Just a little update ;)

So.... the meat delivery came this morning. Fridge & freezer now full of rabbit, pigeon & partridge & a quail.

Oh and.... so too did the kittens!!!!

Last night Angel was so loving. She was purring constantly and I laid on the floor, she laid against me and purred whilst I stroked her and rubbed her neck, behind her ears & under her chin, and even rubbed her stomach. For the longest time. By 11pm I was sure that tonight was the night. She had started pacing and trying to get behind my sofa. I blocked it off. I didn't want her to have them where I couldn't easily check on her & them.

So I grabbed so pyjama bottoms, a pillow & a blanket, and I got comfy on the couch. I also left her crate open (so she had access to her nesting box). I had also prepared a cardboard box with towels for after the birth, and put that at the opposite end of the room, against the porch door.
She chose the cardboard box.

I fell asleep shortly after 1.30 am. And woke up some time after 3am. I was aware she was in the box and having contractions.

I sat with her and talked to her and stroked her gently.

The first kitten was born shortly afterwards, at about 3:40am.
The second came 10 minutes later.
I panicked a little at this stage. She wasn't really bothering with the kittens. I started contemplating phoning someone (at 4am lol) and asking for help. I had used a corner of towel to rub the kittens gently and move them slightly towards her. I was careful not to interfere too much.

Anyway, eventually she started dealing with them. I was at the wrong angle to see, but with hindsight I think that their placentas may have been fused or come away together, because then she started dealing with them and eating something (the afterbirth) and finally chewing off the umbillical cords.

After that, the kittens managed to manouvre themselves quite well, and after a whils they both latched on and nursed.

I could see another kitten (or rather, the bulge of another) quite high up. At first it was still, but then it started wriggling lots. It seemed like ages waiting for the next kitten, in reality it was just over an hour.
At 5:16am kitten 3 was born. This kitten was funny... he came out and was deadly still. After a minute (or a few seconds? Time did not pass evenly), Angel licked him vigourously and broke the membranes.. all of a sudden the kitten flipped and wriggled more than I've ever seen.
Finally at 5:42am the fourth and final kitten arrived.
Angel knew exactly what to do with these last two and was brilliant.
Mum & all 4 kittens are doing great & they are all settled now in the box in their crate, though I have still to change it for a clean box with clean bedding.
Anyway. I am sleep deprived so I'll leave you with a few pictures.

***Warning: These pictures are taken during and straight after delivery so they do contain blood etc and are "graphic". Don't look if you are squeamish. Scroll down to the very last pic if you want to see *just* the cleaned up kittens***


First two kittens born #1 tabby, bottom kitten, #2 tabby & white, top kitten.

Kitten #3 appearing in sac


#3 is out!

# 4 just being born

# 4 is out.
All the kittens together.


And again.

And several hours later (10/11am, 6 to 8hrs old.)

I'm back & updates.

Very sorry, it seems I have neglected this blog somewhat.

Well, the foster cats stayed with me just over 4 weeks in the end, and with 3 cats and two dogs to feed I was pretty much just filling bowls with whatever meat etc I had and feeding lol. I didn't have the time, energy, or patience to (wash my hands &) grab my camera to take photos of every meal.

Well the cats went back last week. The kittens were spayed. Their mum, Onyx, turned out to be pregnant again. I'd had my suspicions, since the last week she was with me she had started looking a little barrel like, and was extremely heavy to lift. She also stopped letting me touch her stomach or put my hand under her butt (to support her back end when picking her up).

Anyway, to my knowledge she is in the rescue, and will go back into a foster home once she is a little further on in her pregnancy (by my reckoning she was 5 or 6 weeks pregnant when she left me, so will be due in 2 to 4 weeks time).

A week before Onyx and her kittens left, I fostered a new cat.
We have named her Angel. She is lovely, and she is heavily pregnant.

