I don't for a few reasons. First is that I personally don't really want to go about storing them in my freezer with my own food. Another is that I'm on a student budget (yay!) and it's also less convenient. Plus there's always a slight risk when feeding whole prey (such as bones getting caught in the throat; not significant enough that I'd recommend against it, but enough that I don't see a point in switching my own cat over). It's something I might consider more readily if I was taking care of a feral cat colony or something, but my indoor housecat who's never eaten a whole dead thing in his life probably doesn't care.
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Why Do People Not Feed Their Cats Whole Prey Or Mice/rodents?
- Thread starter Pouncecat1
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Ugh...
Our cats caught a mouse one night.
Either they were well fed enough or decided a mouse was an un-feline thing to fully ingest....
but they ate the rear half of the mouse and left the front half at our bedroom door. We overslept that morning.
Nothing like throwing open your bedroom door to step deadpan into a half eaten mouse...
x.x
True, people don't need meat (although I quite enjoy it). Cats do need it, however. I don't have mine on a raw diet, but I'd never dream of putting them on a vegan one.
mices are cute :x
Silly cats...the front half is the most nutritious & delicious part!
They were saving the best for you
How generous of them!Silly cats...the front half is the most nutritious & delicious part!
I watch the feral cat in my yard unsuccessfully stalk prey frequently. She gets 3 square meals of raw food every day so she doesn't actually have to be a successful huntress.
She does graciously leave a mangled and partial lizard, baby snake or toad on my patio in exchange for me feeding her regularly. She keeps the crickets for herself.
Our cats love catching crickets! They find them in the basement, I think they come up through the floorboards of the screened-in veranda. They're also very good at catching moths. And though they stalk chipmunks through the screen, they seem a little posh and picky to actually catch and eat them. (I'm sure they'd like me to see more killer instinct in them!)
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Ours bring in half-dissected grasshoppers and leave legs on the rug =/ Explain that to your house guest, LOL!
One night I found a tiny baby garter snake inside on the floor.
Flies are history.
We had a moth fly in one night and the concentrated drama that ensued resulted in a minor fight, a knocked over book case, and one broken lamp.
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OH and one night (I have no idea if the cats did this or if he just found his way inside) a little toad managed to waltz into the house without our knowledge. I went to sit in my chair and read and noticed a dark "pile" thing on the rug, and was wondering what cat took a mighty dump...and why...outside the box...I got some paper towels and went to scoop the poop, and the poop jumped about a foot away from me. When poop jumps, *I* jump and with some wrangling, cursing, and "please don't hate me I'm trying to help you" I got the toad into a box, he screamed the whole way (toads scream, btw) and got him outside.
Yes, we've found partial bug corpses, too! And flattened moths, I always feel sorriest for them. I'm hoping for never, ever any snakes!
Makes me glad I live in a second-story apartment. I only find the occasional dead stinkbug
Makes me glad I live in a second-story apartment. I only find the occasional dead stinkbug
I think I'd rather have a moth, though, than a stinkbug! Watch out, however, it was a fourth-floor apartment where my other cat used to catch her annual mouse!
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It's not, cat's can get sick easily, even a mouse or rat that's been checked and checked and check and all that, but rats and mice have many sicknesses that can kill humans too, plus letting your cat roam around can prone the cat to getting hit by a cat, stolen, getting lost, or getting sick.
Walk your cats.
This is an old thread. . .but if you buy rodents from a reputable supplier, they should not have diseases or parasites. Captive-bred reptiles are fairly sensitive and no supplier wants a reputation as one that killed off someone's expensive reptile collection. Cats are way less sensitive then some reptiles. I like The Big Cheese rodent supply, but I've also used some of the other big reptile food suppliers and was satisfied. Any of them should be fine for cats.
But, again, it is a bit expensive and requires a lot of freezer space. And the risk that your cat might feel like dragging their meal around for a while instead of just eating it. But you could feed them in a crate if that's a problem.
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Reptiles/Amphibians. (Snakes, toads, some lizards) are made to digest foods like mice and rats, cats are too, but they've changed, so they can't do it as well as they used to, when you buy rodents from a reputable supplier, they do have some diseases, so if you have an old cat with an old immune system, really, though, there's no reason to feed your cat mice/rats/rodents, your cat should JUST have a healthy canned or hard food diet, (if it's only a hard food diet make sure to push some canned food in every-now-and-then)
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Cats are also made to digest raw rodent meat. They are obligate carnivores. I feed my cats raw meat and they digest it perfectly.
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Yes they are, but you want to be careful of salmonella. I'd rather be safe than sorry, but we all have our own opinions, and all cats are different!Cats are also made to digest raw rodent meat. They are obligate carnivores. I feed my cats raw meat and they digest it perfectly.
They haven't though. Cats have been eating human-provided food for less than 100 years. Farm cats still live primarily off rodents.
What diseases are those?
Trust me, there are some fragile captive bred snakes who would literally die if they ate a wild rodent. So food-bred rodents need to be pretty darn clean.
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Your cat probably already has salmonella in it’s stomach. Cats have short and highly acidic digestive tracts that are made to process all kinda of bacteria. I’m not worried at all.Yes they are, but you want to be careful of salmonella. I'd rather be safe than sorry, but we all have our own opinions, and all cats are different!
By the way, kibble is also at high risk of carrying salmonella and other bacteria harmful to humans.
If you’re that concerned about disease, you probably shouldn’t live with a carnivore.
I have several carnivorous pets, dogs, cats, ferrets and snakes so I offer a variety of whole prey to all. Generally I have mice, rats, quail, chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits in various sizes. One of my cats won't touch any of it, she'll eat cleaned and prepared raw meat though. The other hasn't figured out fur yet, she'll just gum rodents and make them disgusting. She'll eat anything cleaned and birds with some feathers left on. My first cat loved mice but never ate any other whole prey. Both ferrets and cats will leave the gut pile out of larger mice/rats and it's best to remove intestines/stomach on rabbits/guinea pigs before feeding, same with the gizzard/crop in birds, unless you like messes.
