One of the most important duties at In-Sync Exotics is food preparation in the commissary. We have a lot of hungry mouths to feed and so we have to start preparing their meals earlier in the day so we can start serving them shortly after the sun goes down. A lot of steps goes into food preparation. After all, we don’t have the luxury of popping a can top or tugging at string affixed to the feed bag--quite the opposite goes on behind the scenes! So, let’s take a look at what really happens shortly before sundown!
First off, we should mention, that to prepare meals for the animals, one must be able to follow feed instructions to the "letter." Not all our cats receive the same type or amount of food. Some cats require special diets and some cats require medication along with their food. So everyone must be familiar with the feed board. The feed board lists every animal at In-Sync Exotics along with his or her special dietary needs. You can see portions of the board in the background of this picture. Another important skill for our staff and volunteers is a familiarization with kitchen measurements.
We have to make sure our animals receive the right amount of food in order to prevent over or under feeding. So meats are weighed before placed in the feed bowls. In this job, one cannot be squeamish when it comes to handling different types of meats!
At In-Sync Exotics, we make sure our animals receive a variety of meats.
As the counter fills up with bowls, volunteers move the meals to the "meat mobiles" where the they are loaded up and delivered to cats. Each animal has his/her own name written on the bowl, so meals do not get mixed up.
So when the meat mobiles are fully loaded with lots of tasty meals, everyone is off to help feed the animals! It takes about 2 hours to feed and collect their empty bowls. It's a lot of hard work for the everyone involved, but the efforts are worth it when you see the excited animals lining up for their dinner.
The animals are usually very excited to receive their feed bowls. Some cat get a little too excited that they become "bowl possessive," refusing to return their empty feed bowls, so we have to give them their food on cardboard box tops. Sabu, Sheila, Shazam, Jazz, and Harley love their bowls just a little too much, so they receive their meals on cardboard!
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| Kaiya |
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| Kaiya |
Since it doesn't take the cats long to empty their dishes, the feeders remain with them until they finish and collect their dishes before moving onto the next group of cats.
Nothing makes us happier than to see empty dishes...
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| Kshama |
...and a satisfied animals.
If preparing meals for big cats sounds like something you might be interested in doing, then join Team In-Sync! For information, click here. If you are in the area and would like to watch the exotic cats dine on their pre-dinner bones, then click here for information about our "Night Tour."
Oh, and don't forget! Our wild ones not only require quality food, but they also require vaccinations! We are off to a great start with our vaccination drive and we hope you can help us reach our goal before the end of February!
Thank you very much for helping us keep our animals well fed and healthy!
PS...if you liked this story, please let us know by clicking one of the "What's Your Reaction" buttons below. Thanks!
Later in the day:
I'd like to thank Karin Saucedo for submitting these great photos (see below) of food preparation! In a comment posting below, we were asked where the big cats' meals come from. Well, we purchase meat from Colorado (Triple A), Nebraska, and New Jersey formulated specially for exotic cats plus we also receive meat from the Wal-mart meat program.
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| Great meat for great cats! |
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| Quality Triple A meat ready to be dispersed into cats' feed dishes |
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| Meats are weighed to ensure every cat receives the right amount of food |
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| Some of our senior and geriatric animals require medicine to keep them in tip top shape |
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| Visual aid for our staff and volunteers! |
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| Bowls waiting to be washed so as to start the whole process over again the next day! |
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Where does all this meat come from?
ReplyDeleteI am a new volunteer trainee to Insync Exotics and was totally amazed at the organiztion of food prep in the commisary. I was honored to help. I love this place....Glad to be a part of it!
ReplyDeleteSo do you give them organ meat? I don't think Americans in general eat as much organ meat as humanity probably did in the past, so I'd guess there is more of it available. Obviously feeding them ONLY organ meat wouldn't be a great idea, but maybe they'd like it if the were fed meat plus heart/lung/brain/liver (assuming you can get it for them and it's healthy for them).
ReplyDeleteThere are some butchers in the area which still butcher the meat on the premises; they might be willing to give you what they were gonna throw away anyway...