HennyPenny's random thoughts. New set of goals!

[hennypenny9]

So to continue babbling about the homemade cat food thread... After I discovered that Charlie would eat raw chicken, I waited until his usual snack time, and gave him a big chunk of gizzard. I read that some cats don't like this. Sure enough, he ate the normal meat first, then gnawed on that gizzard for a while... Quite loudly I must say! Actually, it reminded me of when my old cats caught mice or birds. And finally down it went. Then he took a long happy tongue bath. Much happier than his usual dry snack.

He usually gets 1/3 of a 5.5 ounce can three times a day, plus 1/4 cup dry food. He weights 12 pounds, and is less than two years old. I'm going to try weaning him off of the dry junk first, then go all raw! But I'm going to wait until I can order the supplements before I go all out. Just the snack hopefully will get him used to real meat. My mom is going to bring up her meat grinder to help out.

Since I can't start 100% until he's used to it, and I get the supplement, and the grinder, I'm just going to cut some from the whole chicken I bought (it's more than 5 pounds!) and freeze it into snack sized portions. I will roast the rest of the chicken for a yummy dinner.

Oh, and all the stuff, chicken, livers, veggies (which I don't know if I'll be needing now), and storage containers (had none I wasn't using!!) would have cost $15. I had a coupon, so it was $9.00. Not too shabby for my dinner, my cat's snacks, and the means to store his food, which is a one time purchase. If you take out the containers it would have been $10, minus the coupon, so $4.00. I can deal with $10.00 per month.

It could be even cheaper if I went with turkey legs. They were only $.79 per pound! I may go half and half to cut cost if I end up doing this seriously. The problem is that grinding the bones might mess with the grinder. If I used only chicken bones I could avoid that problem, hopefully.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm sorry to hear about the lot next to your parents's place. You never know who could move in. Sometimes you get lucky and your new best friend will move in (that happened to us once). Usually not though. I hope whoever moves in will be a good, quiet neighbor.

 

[Farmfresh]

What would happen if you planned kitty meals around your dinner leftovers?

Just a question.

Since I process my own chickens I package the chicken as I use it... legs thighs and wings in some freezer bags (for fried chicken dinners etc), breasts only in some bags, and 3/4 chicken in some bags (hubby will eat 2 leg and thighs, I eat the breast or half a breast and a wing or 2 and some for lunch.) Since I do this I package the necks and backs of about 4 or 5 chickens in one freezer bag. I use this to make chicken stock or meals like chicken and rice - then we feed the simmered soft bones and leftover after we picked it meat to the dogs.

If you did a similar thing you could fix yourself a good meal (or two) and simply feed your cat on your leftovers! That would be even less costly since you are actually buying the food for your consumption!

The turkey for example... buy the whole bird, then have the meat department cut it for you. They usually charge nothing for that service. Have it halved or quartered. Use the giblets, back and neck for cat food. Use the skin for cat food ground with some of the meat leftover from your dinner. Since it is halved or quartered you only need to cook a small amount at one time for your meals. After you have eaten dinner, sandwiches for lunch from your choice pieces - the rest is cat food. I would not use the bone very much unless you pressure cooked them first. That would really soften them up.

You should be able to almost feed the cat for free. I would probably give him the supplements to make sure he gets what he needs.

What do you think?

 

[hennypenny9]

Farmfresh- That would work if I ate poultry very often. I suck at cooking it. It will either be too dry or too raw. A thermometer does not help. I would try more if I had access to good quality meat, and I bet yours is super yummy. I learned about factory chicken and it made me sad. Yeah, I'm buying it for my cat, but his canned food has to go through a worse process (IMO) than it is to buy a sad commercial chicken. I don't even buy eggs. Luckily my mom brings me fresh eggs from her chickens. I eat meat maybe once a week? Sometimes maybe only twice a month. It's not a vegetarian thing, it's a "I suck at cooking meat" thing.

I wish the house would sell, because there's a small farm near the town I'm moving to that I could get good quality meat. Then no guilt! I know, I know. I'm weird and probably wrong, but oh well.

Currently the roast chicken is resting, waiting for me to try it all hopeful only to discover that I messed it up somehow. :/

ETA: Well, the chicken is quite moist, but I failed in an unexpected way. It's tasteless. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

 

[Blackbird]

I've heard of some people raising quail or pigeons specifically for raw meat for their dogs and cats. I don't feed my pigeons to the cats, so I wouldn't know how much one would eat but I wouldn't think its too terribly spendy.
Good thing about quail and pigeon is that they are fast growing and hatch eggs fairly fast.

 

[hennypenny9]

Amos- That's a good idea. Sadly I'm a total softie and physically can't kill things. I was actually quite proud that I was able to cut up the chicken today. I do like the idea of being self sufficient (duh!) and raising a lot of my own food supply. At this point all I want is to move and get hens for eggs.

Oh, my Realtor says that there's this couple that really wants to buy my house, but they can't until their own house sells. ;siehrowhyow8ywru I'm at the end of my rope.

 

[Blackbird]

When you need a bird, just seperate it into a cage and slip your cat in

 

[Farmfresh]

Sorry Amos, but most cats just won't attack a caged bird. Just not sporting I guess.

What you need to solve all of your meat cooking problems is cast iron. A cast iron dutch oven is the bad cook's best friend. Yes they are costly. (Maybe you could buy one at a thrift store or a garage sale) but they add the mineral iron (which most of us need more of) to our diet and last almost forever (literally).

To roast the best chicken (or other meat) of your life:

*Place chicken into well greased cast iron pan with lid. (even a deep skillet will work with a cast iron lid!)
*Add some garlic, or onion (both) salt and pepper, and maybe a potato or carrot or two.
*Add 1-2 cups of water (just enough to cover the bottom)
*Place in oven at 350 for 1 hour (or even more! The even moist heat will only make it more tender in cast iron!)

Yum!

 

[Blackbird]

Really?
I wish I had those cats.
All the cats I've known terrorize any birds we have in a cage, until they can grab part of it, then they tear it through the cage holes. Learned that by mistake. My cats would love to have a chance in my pigeon's flight pen.
All of our cats hunt so when they have a chance they take it.

Lol I remember when one of our cousins was over and she had a feather are was trying to play with the cats and none of them were responding. She said 'See, my cat is a hunter, he would be all over that' (she has an indoor cat that she can't let out). And I was like 'See, our cats actually hunt, and they know thats fake and really has no point if they pounce on it'.
I don't know, I'm just rambling.

 

[hennypenny9]

I love cooking with cast iron! I just have my trusty pan that I got at a garage sale, though.

I have no idea what my cat would do. He's indoor, (I've rambled about this earlier in my journal) because I'm afraid he would be hit by a car, attacked by dogs (this neighborhood is FULL of dogs) or just disappear one day. My cats growing up were both outside, in the middle of the woods. Our dog kept the predators away, so I never gave it a second thought. They were always terrified of our chickens. Here there is a main street too close for comfort. Anyway, Charlie nearly bashes his brains in trying to get the birds that come near the window. I feel bad for the poor guy.

Still, he eats spiders, and I love him for that.

If someone else does the slaughtering I'm okay. My dad hunts, and has been known to catch possum, so I'm not TOTALLY out of touch. Btw, possum stew is nummy and free.