The fracture sites become much more dangerous and can lead to perforation of the gastrointestinal tract. Never, under any circumstances, give your pets cooked bones. They can lead to the painful death of the animal.

Are raw bones dangerous? Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation around bones in the diet of both dogs and cats. Veterinarians and nutritionists unanimously say that bones should absolutely not be given and all minerals, including calcium, should be taken from supplements for cats and dogs. Take any textbook on veterinary nutrition of cats and dogs and you will read everywhere that bones are potentially dangerous, as they can lead to obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract, perforation of internal organs, damage to tooth enamel, etc. Most often, such fears are supported by real examples when stupid owners fed their cat or dog bones left after cooking soup or jellied meat. Boiled, bare bones fed in large quantities at a time will almost certainly cause obstruction and death of the animal from internal injuries. Sharp fragments of boiled tubular bones result in dire consequences for the animal.

Raw bones are another matter. Both cats and dogs cope well with raw bones, since their physiology as predators, both in terms of the shape of the teeth and the structure of the jaws, and in terms of the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, allows them to cope with whole carcasses of their prey along with the bones of its skeleton and feel great throughout his life. The experience of tens of thousands of people whose cats eat raw bones every day shows that raw bones do not pose a health risk to the animal, as many veterinary nutritionists and representatives of dry food companies have us believe. A fairly large number of catteries keep all their animals on a natural raw meat diet with raw bones, and it is hardly possible to recall at least a couple of cases in their long-term practice when raw bones caused injury or death to an animal. On the other hand, there was a case when a kitten choked on pate and suffocated. It is worth noting here that, in theory, you can choke on a bone if the animal eats too greedily and swallows large pieces; therefore, it is best to give meat bones either whole, so that the cat can bite off a piece of its own size, or completely crushed, if we have an animal that was not accustomed to bones. At first, bones are best given under supervision. An inexperienced cat may put a bone on a fang, or a piece of bone may get stuck in the cat's teeth. These are unlikely events, but until your cat becomes an experienced raw foodist, it is best to keep the situation under control. You should never give bones to cats if their diet still includes dry food or grains and cereals. Cats on dry food are not as acidic as cats on raw meat. Wait until the cat adapts to eating raw food and the acidity of its gastric juice becomes sufficient to dissolve the bone without problems. This usually takes from several days to a couple of weeks. When switching from dry food to natural food, kittens need to be introduced to bones as soon as possible, at least in crushed form, since active growth requires a constant source of minerals for proper development.

All bones should be given only raw, and should never be bare bones. Bones are provided in meat and bone products, chicken necks, heads, backs and ribs with a layer of meat. A layer of meat and soft tissue is needed around the bone to reduce the likelihood of injury and make the piece more attractive to the cat.

All bones must also be selected in proportion to the animal. For example, if we are talking about cats, then cats can still cope with the soft necks or heads of broiler chickens, the backs of young chickens, quail carcasses, rabbit ribs, etc. Naturally, lamb ribs are no longer an option for a cat. It is also worth understanding that the bones of store-bought broilers, which are cut at the age of 40 days, are still quite soft compared to the bones of adult country soup chickens. And of course, bones should be given in moderation, i.e. ingredients containing bones, or so-called “meat bones” (chicken necks, heads, backs, etc.) can make up 30-40% (no more than 50%) of the diet.

Is it true that bones strengthen and can cause constipation?

On the one hand, yes, the calcium contained in the bones strengthens the stool. If you give too much of the bone component, you can cause problems with stool. On the other hand, the indigestible protein that makes up the bone shell acts as an important forming agent for the carnivore for regular elimination and proper firm consistency of stool, which helps in the process to cleanse the anal glands in both cats and dogs. Also, this indigestible protein is food for the natural microflora of the predator, which in turn produces short-chain fatty acids that are important for the health of the gastrointestinal tract.

A good quote from Bondarenko’s book “Keeping Fur-Bearing Animals of Prey” about the role of fiber and the fact that instead of fiber, bones can be used, and I would even say necessary, to regulate stool:

“Crude fiber is the main part of plant cell walls, consisting of cellulose and hemicelluloses. Animals cannot use fiber, since their digestive juices do not contain enzymes that can break it down into simpler substances. Therefore, high fiber feeds are usually avoided in fur farming. In limited quantities (1...1.5% of dry matter), fiber can be beneficial, having a beneficial effect on the digestion and appetite of animals.

