You never know what you'll find
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Wow, just wow. I can confirm that our star dieter has just been seen in the neighbour's yard stealing Tito's crunchy food! Shameful, Homer. No wonder your poo still smells bad! For a year now I've been protecting my clan from the temper tantrums of their orange and white cat neighbour, only to discover that Homer has had his own revenge. On one hand I'm proud of him for overcoming his fear and realizing that, after all, he is at least twice the size of Tito. On the other hand this is slightly annoying as I'm trying to get all the cats eating non-junk food. I know very well that Homer, Minnie Mew and Aladdin have all been catching and eating geckos outside, but hey, that fits pretty perfectly into the all-meat thing anyway. Why am I so concerned, you might ask? Good question. Processed cat foods (and dog foods) are made with an astounding list of ingredients that generally starts with "meat by-product meal" and ends with a vitamin slurry. Meat by-products are the non-saleable parts of slaughtered animals, basically anything from hooves and intestines to lungs and tumours. Processing plants throw this into vats and boil it for hours or days, then bulk it up with vegetable proteins and carbohydrates. Yum! You can learn more about processed pet foods from veterinarian Jean Hofve. Over-processed foods aren't good for us, and they don't seem to be any good for our pets either. Don't get me wrong, I know the value of junk food! But I think we can all agree that junk food shouldn't make up the core of our diet. Homie scavenged a treat from his nemesis and that probably made him feel pretty good about himself. But his dinner is chicken and liver and that will make me feel pretty good about myself!
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It's affordable, easy to find, not as disgusting to prepare as certain other flesh we may mention - and Homer no likey. Go figure. Minnie and Aladdin? All about this chicken. Let me walk you through the prep details. Step one! Buy a whole chicken, plus a tray of chicken hearts, livers, kidneys and other organs. The mixed platter, if you will. I recently found a mound of chicken innards in my nearby Chedraui store for FIVE PESOS. Step two! Cook. As you can see I plopped the late Ms. Chicken in the centre of a casserole dish and surrounded her with the guts of her family to roast together. No oil or seasoning obviously, since kitties don't go in for that kind of stuff, and I'm not really sure how salt and canola oil factor into a feline diet plan. I turned the heat on to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit and just left the pan in the oven until I smelled roasted chicken (and the contents of the tray were browned as you see in the second photo above.) As usual, the gang gathered at the kitchen counter when I pulled this out of the oven. After letting it cool - and swatting several furry people off the counter as it did - I chopped everything up roughly and kept most of the muscle meat separate from the organ meat. Homer enjoyed the smell so much that he actually headbonked a piece that I offered him in midair, but when it comes to chicken being in his mouth he's just not a fan. He was happy to munch on the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs, however. The other two cats (Baby has gone to her forever home now so it's just the three of them again) had no problems digging into the chicken meat or the organs. Bless them. I just love that my home seems to constantly stink of meat now. Yay for being a great cat parent! Oh my god, oh my god. This was one of the most difficult things I've had to do, ever. See that shining glob pictured? That's a cow's liver. And as it happens, liver is full of a lovely variety of minerals and vitamins, including taurine. Veterinarians believe that taurine is an essential nutrient for cats. In fact, it is this sole nutrient that prevents cats from thriving on a vegetarian diet (there's some controversy on that, of course.) Since taurine is naturally-occurring in the flesh and organs of mammals, it is easily provided with a carnivorous diet. I want the best for my cats, and that's why I ventured into the foul-smelling meat department at Mega and subdued my vomit reflex as much as possible while locating, wrapping and purchasing this giant stinking organ that really belongs inside a living cow. The thing was sliced horizontally so I speared a slice and threw it into the frying pan. Seared on both sides, the liver produced a smell quite unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Every cat in the house was going mad as it cooked, which is very