She was brought to the rescue as a stray on the 12th August. The same day I picked her up. She was (is) very skinny. She was plagued by feas and absolutely covered in scabs from where she'd reacted to their bites. I cant even describe it. You stroked her and her skin was a mass of scabs.
The people who brought her to the rescue had bathed her, which was a great help, because by the time I saw her, there seemed to be no fleas, so I assume the bath got rid of most.
The rescue treated her with some spray (chemical one *grumble*). Unfortunately that was out of my control.

I have since been putting DE everywhere.

The first week or so I saw no sign of them, though these last couple of days we have seen one, and the dogs have been scratching a little, so I assume some have hatched out recently, so I'm continuing to put DE on the carpets and dog bedding and hope that sorts them out.

Switching Angel to raw was slightly harder than with the other 3 cats. Though like them, she also seemed to hate the doom nuggets (aka cat biscuits).

To start, I was cutting her meat up extremely small, like tiny tiny chunks, less than 3mm sq. Gradually I was able to increase the chunk size, and now she is eating larger chunks and stripsof chicken meat, and biting and tearing and chewing as she should be.
But she does seem to eat more and like me to hand feed her, lol. So once or twice a day I sit with her and pick meat up and hold it out for her. She's so spoilt, lol!

She does eat of her own accord too though, and these last few days she seems to have doubled what she was eating when she first arrived - not that that is saying much - she barely ate when she came to me, she was so skinny I reckon her stomach had shrunk a lot.

So far she's eaten:
Chicken (mostly thigh/drumstick meat)
Lambs heart
Kidney
Liver
Lamb meat
Tinned fish - Pilchards, Sardines & mackrel
Salmon (both fresh and tinned)
And recently she's been eating Guineafowl which I bought 'as a treat'.

Oh, and she has had salmon oil added to her food a few times too.

Tomorrow I am due a delivery of rabbit, partridge, woodpigeon & quail, and I'm looking forward to trying her with these, as they will add some nice variety, and are a more natural diet than larger animals such as beef or lamb etc.

I will endevour to take photos of these meats and upcoming meals :)

So, now here are some photos of Angel

this is what she looked like when she first came to me! 12th August 2012.
She looked so mangey! Her fur felt so dry and brittle too.

Eating fresh Salmon fillet, 14th Aug











Doing what cats do best - sleeping in a box

15th August, 3 days being fed RAW. The tub in th background contains unknown DOOM NUGGETS (Royal Canin Queen biscuits I think.) Which I am no way in hell feeding her.





Angel asleep again, 20th August. 8 days on RAW.




22nd Aug - 10 days on raw.

Just look at the difference!

She is no longer scabby either, her fur is silky soft, and her skin is scab free save for a couple on her neck.

Now we are just waiting on those kittens!!!

Highly inappropriate food....

So reading wikipedia on cats, you get to this part:

"Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter.^[27] In contrast to omnivores such as rats, which only require about 4% protein in their diet, about 20% of a cat's diet must be protein.^[27]

[27] MacDonald ML, Rogers QR, Morris JG (1984). "Nutrition of the domestic cat, a mammalian carnivore". Annu. Rev. Nutr. 4: 521–62. DOI:10.1146/annurev.nu.04.070184.002513. PMID 6380542."

So then, why do Whiskas think it is ok to make a cat food, which by their own admission, contains less than half this amount?

Interestingly, it's almost impossible to find any specifics online, regarding composition. The Whiskas website doesn't even list the ingredients. A few online suppliers do.

OK so you'll have to trust me here - here I have a box of Whiskas Poultry Selection in Jelly.

There are 12 pouches, a mix of "with Chicken", "with Turkey", "with Duck", and "with Poultry".... hmm, the last one is odd given that the other three are poultry...

OK, so ingredients:

With Chicken:

meat and animal derivitives (including 4% chicken), vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.

Analytical constituents: Protein 9%, fat content 4.5%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

With Turkey:
meat and animal derivitives (including 4% turkey), vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.
Analytical constituents: Protein 9%, fat content 4.5%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%
With Duck:
meat and animal derivitives (including 4% duck), vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.
Analytical constituents: Protein 9%, fat content 4.5%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

With Poultry:
meat and animal derivitives (including 4% poultry), vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.

