Rubie Eating Her Raw Quail Bone

For weeks, I have been feeding Rubie the chicken wing tip for her bone content. I give her 1 tip each week and it seems sufficient for her. I observed that bone requirement is quite low. She poops on an average of 3-4 days. Her poo is nice and solid so far too. I have also begun feeding her liver, but I didn't increase her bone intake. Despite this, her poo routine and texture remain unaffected.

As she is still quite new to bones, I will bash up the wing tip with a meat hammer each time before feeding her. Bashing it up helps her to eat it more easily. I wanna give her more time to get used to eating raw bones.

In fact, I'm already thankful that Rubie is willing to eat raw and able to take bones.

As Rossi gal is having whole quail today, I decided cut out a part of the quail to let Rubie try. I took out the drum portion for her. I fed it as it is, without bashing this time. I wanna let her try eating it as it is.

After weeks of bashing, this is the first time, I'm feeding Rubie bones without bashing. Besides, quail bones are quite soft (softer than chicken bones). I believe Rubie can handle it.

I offered the quail drum to her this morning. Instead of the soft, pulped wing tip tat she is so used to, now she gets a solid raw bone wrapped with meat.

Initially, she sniffed & licked at it, probably wondering how to tackle it. I tried to help her by holding the drum to her mouth and encouraging her to chew on it.

After more licks and sniffs, she finally went into action. She took the quail drum into her mouth and began working on it.

Video of Rubie munching her quail bone.
Link to video: Rubie eating her quail bone

Well done, Rubie! :)

Rubie, My Personal Massuer

After being with us for nearly 1 & a half month, Rubie did something very interesting yet so sweet, to me.

On Monday night, Rubie jumped onto my lap and massaged me. She also massaged me yesterday morning & night, as well as this morning. A total of 4 times. :)

It is a completely new experience to me. But I do like the feeling of being massaged. She does the massage so well. It feels so nice & comforting. ^_^ 

And she does it only on me. LOL! Daddy was feeling kinda 'jealous' about it. ;D 

Her act of massaging is known as 'kneading' or 'making biscuits'.

Daddy and I have seen Rubie kneading the towel on her beds several times, but we didn't expect that she would actually knead me too. :)

Why Do Cats Knead?
Why Do Cats Knead on People?

The above links list some reasons for their kneading behaviour.

For me, Rubie's kneading on me is an expression of love & contentment. I feel special & loved too, with every up-down motion of her paws.  

Video of the very first time Rubie kneaded me. (Monday, 27 May)
Link to video: Rubie's Kneading 1

Another video of Rubie kneading me. (Tuesday, 28 May)
Link to video: Rubie's Kneading 2

In the first video, she started off her first kneading on my thigh. 

In the second video, she moved on to knead my belly. I love how she gazed at me as she did her kneading here.

After kneading, she rested herself on my lap and dozed off shortly. She was on my lap for quite some while. I'm glad she feels comfortable with me.

 

I hope Daddy & I can give her the love & attention that she was so lacking in the first 9 years of her life.

Rubie's Cat Condo

I have been sourcing for a cat condo (or cat tree) for Rubie. 

Daddy wanted one with a hammock and stairs for her. He thought it would be nice to have a hammock for her to rest in 'mid-air' and as for the stairs, it is with her age in mind. He didn't want her jumping up and down too much, so he asked me to look for one with stairs to help her move up & down more easily. 

After some sourcing, I found the cat condo that fits Daddy's requirements. Therefore, I ordered it in. It arrived unassembled.

After assembling, here it is, Rubie's very own cat condo. :) I feel that every cat should have one of these to play, scratch and nestle on.

When Rubie saw the cat condo, Daddy and I caught her smiling. She looks really happy with it. :D

She thinks her cat condo is interesting. ;)

She sleeps in it too. ;p

 

And she looks so contented. ^_^

Rubie has brought smiles n laughs to us with her funny antics & strange habits. I have never expected her to make us smile or laugh, but she did, in her own way. She seems to understand when I talk to her. She seems to know when I'm telling her about unhappy things. She just sits near me n listens quietly. I ask her to give in to Rossi gal, she understands & I can see from her behavior & actions that she is doing so. Rubie is a very sweet girl. She is the sweetest cat I have ever met. It's her ex-owner's loss for abandoning her.

