WHAT kind of animals are you?! (raw)

[Azusanga]

So today I bought 3 pinkies from Petco (expensive much?) for Annabelle. She ignored it. So, I punctured the pinky's brain cavity with a tooth pick. Still nothing. I tossed one of the pinkies to the dog, and she pretty much swallowed it whole. After pretty much attempting to forcefeed the pinky to Annabelle, hoping that once she tasted it she'd like it, I put it back on the plate. Here I am, frustrated at the cat, 2 pinky mice, and a hand covered in pinky guts from what ripped on one of her teeth. I open the door with my clean hand, and put the plate with 2 pinkies- one punctured up a bit, one totally whole and untouched, on the ground next to the dog. She sniffs it and IGNORES IT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I SPENT THREE DOLLARS ON THESE DAMN THINGS AND YOU IGNORE IT?!!! AGHHHHH

help me :,/ this is the first time the dog has ever refused food. I took the cat's food in the hopes she'd eat it once she was hungry. I just want her to like it so I can feed her whole raw instead of dealing with a bunch of supplements and shiz.

On the plus side, I taught Kayda 'back up' within 24 hours. She knows the command with voice AND hand signal smile Considering that I spent maaaybe 2 hours training her, and she's all old and stuff, I'd call it an accomplishment smile  

[SmoothSavage]

I am reminded forcibly of the quail incident in my house not long ago. I tried to feed the dogs whole quail.

I ended up dancing around my kitchen dangling a mangled quail carcass by one foot trying to entice Melon to eat the damned thing. gonk  

[Azusanga]

Yep. I ended up swinging the pinky in circles by its tail til its tail broke. The other one didnt have a tail...  

[Skeksis]

If anyone here refuses food it gets put back in the fridge and is served up for the next meal. They know the score and refusals are super rare. That's a hard line to take but it is effective. An alternative is chopping the new food up small and mixing it with a greater quantity of something the critter really likes.  

[Shanna66]

oh good gos i hate petco prices on feeders gonk if you plan on using alot of rats, mice, rabbits, or any other normal snake feeder often i would just buy in bulk onlne. save ALOT of money in the long run. or google for a reptile or exotic pet store in your area, prices should be much much much lower

i dont know what it is about pinkies though, our kitten wont eat them either even though she sitn picky and will eat raw food, potato chips, and anything else she can get her mouth around  

[Azusanga]

I wonder if there's some sort of animal moral about pinkies? it doesn't make any sense to me, really. I will probably order some more online and switch Annabelle onto raw 'cold turkey' or some other sort... Start feeding her at meal times, and if she doesn't eat, pity for Belley. She'll either have to wait or suck it up XP I dunno. I'll figure something out.  

[SmoothSavage]

Skeksis

If anyone here refuses food it gets put back in the fridge and is served up for the next meal. They know the score and refusals are super rare. That's a hard line to take but it is effective. An alternative is chopping the new food up small and mixing it with a greater quantity of something the critter really likes.

That was my plan with the quail. Unfortunately, I forgot about the little brown land shark I lived with named Riddle, and whilst dangling the quail trying to get Melon excited, she snuck up behind me and snatched it out of my hand. I swear she swallowed it whole, haha.  

[imabadspeler]

My local pet store is the only place i buy my frozen feeders. I usually spend about 5 bucks and get 2 adult mice and 2 pinkies.

At petco or petsmart they are like 5 bucks per mouse. its ridiculous.  

[Lime Kiss]

Our cats eat raw farm chicken, as long as it's properly cut into mouth-sized pieces. I was planning on bringing home dead chicks for them to play with/hopefully eat, but remembering that a farm is in our futures and that there will be free range chickens and chicks that we really don't want our cats to eat... we decided against that T.T

So we tried mice instead. Our vet suggested it actually, because our cats teeth are pretty bad. She said rather than trying a tooth brush, we should let them brush their teeth the natural way ie on the fur and bones of prey. We got adult mice (needed the fur).

Our male cat played with them quite aggressively, but the little female was just a bit freaked out. I tried using string around their tails, I tried cutting them open, I tried rubbing them with raw chicken, covering them with beef blood, putting treats on them... the closest we've gotten to having a mouse eaten is our boy cat ripped one of them open... then promptly left.

They're not going to be proper farm cats (lucky for them) so it's not urgent that they eat mice, but I would like this to succeed for their teeth.


Also, we get our mice (pinkies for the snake and adults for the cats) at a local pet store. He breeds his own mice and I really trust him. We've gotten pet rats from him before too and they're not only the healthiest rats I've seen in the city, but also the friendliest by far. If you can find a local place to support, do so!