Analytical constituents: Protein 9%, fat content 4.5%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

Poultry means that even the measly 4% 'specified' meat doesn't really have to be specified. But more worrying is that despite cats needing around 20% of their diet to be protein, if a cat is fed Whiskas pouches they are getting less than half this amount.

Whiskas in Gravy is even worse.

Here I have a selection of 12 pouches. The box boasts the flavours:

with BEEF
with LAMB & carrots
with TURKEY
with DUCK & green peas

Now, remember, cats are obligate carnivores: They cannot digest plant matter and would not eat them in the wild.

So, the ingredients:

with Beef:

meat and animal derivatives (including 4% beef), cereals, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.

Analytical constituents: protein 8.5%, fat content 4%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

with Lamb & carrots:

meat & animal derivatives (including 4% lamb), vegetables (including 4% carrots), cereals, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.

Analytical constituents: protein 8.5%, fat content 4%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

with Turkey:

meat and animal derivatives (including 4% turkey), cereals, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals.

Analytical constituents: protein 8.5%, fat content 4%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%

with Duck & green peas:

meat and animal derivatives (including 4% duck), cerals, vegetables (including 4% green peas), derivatives of vegetable origin, vegetable protein extracts, minerals.

Analytical constituents: protein 8.5%, fat content 4%, inorganic matter 2.4%, crude fibres 0.3%, moisture 82%



So why do people feed this rubbish to their beloved pet(s)?


My foster cats have had lamb meat (100% raw lamb taken from the spine & ribs), they have have chicken, including chicken necks, and they have had ox liver. All of which have come from organically reared livestock.
Have they had cereals? NO. Have they had vegetables? No. Of course not.
Are they healthy? Absolutely.

This evening.

Buster had approx 300g of chicken back, and about 15g of tinned sardine.
Enzo had 50g chicken chunks.

Cats have just been given approx. 120g chicken and approx 80g of tinned sardines. Daisy has already had some of the sardines.

Cats, Dogs & Chicken.

Got some good shots of the cats eating chicken today. Also a picture of Buster's breakfast.

I bought a chicken the other day, £4.00 reduced to £2.79 - 1.450kg so good value!

Buster had one of the chicken legs for his dinner last night and the other for breakfast today.

I have been chopping large chunks of chicken meat off the carcass, for the cats and for Enzo.

Today the cats had around 100g of chicken & chicken skin, and a chicken wing weighing approx 100g. Some is still left, but they've eaten a lot of it.

Warrior eating chicken last night

Buster's breakfast. Chicken thigh & leg weighing 205g

Buster eating outside this morning










Onyx eating a chicken wing earlier












Daisy eating chicken earlier today.

Kittens

Daisy eating raw. This dish had turkey mince, venison mince, and wild salmon in it (the salmon was from a tin, so technically, not raw)

Warrior eating raw chicken tonight.

 Mum Cat relaxing in her favourite corner.

                                                                   The kittens.

"Daisy" nursing.

Kittens exploring.

Kitties exploring.

Raw Fed.... Cats!

Little update.

Yesterday I welcomed some foster cats into my home. I am fostering them for a local cat rescue.

A long haired black cat and her 2 adorable kittens. The kittens are around 7 weeks old, one is black with a tiny white patch on her chest, the other is black and white, and fluffy like her mama!

Apparently the mum-cat ended up as a stray and so these kittens have spent their lives outside, and as a result are not used to being handled.

They are settling in well though. The black and white fluffy kitty is very docile and easy enough to handle, the mostly black kitty is less so, and hisses when I go to stroke her, but she will tolerate some petting.

They are quite confident already and have been exploring my front room and playing a lot this afternoon and evening.

