# Raw feeding my kitten is a pain in my butt!



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Ok, so I got a new kitten, he's about 5 months old and adorable. I wanted to feed him PMR but it's such a pain in my butt! He doesn't know how to eat bones, so I have to smash them with a hammer and even then he doesn't eat all of them! So now I'm worried about his calcium intake (although I know that isn't a huge deal since he's still getting some bones). I was doing smashed chicken wings but worried there wasn't enough meat on them so I switched to smashed drumsticks but the bones are thicker so he just picks them dry and leaves most of the bone behind. He's great with the ground meat (turkey or beef so far), gizzards, liver, and kidney I give him though. 

The other problem is that it's taking up more room in my fridge, and trust me, there isn't much room in there from feeding my three dogs raw, one of which is a high-energy Doberman puppy who needs to eat twice as much as the other two. And that's (ironically) the same shelf I keep my soy milk and juice on, so that takes up even more room because I have to share the fridge with my brother as well. And I already sold my mini fridge to my friend and mini fridges are pretty expensive to keep running all the time anyway. 

I work at a vet clinic (like so many of us on here) and I know the damage kibble can do to cats long-term as far as everything goes, the least of which is their teeth and urinary tracts for males which are my top two concerns for this little guy since I've never had my own male cat before. However, my 16 year old female who was diagnosed with early kidney failure last fall decided she no longer wanted to eat raw and was switched to a very high protein, grain-free kibble instead and has absolutely thrived on it for about 9 months so far. 

On the other hand, my mom started her two new cats on PMR (one adult female and one kitten male) and they've been on it for about a year and a half and are doing great. 

And the two kittens I had when I lived with my D-bag ex did PMR and one of them ate her whole bone, the other ate only part of it and they were both gorgeous. 

I guess what I really need is someone to tell me to stop being so lazy, prepare the food in large quantities and just freeze the excess, and organize my fridge better :redface:

Thanks for listening to my stupid rambling!


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## Katie Chumlee and Shorty (Oct 22, 2010)

Is he teething? Do you feed it cold? I prepare 55-80 lbs at a time and store them in ziploc 9.5 cup large containers because they dont pop their lids or shatter and they store very nice in the freezer! Once you get a routine down it gets easier :smile: My puppy doesn't hold down his beef rib with his paws and eat nice, he stands and chews it forever! But my 10 yr old GSP holds hers down and is done in 15 mins.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

It gets easier trust me. He may be teething now and not wanting to chew the bones. 

What I do is get Cornish game hens and cut them up into pieces (thigh, wing, back, breast, etc. I then cut those down further into about 1 inch cubes. Then smash with a kitchen mallet until it's pulverized. I then shred that up into a mash. I get small whole fresh fish and cut them up into small pieces. I also use ground meats and whole meats cut up into cubes. I take everything and mix it all together in a large batch that lasts a few days. I also put in a few crushed egg shells. I do this for a while until I notice them able to chew larger chunks. I chop/smash everything less and less as time goes on.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Stop being so lazy, prepare the food in large quantities and just freeze the excess, and organize your fridge better!!!!:biggrin:

Seriously though, you KNOW that PMR is the way to go. From what it sounds like, it's hard to even get most cats to accept the diet. You're lucky that yours seems to be great with it for the most part. So suck it up and work with him on the bone issue! :biggrin: He'll get it eventually. They all do. PMR is more work in the beginning, but you KNOW it's worth it in the long run.

Good luck. And sorry for the tough love, but it sounded like you needed it. :tongue:


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

You might want to start with smaller, softer bones. Try cornish hens. The backs and ribs are especially soft and, smashed up, they're very easy for cats to chew.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

He did the cornish game hens just fine, which is why I graduated him up to chicken wings and then drumsticks, but maybe i moved him too quickly. Blah! Why can't he be more like my dogs and just eat chicken leg quarters whole in 30 seconds?


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> He did the cornish game hens just fine, which is why I graduated him up to chicken wings and then drumsticks, but maybe i moved him too quickly. Blah! Why can't he be more like my dogs and just eat chicken leg quarters whole in 30 seconds?


Because you got a cat, silly. 
Weren't you prepared to take on random battles that make absolutely no sense?! lol:biggrin:
Just be glad you're not battling Ellie. I believe you know how weird THAT cat (dog?!) is.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

CorgiPaws said:


> Just be glad you're not battling Ellie. I believe you know how weird THAT cat (dog?!) is.


Or, you should be on your knees praising whoever cares that you don't have my Windy here. I tell you, she would have driven a lesser woman to drink.

