Fatty Goodness

By rawexplorer on March 28, 2013 • ( 0 )

FATS. Fats often get a bad rep just about anywhere–causes heart attack, high cholesterol, etc, etc,. But you see, that’s because there is too much fat. Too much of anything is undesirable!

In moderation, however, fat is excellent–and a must-have for both cats and dogs. Fat is great for their fur, and that’s the very first sign you’ll get to see when you feed your pet higher levels of fats.

Oohh, fluffy!

According to the Nutrition of the domestic cat, a mammalian carnivore by MacDonald ML, Rogers QR and Morris JG found in Annual Review of Nutrition Vol 4 521-562 (it’s a scientific study, not a magazine. Anyway I have forgotten how to cite published scientific studies already. My uni days are long gone!) cats need fats and protein to do well…I’m sorry if this made you feel silly because it seems rather obvious. There are many studies just like this one. hehe.

In any case, the aversion towards fats have led many pet foods to reduce the fat %, but it is hard to have high protein levels and low fat levels at the same time.

So what can you do?

You can do this!

Pork fats from Sheng Siong, only 65cents! I chose pork fats because 1.) it’s easily obtainable in Singapore 2.) there aren’t other types of fat sold like this (very sad).

For our Muslim and Jewish friends, you can substitute pork fats with chicken, or fatty lamb and fatty beef. You know the type of marbled meat used for Shabu Shabu/Sukiyaki? Yes, that. And then you can look at your kitty and say with a long-suffering, resigned sigh…

‘YOU LIVE SUCH A GOOD LIFE.’

haha!

If you are squeamish about touching squishy fats, you can do this:

Select fatty cuts of pork. Just cut or mince, and there you have it–a nice meal that has both fat and protein.

Or this. Pork belly cubes. This is expensive, though. $5.30 for a small bag!

But if you want to go for the real thing, this is it:

Now notice that I got my fresh pork fats at Sheng Siong (see 1st picture) for only 65cents, which will last my cats about 4-5 meals! Went to Fairprice yesterday and saw that selling for about $1.90. But this picture of a huge tray of FROZEN pork fats at Sheng Siong–huge, I say!–is only $1.95!

And this ends my free advert for Sheng Siong. :p

This is what I do after I tote my tray of fats back home:

Separate them into baggies to freeze, and freeze by portion. Your portion could be by meal, or by week, depending on what you prefer. Cold bits of fat is always easier to handle because they don’t slip and slide around, very irritating. So if you need to mince your cubes (they usually come in cubes, but if you’re unlucky there will be more tiny squishy bits) do it quickly when you just got them out of the fridge.

Your pet won’t need too much fat at any meal–about 5 %, remember? So adjust accordingly. If you think your dog/cat needs a bit of trimming at the waistline, then reduce the amount of fat given.

Now many raw feeders have qualms about feeding pork because of salmonella and other parasites like trichinosis, which is a type of round worm. But in Singapore, meat is inspected carefully, plus we are not a trichinosis-infected country, so it should be alright. Trichinosis is primarily found in developing countries. My cats do fine eating raw pork, but if you’re paranoid, you can lightly–very lightly!–blanch them in hot water, just enough to kill bacteria/parasite, but not enough to cook the meat.

Like this. See the huge cubes of pork fat? I put them in there for picture purposes. After this I will have to mince the slippery things! Oh woe!

NOTE: My cats hate pork fat. hohoho. I believe this is because pork fats aren’t really smelly, so they will only eat some and then leave the rest. Yes, even the greedy Max, although in the video you’ll see him chomping a cube down.

For the rest who aren’t raw feeders, you may want to mince some fat and then add to your cat’s WET FOOD. If you use pate-styled canned food it will be easier to trick them into eating the minced fats and meat.

Look forward to this!

SO…CUTE… Soft…squishy fur…on squishy pet…. *spazzes*

More exotic Shorthairs here!

I must also add that if your pet has been on Cereal Kibble for a long time, he/she may not be able to digest too much fat, which may mean indigestion/stomach upset/diarrhea for them. This also happens when owners transit their Kibble Junkies to a better kibble like Evo that has higher amounts of protein and fat. So please keep an eye out on Fido or Princess, transit slowwwwwwly and adjust accordingly. Remember, about 5% of fat will do!

Here’s a video for you, and I feel unloved during this episode, because I’m not offering smelly tasty goodies 😦