Predatory fur-bearing animals that receive a lot of freshly crushed bone can do without fiber or with a small amount of it, since in this case the indigestible ash substances of the bones serve as ballast.

By increasing the fiber content in food for minks to 2% of dry matter, and for foxes and arctic foxes to 2.5%, its digestibility does not deteriorate, but the consumption of protein and other nutrients is noticeably limited. Therefore, during periods of lactation and intensive growth of young animals, the fiber content is reduced. In large quantities (3% and above), fiber causes depression of digestibility in animals due to increased peristalsis and a general laxative effect on digestion.”

There should be enough bones to provide the body with calcium and form proper healthy stool, but do not provide too much bones, otherwise the stool will become white and too dry, and excess calcium in combination with other metabolic disorders can lead to the deposition of calcium salts in the body.

Is there any mention in any professional literature of the need for bones for a predator?

Yes. Fortunately, manufacturers of dry food and calcium supplements have not yet reached fur farms and guidelines for raising foxes, minks, arctic foxes, etc. Bondarenko also says:

Calcium and phosphorus make up about 65-80% of all minerals contained in the body of farm animals, and about 2% of their mass. The largest amount of calcium and phosphorus is in the bones of the skeleton. The lack of these minerals in the feed leads to growth retardation in young animals and their development of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Calcium and phosphorus should be given to animals not only in the required quantity, but also in the correct ratio. Feeds for fur-bearing animals usually contain enough phosphorus, but if the diets do not contain feed rich in bones (for example, animal heads, whole fish, fresh crushed bone), then the animals will experience a calcium deficiency. The ratio between calcium and phosphorus in bone tissue is 2:1, and in milk 1.3:1. A close ratio of these substances should also be present in the diets of fur-bearing animals. The normal ratio of calcium and phosphorus is achieved by adding 5 g of freshly crushed bone or 1.5 g of bone meal to the feed per 100 kcal.”

Is it possible to give cartilage instead of bones?

Bones contain up to 99% of minerals that cannot be obtained from meat. Concentration of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, etc. in bones is so high that 10% of bones in the diet is enough to replenish the need for minerals, and no other sources of these substances adequate for the diet of a carnivore can be replaced. Cartilage tissue differs in composition from bone tissue. Cartilage does not contain even half of what is in bones. Cartilage is not an adequate source of minerals and calcium for cats and dogs.

Is it possible to give bone meal instead of bones? Bone meal is always a heat-treated product. As noted above, heat-treated bone is much worse digested and absorbed than raw bone.

Also, bone meal already lacks the benefit of raw bone marrow, one of the sources of animal fats, including omega-3 fatty acids. The bone marrow contains reticular tissue cells. These are important cells of immune defense and hematopoiesis. Red bone marrow is a source of stem cells (they are important for the health of the body and for the reconstruction (restoration) of its tissues and organs), contains the hormone adiponectin (you can read about it on Wikipedia) - it regulates glucose levels and the breakdown of fatty acids. In addition, he is a supplier of essential microelements: calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, manganese and other mineral-rich chemicals.

Should large breed cats be given joint supplements?

No. Bones are a natural source of chondroitin and glucosamine. Bone is an ideal chondroprotector and a source of essential nutrients for the musculoskeletal system. And we are also talking about the bones of small fish. Remember that even people are recommended to eat canned fish vertebrae, as well as boil and gnaw the bones. Cats and dogs can perfectly chew and digest raw bones, which are the optimal sources of nutrients for their own skeleton.

Is it true that bones are needed for healthy teeth?

Yes. Oral hygiene and mental stimulation are also important bonuses from eating meat on the bone. Bones are needed in nutrition as they remove plaque from teeth and create pressure on these same teeth, improving blood circulation in the gums and developing jaw muscles. And the process of gnawing also has a positive effect on cerebral blood flow and reduces stress levels.

Do big cats eat bones?

There is a common myth that lions and tigers do not eat bones, and only hyenas and jackals can eat bones. They say that lions and tigers only gnaw the bones, and leave the frames for the dogs. Apparently this myth is reinforced by a picture from programs about Africa, where they show footage of abandoned parts of the skeleton - the ribs of zebras and antelopes. But the fact is that large cats gnaw and leave only very large bones. They eat small bones. And they even eat smaller prey than zebra or wildebeest entirely. Bones are the main source of calcium in the wild. Cats partially or completely dissolve bones with gastric juice and perfectly absorb calcium from them. There are no other natural and effective sources of calcium in cats in nature.

