Meat Chunks As A Dental Treat

I was asking advice from my raw-feeding friend today regarding Pole’s tartar problem. I would do whatever it takes as long as she does not have to undergo scaling.

The advice was to give her Orozyme twice a day of which I am already doing AND to give her meat chunks to chew on. In fact, all of our cats should be given meat chunks. I was given the following alternatives:

(1) Chicken feet
(2) Chicken necks
(3) Chicken wingtip
(4) Chicken buttocks
(5) Beef cubes
(6) Lamb cubes

No pork – because of the danger of tapeworms. And chicken breast-meat is too soft to serve the purpose as a dental food.

But I had previously given them chicken feet, necks and wingtips but everyone did not know what to do with them.

So I had to grit my teeth and try beef cubes. I have never eaten beef all my life, so I asked a friend which parts to buy. All this while, I had always thought that beef should not be a cat’s natural food as wild cats definitely don’t eat cows…..but maybe I’m wrong. It all boils down to the protein structure, not the size of the animal.

I finally went to the supermarket and found beef cut into cubes. It’s from Australia, so I suppose it would be good enough?

The moment I brought the packet into the kitchen, guess who went crazy?

Heidi!

I gave her a chunk (it was quite big too) and she devoured it. She asked for more and more.  Oh my goodness….I did not expect this. But Heidi only has 2 teeth left and does NOT require any dental food! But never mind, I let her have some – it’s still food, isn’t it?

I gave some to Tabs and Ginger too. Surprisingly even Tabs knew how to eat it. Ginger, of course, ate it too, but wasn’t as crazy about it as Heidi. Good, because Ginger needs to have his teeth cleaned as well.

Next, I went into the pantry. It was the Cow Clan’s turn.

Nobody seemed very interested EXCEPT Indy. Indy devoured it.

The Cow Clan wasn’t quite interested. What did I expect, they are called the “Cow Clan”, right?

Bunny smelled it a bit and finally ate it. Indy was devouring another cube and asking for more.

This leaves Cow, Pole and Cleo, right?

I bought this specially for Pole….and guess what, Pole did not want to eat it at all.

Sigh….how are we going to brush your teeth, Pole?

Cleo smelled it for sometime and finally ate it…on a moderate level.  Not crazy over it.

Pole…I had to get Pole to eat it.

She was hungry, I know. But no, she refused to eat it.

So, I cut the cube into smaller pieces….still no.

I had almost given up until finally, she decided to give it a try (maybe too hungry?).

So yes, finally, Pole ate some, but the pieces were smaller. She still chewed, so that’s good.

Who does that leave?

Cow.

Cow did not want any of it.

Of course, right?  His name is Cow. HOW can he possibly eat beef!  It’s a no-brainer.

But wait, Bunny eats rabbit.

But Cow has a pawing-at-mouth problem too. He is prone to plague as well. I already give him Orozyme twice daily.

A bit of coaxing…but no. Cow said no.

No, I am a principled cat. I will not eat cow.

Okay, I respect that, Cow.

How about some chicken feet, Cow?

I gave him some, but he did not know what to do with that either. By the time I finished with the Cow Clan, I went back to the kitchen and Ginger had already torn the chicken feet pack and taken out a chicken foot to play with.

Oh dear….

It was like a toy for him. He did not know what to do with it except to play with it.

Oh well, I will use the chicken feet to make meat broth for them. It’s got collagen, I’m told.

So I guess I would have to get these beef chunks regularly as a dental treat for the cats now. And Cow would have to rely on Orozyme.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2020/02/01/meat-chunks-as-a-dental-..

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