Tag: raw diet

Organic chicken but no bones :(

Both Meijer and Kroger have been selling organic chicken but without bone. The bone is crucial for Hoshi’s digestion. Hoshi has soft unformed stools with meat alone. Luckily, I found some whole chicken thighs by Katie’s Best.

I was forced to work four hours overtime yesterday morning because someone called in sick. Hoshi was expecting me to come home at 7:30 am and was frantic when I didn’t. I was getting numerous notifications from my Petcube after 8:00 am because Hoshi was looking for me. He peed for what seemed a lifetime when I let him out.

I’m working four days in a row so I’m preparing at least 16 chicken thighs today. I remove the skin and fat then grind up the bone. I place each thigh in a ziplock and freeze some.

skinless organic chicken
Organic chicken at Meijer

Feeding better quality chicken

I’ve been buying our store’s brand chicken for years until now. Our store began carrying an “all natural” brand. The meat is better quality and not as fat. It also has a healthier pink color. Leaner meat means faster preparation times because there’s less fat to remove.

The all natural brand also uses smaller chickens (smaller bones): Now I can prepare drumsticks since they’re small enough to grind. These all natural drumsticks take half the preparation time compared to thighs since there’s hardly any fat to remove. I end up with smaller portions but supplement with chicken gizzards.

all natural chicken
All natural chicken
store brand chicken
Meijer’s brand chicken

Hoshi’s bath today

It was time for a bath. Hoshi was scratching and I wondered if he had fleas. I didn’t find any fleas. I trimmed his face, between his legs, paws, and butt. He’s resting right now. He hates having his paws and lips done. It’s difficult doing between his nose and eyes–there’s not much room. I left the length because it’s still cold out. I botched his tuft so I shaved it off–everyone admires his tuft.

Here’s a video of Hoshi having his breakfast this morning:

Hoshi’s chicken dinner

Here’s a picture of one of Hoshi’s raw chicken meals. It’s slightly different from usual because the bone is ground–Hoshi just had some teeth pulled. It’s a skinless thigh with the fat removed. I added a few slices of gizzard and topped it with ground thigh bone.

raw cut up chicken
Hoshi’s chicken dinner

Hoshi had 3 teeth pulled

Hoshi had a teeth cleaning today. I was nervous about having it done because of the anesthesia. He also had one premolar and two incisors pulled–which I wasn’t expecting. I’m glad he’s home safe. I think he peed himself at the vet. After he had his first cleaning, he’s been afraid of the vet.

I haven’t been brushing his teeth regularly until lately. He’s always so resistant to having it done, but I haven’t been giving him a choice. He won’t let me use a regular toothbrush, so I use finger toothbrush to clean his teeth. The finger toothbrush is bulky and doesn’t clean well.

I had to prepare Hoshi’s dinner differently because of his tooth extractions. I ground his chicken bones with a hand grinder. The grinder won’t fit our kitchen counters, so I attached it to Hoshi’s grooming table. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work. I ground the bones four times using the largest blade.

Ground chicken bone and grinder
Ground chicken bone