Here is evidence of human illiteracy regarding the diet of lions: veterinarians of the British Zoological Society also did not know that lions eat bones, since they fell victims of a typical common misconception: since after a large victim a skeleton remains, it means that lions cannot eat any bones, and therefore only need meat and organs.

But who would have thought? All over the world, lions in zoo cages began to suffer from an unheard of disease, which was associated either with some kind of lack of nutrition or rickets, until in 1921 Dr. Fiennes, a pathologist from the London Zoo, and Oliver Graham Jones, a veterinarian, joined forces to find out that the lions suffered from a condition called osteodystrophy, a bone disease. This condition was also studied by Tyler in horses, cows, pigs and cats and was associated with extremely low levels of calcium relative to phosphorus in the diet. They realized that lions that eat only red meat have a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 1:20, when it should be 1:1. Unfortunately, most experts of that time really believed that this was an inherent problem of lions, their natural characteristic due to the inability of lions to eat the bones of their prey, although thanks to the fact that they finally decided to add calcium to meat, at least with the help of mineral supplements .

In modern advanced diets for zoo animals, lions, tigers and all felines are given not only meat, but also food animals, chicken carcasses with bones, chicken necks, and even chicken legs, since people have finally realized that in addition to large bones, which predators can only gnaw, there are also bones that predators can eat, digest and obtain calcium and other important minerals from them.

An article about an unknown disease of lions that killed dozens of animals was taken from the May 12, 1960 issue of New Scientist magazine

Video of feeding big cats, where you can clearly see how they deftly and happily handle bones:

Even the giraffe has already gotten it...

Often, opponents of bones in the diet of domestic carnivores claim that there is either no calcium in the bones (this is refuted by any physiology textbook that describes the qualitative and quantitative composition of bone tissue), or it is not absorbed from there. However, even in the diet of herbivores, bones are often present as a mineral supplement:

Most often, giraffes are pictured peacefully nibbling leaves from tree branches. But recently a giraffe was filmed gnawing the bones of a buffalo. The video was filmed in South Africa. Although the picture may look scary, for giraffes the bones of other animals are a source of calcium and phosphorus, which they need for their own skeletons. A 2013 study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science found that giraffes regularly consume horns and ivory. This behavior is known as osteophagy . However, giraffes do not swallow bones. They gnaw and suck on them, using saliva to dissolve the nutrients. Particularly tall giraffes, for example, may be more inclined to eat bones than short ones. — Source

This is not photoshop!

Question: I’m still afraid to give bones. Can I replace bones with eggshells or another calcium supplement?

Answer:

A huge mistake owners make is preferring calcium supplements to meat instead of bones.

Everyone knows that the ratio of calcium to phosphorus in a cat’s diet should be approximately 1.3:1 (Ca:P)

Everyone more or less remembers that meat contains very little, negligible calcium and a lot of phosphorus. Therefore, either eggshells or calcium citrate/carbonate are added to the meat to achieve the desired ratio.

Let's take chicken breast for simplicity: Ca - 11 mg, P - 174 mg. Let’s say you’ve enriched the meat with calcium using shells or citrate and now your Ca to P ratio is normal.

But you forget that the minimum content of calcium and phosphorus is also set by standards, and this is not surprising: both phosphorus and calcium must be supplied daily in the required quantities for metabolic processes and tissue synthesis.

So FEDIAF standards dictate that 100 g of food should contain 0.67% phosphorus, or 670 mg. And as we remember, we have only 174! (I neglected the weight of the shell)

Where can I get them from? - Only from bones!

Calcium according to the same standards should be 790 mg per 100 g of food. And with the shell we now have only 226 (174 * 1.3)

In order to compensate for the entire lack of calcium and phosphorus, you need to add only 6 g of bone to 100 g of meat!

(Here I am assuming that broiler bone contains 18 g calcium and 8 g phosphorus per 100 g wet weight)

If we take into account that calcium is not absorbed 100%, different bones may have different values for calcium and phosphorus content, bone marrow is also valuable in bones, bones are the formative components of stool, then it turns out that the recommendation is equal to the weight of the victim’s skeleton at 10% absolutely faithful.

