another food pondering...

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mom2raven

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This time I was wondering about by products. In "the wild" lets say a cat caught a bird. Would it eat things like the beak or feet/claws or feathers? These things are considered by products right? What about on a mouse?
So my question is, if the first ingredient on a cat food is real meat and then later on it says (for example) chicken by products is that neccesarily bad? I was just wondering, not meaning to start anything, I was just pondering this.
 
sharky

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Originally Posted by mom2raven

This time I was wondering about by products. In "the wild" lets say a cat caught a bird. Would it eat things like the beak or feet/claws or feathers? These things are considered by products right? What about on a mouse?
So my question is, if the first ingredient on a cat food is real meat and then later on it says (for example) chicken by products is that neccesarily bad? I was just wondering, not meaning to start anything, I was just pondering this.
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In my experience ... My girls and boy s have hunted as well as the dogs in my life .... They ate the meat ( muscle ) some feathers ( but remember they are fresh ) the liver kidney s and sometimes stomach and intestines... NEVER head feet or much of the skeleton
 
momto3cats

momto3cats

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I don't have much experience - I've only had one outdoor cat - but she used to eat birds pretty much whole, only leaving a few feathers and the feet. My current cats will kill the occasional lizard that gets inside, but they don't eat them. Bugs they eat whole, except roaches which have their legs and wings scattered all over the floor.
 
kitytize

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Originally Posted by mom2raven

Would it eat things like the beak or feet/claws or feathers? These things are considered by products right? What about on a mouse?
So my question is, if the first ingredient on a cat food is real meat and then later on it says (for example) chicken by products is that neccesarily bad?
Click to expand...
AAFCO.

MEAT BY PRODUCTS: The non-rendered clean parts other than the meat derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes but is not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It DOES NOT include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.

POULTRY BY PRODUCTS: must consist of clean, non-rendered parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

POULTRY BY PRODUCT MEAL: Consists of the ground dry or wet rendered clean parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines exclusive of feathers except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

These are the minimums. Many good food companies go above these standards. These parts also contain valuable nutrients that are not found in muscle meat or anywhere else. Cats are carnivores. This is all good stuff for them.

IMO by-products are an important part of a cats diet and I would choose by-products over gluten.
 
sharky

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Originally Posted by kitytize

AAFCO.

MEAT BY PRODUCTS: The non-rendered clean parts other than the meat derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes but is not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It DOES NOT include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.

POULTRY BY PRODUCTS: must consist of clean, non-rendered parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

POULTRY BY PRODUCT MEAL: Consists of the ground dry or wet rendered clean parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines exclusive of feathers except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

These are the minimums. Many good food companies go above these standards. These parts also contain valuable nutrients that are not found in muscle meat or anywhere else. Cats are carnivores. This is all good stuff for them.

IMO by-products are an important part of a cats diet and I would choose by-products over gluten.
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WHAT is found in a organ meat that is not in a muscle meat ???

I would choose NAMED organs in proper %ages listed over gluten... but NO COMPANY has yet to do that SO I will AVOID by products till things are made more concrete... See I DONT trust the by product meal in a upper food to be any different than a lower since they come in the same vats of meat ...
 
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