Oh, and they are being fed raw ;)
They have had a couple of cartons of Animonda Vom Feinstein Kitten Baby Pate, but they have also had chicken carcass chunks & turkey (& bone) mince. I'm hoping to keep them on the raw food now, for as long as they are with me (2 to 3 weeks).

Photos and videos to follow :)

Today... Food & other things.

So today was a crazy day!

Woke up this morning at 5am. That was Buster telling me he wanted to get up, or go pee. Or something.

So I got up and let thm out, but I am not a morning person, say after they had peed and been petted, I did go back to bed ;)

Well when I got up I deliberated for a while, but then decided to take the dogs to a local 'fun dog show' (ie, amatuer).

So I went with the decision not to feed them their breakfast as normal (Buster get's a bit car sick... well that's another post I may go into later...)

So off we went. Entries at 12, judging at 1pm.

How silly of me to assume I'd be back home for 2pm!!!

There were lots of dogs, easily two dozen, though I didn't think to count them. (Didnt think to take my camera either, D'oh!)

There were 10 or 11 categories. I entered mine in 4 each. Actually, Buster went in 5, Enzo in 4. A couple of them I entered both into. Each category had an average of 8 dogs, so quite a bit of competition!

Buster got a 'Special Award' in the 'Best Condition: Large breed' category. Not sure what that means really. It wasn't 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. But the recognition has to count for something?
It also made me chuckle since my ex has said a few times that Buster's "a bit special". Ha ha.

If you ask me though, he deserved 1st prize. His teeth are gleaming and his coat is shiny, he is a very well kempt dog, thanks to RAW feeding!
Although had I known I was definitely going and that they were going to take the judging of that category so seriously I would have bathed and groomed them before I set off ;)

I was talking to an older lady with a huge shaggy alsation/husky looking dog. It was a good looking dog but its teeth were greeny yellow and it looked 'old', so I was shocked when she told me he was 3 years old! THREE! I'd have placed him at 8 years+! Anyway, I digress....

There were some other discrepencies too. Like the 'Waggiest Tail' category. Naturally I entered Buster. Seriously, that thing doesn't stop wagging! Unless he's asleep.
I wish I'd been able to film it actually. I know I am likely to be biased in terms of best dog, best condition, etc etc, but the tail thing... Buster's tail wagged the most. Promise.
But he didn't even place!
To add insult to injury, 3rd place was given to a labrador whose tail never wagged once! Not even a bit! The dog had its tail firmly clamped between its legs the entire time (and we were stood there being 'judged' a long time! :/ )
Anyway, that was a definite con. Oh well.

I entered both dogs into the "Most Handsome Dog" category. There were about 10 or 12 dogs in total in this category. By this stage I had already decided it was a fix... not what you know but who you know kind of thing, given the third-place 'waggiest tail' winner....

So imagine my suprise when we scooped both 2nd and 3rd place!!!

Buster got second, and Enzo got 3rd.

So, a good day was had by all. We got certificates and 'prizes'. 3 new squeaky toys - a ball, a green 'bone' and a red cylander - think it's supposed to look like a packet of loveheart sweets - for some reason [confused face].
They also got some chews, which I gave to my mum for her dog, since I don't give my dogs 'treats' that contain cereals, grains, or colourings - all of which are in those specific dog chews.
We also got 2 bags of dog kibbles for coming 2nd and 3rd, which I plan to donate to the nearest dog rescue centre. The ingredients seem better than most (Rice listed first, 20%, then 20% lamb, then a mix of Barly, Maize etc etc). But still not good enough for my dogs ;)

We left as soon as mine had been in their final category, not waiting for the last category, or the overall winner (re judge all dogs that came first and pick the overall winner). It was after 3pm when we left, and as a result did not get home until nearly 4pm!

Poor dogs! They had plenty of water whilst we were there, but no food (well, apart from the dodgy dog treats that Buster managed to hoover up after someone elses dog seemingly thought better of eating them, and left some lying on the ground...)