Once and for all I want to put an end to this issue: calcium in meat is an inadequate replacement for bones in the diet.

Healthy animals need raw bones. We give the kittens cottage cheese. Can we not give them bones? No! Compare the density of the curd mass and the density of bone tissue yourself. Cottage cheese is not a complete source of calcium and other minerals, since it contains several times less minerals than bones. And the ratio of calcium to phosphorus is not in favor of calcium: 100 g of cottage cheese contains 150 g of phosphorus and only 110 g of calcium, that is, not enough to compensate for the phosphorus in the meat and reach at least the balance level of 1: 1. I’ll probably write once again, separately and specifically for anyone who wants to replace bones with any alternative calcium supplements. Bones are complex tissues unique in their composition. Any tissue in the body can be said to be unique, but bones are unique in a special way. This is strength and flexibility combined into one. Just remember those same experiments from school - bone is flexible because it contains organic substances, bone is hard because it contains inorganic substances. Note, not one substance, but a whole complex of substances. Regarding calcium compounds, surprisingly, ALL calcium compounds found in raw bone are soluble in hydrochloric acid of gastric juice. Some are more soluble, some are less soluble, but all are soluble. Is calcium hydroxylapatite soluble in HCl? Yes! calcium hydrogen phosphate and calcium dihydrogen phosphate? Yes! Calcium phosphide and calcium carbonate? Yes! Ca3(PO4)2 is the most difficult compound to dissolve in hydrochloric acid, but the content of HCl that is in the stomach of a predator is enough to dissolve this salt. The main thing is to give the bone raw, since boiling, frying, and drying will deplete the bone of organic substances and (remember the experiment with acid and burning bones?) - the bone will become fragile, its acid resistance will increase, but even here, clever nature leaves the predator a chance to digest what was accidentally eaten thermally treated bone - there will be no absolutely resistant compounds to the action of hydrochloric acid of gastric juice. When feeding thermally treated bones, risks of gastrointestinal trauma due to the formation of sharp fragments are expected. If eaten in large quantities, boiled or fried bones are likely to lead to intestinal blockage. Not a single supplement will provide the animal with a variety of sources of calcium (and phosphorus, by the way) - accessible, natural, correct. Any replacement or substitution must always be forced and justified NOT by the owner’s fears, but by the veterinarian’s recommendations related to the cat’s health. A growing kitten needs proper calcium, which means bones. NO alternative.

Authors: Veronika Kozyreva, Yulia Brovko Copying materials is prohibited without attribution and a link to the source

Is it possible to feed a cat one chicken?

This is what we are guided by when we feed our pet such products. However, we forget that the meat we buy on store shelves is not as healthy as what an animal eats living on the street. So what to do? Go hunting? Not at all! It’s enough to just figure out which meat will be useful for a cat and which not so much.

Chicken is harmful to cats, as it is most often stuffed with antibiotics and various growth hormones, and is also. It will have to be abandoned. Chicken skin won't do him any good either.
Turkey is an excellent substitute for chicken meat, and it contains many times more vitamins and healthy ingredients.
Pork is a very “heavy” food product not only for humans, but also for cats, which can cause stomach upset and indigestion. It also leads to the pet becoming infected with worms, and in some cases, other dangerous infectious diseases.

Attention!

Pork contains a large amount of fats that are harmful to the pet’s body.

Beef will be an excellent alternative to pork. Even veterinarians recommend giving cats this treat.
In some cases, you can diversify a cat's diet with rabbit meat, but this should be done rarely and with caution. Let rabbit meat be a kind of delicacy for the cat.

The most important thing when choosing a food product:

Freshness. Under no circumstances should you give your pet spoiled food. The meat must be fresh and of high quality.
Temperature. It is not recommended to eat meat only from the refrigerator, much less from the freezer, but you also don’t have to reheat it, because hot food is also not allowed. It is enough to let it sit for a while at room temperature.
Fat content. As already mentioned, cats don’t need excess fat. When serving meat to a cat, you need to get rid of the veins and fat.
You need to choose only clean meat, without tendons and bones. Give preference to sirloin parts. Don’t forget to include by-products in your pet’s diet: liver, kidneys, heart. This should be done rarely and in small quantities.

Important!

Veterinarians have long argued that chicken meat is harmful to cats.