Rubie Enjoying Raw

Rubie loves her raw meals and looks forward to them daily. :) 

She is still on 2 meals and I intend to continue her on the routine at least for the time being. But if I find she does better on 2 meals, I will just continue with it. I have read somewhere that unlike dogs, cats do better on more meals per day. But anyway, I just go with her progress. Watever works for her.

Click video=> Rubie Enjoying her Raw Meal

From my observations, Rubie's favorite meat is chicken. She likes kangaroo and venison too. She always finishes her meal very fast when I give her chicken. When she sees kangie or venny on her plate, she will attack it first. *If chicken happens to be on the same plate with the kangie/venny, she will go for the chicken followed by the kangie/venny.

She is ok with beef, lamb & veal. But she really dislikes pork. Whenever pork is on her plate, she would always leave it untouched. I would ve to nag at her, cut the pork into super tiny pieces and put the plate right in front of her face before she will finish up. And she takes ages to finish up. Well, I decided, since she doesn't like pork, it's off her menu. She can have other red meats instead. LOL.

Unlike my darling, who gobbles up everything I feed her.

I find that cats do have an attitude. Cattitude. LOL.

She's Loving Raw!

Today marks Rubie's Day 10 on Raw. I'm happy to say she is loving raw & doing well on it. :)  She eased into raw much better than I anticipated too.

Every morning & night at meal times, she would automatically stroll to the kitchen & wait near me like this in the kitchen, as I prepare her food. She will meow & meow at me & go merry-go-round at my feet if she finds that I'm taking too long to do up her meal. LOL.

Even if she has finished her meal, she still likes to follow me to the kitchen & hang around, as I go about my chores.

She also likes to roll her back on the floor & look up at me, like she wants my attention. She looks so adorable with her rolling, that I couldn't help, but to stop my work from time to time to look at her. This gal is so cute!

Her Day 7 Dinner

There is a significant difference in Rubie after she is switched to raw. She seems to have this new burst of energy in her that is not present before.

Before this, she was always lying around, not really interested in playing or scratching the cat post. She just wanted to lie on the floor or bed. We have to prompt her for some time, before she was willing to play. After a short while of playing, she would pant hard & stop to rest.

Now she finishes her meals pretty fast,
but she still doesn't like big pieces of meat.

After going raw, we see her starting to play with the toys on her own, without us engaging her in play. Then when she sees us, she would also try to engage us in play! We can even hear her playing on her own in the middle of the night, as her collar bell clinks with every move she makes. She can play for quite a long while & not get easily tired like she used to.

Initially, she didn't touch the scatch post we got for her at all too. We thought she didn't like to scatch. It was untouched for over a month during the time she was in the care of her boarder. We visited her every week & he told us that she didn't scatch it at all. Then back to our home, she began to scratch the post after a few days. Now she scratches the post every now and then. I bought a new scratch board & ordered in another new scratch post for her too.

From a "lazy" kitty, she has flourished to become an energetic kitty. I attribute this amazing change in her to Raw. It is without a doubt, the work of Raw. I believe alot in diet. The appropriate diet will really bring about positive changes and benefits to our furkids.

She had her first taste of raw bone on Saturday. I bashed a wing tip up with a meat tenderiser/hammer to help her along. Initally, she didn't wanna touch it. I held it to her mouth, she sniffed at it & refused to eat it. Then I decided to leave her with the wing tip and let her figure it out on her own. One thing about her is, she doesn't really like to be watched as she eats. 

Dozing off on top of her scratch board after food & play.