unusual for my crew. When the slab cooled a bit, I chopped it into little pieces as quickly as I could though the sinews trapped the knife several times which cost me precious seconds and caused me to inhale while dangerously close to the meat. Just nasty. Not even my meat-loving, brain-taco-eating husband could stand the smell. While waiting impatiently for my chopping to come to an end, Aladdin became so desperate to get his mouth around the liver that he dug its bloody wrappings out of the trash and suckled them. Once the chopped liver hit the cats' bowls, it was devoured with nary a chew. Homer, a cat that always lets his housemates finish eating before he takes a bite, forced his nose in there to fight for his dinner like a tiger. Stripey foster Baby lapped up the leaking blood, while Aladdin found the fatty bits and chewed on them like taffy. Worst day ever for vegetarian kitty owner. The liver lasted nearly three days, during which time the cats tested cooked, raw, and lightly-fried-then-pulverized pate. They licked, slurped, chewed and sniffed up every drop. Night-night kisses were unpleasant, to say the least. But my poor Minnie Mew - she couldn't stand the stuff any more that I could. I had to dab some on her nosey just to get her to try a taste. Her verdict was announced in a low growl. Can't say that I blame her in the slightest. Back to tuna for the Mewster and crew for today, and then some chicken and egg salad tomorrow. Liver? It'll have to wait until I stop smelling phantom fried bloody organs everywhere I go. Even the low low price of 10 pesos per day isn't going to move that process along any more swiftly. Sorry Homer. The years have flown by, and today I celebrate my 6th birthday. I've lost my adolescent jiggly bits and know it's time to get my life in shape. Step One? Blog. My opinions are invaluable. Step Two? Let the human also blog. We're getting shit done. Our first cyber-literature adventure takes place right here at home (as do most of my adventures) as I and my siblings will attempt to make the switch from processed foods to fresh, homemade meals. Now, this is going to be tricky because despite spending a good portion of my life with large "love handles" I am actually a bit finicky. I enjoy a good bowl of crunchy food. In particular I have formed attachments to Science Diet and more recently Nature's Variety. A lick or two of tuna juice is fun from time to time, but I'm not sure if daily fish or meat is really my thing. I am in the process of finding out! The Great Experiment started by accident, like all Great things. When it came time to replenish our monthly bag of food, it was, alas, unavailable. Ever resourceful, our Mama (that's Mandy to the rest of you) thawed a chicken, fried it up and served us the shredded meat. This is an astonishing turn of events because, you see, Mama doesn't actually eat meat herself. The chicken came from friends who were leaving on holidays and needed to clean out their freezer. The idea was that Daddy would eat the chicken, but, well, he's not much of a cook. Anyway, 3 out of 4 of us were over the moon about nomming down on a plate full of chicken. In fact my step-brother Aladdin ate so much so quickly that he foamed at the mouth trying to keep it all in. But he was homeless and starving for a long time, so we forgive him for these weird things he does. Foster kitten Baby went almost as crazy as her Uncle Al, while my sister Minnie Mew dug in and helped herself to more than the usual serving. The chicken was a hit. As for me, I ate it too but not with much gusto. I'm just not that into chicken. The thing is, seeing (almost) the entire family so keen on meat made Mama think: should she be giving us "real" food all the time? The internet suggested both yes and no, as it often does. So further research was required. Anyway, I'll let Mandy tell you about that. Immediately following the First Day of Chicken, came the Second Day of Chicken, Plus Egg. This came pureed and neither Mew nor I cared much for it, but we grudgingly ate it anyway. Next day was the First Day of Tuna, and really nobody could fault that, not even me. The Second Day of Tuna was a little tedious, however, and I stated outright that if we were going to do this "meat" thing then we were going to need a few more options. Aladdin and Baby don't seem to care, just for the record, but honestly I've seen that guy eat spaghetti with marinara sauce. He knows nothing. Thus begins the Great Experiment. |
Homer & MandyWelcome to The Cat Box! Homer will be your guides to all things cat, cat and more cat. Things like cat food, nutrition and general well-being, but not the Oxford comma. Because screw that thing. Categories |