Chicken, raw and cooked, has a harmful effect on the liver of animals.

Frequent use of it can cause irreversible changes in the organ and develop some diseases, in particular pancreatitis and urolithiasis.

In addition, chicken bones, when they fall apart, have very sharp pieces and pose a risk of mechanical damage to your pet.

If your cat “can’t live” without chicken, then give her a small amount of natural poultry, or rather, its loin.

Can cats eat chicken: how to feed it such meat, what is safer - raw chicken or boiled, how long to cook chicken hearts and other chicken meat to kill salmonella in the meat.

Did your cat steal the chicken you actually wanted to cook for yourself? Or did you read the composition of her bagged food, were horrified and decided to switch her to “natural food”? In any case, if you are concerned about whether cats can eat chicken, read the article further.

Cats are exceptional carnivores (compared to omnivorous humans), obtaining everything they need from the tissues of the prey they eat. In the wild, they consume animals whose meat contains high amounts of protein, moderate amounts of fat, and very little carbohydrates (now look at your food, which contains “5% meat ingredients” and 95% of all kinds of grains and additives).

That is, they are adapted to digest proteins, and not carbohydrates at all. In fact, cats even require 2-3 times more protein than omnivores. In addition, scientists have found that they get all their energy from protein alone, even if there is little protein in their diet, and thus they do not use carbohydrates at all. This means that if there is too little protein in their diet (), then they develop exhaustion.

Cats need certain amino acids (taurine, arginine, methionine and cysteine) in their food. Cats not only cannot produce them themselves, but are also unable to store them, that is, the supply of these amino acids must be daily.

Reference!

Attention!

Chicken bones have virtually no nutritional value, but contain many minerals (especially calcium, phosphorus and potassium). Therefore, they cannot serve as the basis of the diet and even occupy a significant share in it. But even in small quantities, eating bones threatens:

injury to the mucous membrane of the mouth, esophagus, stomach or intestines;
bone getting stuck between teeth with subsequent gum injury;
blockage of the esophagus, stomach or intestines.

Tubular bones are especially dangerous - their sharp fragments severely injure the delicate mucous membrane, this should be taken into account when deciding whether a cat can eat chicken bones. Spongy bones are less traumatic, but can still cause inflammation and blockage of the digestive canal, especially if their content in the diet makes up a significant portion (more than 30%).

The described problems are accompanied by the following symptoms:

lethargy, loss of appetite or complete refusal to feed;
repeated vomiting and/or retching;
diarrhea, blood and mucus in the stool;
excessive salivation (if a bone is stuck in the mouth);
constipation (no bowel movement for more than 2 days);
pain during bowel movements.

Cats may strain while trying to pee and may also stand in a characteristic posture of pain: with their chin down, their back hunched, and their paws spread wide apart. The abdomen is hard, and when trying to touch it the animal reacts aggressively.

Is chicken suitable for all pets?

All cats eat chicken with pleasure, some even prefer it to other types of meat. However, despite the widespread belief that chicken is a hypoallergenic product, it is increasingly causing allergic reactions in animals.

This is due to the fact that this type of meat has been a component of most industrial feeds for several decades, and allergies most often occur precisely to those products that are constantly in the diet of animals. Owners should consider whether they can give their cat chicken parts if their pet is prone to allergies.

Raw eggs

Not all types of meat are good for cats. Experts recommend feeding the animal chicken, turkey, lean parts of beef and lamb, rabbit, and veal. Pork, duck, goose, and excessively fatty meat are contraindicated for cats. It is advisable to buy products from trusted places, and be sure to ask for veterinary reports (without them, meat cannot be sold at all).

The diet should also contain by-products. The most beneficial food for cats is liver. Unlike meat, it is recommended to give offal to your pet boiled. Chicken or beef liver should be boiled or well frozen, and scalded with boiling water before feeding. The first option is preferable, since the liver may contain helminth eggs and many harmful substances. Raw offal can also cause indigestion in cats, such as constipation or diarrhea.

Eggs also help provide the animal’s body with protein. There is no need to feed your cat raw eggs, as this can lead to salmonellosis. Cats eat boiled protein with pleasure. They also love yolk, but the quantity should be reasonable and you shouldn’t overdo it.

Chicken heads are not very healthy, but boiled chicken necks should be given. You can also offer your pet kidneys, hearts, and stomachs.

