It’s been a while since I’ve written about this, but after today’s steal and new experience with mice, I thought I’d give an update.

For new readers, you may or may not know that we feed our cats “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food” aka “BARF” or “Bones and Raw Food.”  Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that their nutritional requirements comes solely from meat.  Raw meat.  No grains, no sauteed veggies, no by products, no crap…just a whole lot of what they would eat in the wild (feral, indoor-outdoor cats, etc.) and thrive on.  Whole chicken, cornish game hen, fish, mice, rats, birds, rabbit, and other small prey.  We’ve got big, healthy, beautiful cats with shiny coats and perfectly white teeth with no buildup, whatsoever.  It wasn’t always that way, either.  Adeline, our female Maine Coon rescue, has always been healthy in appearance and behavior.  Caspian, our male Maine Coon, was a bit smaller, very feral in behavior, and apparently, had a rough start to life.  They were caught together, outdoors, by the Texas Maine Coon Rescue Alliance.  The wonderful women who connected to save these little guys spent a lot of time nursing Casey back to sustainable life.  We were lucky enough to be able to bring these little guys home and, of course, I’d researched the shit out of food just prior to picking them up.  It was apparent to me from the start that, like all living creatures, these guys needed NUTRITION, not just food.  Given his rough start, I was worried about future problems like compromised immune or growth and joint problems.  Anyway, we brought them home with a bag of Royal Canin Baby Cat food and kept them on that until we were sure they weren’t stressed from the home transition anymore.  Then, because I couldn’t get my first choice, Innova’s EVO, locally (it’s a “meat only” commercial food), we went with Wellness canned and Wellness CORE kibble.  Eventually, I grew big enough balls to give raw food a try.  I’d wanted to do it for a while, but was nervous to try it, which is strange, because, like a mother breastfeeding her child, cats eating raw food is about as natural as it gets.  Somewhere between there and here, we switched entirely to raw with no canned food to supplement.  The plaque buildup on their teeth vanished thanks to the chewing of bones and texture of the raw meat.  Their intermittent, but severe, bouts of diarrhea cleared up within two days.  Their behavior, within that first meal, became more gentle and affectionate.  Not just a little - they were completely different cats.  They went from “bad, evil kitties” to loving, vocal (ha!), and openly friendly cats.  The changes were astounding.  And for the record, it’s cooking that makes chicken (and other) bones brittle and splinter.  Raw bones are an excellent source of calcium for cats and dogs.

So, what was this “new experience” I spoke of earlier?  Mice.  They’re supposed to be the perfect “whole food” for a cat.  This morning, my dilemma wasn’t what to have for breakfast…it was alive or frozen.  I thought about this the whole way to the pet store and finally decided on the frozen.  Now, I’m not a squeamish girl and can talk about most subjects while eating, but the thought of killing mice for my cats sort of…well, turned me off.  I head to the check out counter with my three bags - 3 pinkies, 3 fuzzies, and 3 small rats - praying that the check out clerk doesn’t inquire about my rodent eating pet.  Chatty as can be, she didn’t even notice what I was buying as she rambled on about cleaning her work station and the randomly functioning handheld scanner.  I breathe a sigh of relief as she bid me a lovely day and sent me on my way.  Why I’m anxious about this is why most raw foodies are anxious about it.  It’s not mainstream knowledge.  In fact, I’ve heard more than once, “Cat’s can eat that stuff?!” in reference to raw meat.  I don’t want every single encounter to turn into an educational lesson or head to head about my word and what someone’s Hill’s Science Diet promoting vet is telling them.  Us raw, organic food feeding pet owners are the freaks of nature in the eyes of those who feed corn and chicken shit to their beloved pets.  I digress.  On the way home, I reach into the bag to inspect one of the rodent containing bags.  Up to my face, I’m greeted nose to nose with a frozen white mouse.  The bag hadn’t been sealed properly.  Nostrils flare and the mouse goes back into the grocery sack.  The look on my face must have been pretty exaggerated, as it was noticeable to the older man at the stop light next to me.  I get home and open up the bag with “pinkies” written on it.  There I am, standing by the stove, pulling open the opaque zip lock baggie only to quickly zip it shut again.  A wave of tears swallowed down with a deep, nervous breath.  In all of my reading online, all of my research, I never once expected to see baby, as in newborn baby, mice, frozen in a bag.  Again, I’m not a squeamish girl, but holy hell, I can’t do babies.  Adult mice and rats?  No problem.  Babies are not what I was expecting.  Anyway…not wanting them to go to waste, I put them on a plate in the cats room.  They were very interested in them, but didn’t quite know what to do with them.  We’ll see if they disappear towards dinner time.  I won’t be buying more of them, but I can get a great deal on a bunch of mice if they decide they like those.

Cornish hens are our furballs favorite “dish.”  Usually, I just pick up some frozen ones and store them in the freezer.  It turns out that I was in the right place at the right time today and should have gone with my first instinct to grab all of the cornish game hen in the freezer compartment.  Usually, these two packs of certified organic game hens are around $10.00 a pack.  My eyes just about popped out of my head when I saw them with a $1.79 price tag.  I immediately placed two packs into my basket.  At the check out counter, they rang up as $5.99 per pack.  I notified the checker of their lower price and she sent someone to check.  I would have paid $5.99 for each pack gratefully, as well!  The bagger returned and stated that they had been misplaced (which means I probably didn’t read the price tag well enough! Ugh!), but because of that, they were going to give them to me for the listed price.  Of course, feeling like I was stealing, I asked if she was sure, but after confirming it with her manager the next checkout over, I walked out of there with $20.00 worth of cat food for under $4.00.  I kind of wish I’d picked up the rest of the case, but I would have felt really bad getting it at a price that wasn’t supposed to be that low and due to an employee’s error.  Anyway.  Cornish hens make great cat food. Their bones are soft enough even for beginner meat and bones eater.

More on raw feeding later.