I went off to do some work around the house. After a while, I went back to check on her progress. Her plate was empty! She had finished up the wing tip! That's the way to do it, Rubie. Keep it up! I wanted to take shots & the video of her eating her first bone, but was unable to do so this time round. Will try to do it next time. ;p

An Update on Rossi & Rubie

Being nearly a decade old hasn't slowed our Rubie down one bit. Rubie is still young at heart & loves to play.

Rubie & the Laser Pointer 

 

  Rubie & the Fishing Toy

Hopefully, one day, Rossi & Rubie can play together too.

Now I'm just glad that the two gals can accept each other's presence in the house, though they are still not having any physical contact. They would just gaze at each other at a 'safe' distance.

The 'safe' distance between them is gradually getting closer. :)

Rubie loves to explore around the house too. She would walk around the house, careful not to cross Rossi gal's path. Rossi gal would walk outside of Rubie's path. Both gals would just do their own thing & mind each other's business.

From our observations, Rossi gal can tolerate Rubie's presence in the house so much better than when her own sister, Cookie, was at our house. It could be attributed to the similarites in their characters. Both gals are quiet & shy in nature.

We have never intended to get another dog, much less a kitty. But Rubie has been placed directly in our path and this makes her an exception. We also thought long and hard before making the decision. Daddy was saying, Rossi cannot get along with dogs, but with a kitty, it might be different.

Besides feeling sorry for Rubie's plight & Daddy's affinity with her, their characters' similarity is also another deciding factor in adopting Rubie. We know Rossi gal cannot tolerate hyper-active & bossy characters. Even we ourselves cannot too.

We believe the character aspect is an important consideration. If we see that the possibility of Rossi gal tolerating or accepting Rubie is Nil, it would not be possible & practical for us to take Rubie in. We do not like the idea of 'forcing' Rossi gal to tolerate or accept a furkid with a personality that we know she doesn't like. That's just us.

Perhaps some might not agree on this, but that's ok. Rossi gal being our foremost priority, we have to & will take her feelings into consideration.
 
I guess they just need more time to get to know each other. Well, they got all the time to do so. :)

Also, Rubie is getting faster in finishing up her raw meats. From more than an hour or even longer, now she finishes up her food in less than 15 minutes. She is loving raw. :D 

RAWRRRR...

She is on 2 meals daily now and would sit at my feet at the kitchen when I prepare her food. She would also start meowing at me softly, like she is asking me to speed up and feed her the food. ;p

I'm hoping to transit her to 1 meal like Rossi gal eventually, if possible.

Like Rossi gal, Rubie loves dehydrated treats too. She gets excited when she sees me holding treats in my hand. Previously, it's just Rossi gal asking for treats, now Rubie asks for treats too! Rubie would walk to the fridge area and wait there. She knows where her food is located. LOL.

Introducing Rubie, Our Raw-Fed Kitty

In February, I blogged about an unforgettable kitty that daddy and I met.

Fate led us to this special kitty. Now she is officially the new member of our family. :) Her name is Rubie. She is 9 years young and of course, raw-fed.

Rubie was on kibbles and canned food all her life. Now that she has joined our family, she will be on raw. No furkid of mine eats processed or cooked food. Raw is the only diet my furkids will be on.

Daddy wanted her name to start with 'R' like our darling Rossi gal. We then started to think of a name for her. Well, her ex-owner did not give her a proper name too. 

Eventually, I thought of "Ruby". Ruby is my lucky gemstone, starts with an "R" & also easy to pronounce, so I decided to call her "Rubie".

Rubie's Story:

We got to know Rubie's ex-owner during the time we were doing house-viewing to find our ideal new home. The first time we saw her, she was outside at the corridor.

Every now and then, she would wander over to the outside of the house to watch us, but she never stepped in. The ex-owner (an auntie) told us, she was not allowed into the house and she knows it.

For a while, she stayed in the house, but ever since the grand kids came along, the auntie was afraid that her furs would cause them allergies. Thus, she was made to live at the corridor.

The auntie asked if we would be willing to take her in, as they didn't want to take her along when they move away. Initially, I turned down, cos I was concerned about Rossi not being able to accept another furkid in the house. Her question also caught me off-guard at that point in time.  