Cats can also have fish. This is also a useful and necessary protein for these animals. However, in the diet of castrated cats, the content of fish should be kept to a minimum. The fact is that this product is rich in phosphorus, and an excess of this element in the body of a castrated or sterilized cat provokes the development of urolithiasis.

River varieties contain more small bones and are more often infected with many types of helminths, most of which are dangerous for cats.

Breeders are also concerned about the question of whether cats can have raw eggs. It seems that giving cats eggs is not worth it at all, but from the point of view of complete proper nutrition for your mustachioed friend, chicken eggs are very useful. They contain animal protein, which is very easily digestible, and in addition - a whole list of vitamins and microelements that a cat needs. Thus, it can be argued that eggs are a necessity.

But in what form should you give them to your cat, and is it worth feeding cats raw bird eggs? Here it is worth paying attention to the dangerous possibility of the presence of the causative agent of salmonellosis in raw eggs. And if previously it was believed that quail eggs were immune from this, today salmonella is increasingly found in quails. Therefore, in order to avoid problems with the pet’s health, it is recommended to boil eggs before feeding.

In this way you will protect your cat from illness and allow him to receive a lot of useful elements and nutrients. So we have figured out the answer to the question of whether it is possible to give raw eggs to cats.

Why does a domestic sterilized cat refuse?

Today it is very difficult to find a high-quality meat product on store shelves. Perhaps the reason for giving up meat lies precisely in this, and far from it.

Cats also refuse meat when their feeding schedule is disrupted. Do not leave food in the bowl all the time and organize the correct diet: for kittens - up to 5 times a day, and for adult cats - 2-3 times.

There are cases of refusal to eat due to some illness. This could be: anorexia, bacterial infection, accumulation of hair in the stomach, helminthiasis, stress. If a pet refuses only meat, then this indicates that he simply does not like it.

There is no need to force the animal to eat it; diversify the diet with other foods. Perhaps he has different taste preferences and meat is simply not to his taste. There are so-called “vegetarian” cats who do not eat pure meat.

The domestic cat is a predatory animal, a descendant of wild ancestors who hunted small rodents and birds. And today, many cats, if given the opportunity, demonstrate excellent hunting abilities. Most often, in the process of hunting, they realize instinct, but, as a rule, they do not eat prey.

In the process of evolution, cats have developed a rather short intestinal tract designed to digest soft meat fibers. A cat cannot get the required amount of nutrients from rough plant food; they simply do not have time to be digested in its short intestine, and not enough enzymes are produced for this. Therefore, the basis of the diet of this predatory animal should be meat.

Without enough meat in the diet, the cat's body will not receive all the nutrients it needs. For example, the amino acid taurine is essential for a cat, since it can only get it from the outside. Therefore, it is necessary to feed your pet meat.

How much is needed per day

The amount of meat a pet eats is always individual, but you should not overfeed it.

Beef can be added to the diet daily: for children - a little more than 30 grams; adults - 500-1500 grams.
It is recommended to eat turkey no more than several times a week. The amount of product consumed is the same as for beef.

For kittens, the meat must be chopped, and for adult animals it is cut into small pieces. You cannot feed your pets only meat. Also, do not add salt, pepper or any other spices to your food. They don't need it!

Substitute Products

You can treat your pet to boiled fish, but not often.

Veterinarians say that it is better for the cat to eat other foods that contain no less useful components instead of a chicken bone. You can replace bone mince with the following dishes:

Fish. When a cat eats such a product, you should also carefully monitor it so that it does not choke on the bone. It is strictly forbidden to replace the main food with it; fish should only serve as an additive. It is allowed to feed your pet this dish 1-2 times a week, but it is allowed only in boiled form.
Special bones. They consist of tendons and movable joints in crushed form, as well as beef stomachs.

It is best to give preference to specialized dry food for cats, which must be given to the animal in a certain dosage. This food is as balanced as possible, since it contains all the beneficial microelements in the quantities necessary for the cat’s body. When purchasing a product, the age and health status of the pet is taken into account

It is equally important to read the composition of the product, because if it contains flavorings, preservatives and salt, then you should not choose such dry food. It is important for the owner to understand that only premium and super-premium products will be useful

If your cat still wants to eat chicken bones, then you should give them with leftover meat and cartilage. In this case, the pet will satisfy its hunting urges and will not cause harm to the body.