So first thing when we got in was the dogs had a drink and then had a bowl of rabbit mince.
No pictures as I was too pre-occupied and interested on getting them fed as quick as possible. I did weigh though. Buster had 200g and Enzo got 60g. They wolfed it down. Poor hungry pooches.

After they had eaten and I'd made myself a cuppa and a sandwich (first bite to eat - at 4:30pm!!!) Enzo flopped down on the sofa for a nap. Buster decided he was too interested in his new squeaky toys, and insisted on a game or 5 of fetch, lol, before he too settled down for a well deserved snooze.

Took them for a walk at 6:15pm, just 45 minutes up round the field and woods. They need a good run off-lead, they'd been on their feet and walked quite a bit with the dog show and everything, but it's not the same. I took Buster's new squeaky bone and threw that for him a bit in the field.

Then came home and fed them their dinner.

Chicken again. 60g for Enzo, 320g for Buster.




















And here are their certificates!

Best Condition: Large
Buster

Buster

Enzo

A selection of food over the last few days.

Buster eating lamb in his 'den' (crate/cage/bed)
Wednesday 4th July. 300g

Enzo had a smaller chunk of lamb bone, whih he ate most of, but not all.
No picture of Enzo with his.
this was breakfast.

Buster's Dinner (Wed 4th July)

Pheasant mince - 205g

Enzo's Dinner (Wed, 4th July)

Pheasant mince - 50g.

He didn't eat it all. His chunk of lamb bone weighed over 100g and I left it in his den, so he ate about half his mince but had a chew of the lamb through out the day.

I put the mince in the fridge overnight and gave him it back first thing Thursday morning, and he ate it whilst I was making breakfast.

Thursday Breakfast
Buster - Chicken back - 120g
Plus one egg and eggshell - approx. 60g!

Thursday Breakfast
Enzo - Chicken chunks - 30g, plus a teaspoon blob of egg yolk and egg white.

It doesn't look much, the bowl is quite large, but I only gave him 30g seeing as he'd just eaten roughly 15/20g of pheasant mince a little earlier.

Buster's Dinner - (Thursday 5th)

Pheasant mince - 168g
and chicken back/carcass - 151g (total 319g)

Enzo's Dinner - (Thursday)

Pheasant mince - 38g
and chicken chunks - 32g (total 70g)

Friday 6th.

Buster's Breakfast - Chicken backs - 200g

Enzo's Breakfast - chicken & bone chunks - 50g

Enzo's Dinner - Chicken chunks - 60g

Buster's Dinner - Chicken Carcass - 355g














The dogs haven't had tripe for a while, but I still have some mince and chicken in the fridge for Sunday.

I think Monday might be tripe and Turkey day. And some heart and liver later in the week.

Today's food

Enzo's Breakfast.
60g of chicken and bone chunks. Plus some chicken organs... not sure what the little bean-shaped things are - possibly lungs or kidneys. Not sure if they are too small to be either?









Buster had 268g of Chicken carcass, but I forgot to photograph it, so no picture.

Enzo's Dinner - 60g of chicken chunks & bone

Buster's Dinner - 256g of Lamb bone!

A selection of the dogs' dinners ;)

27th June - Buster's Breakfast.
Mince - possibly Rabbit.

27th June - Enzo's Breakfast.
Rabbit mince?

27th June - Buster's Dinner.
Mince ( Rabbit I think) and a bone (lamb).

27th June - Enzo's Dinner.
Mince. Possibly rabbit.

28th June - Buster's Breakfast.
Chicken carcass.

28th June - Enzo's Breakfast.
Chicken chunks & bone

29th June - Buster's Dinner.
approx 250g Mince (Pheasant)

29th June - Enzo's Dinner.
approx 60g Mince (Pheasant)

30th June - Buster's Lunch (late breakfast!)
Chicken carcass.

30th June - Enzo's Lunch.
approx 50/60g of chicken and bone chunks.

2nd July - Enzo's Dinner
60g? Chicken & bone

2nd July - Buster's Dinner
Chicken carcass.