Raw feeding issues with cat - Help?

[ravennr]

We're still in our first week. He love it and took to it immediately without problems, except that he couldn't crack the bones the first three times. He finally did it the other night, and ate a full chicken wing (split) yesterday morning, minus about 2/3 of the bone.

When should I take the bones away from him? I don't leave it down for any more than an hour. He gets to his chicken and anything with bones last. This morning I had to catch his attention because he had the remnants of two bones in his mouth at the joint and was throwing it back. I was worried he'd choke on something that big. Do I just keep a steady eye and wait for him to completely leave it alone as long as it hasn't been too long, or do I take it away if I see him doing that?
Right now, we have no good knives. I have no way of braking down the bones, so I just monitor him ridiculously. But I will end up getting some.



Also, how do I go about clean-up? He drags those bones all over the place. He won't stay in one spot. For one thing, he slings it up, over him, around and behind his head (no, really, he does..) and usually ends up smacking himself in the face, chest, or ego in general. It's not just the floor I'm concerned about having to clean, it's him. He drags it around, then not only is it hitting him all over the face and chest and legs and such, but he is laying down to eat it, in the path through which he dragged it. Do I need to worry about that at all?
Could I buy a larger, maybe dog crate, to contain him so he can play with it, but not drag it everywhere? So it would be easier to clean.



Thanks for any help. These are the only two things that I can't find much help on short of asking other people who feed raw.

 

[CharlieDog]

Hmm.

If you have a meat tenderizer, or just a really clean hammer you don't mind using specifically for that purpose, you can just smack the bones to break them before you give them to him.

Albus didn't have a problem eating the bones though, so that's about my only suggestion for that.

As for dragging it everywhere, Albus did that too, but I put a towel down specifically for that, and made him stay on the towel so the mess was contained. Albus learned to just eat on the towel, but I would probably try giving the crate thing a go if he doesn't want to stay on the towel. Just make sure its an airline type crate, or you won't really be containing the mess

Also, when he was done eating, Albus had no problems cleaning himself off, though I suppose you could wipe him down with a clean washcloth.

 

[ravennr]

His own bodily cleanliness wouldn't be such an issue, if he didn't get absolutely tortured with love, hehe. My boyfriend is obsessed with cuddling him, and oddly enough the cat is pretty much the same. Thanks for the tips !!


I'm gonna go ahead and try the towel thing tonight. I was going to try cardboard, before I realized that as much as we have, we're going to still go through a ton.

 

[Maxy24]

You can try the towel, Willie didn't like the towel. He would drag the meat *right* off the edge to eat it. He didn't want to sit on the towel and that was that. Same goes for anything else I put it on, he would pull it just enough so it fell off and then eat it. If you put it back too many times he'd just leave because you were frustrating him.

So I would give it a try but the crate idea sounds like it'd work.

As far as bones I tended to cut the wings at the joint (just used a steak knife) and would sometimes cut the ball (as in ball and socket joint) off because it looked like a prime choking hazard. If you think he's gona choke on something I'd intervene, especially with a cat new to raw, better to be safe than sorry. I always smashed chicken wings. At first a lot, later just enough to break it in two places or so. With cornish hen bones or chicken ribs I left them be. Rabbit bones were also a huge favorite and seemed easier than chicken wings which was strange because you'd think chicken bones would be lighter and more fragile than rabbit bones. I didn't need to do anything to the rabbit bones for him to eat them easily.