Hang in there with the raw....truly, you don't know how lucky you are, sunshine!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

rannmiller said:


> Ok, so I got a new kitten, he's about 5 months old and adorable. I wanted to feed him PMR but it's such a pain in my butt!


Get used to that for awhile. It took me almost two months and there were days I wanted to just give up. But I persevered. What used to take me almost an hour, (yes, an hour!), to finish feeding the cats, (cutting, dicing, slicing, grinding, cleaning, etc.), now takes about 15 minutes. It gets easier.



> He doesn't know how to eat bones, so I have to smash them with a hammer and even then he doesn't eat all of them! So now I'm worried about his calcium intake (although I know that isn't a huge deal since he's still getting some bones). I was doing smashed chicken wings but worried there wasn't enough meat on them so I switched to smashed drumsticks but the bones are thicker so he just picks them dry and leaves most of the bone behind. He's great with the ground meat (turkey or beef so far), gizzards, liver, and kidney I give him though.


I had to do this with my older cat and a very...VERY stubborn cat. For a long time. In the beginning, I wouldn't worry too much about them getting through the bone. Just get them to gnaw on the dang thing. Eventually they will start chomping away. Mine still don't eat every single bone I put down but they do eat enough.



> The other problem is that it's taking up more room in my fridge, and trust me, there isn't much room in there from feeding my three dogs raw, one of which is a high-energy Doberman puppy who needs to eat twice as much as the other two. And that's (ironically) the same shelf I keep my soy milk and juice on, so that takes up even more room because I have to share the fridge with my brother as well. And I already sold my mini fridge to my friend and mini fridges are pretty expensive to keep running all the time anyway.


No sympathy here, from me. (Just kidding!!!) I have seven cats and two dogs. I put two days worth of meals in the fridge and put the rest in a chest freezer I purchased for this specific purpose. I also sometimes used the freezer above the fridge but now that I'm getting better at organizing, I can finally put MY meat in the freezer above the fridge and stop eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all the time.



> I work at a vet clinic (like so many of us on here) and I know the damage kibble can do to cats long-term as far as everything goes, the least of which is their teeth and urinary tracts for males which are my top two concerns for this little guy since I've never had my own male cat before. However, my 16 year old female who was diagnosed with early kidney failure last fall decided she no longer wanted to eat raw and was switched to a very high protein, grain-free kibble instead and has absolutely thrived on it for about 9 months so far.


And this is why you should continue. Yes, it's hard and taxing in the beginning but stick with it, it gets easier and you'll be so. glad you did.



> On the other hand, my mom started her two new cats on PMR (one adult female and one kitten male) and they've been on it for about a year and a half and are doing great.
> 
> And the two kittens I had when I lived with my D-bag ex did PMR and one of them ate her whole bone, the other ate only part of it and they were both gorgeous.


The proof is in the pudding. The raw pudding, that is.



> I guess what I really need is someone to tell me to stop being so lazy, prepare the food in large quantities and just freeze the excess, and organize my fridge better :redface:


Stop being lazy. Go to the store, get storage containers or Ziploc bags, whatever you prefer, come home, prepare the meals, leave a couple days worth in your fridge and put the rest in the freezer. If you do it right, you can gather up a month's worth, (or more), of food, prepared. That way, all you have to do is come home, open the fridge, pull out the container of food and put it in front of your cat's nose. 

When you get to the last week's supply of food, go back to the store and do it again.

You will have one day of work for a month's worth of food. For seven cats, this takes me about two hours to get everything prepped, (cut up, weighed and put in to containers, brought to the freezer and stored), and cleaned up. For one leeeetle tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny kitteh cat, this should be a breeze.



> Thanks for listening to my stupid rambling!


It's not stupid. You're frustrated. Trust me, I get it! I definitely know and understand what you are going through times seven. 

Like I said, there were times I wanted to switch back to kibble because it seemed like all I ever did was work, come home, walk and exercise the dogs and feed the pets. And argue with the cats who didn't want to conform to raw diet. 

They wanted their kibble, they didn't want bone, "I don't know how to eat bone, why are you feeding me this? I am not eating! I'm going on a hunger strike! I hate you! I'm starving!" We had conferences. Meetings. We held negotiations. We aired our grievances with each other. It went on. And on. And ON.

Then I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and walked the dogs again and cleaned some more and finally, around 10 or 11pm, I would get to go to bed. It was exhausting! 

But you learn as you go, the cat gets better at it and if you do it in bulk, prep everything first, freeze it all, you'll find it's not so bad. In fact, you'll start to enjoy it. 

It is not easy with cats sometimes, starting out. But soon, they'll be just as easy, if not easier, than the dogs. So get in there and start preppin', Missy! :biggrin:


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