When I look at the types of food offered for cats a lot contain things a cat would never eat. Beef, turkey, etc. Wouldn't make more sense to have mice canned food? I think it would be cheaper than beef. Sorry, if anyone thinks this is silly but it makes sense to me.
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Mice
- Thread starter riley1
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Maybe they should come up with mice protein based food
Cat food has to be marketable to people, so although cats might think it's delicious, people would not buy it. The food might also have to be rat since mice wouldn't provide much meat.
Most pet foods use the waste from human food processing. So making a mouse/rat-based food would actually cost more.
There are some rabbit-based foods, that's probably as close as commercial food will get.
There are some rabbit-based foods, that's probably as close as commercial food will get.
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I think about this daily.
I've seen Hope for Wildlife and they order bulk mice/rats so I'm sure there's a service for that but it's probably very hard to find and expensive.
I've seen Hope for Wildlife and they order bulk mice/rats so I'm sure there's a service for that but it's probably very hard to find and expensive.
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Thanks everyone! Last summer my Rizzo caught two mice while we were outside & I took them away from him. People around here leave out poison. If I would have known it was his last summer I would have let him eat them. Yes, I though of buying him some mice when he got sick & couldn't eat, but I just could not do it. I have seen barn cats & ferals eat them & it only takes about a minute; head, tail & everything. It is really a shame that we are feeding waste to our pets. Thinking of calling Instinct & asking them what is in the food. Venison has to be expensive as well. You are probably right that people would not buy it. I once asked a vet why they were putting potatoes, peas & carrots in their food. He said it was for the people; not the cat. We have chipmunks all over the place & people are always complaining about them but if I let my cat out they would really complain. All those small furry things out there & my new cat can't have them. i would think mice could be raised like chickens/cattle & put in a can.
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OMG, I found one! http://www.rodentpro.com/products.asp They are frozen but whole & some people are buying them for their cats. Not sure I could actually deal with the little bodies, but it is something to think about.
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Yeah, there are a lot of companies that sell frozen rodents (mostly for snakes/other herps but some people buy them for cats/dogs). I just got a snake so I'll be making a rodentpro order soon---the local stores' prices are crazy! And, yeah, Hare Today sells ground mouse and guinea pig. I thought you meant canned. Canned mice would be weird :tongue2:.
It would be really expensive to feed your cat all mice. Even from rodentpro, with shipping I can get my snake's rats for under $2 apiece, but a snake only eats one a week or so. A cat would need about 6-7 mice a day if that's all he ate. So that would really add up!
It would be really expensive to feed your cat all mice. Even from rodentpro, with shipping I can get my snake's rats for under $2 apiece, but a snake only eats one a week or so. A cat would need about 6-7 mice a day if that's all he ate. So that would really add up!
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I did mean canned. Ground would be much better than whole bodies. Just inquiring what people thought about this; not sure I could actually deal with it. I must be strange because I am sure cat canned food has lots of things in it I would not want to see.
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I want to try feeding mice/rats but again, the thought of it irks me. I wonder if it's possible to get sample sizes? (Now a small tiny part of me wishes my house had mice in it so my cat can catch them himself and see if he likes it.
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Yeah, I'm sure this is the answer. In fact it isn't just that they always use leftovers from human food processing. Many pet foods do that, sure, but some don't. But even those that don't, you know, those foods out there that tout everything being human grade ingredients and so forth, there is infrastructure already in place to get chicken, beef, turkey, pork, lamb, all the fish, etc., even on down to rabbit which some humans eat, and venison which I guess is sometimes available commercially for humans. (Most in the US who eat venison typically hunt it themselves I would think.)
In other words, even if they're not using waste from the human food supply, they are piggybacking onto the existing supply chain. There's no existing supply chain for mice as food.
There are a few oddballs, the brushtail from New Zealand comes to mind, but it's large enough that I think they trap them or something thus ridding an area of what is considered a pest. Mice are so small that you couldn't reasonably round them up for food so you'd have to raise them specifically for that. Which DOES happen as noted but nobody is set up to can them, and I guess people like Hare Today haven't had enough inquiries for ground mice.
The Hare Today ground mouse is raw, and has to be raw because it's not safe to feed cooked bones unless they've been ground to powder. I'm not sure how they could make a cooked food out of mice---deboning mice would be difficult! :lol3:. I guess they could pressure-cook it to make the bones soft, but I'm not sure how that would work with nutrients and all that.
Mingking---go to your local pet store that sells reptiles and ask if they have frozen feeder rodents. Petco and Petsmart usually have a small freezerwith a few frozen mice and rats but a privately-owned store may have a better selection. That way you could buy just a few and see what your cats think before making a bulk order.
Mingking---go to your local pet store that sells reptiles and ask if they have frozen feeder rodents. Petco and Petsmart usually have a small freezerwith a few frozen mice and rats but a privately-owned store may have a better selection. That way you could buy just a few and see what your cats think before making a bulk order.
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Oh I didn't even know they had ground mouse! I just found it, the link above only went to the whole prey. Heh, so I guess you could feed raw ground mouse if you wanted. So has anyone here tried that?The Hare Today ground mouse is raw, and has to be raw because it's not safe to feed cooked bones unless they've been ground to powder. I'm not sure how they could make a cooked food out of mice---deboning mice would be difficult!. I guess they could pressure-cook it to make the bones soft, but I'm not sure how that would work with nutrients and all that.
Mingking---go to your local pet store that sells reptiles and ask if they have frozen feeder rodents. Petco and Petsmart usually have a small freezerwith a few frozen mice and rats but a privately-owned store may have a better selection. That way you could buy just a few and see what your cats think before making a bulk order.
I just let my girl spend the night in the garage, she usually catches a field mouse coming under garage door where cement eroded!
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the most important part is that it free and helps keep the mice down
Several people have tried it (you could probably find their threads in the raw subforum), but it seems most cats aren't thrilled about it. My cats ate it, albeit reluctantly---they like the rabbit better.
mice? The Rogue loves mice. We get them from rodentpro. They come in all sizes, and I recommend to start small and work your way up from there. They also come in white, black and hairless. The Rogue prefers the hairless ones.
Oberon will prefer rats to mice, Grisou eats rats only, and Sassy Josephine doesn't eat them at all but very enthusiastically makes sure they are dead. Rascal doesn't eat prey he hasn't caught himself, and I don't recommend having your cat catch their own mice because lots of people put poison out and guess what - a poisoned mouse is easiest to catch (I know because one was vomited onto my bed once).
So, out of a poll from five cats, one is crazy about mice, and two prefer rats.
There's also a certain quality of mice. I bought some at a local reptile shop once as a test, and they were ignored even if cut up in nice little pieces. The same thing happens if you have multiple freeze-thaw cycles with frozen food. So if you want to try, best go for something with a reputation.
Oberon will prefer rats to mice, Grisou eats rats only, and Sassy Josephine doesn't eat them at all but very enthusiastically makes sure they are dead. Rascal doesn't eat prey he hasn't caught himself, and I don't recommend having your cat catch their own mice because lots of people put poison out and guess what - a poisoned mouse is easiest to catch (I know because one was vomited onto my bed once).
So, out of a poll from five cats, one is crazy about mice, and two prefer rats.
There's also a certain quality of mice. I bought some at a local reptile shop once as a test, and they were ignored even if cut up in nice little pieces. The same thing happens if you have multiple freeze-thaw cycles with frozen food. So if you want to try, best go for something with a reputation.
Ha! I can so picture that.... ;-)
