Feeder Rodents

[kestria]

Is there any sort of cat food that contains mice or rats? It seems like a much more natural prey for cats compared to like beef or pork.

I have snakes so my freezer is always full of frozen captive bred feeder rodents and I sometimes wonder why they’re not used for cats as well.

 

[Neo_23]

Is there any sort of cat food that contains mice or rats? It seems like a much more natural prey for cats compared to like beef or pork.

I have snakes so my freezer is always full of frozen captive bred feeder rodents and I sometimes wonder why they’re not used for cats as well.

I've wondered the same. I have never heard of any commercial food with rodents, but we did have one member on here a while back who raised rodents and fed them fresh & raw to his lucky cat.

 

[kestria]

I've wondered the same. I have never heard of any commercial food with rodents, but we did have one member on here a while back who raised rodents and fed them fresh & raw to his lucky cat.

I show a thawed rat to my kitten and he just sniffed it and seemed confused. He does eat some raw but I think an entire furry animal is just too weird to him and I don’t think I could ever cut up a rat myself

 

[Neo_23]

I show a thawed rat to my kitten and he just sniffed it and seemed confused. He does eat some raw but I think an entire furry animal is just too weird to him.

Yeah it might be strange if he's never had to take apart an animal with his teeth before. A lot of cats don't know how to chew meat off bones either. I'm sure with time you could probably teach him somehow. I wonder if it's something they usually learn from their mother in the wild, since she usually teaches them to hunt.

 

[duckpond]

lol good in theory, but i dont think i could serve up mice to mine either. I bet it would need to be live and running before they would catch and eat it? I have never seen a commercial cat food that contains rodents.

 

[Neo_23]

Commercial cat foods usually cater to humans and not to cats. So most commercial food companies are probably thinking that people would be grossed out by feeding rodents to their cats... yet, carrots and broccoli just sound so nutritious.

 

[kestria]

Maybe I’ll start my own brand of cat food made from rodents. Would you guys try it?

 

[Neo_23]

Maybe I’ll start my own brand of cat food made from rodents. Would you guys try it?

I was just thinking that might be a smart business idea! I would definitely try if it's a raw or wet food

 

[duckpond]

Maybe I’ll start my own brand of cat food made from rodents. Would you guys try it?

lol maybe

 

[LAL]

I show a thawed rat to my kitten and he just sniffed it and seemed confused. He does eat some raw but I think an entire furry animal is just too weird to him and I don’t think I could ever cut up a rat myself

I'm sure mine would just stare at me, 'what am I supposed to do with THAT?' And, she'd be hoping I'D show her...............eek, no!

 

[EmmiTemmi]

I was at PetSmart the other day and saw the packages of frozen pinkie mice, so I grabbed a small one, just on a whim. At home thawed one in its package under running warm water, then held it up in front of my raw-obsessed boy. Now, he growls and hisses a lot normally when he's eating a chunk of raw, but his reaction to this itty bitty mouse was over the top! He grabbed it and almost bit my finger off in the process, and proceeded to chow down ferociously, hissing and growling at my other cat and I who were 10+ feet away.

They're expensive, so it's not going to be a regular thing, but gosh darn he LOVES them.

 

[kestria]

Now that I think about it, rabbit is a pretty common protein in cat foods and it’s biologically about as close as it gets to a rat or mouse. I personally feed some NV Instinct rabbit. But I guess rabbit is still considered human food but rat is just ew disgusting.

 

[kestria]

I was at PetSmart the other day and saw the packages of frozen pinkie mice, so I grabbed a small one, just on a whim. At home thawed one in its package under running warm water, then held it up in front of my raw-obsessed boy. Now, he growls and hisses a lot normally when he's eating a chunk of raw, but his reaction to this itty bitty mouse was over the top! He grabbed it and almost bit my finger off in the process, and proceeded to chow down ferociously, hissing and growling at my other cat and I who were 10+ feet away.

They're expensive, so it's not going to be a regular thing, but gosh darn he LOVES them.

Oh yeah, those arctic mice prices are ridiculous. You could try finding a reptile keeper who breeds feeder rodents. I get my adult rats for about $2. Pinky rats would be like 50 cents a piece.

 

[Neo_23]

I was at PetSmart the other day and saw the packages of frozen pinkie mice, so I grabbed a small one, just on a whim. At home thawed one in its package under running warm water, then held it up in front of my raw-obsessed boy. Now, he growls and hisses a lot normally when he's eating a chunk of raw, but his reaction to this itty bitty mouse was over the top! He grabbed it and almost bit my finger off in the process, and proceeded to chow down ferociously, hissing and growling at my other cat and I who were 10+ feet away.

They're expensive, so it's not going to be a regular thing, but gosh darn he LOVES them.

I guess I never thought of even looking at non-cat foods for mice. Can you send a link/pic of the one you used? I'm thinking of getting one as a treat for my girl.

 

[Neo_23]

kestria Here's a helpful article for getting your cat to eat whole prey. Take a Deep Breath and Cut the Mouse in Half - Feline Nutrition Foundation

 

[ailish]

I don't know. Ailish catches mice a lot in our farm house but I take them from her before she eats them. I don't actually know if she would eat them. My sister's cat goes outside and catches moles. She eats them sometimes and then immediately barfs them up. So I probably wouldn't feed her whole prey. Or maybe there's something about moles that makes them bad food.

 

[Neo_23]

EmmiTemmi Nevermind about the link - I found the ones that my local Petsmart carries.

I'm looking at the nutritional values and it looks quite nice.
52% protein, 48% fat, 0% carbs.

It also states that the mice are raised in a sanitary lab environment and are free of parasites.

kestria Is "Arctic Mice" a reputable brand of food in the reptile food industry?

Wait a minute... it's completely accepted in our society for reptile parents to feed raw meat to their animals and you don't see the FDA going after these feeder mice companies... even though technically they should pose just as much of a health risk to humans as raw cat foods.

 

[molly92]

I've thought about this too, but I've never actually tried it because I worry about parasites. Outdoor cats who hunt mice are at risk of catching toxoplasmosis and tapeworms. Feeder mice aren't the same of course, but they aren't subject to regulations and testing like actual marketed cat food is so I've held back. I haven't done extensive research on it though because I'm pretty sure my cats would not understand mice as food anyway.

I will caution anyone interested to definitely NOT try live feeder mice-they can fight back and it's not worth the risk of your cat getting injured.

 

[Neo_23]

Feeder mice aren't the same of course, but they aren't subject to regulations and testing like actual marketed cat food is so I've held back.

Cat food isn't subject to regulations and testing. The AAFCO and FDA set out standards and regulations but the industry is not actually regulated. The FDA sometimes randomly samples cat food and tests it (most recently they have been attacking raw food) but aside from that there is no regulation.

 

[molly92]

EmmiTemmi

EmmiTemmi