I loved reading your story, honestly!!!! I was imagining everything you described, as if I was a little child and my mother was reading me a bedtime story hahahaha! Thanks for being so descriptive!Crewella wrote:I live in a rural area with a big garden surrounded by fields but a very busy main road nearby. For that reason I lock everybody in at night so they never get used to the road when it's quiet - by day it's so busy, and noisy, that they're unlikely to go near it. It also helps the local wildlife to have the cats locked in at dawn. In the summer most of my gang are out for most of the day, but in the winter only my two dedicated hunters are still spending much time outdoors.
My Daz is 7 and a big, chunky 5.5kg cat - a late-neutered tom that was a stray for the first years of his life, and I suspect he could still pretty much cater for himself if necessary. He hunts every day and eats what he catches, including bunnies, squirrels, pigeons - he even came home a blooming pheasant a few weeks back, as well as mice and rats, but I have to keep a close eye on his weight as he is prone to urinary problems. He actually gets the same amount as the oldies, 50g of wet food and a handful of prescription urinary dry food (reduced calorie) twice a day. He uses a lot of energy hunting, so overall we seem to have found a balance. Touch wood!
Merrick is the other outdoorsy cat, and yes I do give him a little more than the others, although he too is eating much of what he brings home. Actually, most of them do have a snack on Daz's kills from time to time. I worm them all more often than I did before we moved here because of that.
I feed chicken wings raw at it's good for their teeth - never give cats cooked bones as they go brittle and can splinter. The chicken breasts I just boil (or occasionally steam) in water - any chicken meat would probably do but it's just easier to get breast fillets, and the meat is drier and less fatty. It's just the meat you want, no fat or skin, when you're trying to calm their digestive system.
Sorry, I seem to have given you my life story here!!!!!
Really appreciate your responses/you taking the time to help me out!