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What Scraps?

Updated: Tuesday, May 28, 2019 02:01 PM
Published: Monday, June 08, 2009 07:04 AM
Written by Margaret Gates

Since I started feeding raw food for cats, I've done a lot of thinking about cat food. I realized while grocery shopping the other day the only reason I go down the pet food aisle now is to pick up kitty litter. There isn't a single pet food there I'd be willing to give my cats. Everything has grain in it. Everything. I shudder to I think it wasn't that long ago I was buying dry food there.

I really should say what I've been thinking about isn't cat food per se, but meat. I pretty much stick to fowl when it comes to my own diet. I don't eat beef, but I have pork and fish on occasion.

When I researched how cats were fed before it became industrialized, I found what we fed them was a result of how we fed ourselves. Cats used to eat what they could catch along with scraps from their humans. Scraps? What scraps?

I do most of my own cooking. I think I know my way around a kitchen, but it really made me think. I don't generate any meat scraps. I buy skinless, boneless chicken, with nothing left over. The closest I come is turkey at Thanksgiving. I used to wonder why they included the neck. What the heck are you supposed to do you do with it?

Additional Reading

Answers: One More Reason to Ditch Dry Cat Food

'Natural' vs. 'Grain-Free' Cat Food

Tell Your Cat to Chew on This!

Oh! Those Dirty Little Kittens!

Convenience meat cuts mean we get only what we're going to eat. When was the last time you bought fish that still had a head? For me, the answer is never. In the past, people bought more whole meat. They cut it up and prepared it themselves. Yeah, all those people who actually knew how to de-bone a chicken! There was lots more left over. Hey…scraps for the cat! Of course, there were more people even closer to the process. Farmers slaughtering their own animals and anglers catching fish. I'm not sure I'd eat meat if I had to do that.

Today, I pay more attention in the meat department. Maybe I'll get a de-boning knife. Maybe I'll learn how to fillet a fish and buy one with a head still attached. Hey kitties, wanna try a fish head?

Margaret Gates is the founder of the Feline Nutrition Foundation.