Feeding meat to cats

BennyLava

Just wondering, if feeding meat to cats (occasionally as a treat), is it better to cook it or is it ok to give it to them raw?

Orla K

I'd give it to them raw but as a treat it's no harm to have it cooked. I know I cooked a whole chicken and the cat got alot of it because I could only eat so much. Just no cooked bones.

Graces7

Our cats live on raw chicken and a little kibble ( dried food)

Usually raw chicken wings.

They enjoy this hugely. And eat every scrap, raw bones and all.

Sometimes if we have it ( our butcher saves scraps etc for our rescued dogs and sometimes gives eg kidneys) a little raw red meat or kidney.

But raw chicken is their staple

And in all the decades of cats, there have never in this house been healthier or happier cats.

This idea was new to me a few years ago and I was doubtful; I am so no more and will feed nothing else now.

Oh and one loves a bit of cheese as a treat, and does have a sweet tooth.

It also works out cheaper. An added bonus.

seamus

Aside from the obvious benefit of destroying most of the bacteria in the food, cooking also makes food easier to digest.

However humans are unique in mammals in that we cook our food and evidence suggests that we may have been cooking food for the past 200,000 years. So not only are we culturally used to it, our bodies have also evolved to expect it.

Other mammals, such as cats and dogs, obviously have been dealing with raw meat for all of that time and their bodies are adapted to eating raw meat - they will cope with bacteria better and they won't have such a hard time digesting it.

So no, it won't do any harm. However, consider that many mammals' bodies are also not adapted to storing food - food is eaten where it drops or eaten within 24 hours - and stored raw meat will naturally build up a certain amount of bacteria, even if it's kept in the fridge. So if it's been sitting your fridge for 4 or 5 days, consider cooking it before serving it. If you bought it fresh from a butcher yesterday, then it should be fine.

Frozen meat doesn't build up any appreciable amount of bacteria in the freezer, but it may do if left on a sideboard defrosting overnight (for example). So it would be wise to defrost such meat quickly (in a microwave or such) before feeding it to your cat.

As Grace's experience attests to, you're unlikely to come across any major problems, but cooking is very easy and I've never met a cat (or a dog) who knows the difference between cooked and uncooked meat.

Mink

My cat goes absolutely bonkers when she can see that a chicken breast has been put on the chopping board. We give her bits of it. It's no problem as long as not out of date in anyway.

Raw meat is better for them then tinned food any day

morganafay

Raw meat is really good for them. And they much prefer it. Cooked meat is good too.

I'm a bit paranoid about chicken though and will usually cook it for them. Especially since one of my cats is old and one is a kitten. And especially since if my cats are getting it, that probably means it's past its use-by date . . .

It's good as a treat, but I don't think it can be their only food, unless they have offal and bones aswell? I'm not sure, but that's what I think . . .