Cats are carnivores but in nature they would kill and eat a moist, bloodied prey. I wonder if the processes used for packaging and shipping meat make the meat seem different or unappetizing to a cat? Wouldn't it also be treated for salmonella? Do they clean it with bleach water or maybe a disinfectant?

Not JUST muscle meat. A wild cat's diet is WHOLE prey, not just muscle meat. That means skin, cartilage, bones, blood, internal organs (called by-products by pet food manufacturers), etc. A muscle-meat heavy or exclusive diet will result in taurine, calcium, and phosphorus deficiencies, which will cause irreversible blindness, neurologic problems, soft easily breakable bones, then eventually seizures and death.

If your cat is not eating enough cat food on its own, it could be because it is sick. While tempting it with other foods is OK in the very short term (24 hours, at most), a vet visit is warranted any time an animal loses its appetite.

I did NOT say he has a lack of appetite. He eats just fine and is healthy and happy. What I asked was why does he have NO interest in MEAT like a raw chicken wing (not cold from the fridge but warmed with water). I think I know when to take my cat to the vet if he's sick! He's not sick, just picky.

It could just be personal preference that your kitty doesn't care for chicken. We have two cats who are brothers. One loves chicken and the other will eat turkey but NOT the other way around. LOL!

I dunno about feeding them raw poultry. I'd be concerned about the risk of Salmonella and Campylobacter so always give my guys cooked schtuff.

You may also like to lighten up in your response to a very informative reply that Meghane offered.

ha, have to laugh, our cats would eat anything, melon, pumpkin, an entire Thanksgiving turkey dinner, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, I dont think they ate the cranberry...they also loved pressed turkey meat - that cheap stuff from the deli section of the grocery, I think it is called Carl Budding. They would climb up our pant legs for that stuff. All lived well after 13 years. My dog - he wont eat anything...such is life

Sorry, the part where you mentioned perking up the taste buds concerned me. I've seen animals totally wasted away because they "just got picky" or whatever. No animal gets so picky as to starve...

Some animals are just weird with the raw thing. My Ana (Husky) will eat cooked anything and raw nothing, even warmed. All my other dogs LOVE raw food. Even I like my meat either VERY rare (even raw) or just about burned, but nothing in between. Everyone has preferences, especially cats!

Please, please make sure that you add the necessary supplements if you feed raw ground chicken or turkey. Plain raw meat lacks calcium, taurine, and vitamins that cats would get if eating thw whole bird.

https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

I mixed a bit of canned tuna (which my cat loves) into ground turkey or chicken. (raw) Now he'll eat it plain but I still put some tuna in most meals and chicken hearts once in a while. Thats all he's been eating for about 7 years and he is in very good heath.