I told Daddy about it. It set him thinking, cos he felt an affinity with Rubie from the first time he met her. It's strange. He does not like cats, but he likes Rubie.

We went back to visit Rubie for a few more times and began to feel concerned that auntie would abandon her to the SPCA or out on the streets if no one takes her. Auntie did mentioned to me that the thought of sending her to the SPCA did cross her mind, if no one takes her.

Daddy then expressed his wish to take her in. We had a long discussion about it. Based on our observations, Rubie is a very tame & quiet kitty. Her character is similar to Rossi gal too. Rossi dun get along with dogs, but things might be different for cats. Besides, we can always separate them if they really can't get along.

Thus, the decision was made. Rubie will join us.

On the day we went over to fetch her, Rubie seemed to know auntie didn't want her anymore and that she would be leaving with us. Daddy opened the door of the crate and was about to carry her into it. To our surprise, Rubie simply walked into the crate herself. Auntie was shocked too.

Auntie said a quick good-bye to Rubie, never thought of touching her even for the last time. When we got into the lift, Rubie started moaning tearfully. The moaning was heart wrenching.

She moaned and moaned all the way to our car and throughout the car journey. She looked so so sad. I cried together with her. Daddy and I kept reminding her she has a home with us. Auntie dun want her, but we want her.

That's Rubie's story.

Rossi gal is very curious about Rubie and kept looking into the room where she was. But Rubie is not used to Rossi yet. Neither is Rossi for her. They still need time to get to know each other. But they are not hostile towards each other and are okay with watching each other, just not comfy being placed too close together. Guess they just need time to know each other. In time to come, we hope they can be friends.

I gave her straight raw on her very first meal. In fact, I bought a couple of canned food, just in case I needed it to transit her to raw. At first, she hesitated at the raw chicken & lamb in her bowl, but eventually, she took a few bites of the chicken.

Then for the rest of the day and next, I continued offering her small servings of different raw meats, chicken, pork, beef and lamb.

We realized that she likes chicken. She would always finish the chicken first. Initially, she would only eat the chicken and leave the rest behind. But I continued offering the other meats that she didn't touch (pork, lamb and beef) along with the chicken.  

Then today, finally, she finished up all the meats I fed her. But she took a long time to finish up though. Also, she doesn't like her meats in big chunks. I gota cut up into small pieces for her. Probably tat's a cat thingy. LOL.

We are happy she can be switched to raw, cold turkey, without the use of canned food. Today is her 3rd day on raw. :)

Never in my wildest imagination that I would have a cat in my house. It's really so unexpected and feels so unreal. LOL.

Rubie is a sweet kitty, undemanding and gentle. I like her calmness. Daddy and I also think she looks pretty good for her age. :)

With us, it is the beginning of a new life for her. Henceforth, daddy, me, Rossi gal and Rubie will walk on together in our journey of life.

We Met a Kitty

Me and daddy are not into cats. We are not cat lovers. We are not cat people.

However, this particular kitty has captured our attention. In fact, daddy is drawn to her the first time he met her. For me, I find her very docile and sweet. She seems like a very good gal.

Then her owner told us that she is indeed very docile and calm. She knows what she can and cannot do.

She was very curious about us when she first met us. We saw her watching us from where she was. She let us near her and allowed us to touch her. On the next occasion we met, she flipped on her side, wanting me to give her a belly rub and greeted daddy in a similar fashion like our Rossi gal.

After that, both of us couldn't forget her.

We dunno her name, so daddy calls her 'little tiger'. In the following pictures, you will see why he calls her so.

The kitty with expressive eyes.

Her 'tiger-like' striped marking. This is daddy's reason for calling her 'little tiger'.

We think she has nice markings and a pretty coat. She has this strip of shiny black furs lining the length of her back that I really like. Correct me if I'm wrong, she looks like a Domestic Shorthair.

She's an unforgettable kitty.