Found my cat eating raw chicken that I was defrosting on the counter. Will he get sick?
We just left for not even an hour and I left the chicken on the counter in the original wrapper in a ziplock wrapper to defrost in a plastic bowl. He jumped on the counter (what's new) and bit through to the chicken. There was styrafoam pieces and plastic everywhere and not to mention chicken juice. The chicken was still partialy frozen so I can't tell what he really ate, but he sure did a great job of getting to the chicken. I gave him his food and water right after and he did eat it, but he did this as if I starve him! What the hell? Why did my cat do this, he never has done this and he has been with us for 6 years.
Anonymous2008-03-22T16:44:45Z
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First off, you shouldn't be defrosting chicken on a kitchen counter - you're going to end up getting yourself sick. Let it defrost in the fridge or using the microwave.
Secondly, no your cat will be fine. Animals eat raw meat in the wild and cats can handle it as well. As for why he was so ravenous with the meat - does he ever get canned food? I'm guessing no. How about giving him some quality canned food once in awhile instead of dry food that's made mostly of corn? Cats are carnivores and should be fed a quality meat-based diet.
lol. No, the chicken will not hurt him. It's GOOD for him. :) You ought to think about feeding him chicken necks. I'm sure he'd be so happy.
Yes, a lot of people feed their carnivorous pets raw foods that they would naturally eat. I can't see as how you can blame your cat for doing what he naturally would do. lol. Sorry. I'm still chuckling about this. :P Kitty wants, kitty takes. lol.
I started feeding my dogs the BARF diet (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) almost a year ago and it has been wonderful. My dogs now eat with enthusiasm, (well, one of them always did - like a PIG!) so my skinny one is now looking great and my chubby one is not so fat anymore. I won't bore you, it's just been good for my dogs. Raw meats are fine.
The chicken your cat ate was still cool and had not been rotting or anything. He won't get salmonella either. It seems that people report problems when they feed raw and kibble together as the meat sits in the tummy for a while with the less easily digestible kibble. If you cat gets a tummy ache from that, he'll be fine in 24 hours.
The only thing I might worry about it the styrofoam but I doubt he was hungry for that and he probably didn't ingest much if any.
Cats are "obligate carnivores" that is they are meat eaters. They don't need corn, oats, wheat, rice etc. All they really need is meat.
So it is not surprising that your kitty did what came naturaly - ate the chicken neck! His teeth probably had a good clean as well at the same time.
I feed raw chicken necks 5 times per week for dental health. However, if you are going to feed raw chicken necks, stay with your cat in case the chicken neck gets stuck and he needs help. Any bones you feed to a cat or dog should be raw, yes it is really OK to feed raw bones, and bone eating seesions should always be supervised...
Cats know what is the best food for them. Raw meat is their natural diet, of course. Cats have a very short digestive system, which helps prevent any issues with food born contamination. It's very unlikely that eating the chicken will make your cat sick, although hopefully he didn't swallow any of the styrofoam! Maybe it's time to consider a raw diet for your cat. He seems enthusiastic!