Why Do People Not Feed Their Cats Whole Prey Or Mice/rodents?

[Pouncecat1]

Most people who own snakes, buy rats or mice from the store to feed them. Are their health or safety reasons why this is not done by cat owners? Other than the eww factor.

As a side story, I live in the country and we have a nice population of wild mice, rabbits, and your predators such as hawks and owls. There are mice in the attic of our house and one time, the mice somehow managed to make their way into the house- they chewed a hole in the ceiling, climbed down an extension cord, and found my stored dog and cat food. Let me just say my cats are excellent mousers and it did not take long for them to eat said mice (I think our petsitter may have been in for a shock though- Pounce left a mouse head on the floor). Our outdoor cats would bring home rabbits, and every once in a while a bird.

I'm just wondering if anyone has tried raising feeder mice for their cats? It seems like it would be safer than feeding raw prey- no concerns about E coli, Salmonella etc. It would also be easier than cooking home made meals for your cat. I don't think I could stomach feeding rabbits though (or chicks).

 

[Vega's Dad]

It is $$$ to buy rodents. I did the calculation and I couldn't afford it. Mammals eat more than reptiles.
Lots of work to raise feeder mice and you have to bear the smell...

 

[EmersonandEvie]

My main reason is that I don't think it's ethical to feed a live creature to my cats. Yes, that is what happens in nature. Yes, the circle of life is cruel and unforgiving. However (and this is just my two cents), you've also got to think about the environment- if a cat is stalking a mouse out in a field, the mouse has an equal chance to escape. If you're feeding a cat in a closed off section of your kitchen, well...that's basically fish in a barrel.

Also, those little guys are sneaky! I wouldn't want to run the risk of having a rouge mouse somewhere in my house (I don't have an area to feed the cats outside).

 

[Vega's Dad]

My main reason is that I don't think it's ethical to feed a live creature to my cats. Yes, that is what happens in nature. Yes, the circle of life is cruel and unforgiving. However (and this is just my two cents), you've also got to think about the environment- if a cat is stalking a mouse out in a field, the mouse has an equal chance to escape. If you're feeding a cat in a closed off section of your kitchen, well...that's basically fish in a barrel.

Also, those little guys are sneaky! I wouldn't want to run the risk of having a rouge mouse somewhere in my house (I don't have an area to feed the cats outside).

Most reptile keepers feed pre-killed for the safety of their pets. It would be the owners' responsibility to take lives, one reason I wouldn't raise mice myself. ..

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Most reptile keepers feed pre-killed for the safety of their pets. It would be the owners' responsibility to take lives, one reason I wouldn't raise mice myself. ..

Yes...I have done academic work dealing with mice (biologist). While the work itself was fascinating, we had to euthanize the mice and then make sure they were dead by manually breaking their necks. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, and certainly not something I would want to do on a regular basis.

 

[duckpond]

It would break my heart to raise something, and then feed it to my cats. Even if it was just a mouse. I have a hard time eating meat myself. At least with the cans you just pretend its not a cute animal in the can...lol. plop it out on their plate and live in denial

Outdoor cats catch and eat things, and that's the circle of life. i just don't want to see it up close and personal Im squeamish i guess

 

[cheech]

People don’t need meat. I’ve been veg since I was 12 and vegan since I was 16. There are plenty of vegan recipes and ideas online, by if you need an help, just let me know.

 

[duckpond]

People don’t need meat. I’ve been veg since I was 12 and vegan since I was 16. There are plenty of vegan recipes and ideas online, by if you need an help, just let me know.

Thank you, im good right now. I do appreciate the offer. I dont eat much meat, ever. Less and less the older i get. But my cats need it, so they get it. I just couldn't feed them live prey.

 

[lisahe]

Yes, the circle of life is cruel and unforgiving.

And it's especially so when a cat tortures and toys with a mouse instead of actually eating it. I had a cat who caught an annual mouse in my Philadelphia apartment: one got placed on the bed for me (flattened; it must have had a long death), one got swallowed fairly whole (I watched the tail go down the cat's little throat), and I forced the cat to give up a third before she'd done any damage. And then there was another cat who just batted a house mice when she found them. There's no way I'd feed live mice to our cats!

 

[Azazel]

Why would the mouse have to be fed live?

I would feed mice if I had access to a good source I trusted. I wouldn’t raise and kill them myself. But I don’t see the difference between mice and feeding any other kind of meat.

 

[1 bruce 1]

My main reason is that I don't think it's ethical to feed a live creature to my cats. Yes, that is what happens in nature. Yes, the circle of life is cruel and unforgiving. However (and this is just my two cents), you've also got to think about the environment- if a cat is stalking a mouse out in a field, the mouse has an equal chance to escape. If you're feeding a cat in a closed off section of your kitchen, well...that's basically fish in a barrel.

Also, those little guys are sneaky! I wouldn't want to run the risk of having a rouge mouse somewhere in my house (I don't have an area to feed the cats outside).

 

[lollie]

Can't imagine cleaning up disemboweled mouse from my floor.

