Ground raw quail

I made up a batch of food with ground quail (Blue Ridge brand) and noticed that the meat has small bits of feather shaft and even small bits of feather mixed throughout. Are these edible? My cats seem to like the food just fine. Does the HT ground quail also have bits of feather in it?

I would probably pick them out if it were me but I can get very paranoid!!  Maybe someone else knows if they are ok.  I guess cats eat bird feathers but those may not be as sharp as the shafts you are finding.  My cats love the Hare Today Quail and I have never found any feather shafts or feathers in it.

LTS3- I have ordered the Fine Ground quail from HT. I didn't notice any feathers or what not.It isn't something I order regularly though.It is to expensive at something like 12.99 per 1 lbs. chub. They have ground quail fur and all also.

Maybe it's just the brand? The Blue Ridge quail is ground quail meat with bone, no organ meats. There's no mention of quail feather parts. I haven't seen too many feather parts so maybe a few somehow got ground up and packaged. It was only $3.99 for the quail chub and only to see if the cats would even eat quail. I don't think I'll buy it again.

I'd contact them to ask about it, but my feral cats eat entire birds, feathers and all.

Interesting, it seems that the "inedible" parts (feathers, fur, cartilage, etc) act in cats somewhat like fiber does in people as re: short chain fatty acids in the gut.

Depauw et al. 2011. Animal fibre: the forgotten nutrient in strict carnivores? First insights in the cheetah. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2013 Feb;97(1):146-54. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22074361 (abstract only)

Depauw et al 2012. Fermentation of animal components in strict carnivores: A comparative study with cheetah fecal inoculum, J. Anim. Sci. 2012.90:2540–2548. https://www.animalsciencepublications.org/publications/jas/pdfs/90/8/2540?search-result=1