Chicken Wings??

Genuisscuffy

Hi, I'm new on here and just been reading that you give your cats chicken wings? I've got a new kitten called Checkers and wondered how old she would be to have a chicken wing? (shes 12 weeks now) - I had an older cat called Cadbury and I never considered giving him chicken bones - I thought he might choke on them - he did survive until 18 years so not too bad!!

carolinosourus

You're not supposed to give cats or dogs chicken bones as they can splinter and become lodged in their throats and choke them. If my mum ever gave our cats chicken she would always take it off the bone.

lostinrates

RAW chicken bones are perfectly fine. But carolinasourus is correct that cooked bones are an absolutely no-no!

I know breeders eho let kittens have a chomp on raw food, not sure how much the kittens get through.

Fire_Fox

Genuisscuffy wrote: »

Hi, I'm new on here and just been reading that you give your cats chicken wings? I've got a new kitten called Checkers and wondered how old she would be to have a chicken wing? (shes 12 weeks now) - I had an older cat called Cadbury and I never considered giving him chicken bones - I thought he might choke on them - he did survive until 18 years so not too bad!!

Apparently kittens can have raw meaty bones as soon as they are weaned - when tiny they will just knaw the meat off the bone, when older they will tackle the bone itself. I just bought some poultry shears (bit like garden secateurs!) and cut Noah's wings up and he ate more of the bone. Young kittens tackling raw wings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUCuaFuK_5I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v9aCoT_Hxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2-HhToJ_8

carolinosourus wrote: »

You're not supposed to give cats or dogs chicken bones as they can splinter and become lodged in their throats and choke them. If my mum ever gave our cats chicken she would always take it off the bone.

It's only cooked chicken bones you can't feed to your pets, many vets recommend raw bones to help clean pets teeth. See post 11 on this thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2025529

Genuisscuffy

Thank you - it was that thread that started me thinking!! She is so funny and completely changed the house - with two strappy young teenagers everything had to be centered around them to now they are all over her and checking she is ok and playing with her. It is so lovely to see! She's cottoned on to opening the living room door though and at 5.55 this morning must have been cold because I woke up to her purring and coming under the duvet!!

I will definately try her on a chicken wing - if anything it must keep them amused and their brains working!! than just putting the food down.

Fire_Fox

Genuisscuffy wrote: »

She's cottoned on to opening the living room door though and at 5.55 this morning must have been cold because I woke up to her purring and coming under the duvet!!

I will definately try her on a chicken wing - if anything it must keep them amused and their brains working!! than just putting the food down.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Please let us know how you get on with the chicken wings; I am completely converted as it's soooo lovely to see Noah behaving as nature intended (within reason!) and to hear him purr for his food. Half a wing does indeed keep my furbaby occupied for a while and he is still 'kidnapping' them, so it's a sort of meal and toy all rolled into one!

Welcome to MSE by the way.

mellymeep

I have to thank you Fire Fox for introducing me to chicken wings as well, Lily absolutely loves them. And I always give her one when I come in from work to apologise for leaving her for so long. She sits and waits by the door for me coming in now I swear!!

Fire_Fox

Don't thank me, thank Purrsinourhearts forums who encouraged me into trying raw. And thank them by buying lots more cool toys for Lily - Noah is LOVING the Da Sparkler attachment even more than Da Bird itself!

(All profits to charity for those who don't already know. )

paddypaws101

I think it would be a great idea to try to get your kitten started on some raw chicken wing snacks. They offer good nutrition and will help keep her teeth tartar free. Try breaking the wing up into smaller pieces with a pair of pultry shears first, it makes it easier for them to get a grip and seems to release more of the natural aroma to entice the cats!
Chicken hearts and strips of cheap stewing steak are also firm favourites with mine and both offer a good work out for the jaw.

cyberbob

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I think it would be a great idea to try to get your kitten started on some raw chicken wing snacks. They offer good nutrition and will help keep her teeth tartar free..

If they are intensively reared low grade chicken the nutrition will not be of a high quality (due to the way the chickens are reared) There is also the cruelty involved in rearing chickens this way. i personally am not happy to feed my animals food from a poor animal welfare source.

paddypaws101

cyberbob wrote: »

If they are intensively reared low grade chicken the nutrition will not be of a high quality (due to the way the chickens are reared) There is also the cruelty involved in rearing chickens this way. i personally am not happy to feed my animals food from a poor animal welfare source.

Admirable sentiments, which of course I applaud. I have been very pleased to find that my local 'posh' butcher is happy to give me bags of wings and chicken carcasses from organic free range animals at a nominal cost when I buy my own meat.
However, this is a MS board and not all posters will think these standards are necessary and I think we should appreciate that.
Also I doubt whether most commercial wet or dry food will come from such premium sources.