Question
I find myself unexpectedly catsitting in Beijing, and I'm out of cat food (I'm brand new to this). Yesterday, I assumed I could just go to a random store and buy some cat food, but it doesn't seem that simple here---I think I'd need to go to a specialty store (I still don't really know). So I bought some online, but it might take a day or two to arrive. But in the meantime...
I'm trying to figure out a temporary "hack" to keep them fed until their food arrives (or until I figure out how to buy cat food in person here). They're fairly young (they were tiny kittens about 2 months ago) and they don't eat much. My best guess at this point is to buy some Chinese-style kebabs (meat on a stick) or the meat from any human dish.
Question: How can I temporarily feed two cats in Beijing before their food arrives by post?
Answer
Beef jerky should be avoided, it is high in sodium and can dehydrate, so you'll want to make sure there is enough fluid intake.
I'd go with plain boneless chicken meat, boiled in plain water (you can add just the tiniest pinch of salt to the water). You can feed them the meat, as well as the resulting broth.
When we cook chicken meat for our cats, we use just enough water to consider it boiling instead of steaming, think 1-2 fingers at the bottom of the pot, this gives a nice broth.
Let it cool until it is just lukewarm, and check as you would with preparing food for a human infant, i.e. put your finger in there to check the temperature before serving.
The advantage of chicken is that the majority of cats will accept it without too much of a fuss, and it is easily digestible, so less likely to cause digestive trouble from a sudden change of diet.
If only chicken with bone is available, make sure to carefully remove the bone, e.g. pull meat you feed from the bones and sieve the broth, as cooked bone tends to splinter and thus is extremely hazardous if ingested.
Canned tuna for human consumption is also possible, but again you'll want to get the "natural" or "in own juice" kind, when in doubt check the list of ingredients, it should just be the plain fish and water.
Answered By - bgse