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What? That doesn't make sense to me. Cats' digestive systems are built to handle bacteria in meat. Mice are the natural prey of domestic cats...
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Feeder Rodents
- Thread starter kestria
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A lot of companies, especially raw food companies, make a big deal about how they have their food independently tested though, even though they may not be required to. I've never heard a fish or reptile food company brag about how their HPP process.
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Yes, some raw food companies do test their food (which is a good thing) -- but, if these mice were raised in lab settings you'd think they would test them too. But you're right that we have no way of knowing unless the company states it.
I have a Mom and Pop pet store near me who have tanks full of feeder mice from newborn pinkies to adults and everything in between. They put all the moms with babies within a 3 day period in the same tank and just rotate signage. Everything is born and raised in store, so I wouldn't be too worried about external parasites or illness. However, my cats do go outside and do occasionally catch live mice/rats. So they might be better suited to handle mice then an indoor only cat who has never seen one.
I mean yes, in the wild, cats eat other animals and are fine. Sometimes they catch diseases though, and animals in the wild don't live as long as ones in captivity because nature is dangerous. The average pet owner takes care to make sure their beloved animal is exposed to as little danger as possible. Plus, my cats have their own health issues already and I personally don't want to take any risks.
Parasites and diseases are adapted to attack specific hosts. Some can't be spread between species, like how your pets can't get a cold from you, but some can, like how bird flu crosses between species. And reptiles are so different from mammals that they probably have fewer diseases in common, that's all I'm saying. For example you have to be careful handling reptiles because they carry salmonella but they don't normally get sick from it.
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No, Arctic Mice are overpriced, poor quality and generally avoided in the reptile community. I get my rats from local breeders. That way you can personally go see the conditions in which the rats were raised and get fresh, humanely prepared frozen feeders. But I do know of a few online distributed a that are also reliable but only worth it if you buy in bulk.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.
I think it is different in the reptile hobby because most snakes simply can’t and won’t eat anything else besides raw whole rats. The whole rat is all they need so there’s no additional supplementing required.
There actually aren’t that many feeder rodent companies because it is relatively easy to just breed feeder rodents in your own at home and I doubt the FDA are going to come to peoples houses.
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I get what you're saying about diseases being adapted to specific hosts, but in terms of eating raw meat, cats don't usually get sick from salmonella either. It is possible that they might, especially if they have weakened immune systems, but like reptiles they are built to handle raw meat.
Anyway, my original point that I was trying to make was that the FDA is so concerned with raw cat and dog food because it poses a risk to humans. Yet, you don't see them going after raw reptile food (at least not that I've heard of).
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Thanks for the info, I'll stay away from Arctic Mice.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.
No, Arctic Mice are overpriced, poor quality and generally avoided in the reptile community. I get my rats from local breeders. That way you can personally go see the conditions in which the rats were raised and get fresh, humanely prepared frozen feeders. But I do know of a few online distributed a that are also reliable but only worth it if you buy in bulk.
I think it is different in the reptile hobby because most snakes simply can’t and won’t eat anything else besides raw whole rats. The whole rat is all they need so there’s no additional supplementing required.
There actually aren’t that many feeder rodent companies because it is relatively easy to just breed feeder rodents in your own at home and I doubt the FDA are going to come to peoples houses.
I did that about 10 years ago when I had 3 cats on a raw diet. Bought one tiny little frozen mouse for $4.00.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 did cut it into 1/3rds. One cat inhaled his, one cat ate it with no more or less interest than any other food, and one cat said "no thanks". At $4.00 for a 1-inch mouse, it was definitely a novelty purchase.Hare Today does sell ground mice by the pound. I think they have whole too.
Yeah, I'm not against the idea of feeding mice to cats entirely! It's just something I've thought about and decided that it's not something I want to try for my cats, who are health compromised and not at all used to the concept of whole prey.
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Fair enough. I probably wouldn't do it either if I had cats with health issues.
Do you feed commercial raw?
I do feed some Stella and Chewy's and Primal when I can get them at a good price, but mostly I feed canned.
There's a reptile store in town that sells pinkies for $1 and small adults are $3. Are those reasonable prices? I have no idea how to find a reptile keeper who breeds feeders near me. Couldn't find anything through google or craigslist.
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Rats or mice? Rats are way bigger than mice so those are good prices for rats but a little steep for mice.
Those prices were for pinkie mice and small adult rats. The adult mice are $1.90, and their larger rats are $5-6. Hmm, this actually sounds like a pretty good once-in-a-while treat for Monty!
A good reptile feeder rodent company wouldn't risk getting a reputation for their product having parasites or anything like that. Some people have snake collections worth tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of dollars! You can imagine the reputation damage if someone lost their entire collection.
I buy feeder rats online from The Big Cheese. I'm pleased with the quality and packaging. If the snakes don't eat (ball pythons. . .sigh), the cats get the leftovers. Not all of them will eat the rats. Maybe around half. And I've never tried to convince the non-rodent-eaters to try it, so I'm not sure how to go about that. I think starting with pinkies and moving up in size would work for a lot of cats.
I find online ordering to be cost-effective even though I only have 3 snakes. It doesn't take a huge order to be cheaper than the local pet stores, even after shipping is factored in. Of course, for an occasional snack the local pet stores are more cost-effective, but once someone is feeding a reasonable amount of rodents, online ordering is probably best, unless you know of a local high-volume producer.
I think the main problem with making mouse or rat based cat food would be skinning the prey. That's fussy work on such a small animal. That's why Hare Today's ground mouse has the fur and everything. But having fur in a canned or dry food would be unpleasant, and may not be legally allowed. Maybe if they used only particularly large rats, skinning would be easier. . .but then sourcing would be a problem.
I buy feeder rats online from The Big Cheese. I'm pleased with the quality and packaging. If the snakes don't eat (ball pythons. . .sigh), the cats get the leftovers. Not all of them will eat the rats. Maybe around half. And I've never tried to convince the non-rodent-eaters to try it, so I'm not sure how to go about that. I think starting with pinkies and moving up in size would work for a lot of cats.
I find online ordering to be cost-effective even though I only have 3 snakes. It doesn't take a huge order to be cheaper than the local pet stores, even after shipping is factored in. Of course, for an occasional snack the local pet stores are more cost-effective, but once someone is feeding a reasonable amount of rodents, online ordering is probably best, unless you know of a local high-volume producer.
I think the main problem with making mouse or rat based cat food would be skinning the prey. That's fussy work on such a small animal. That's why Hare Today's ground mouse has the fur and everything. But having fur in a canned or dry food would be unpleasant, and may not be legally allowed. Maybe if they used only particularly large rats, skinning would be easier. . .but then sourcing would be a problem.
