After They Had Their Breakfast�

…it was time to cook another batch of food for Bobby and the cats this morning.

�My lifesaver is the pressure cooker. It can cook up a whole batch of food in 15 minutes. I let it cool first, before deboning the chicken.

This round, I put: 4 pieces of chicken keel, 4 pieces of chicken thigh (all with the skin), chicken liver and heart, anchovies (ikan bilis), zucchini, celery, pumpkin, carrot, french beans, seaweed.

I read that celery has cooling properties that help with inflammation, liver health and urinary tract infections. Because it is high in silicon, it is also good for the bones, joints and connective tissues. It is good for arthritis too.

Pumpkin helps eliminates worms, I’m told. And it balances the pancreas too.

Carrot is good for the eyes, ears, skin and lungs. It is an antioxidant and it kills parasites and intestinal worms.

Beans contain vitamin C and provide iron, vitamins and minerals, plus dietary fibre. They are good for the spleen, pancreas and kidneys.

Seaweed has lots of minerals and it also benefits the kidneys.

Why zucchini, I have no idea! But you’d notice almost all holistic petfood recipes includes zucchini, so it must be good stuff.

Why chicken? Well, because cats are carnivores and dogs are omnivorous-carnivores and they certainly need the protein and all the other nutrients can come from the herbivorous animal. I really feel sorry for the chicken, but cats are carnivorous and they have their protein needs. This is not a perfect world, folks.

And why not beef or lamb? Well, have you ever seen wild cats or wild dogs attacking and devouring a cow or goat in the wild? Maybe, wild dogs attack goats, but cats attacking cows? Anyway, I can’t bear to cook a cow or a goat, so that would be a personal choice. It’s bad enough that I have to cook chicken, cooking cows and goats is pushing it a bit too far for me.

The key to getting the proportions right in home preparation of petfood is to “Think Chicken”. When a wild cat or wild dog catches a wild chicken in the wild (!) to eat, the first part it eats is usually the stomach which contains digested plant-food, hence, we cook the vegetables. And the amount of veges is only about 5-10%. Next, it goes for the meat, skin, muscle and organs. Finally, it chews on the bones for dessert. Hence, a bit of raw bones (from the chicken neck) so that our pets get the nutrients from the bone marrow.

�Ah, the food is ready, all blended, and I must say, this Electrolux blender is super-good in doing its job.
That’s 5 1/2 meals. I sprinkled ground eggshells and mixed it with the food.

By the way, I added some raw chicken neck into the food before blending. However, I have been reading up on raw food and some nutritionists say there is the e-coli bacteria factor in raw meats so they say it is better to cook the food. On the other hand, some raw-food proponents say that’s what animals eat in the wild anyway, and their bodies should be able to combat these parasites and bacteria. This raw food vs cooked food will be an ongoing debate. And I definitely do not want to get into this debate!

�Freeze immediately, since the brood has had their breakfast this morning.
The immediate freezing is to reduce bacteria contamination.

Tips on thawing: If you are afraid of bacteria festering, this can be minimised by thawing (defrosting) in the fridge. But always serve at room temperature and not hot or cold. Thawing can be quickened in a hot water bath as well. We know the microwave oven is harmful, so let’s not use it for our pets’ food. I don’t have a microwave oven, anyway.

Disclaimer: The above food preparation is only a sharing. Kindly consult your nutritionist for professional advice.

Now, clean the blender…

�And it’s time for my breakfast…
Today is lazy day, so it’s just green apple, pineapple and almonds.

�Here we go…

�Add sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds.

What are chia seeds: http://www.thechiaseed.com/

Now, eat in peace.

When eating, just eat. Do nothing else, but eat.

Come to think of it, all animals have this wisdom, don’t they? Have you ever seen a cat eating and stopping to chat with the next cat? Or dogs doing that, for that matter? No, when eating, they just eat and do nothing else. And we need philosophers to tell us this simple piece of wisdom?

�The after-breakfast pose.
(This is Tiger, not Tabs)

�The other after-breakfast poses.

�The may-I-have-some-more pose.

�The I-WANT-some-more pose.

I was at the vet’s yesterday to pay Sunshine’s spaying bill, and I asked if I should bring Bunny in for a check-up as the old boy seems to be very hungry all the time. My vet, as expected, gave me a long list of possibilities of what may cause a pet to be always hungry. I can’t even repeat everything he said because the terms sounded quite frightening and jargon-ish. But, having said all that (which he should, as a vet, because I asked), he asked if Bunny was okay.

I said, yes, Bunny is “clinically” okay. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him except that he’s always asking for food.

Then, the vet said this is a common problem with many pets AND their owners. The pets are, well, kind of….greedy? �And knowing that their owners are such suckers for “that look”, they know how to get their way. And that is why many owners with obese pets come to him with the same problem.

Guilty as charged, I whimpered.

So, instead of wasting money doing all kinds of tests that won’t be very conclusive, anyway, why don’t you just learn to discipline Bunny and not give in to his demands, my vet suggested.

Well, yes, that sounds a good idea…

But how do you discipline a cat? And do cats even listen to us?

Er…no, Bunny, no.

Sorry, no seconds today. Doctor’s orders.

But then again, cats are these creatures who have perfected the art of persistence, aren’t they?

�But I’m hungry!!!

It’s almost comical (sorry, Bunny!) how he does it. He comes to me, meows loudly, then heads for the pantry and waits. It’s like how a dog would call you. Poor little Bunny…. I sneaked some kibble for him just now. Yes, guilty as charged, but it was just a wee bit. A tiny bit. Shh…don’t tell my vet, please.

After about 12 rounds of unsuccessful demands for more food, stretching over 4 hours…

It didn’t work today, huh?

Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/04/07/after-they-had-their-breakfast/

Tweet