We found this out when we made a turkey breast for the first time after bringing the cats home. While I was getting the raw turkey breast ready to go into the oven, I heard the most piteous wail from Luna. It sounded like she hadn’t eaten in a week, and was desperately hungry.
When we later gave them some turkey, if the other cat got close while they were eating it, they would growl. They don’t do this with any other food we’ve given them (we give them bites of some people food, but always in their food bowls, so they will not beg at the table).
The Wonder Cats™ llllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee turkey. They do the same things yours do - grown at each other. Emmy even makes growling noises while she’s eating from my fingers.
The only other food they do this with are soy meat substitutes. I don’t know why turkey is such a killer for the kids, but it’s hysterical to watch them get angry when I don’t give them any.
I’m going to ask my MIL for some extra tomorrow when we eat over there. Gotta treat the kiddos!
Roommate of mine, many years ago, had a cat who would not eat anything but cat food. Durndest thing. She’d just look at you funny if you offered her anything.
One night, I came home from a visit with the folks with some smoked meats, including a whole smoked ham and a smoked turkey breast and drumstick. As I was unwrapping the foil, I happened to glance off to one side… and saw the cat.
The cat was looking at me with a VERY wide-eyed, interested expression I’d never seen on her before.
Experimentally, I pulled off a bit of ham and leaned down and offered it to her. She sniffed it once, and wolfed it, and looked back up at me with that bigeyed, fascinated look.
Her owner refused to believe this until she got home after the holidays, and I demonstrated that her cat would, in fact, accept bits of ham from a human hand. Blew her away.
My dog Scout takes a pill twice a day. The vet said it’s supposed to be a treat and she would wolf it down, but she was having none of that. So I wrap it in a hunk of sliced turkey and down it goes. I have to count my fingers afterward just to be sure.
When there’s a turkey (chicken or meat loaf) in the oven, Nipper The Wonder Dog goes into the kitchen and sits next to the stove alternately crying and scratching at the oven door.
Bessie the Labrador is poultry-intolerant. This is odd in an animal whose G.I. tract will efficiently process almost anything else, organic or inorganic.
Stuffing and veggies are OK though (this is a dog that thinks lettuce is a wonderful treat).
We have a golden retriever who during thunderstorm season has major food issues, so we always put a few bites of chopped-up meat (not more than a tablespoon total) on top of both dogs’ kibble. Absolutely #1 favorite in the universe is chicken, but turkey runs a very close second. They will do ANYTHING for poultry.
My current cat is the first one I’ve ever had who doesn’t like bird. (The cooked variety provided by humans, that is; apparently they taste better when she catches them herself.) She’s turned up her nose at turkey in the past. Or pretty much any human food.
I’m cat-sitting this week for my downstairs neghbor. My temporary kitty is a total joy - the first time she sauntered in to my apartment, she walked right over to the fridge and demanded food. The only thing I had that was cat-edible was some ham, she said that would be fine.
Tomorrow I’m going to stay home with her (declined all invitations to eat with relative strangers in this new city), and make Turkey for Two. I don’t think she’ll help me drink the bottle of Beaujolais Neuveau, but I do expect a bit of help with the turkey breast.
The turkey will be her first bit of human food from me since the ham. Oh right, except for the grape. I always let cats sniff at food when I’m sure they won’t like it. I guessed wrong with the grape and this cat. So I peeled her a grape (!) and she licked all the juice out of it, from my hand. Very cute, but strange.
Our cats would probably help you with that if you let them. They try to get wine when I’m drinking it, as they try to get samples out of glasses of anything we’re drinking. So far, I’ve managed to keep them away from most of it, including the wine.
Dogs-we’ve never fed our dogs table scraps, except for the occassional toast crust for Lassie. Lexie gets no table food (although she’d eat it if it fell on the floor).
My old cat, Fluffy, loved almost everything from the table-turkey, chicken, meatloaf, etc. But even more than turkey she LOVED mashed potatos.
After she died, we have pretty much steered clear of feeding the rest of the cats table food, if only because as much as we loved Fluffy, she was a shameless little begger. So, for the most part, I think my cats probably would like turkey, but I can’t tell you for certain.
However, there’s a new factor this year-our new kitten, Maggie. Maggie will eat almost anything (except, unfortunately, for dry cat food-go figure!) And she has absolutely no shame jumping up on the table as one is eating and stealing pieces of food. Soooo…I’m very curious as to how she will react tomorrow, as this will be her first Thanksgiving. I’ll let everyone know tomorrow night how it turns out.
We have found an even odder people food that our cats will beg for:
Hard-boiled egg whites
Mr. Neville was making some egg salad for lunch the other day, and the kitties cried for the eggs in the way that they cry for turkey, chicken, or duck. They’ve been known to mew for things and then not eat them, so he just gave them a little bit of egg white to appease them. They meowed for more after that, and licked his hands to get the last little bits.
The odd thing is, I often make breakfast burritos with Egg Beaters for my breakfast. The kitties have never shown any interest in the Egg Beaters.