feeding the cats

I received a question about the differences of feeding the cats and now realize I am not specific enough...lol


To start off we do food prep in the morning:  


There are 4 large tubs to distinguish the 4 parts of the sanctuary:  Small Cat Track, Wildcat Pines, Cougar Cove and Roar Ridge.
We usually have 4 40lb blocks of food ranging from chicken (thigh and leg) to beef to beef heart.  Sometimes we have turkey hearts, rats, rabbits, or whole chickens.  
Then we cut up the pieces to distribute them into the buckets based on a feeding chart.  On the chart it tells how many pieces a cat gets.  Some cats get boneless which can then be beef or the boneless chicken piece that we cut from the bone.  2 boneless pieces are equal to the chicken thigh and leg.  The basic serving size to make 1 piece is a thigh and leg piece.  So we cut the beef and beefheart into the equivalent chicken piece.  Some cats have a smaller diet and those usually get a thigh which we cut the leg from the thigh at the cartilage.


About 20 of the cats get meds with their food so some of the food is put into separate bowls with their names on them and the medicine is inserted between the chicken skin and the meat.  Then each bowl is put into the corresponding bucket for the certain area that the cat lives in.  On Tuesday and Friday the cats have a 1/2 diet day where cougars, tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars only get 1/2 the normal amount for the day.  Then the pans and counters are cleaned before pulling out more blocks of food for the next day.


Feeding:


Before feeding we have to put the dominant cats in lockouts, which extend off of the enclosure and are closed by guillotine doors.  For servals we always have to bring "treats" such as small pieces of chicken or beef with us to even get the servals to go into the lockouts.  Then once all the enclosures have the dominant cats out we come around with the food bucket and feed the cats inside the enclosure first before feeding the ones in lockouts.  We use tongs to grab the pieces from the bucket and put the food close to the ground to make the cats put their feet down before putting the food into the feeding hole.
After going around to all the enclosures for the small cat track (there are 7) then we come back around to let the cats out of the lockouts as long as everyone is finished eating.  We try to keep the time in the lockouts to a minimum.  Then once the cats have left we close the guillotine doors until the next feeding.


The feeding for wildcat pines is pretty much the same with the exception of using treats to put the cats into the lockouts.  One of the bobcats requires food to go into the lockout and must be done first, but the others usually go in without any problems.  We also check the water for all the enclosures while feeding because they are outside and not self refilling like the servals have.  There are some cats who we have to remember that dont like certain foods which is usually beef.  One cougar only eats chicken and any cat smaller than a cougar can not get turkey hearts because they will choke on them.


I havent learned cougar cove or roar ridge feeding yet, but I assume it is similar just with a lot more meat.