 

[abby2932]

I have fed mice to my cats. NOT live but frozen/thawed mice that were humanely euthanized. It is the perfect diet for cats and way easier than preparing a Prey Model Raw diet. It's actually not messy at all. (With my cats, at least). They just chew it up a couple of times to crunch up the bones and pretty much swallow it whole. Sometimes they ate the head first and then the rest of the body. But literally nothing was left behind. No blood, tails, feet...nothing.

I don't continue to feed it for two reasons:
1.) I only have 1 freezer so my food is in there as well as the cat food. I didn't like having mice in my freezer with my food. I'm sure it was just a mental thing but I pretty much couldn't eat anything out of my freezer when I fed my cats those mice.

2.) I like to smooch on my cats and I couldn't do it knowing they just ate a mouse. I'm fine with Raw Turkey, chicken, beef, pork....but mice... I didn't feel good giving kisses lol Again, it was probably a mental thing but I couldn't do it.

I've discontinued purchasing mice.

 

[lisahe]

Can't imagine cleaning up disemboweled mouse from my floor.

Yes, that can be another issue! Some neighbors once borrowed my cat for a few days while I was out of town. They hoped she'd catch the mouse in their apartment. When they brought her aback to me they said either she hadn't caught the mouse or had eaten it. They called me a few minutes later when they found mouse innards in a slipper.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Yes, that can be another issue! Some neighbors once borrowed my cat for a few days while I was out of town. They hoped she'd catch the mouse in their apartment. When they brought her aback to me they said either she hadn't caught the mouse or had eaten it. They called me a few minutes later when they found mouse innards in a slipper.

One day I walked into the kitchen and noticed random balls of dark fluff on the floor...and thought some of our darker haired cats had had a playful scuffle. Upon closer insection I noticed these clumps were not hair, but...feathers.
I followed a trail of feathers into the next room, up the steps, and into the first room upon hitting the upstairs and found TONS MORE feathers, and a really bloated, satisfied looking cat. I raw feed some gross stuff, but I almost puked. I like wild birds. I have NO idea how one got into their catio, but somehow they caught one. These cats do NOT go outside their catio and we're very diligent about that (high predatory wildlife area) so either that bird was insane or brave/stupid or....!!! =(
A day or two after that, one of my girls came in from the enclosure. She was holding a huge mouse, or a rat....d'oh, another bird, dead. I got it away from her. Circle of life, *sings the Lion King stuff*, this is nature, cats hunt birds, whatever but I'm happier feeding the way I do, humanely/artisanally butchered. I told this cat she was being a bit of a jackass, as she'd eaten a rather large meal about an hour prior to this!

 

[Blakeney Green]

I have a pet mouse, so... that would feel pretty weird.

My cats don't seem to be interested in eating rodents anyway. Catching, sure - but the two times I've had rodents get into the house, my cats just killed them and left the corpses, so I don't think giving them dead mice would make them happy.

 

[Galixy]

I feel like it would be a good idea to buy mice for them. Or just let them roam about your backyard and have some fun catching prey. If your cat is lazy I'd just give them regular food!

 

[Azazel]

Can't imagine cleaning up disemboweled mouse from my floor.

I feed raw chicken necks that my cats like to drag around while eating. I lay down lots of towels before feeding. It's great for their teeth!

 

[orange&white]

Hare Today sells ground mice. $15 bucks a pound is some pretty fine dining for a cat. A little pricey for me, since the kitties eat a pound of meat a day and another 1/2 pound a day for the dog.

I have considered raising mice for cat food, but I read they smell and it seems like a lot of cleaning and maintenance (which may be why they're so expensive to let someone else do all the work for you). If I did raise them, they would be euthanized humanely and not fed live.

 

[Willowy]

I had pet mice. Yes they STINK. I won't have mice again, lol. Rats are awesome but I'd get attached if I raised them. I do toss a (f/t) rat to the cats every now and then when I feed the snakes, and they get all the meals the snakes refuse. It would be fairly expensive to feed as a daily diet but not that bad if you know of a good supplier. Less than a really high-quality canned food, I think.

You'd need to have a very large freezer, or raise a LOT of rodents. Most cats need about 4 ounces of meat a day, and that would be like 6 adult mice or one adult rat, and it takes a while to get them to that size. So if you raised your own rodents you'd need to have a litter just about every day to keep up. It would be a pretty demanding occupation. At least snakes only eat every week or two .

They do toss the rodents around a bit, even pre-killed. I consider my floors pretty much a lost cause , but that might bother some people. And you can't really choose where they'll eat it so you might get a little blood spot there. I've never had them leave guts around, but the smaller the rodent the more likely it'll go down whole. I think some people who feed whole prey have a large dog crate to feed the cat in so they don't drag their meals all over the house.

I wouldn't be comfortable feeding live, because cats torture their prey. Snakes are efficient killers and the animals suffers very little, but getting slapped around by a cat for half an hour before dying would be pretty miserable. I know that's nature but I'm not going to choose to do that to a rodent. Plus large rats are capable of defending themselves and the cat could get hurt (this is a prime reason to feed pre-killed prey to reptiles---a rat can really mess up your snake!). And the risk of a live escape of course.

Anyway it's definitely doable, if a bit pricey.