You're not going to see some cavegirl porn, nor am I going to show you how to prep and cook a cat. No.
We are going to consider our pets, though: dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, whatever it is that we keep as pets.
Me? Cats. We have three. Two older cats around 15 years old now, both from the same litter, brother and sister, and a new lad who is somewhere between three and four months old and rapidly becoming "the boss"!
Cats are predators.
Our older cats have been raised as many do, on cat food, tinned and dry. Cat food is, itself, disgusting and when you look at the ingredients you see that only something like 4% of the food is actually meat, the rest filler - rusk, often.
Cats are predators.
Cats have no need for or taste for vegetables. Cats eat meat. Left to their own devices, they hunt - they catch mice, rats, rabbits, voles, whatever they can.
When we got our new kitten he had digestive distress which manifested itself as loose stools and a mess to clean up, especially on him being a long hair. No, that was not fun ... not for him, or for me.
Knowing the principals of paleo eating, I spent some time looking at the ingredients in the food that was on offer for cats. It is possible to buy "good" cat food, and the food we give the little one is tins of mostly fish and some simple starch (tapioca), a good ratio; likewise, the dry food is 80% meat.
The older cats are also transitioning to this new food, which they are wolfing down where otherwise they'd be pretty unimpressed with the regular offering.
As if I needed to say, the kitten is now well beyond his digestive issues, now eating good, real food suited to his evolutionary needs.
Can we do better?
We can, actually. We could feed our pets meat, every day. Alas, my income does not stretch to that and when we're eating cheaper sources to make ends meet, the cats don't get ideal ... but do get the best we can afford.
Can we do better?
Fish!
Today's fish is Trout a la Creme ...
Yes! Our local Chippy (colloquial term for Fish & Chip shop) bags up all the tail ends of the fish and sells them 3 bags for £1, each bag being around a kilo. That's around three kilos of fish for £1.
Incidentally, our local Chippy fries in beef dripping, a tradition that is held dear to fryers in the north of England, and an establishment that I am happy to patronise because of this. Chips are great for days when we are very active, the fish, yes fried in flour batter can simply be cracked open and the fish eaten, batter discarded.
Back to this fish ...
Defrost and sort through. These are the tails from fish that are battered and fried for humans, collected up, bagged and frozen. They're fresh and they have very few bones in, not that a cat would have an issue avoiding the bones, but the little one ... well, all of them ... wolf the food down so quick, I'd hate for them to get caught on a bone, so I simply slice the bones out and they eat the rest.
Happy cats indeed!
Beyond this, I am actively encouraging scavenging, an activity that is evolutionarily accordant for our young mog. Trying to pinch our food, begging for scraps and being treated to occasional (okay, regular) pieces of meat and fish thrown to him whenever I'm in the fridge.
The older cats also get the scraps, but they're not too bothered. They like to chill out, which generally means the kitten gets their scraps.
Here's my little kitten lying here purring away as I type.
Food for thought ...
