Fluther: What if the cats wouldn't eat the chicken?

What if the cats wouldn't eat the chicken?

Asked by Jeruba (55829

) November 22nd, 2022
10 responses
“Great Question” (3

)

Last night, to avoid fussing with dinner, I brought home a packaged, prepared salad. It was labeled “chicken and bacon Caesar.” All the ingredients were in separate little plastic compartments.

I mixed the bacon and hardboiled eggs in with the lettuce and added some tomatoes, but I balked at the small, neat cubes of pale, pinkish so-called chicken. They just looked unwholesome to me. So I skipped them.

I live in a very catly neighborhood, so last night I left a little bowl with the chicken cubes on the porch, figuring that one of my many feline neighbors would pass through in the night and find a treat.

This morning they were still there, untouched.

What, if anything, does this tell us about the pale, super-processed-looking little chicken dice, that the cats wouldn’t eat them? when they do eat even canned cat food?

I shudder to think.

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Topics: cats, chicken, cat food, processed meats, instinctive aversion

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Answers

It tells us you made a wise decision to forego the chicken.

Hawaii_Jake (37346

)“Great Answer” (3

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Wow. That is something. I’m going with the cats know best. Actually, you knew too. Chicken like that is usually very salty, and maybe it has a lot of preservatives too?

JLeslie (65418

)“Great Answer” (2

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I found myself wondering how much of “chicken” has to be actual chicken to merit the label, and how it got so compressed that it could be cubed in neat 1-centimeter units with crisp, uniform edges.

The last time I did eat something like that, it didn’t taste like much of anything, but the texture was vaguely repugnant.

Jeruba (55829

)“Great Answer” (2

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That reminds me of the square egg I was served at McDonald’s. Cats seem to avoid the place.

flutherother (34530

)“Great Answer” (2

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That tells me you definitely live in a different neighborhood. About 60 yards from my house I placed a flat stone flush with the lawn and put a motion sensitive light nearby. I use that spot as my food donation drop off point. Anything I put out at night is gone by the next morning. Food leftovers, mice caught in traps, wilted salad, cracked eggs, etc., are all taken away and enjoyed by wildlife – except for salad. Crows and bluejays take that way during daylight hours.
If a fox doesn’t eat it, a raccoon will. Mice and voles will snag small bits and dart back to the woodpile with their treasures. The opossums run cleanup duty on anything remaining.
I learned the calorie requirements for different animals from our animal expert @syz and try to keep my “donations” below about ¼ of their daily needs so they don’t lose their hunting and scavenging skills..

LuckyGuy (43691

)“Great Answer” (5

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@LuckyGuy I do the same thing in our yard (well away from our house) that’s boarded on 3 sides by woods. Raccoons, opossums, coyotes and crows pass through daily. Nothing is still there in the morning (no matter how old and greasy).

gondwanalon (22872

)“Great Answer” (1

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FWIW, I’ve bought a prepared Asian salad at my supermarket several times with the chicken cubes and they’ve tasted fine. Don’t know if feral cats would agree or not.

janbb (62875

)“Great Answer” (2

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