Feeding Ferals Dog Food/Dumpster Diving

Hey, I was wondering your opinions on feeding ferals dog food? I know that it isn't ideal, but am wondering if it could cause any harm. Here's the situation. Last October I found a feral cat colony by my fiance's house that is not being managed at all. One of the cats is fixed, and he's not really part of the colony (more of someone's pet who lives outdoors). After talking with nearby residents, it appears that no one is feeding them and no one is trying to take care of the problem. It's a rather poor area as well.

As many of you know, I have a problem with spending money on cats, specifically vet bills. As much as it seems like I must be rich, I am really pretty broke, just lucky enough to still live with my parents and have no real costs other than gas and taking care of all of our babies (the animals of course).

So, one of my solutions was to go dumpster diving in pet store dumpsters to get food. I got about 5 lbs of dog food pretty easily the other day (and could have gotten a lot more, but someone must have told security (it was by a lot of other stores at around 10 at night). So after crouching in the garbage for 10 minutes, I was a little nervous and wanted to get out of there.

For any returned food or bags with holes in them, they slash the bag and put it in the dumpster. There weren't any dead animals or anything in the open, they put that and any other waste related things in trash bags. There were at least 3 largish bags of dog food, but as I said, I got a little spooked.

So, my question is what do you think about dumpster diving for pet food for the ferals? And since there seems to be a lot more dog food than cat food, will that cause a bigger problem for them than no food?

Criticism is welcome

I forgot to mention that my best estimate for the colony size is at least 20. It's near a home that just got raided that had 98 cats, 14 dead before taken, the rest are probably dead now for having uri's and/or being "feral". Apparently, the couple who was renting the house gathered up the strays in the area. So I expect the colony size to grow seeing as the house was at most 1 mile away from the hoarder house.

I have taken 5 kittens from the colony total, all of which have been adopted I will continue to try to get the kittens into the adoption program and work on getting the adults fixed.

Dog food now and then wouldn't be terrible, and would be better than whatever scraps they find. The higher-end dog foods have some taurine in them, too (but not enough for long-term). As long as you could mostly get them cat food, occasional dog food shouldn't hurt.

As for dumpster diving, it can be risky. It's illegal in most places, although I don't think the penalty is anything more than a ticket. But you could probably afford to buy a lot of Cat Chow for the price of one ticket. .

And if you won't be getting them fixed, don't start feeding them! Cats with a steady food source get pregnant more often and have more kittens, so the numbers can really get out of hand. Better not to feed them at all if they won't be fixed .

I definitely intend to get them fixed. I'm working on getting help, I heard that a tnr group was starting here. And am working on getting in contact with them.

You certainly ARE a cat champion, hun.... I really think you are an angel for caring SO much and trying SO hard to consistently rescue and save cat's. I honestly think it would be alright to feed the dog food.... and the only reason I say this is because these cats are starving and is need of some food - whatever it may be. Of course, the dog food lacks taurine but IF the cat's are also hunting mice, rodents etc. then they are getting taurine that way. My daughter works at a Petco. She would bring me the outdated or almost expired dry cat food bags thinking I could use them to feed the barn ferals. And most times I did. They were going to throw out the bags anyway. The problem is that some of the bags were bad - moldy and had some bugs in them. So I would check for that if you do the dumpster diving. I also wonder IF you could just go into the pet stores and talk to the store manager. Tell them your situation and see if they can just call you and tell you when they have cat food ready to be thrown out. The reason they will not give it to shelter's is because of the liability IF the food is bad and makes cat's sick. That is why they toss it out. I wonder IF your local shelter, rescue or even TNR group would be able to offer you some support with feeding these cats. I hope thing's work out for ALL of these cat's and you are able to get some serious help from a TNR organization. Good luck with all of the trappings and speutering's. Your a saint :heart3:

OH also........ some of these pet stores have drastically reduced prices on the dry food that is close to expiration. Ask them about those bags too. Hoping they will be kind to you and just give you the bags :cross:

There is definitely a mouse problem in the area which I find somewhat comical since there is such a large feral cat population. Is there a taurine supplement that I could add to their food? I know that the majority of the food that comes back to the store is higher end food because I am in there nearly daily to check on fosters in the cat habitat. The food I got was a combination of Organix and Authority I believe (some of the food was still in the bag). I will have to see if they would be willing to give it to me since it would be going to ferals instead of pets. Thanks for all of your input!

When my old lady cat was having an "I don't want to eat" spell I was tempting her with (human) baby food, chicken and / or turkey. My vet suggested adding some bottled clam juice as that would provide the necessary taurine.

Happy to add she is back to eating just fine.

alexisanb said:

There is definitely a mouse problem in the area which I find somewhat comical since there is such a large feral cat population. Is there a taurine supplement that I could add to their food? I know that the majority of the food that comes back to the store is higher end food because I am in there nearly daily to check on fosters in the cat habitat. The food I got was a combination of Organix and Authority I believe (some of the food was still in the bag). I will have to see if they would be willing to give it to me since it would be going to ferals instead of pets. Thanks for all of your input!

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IF there are many mice, then the cat's are hunting and eating mice too. The taurine is not needed as they are getting that from their fresh prey. :nod:

Honestly I dumpster dive frequently. Usualy for beauty supplies, cloths and for tools and other random stuff. I just recently decided to go behind a petsmart and I think they know people take there thrown away food cause they only cut the price off the bag and put it in thick black trash bags with only food. I recently got 1 25 bag of science diet dog food, 1 25 bag of blue seal dog food and 4 10 lb bags of canidae cat food. The cat food expired in January and the dog food in February. I called petsmart and spoke to someone who's been working there for over 5 years and told them I had some dog food that was expired and wondered if it was safe. He said dry animal food is okay for 6 months past the experation date! Any time my dogs or cats need food I'm gonna claim there salvaged food. Since it's in its own thick bag with only other food I feel comfortable feeding it to my animals. As for dumpster diving and getting "caught" where I live it's legal as long as you don't remove any locks or go where tere are trespassing signs. Most security can't do **** anyway and can only ask you to leave. I have had police drive by me a few times and say NOTHING. I had someone aske me what I was doing an I said recycling.

Your local Humane Society may be able to provide you with food for the ferals. Mine offered to give me food several months ago when I was feeding a colony of poorly cared for cats belonging to a hoarder. Your other option is to buy Meow Mix dry food which is very inexpensive. It's not good quality food but it contains taurine and vitamins. You could mix it with the dog food. I'm glad you're feeding them- no cat deserves to starve.