Re: Study: 4 out of 6 cats won't eat raw liver

[Guest guest]

At 03:06 PM 3/4/04 -0600, you wrote:

>Okay, what's the deal. I think I am being the purrfect mum by cutting up

>some nice raw chicken liver of the highest quality for my 6 kitties. Then

>only two of them go for it! And my cats are total gourmands!

>

>BTW, the two that dined are the only two that go outside much. Five cats

>came with the house we bought over a year ago: Mama (Ashes) and four kittens

>(Stormy, Orca, Francis and Marble). The recent addition is a stray (Tosca).

>

>Tosca is normally the food fiend, zipping in and growling at any feline even

>thinking about eating her intended morsel. Well, with the raw liver, she

>was batting it all over the kitchen expecting it to fly or something. But

>she wouldn't eat it.

>

>Okay, what gives?

>

The only way my cat will eat raw liver (from any animal) is if I mix small

amounts in with other food. He LOVES cooked chicken liver, but not

cooked liver from other animals.

So basically, I just cut up a bunch of raw stuff and mix it into his meals

for a few days.

MFJ

There are no stupid questions, but there are plenty of silly ones.

[Guest guest]

>> Okay, what gives? <<

Cats are a species that " imprints " on food pretty strongly. During a certain

period of kittenhood, they are shown by their mothers what food is and isn't,

and ever afterward, it's difficult to impossible to get them to see things that

don't meet those parameters as " food. " This means that most cats have trouble

accepting new tastes/smells/textures as " food. " Some cats become so strongly

imprinted that they only see ONE brand of kibble, or ONE type of food, as

" food. " To them, anything else is no more food than a rock is, even if they are

literally starving. Cats are one of the few species that can actually DIE in the

presence of abundant food - if that food doesn't fit their understanding of what

food is. They aren't finicky - it's just a survival skill that kept them safe in

the wild but doesn't work so great in domestication.

It doesn't sound like your cats are quite that imprinted, as you say they are

" gourmands. " So I would imagine it might just take them a while to get what the

liver is, and grasp that it's food. Or they may never get it. Hard to predict

what a cat will do. <G>

Christie

[Guest guest]

I've had 2 cats from the same litter since kittens, one is now 19

1/2 and the other had to put to sleep late last year. They were

swapped over to raw foods maybe 8 years ago, but only Muffin would

eat organ meat. Since she later went blind, she must have needed the

Vit A and didn't get enough. Miffy wouldn't touch the stuff. Just

recently I tried her on raw liver again, and to my surprise she

wolfed it down. Then again a week later.

I have heard that if cats get too much Vit A it gets stored in their

bodies and becomes dangerous. Don;t have any idea if this is true or

not. But maybe Miffy didn't need vit A before and does need it

now?????

deb

> >> Okay, what gives? <<

>

> Cats are a species that " imprints " on food pretty strongly. During

a certain period of kittenhood, they are shown by their mothers what

food is and isn't, and ever afterward, it's difficult to impossible

to get them to see things that don't meet those parameters

as " food. " This means that most cats have trouble accepting new

tastes/smells/textures as " food. " Some cats become so strongly

imprinted that they only see ONE brand of kibble, or ONE type of

food, as " food. " To them, anything else is no more food than a rock

is, even if they are literally starving. Cats are one of the few

species that can actually DIE in the presence of abundant food - if

that food doesn't fit their understanding of what food is. They

aren't finicky - it's just a survival skill that kept them safe in

the wild but doesn't work so great in domestication.

>

> It doesn't sound like your cats are quite that imprinted, as you

say they are " gourmands. " So I would imagine it might just take them

a while to get what the liver is, and grasp that it's food. Or they

may never get it. Hard to predict what a cat will do. <G>

>

> Christie

>

>

[Guest guest]

*****

It doesn't sound like your cats are quite that imprinted ....

*****

No not with food. But they have these other behaviors imprinted. Yes, with

this and the mixing into the food advice, these kitties will eat *food* that

is actually good for them... even if I have to have the boys tie raw liver

to a string and drag it around the house so they think it's a locust or

something!

Maybe I should just try to catch fish with the chopped liver, lol.

Many thanks to you both.

Deanna

[Guest guest]

>> I have heard that if cats get too much Vit A it gets stored in their

bodies and becomes dangerous. Don;t have any idea if this is true or

not. <<

That's true of them, dogs, and also of us.

Christie