? mice

I have heard that mice are nutritionally complete for cats, so why don't cat food companies make their food from mice? The late, great, Pogo, used to catch mice and eat them. He ate everything except the tails.

 

Mine only kill mice and leave them out for me to find

 

Uh huh. My Mom's dog got fed from the table. Nothing terribly wrong with that unless it's a Teacup poodle choking on deep fried shrimp. So much depends on what the mouse was eating. Grain free, gluten free.

 

My vet and I have had great discussions about mice. They are not nutritionally complete. Animals in the wild have a varied diet. They hunt and eat a variety of things.

The discussion came about because I have a cat that eats mice. Not the hunt your own kind, but the human buys them, puts them in a bowl and feeds them to the kitty.

So, great discussions about supplements, grow your own vs fresh from the pet store vs frozen from the pet store.

I thought a diet of mice only would be nutritionally complete when we started the discussion. After thinking about large game cats in the wild, checking what our zoo cats get and thinking about prey animals hunting.....mice only is as one sided as serving only the same kind of kibble (or other single food) over the coarse of time.

Note: when there is a dead mouse, sitting in a bowl, in your fridge, waiting to be served......it makes rudely nosey people stop snooping around in your fridge °~immediately~°.

 

I just rescued a mouse from the clutches of furry death this week. (Generally the mice only brave to come in during winter.)
When my cats discovered mice they tried to eat them, but just threw it all up so I had several landmines to stumble through when I woke up in the morning.
Now, they just skin the poor thing. Apparently my clowder is too well fed.

 

My cats will look at the mouse, stare at it a bit and then invite them to the food bowl.

But the darn fly that gets in the house...our civvie Missy will hunt that thing down like no tomorrow, tear its wings off and leave it there.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only person in the room wearing pyjamas, wait... with a morbid sense of humour. Canadian spelling. So anyhoo, I don't know if this website is pulling my other leg but this is what I dug up. Whiska's treats less than 2 calories, average piece of kibble 2>3 calories, average mouse 20>30 calories. What does an average mouse look like?
@apple You need to be my neighbor because everyone else here has a stick up... @AlphaCat Same thing. @Larry and Kitties Your memory card is filthy!
In the "I remember when" department I had 2 cats live to 17 and 23 eating 1980's Pig Slop wet food. @Tracey&Jones , remember the Safeway Low Ash in the blue cans? This was after liver and onions but before Kale and gluten free. Same here with stare at the mouse / eat bugs. Easier to accept than my sister's Smarter than your kid eating boogers at the age of 10. Shouldn't we be in Off Topic? Someone who just joined is thinking "no, this is not for me".

 

Do mice have carbs, therefore bad for diabetic kitties?

(There, @Noah & me I got us back on topic...)

 

http://tcfeline.com/nutritional-analysis-of-mice/

 

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

 

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2375

 

@Noah & me
We'd be great neighbors! No sticks anywhere. ;+)

We are totally on topic. I have a cat that eats mice. I went though a lot of work and research to find out if I should have mice at my house, breed them and feed them to the cat, or buy fresh and let the cat kill/eat them or purchase frozen. I went with frozen. They are kept in the freezer, put in a bowl in the fridge to thaw then fed to cat.

She lived outside and fed herself. She lost her shelter and was forced (read captured against her will) and brought inside. I looked for a new place for her (she was offered a gig at a swanky horse stable & a gig at an award winning show hog operation) and none fit her needs.

So, she is with me, an indoor feral, and eats mice. She has her BFF and as long as she has him, her world is safe. She may become a kibble eating domestic house cat, she might not. Mice are easy to buy, store and feed.

See.....it's a cat topic.

 

With 6 cats here that would be a suicidal mouse. My outside strays left us two in the driveway last week along with a bird. Thanks but no thanks. Lol. Even my outside friends are too well fed to eat them.

 

Often a cat will leave a dead animal as a gift of appreciation.

 

Hare today sells mice and a lot of other meats.

https://hare-today.com/category/meat_proteins_or_packaging_types

 

Yep we've gotten a lot of gifts over the years. A few months ago I rescued a baby squirrel from them. Brought it to a wildlife rehab place.

 

We used to live in Florida, and they really miss lizards. I began my catch and release program long ago... Aka the lizard grave yard. Some managed to make it out with their life though.
Lizards are also way easier for me to pick up and rescue than mice. But alas, we moved North, and we have no more lizards. The brave mice will have to do.

Others complain when it gets cold, about their mouse problem. I joke back with them that I don't have a mouse issue, and in fact I have a Loan-a-Cat program that will solve their mouse problem.

 

What's with the head against the wall?

I could see banging your head if I started in on the health decline of the domesticated feline as a result of this:
http://pets.thenest.com/jonny-cat-litter-8582.html and tied it to the stay at home wives of the late 50s early 60s moving into the work force and demanding more convenient options to deal with feline waste. Then came the indoor only movement which brought about the expansion dry foods (strictly a convenience factor for humans) that lead to designer foods (hills, iams) then the pet care boom, that morphed into the vet care boom bringing human grade health care to cats. Now we are here among friends wondering why our cats are diabetic. Because of cat litter.......

Recap:
Cats were working animals
A few of society's wealthy individuals had indoor felines as a show of status
As discretionary income rises, more families can afford cats
Sawdust, sand and newspaper were commonly used for feline waste
WW2 brought about an elimination of canned dog food and manufactures moved to dry food
As dry food moves into the market, companies add that to their offerings as income rises after the war
Johnny Cat came to the mass market
Women left the home and entered the workforce demanding easier time saving options
Indoor only movement starts to take hold
Booming growth in the pet industry
Growth in pet care
Bringing human grade care to cats



Ok, now brain is tired and I need to go back to cleaning cat boxes.

Or I need a nap. That was too much thinking.

 

I thought this was trying to bite the phone book without my teeth in. Where's my laxative?
At an intellectual zero today. I'm sure Action News will cheer me up if I don't fall asleep before the "On your side" segment.
Now what's growing out of my eyebrows? A woot? Gross! Night all. zzzzzzzzzz
PS apple, re working cats and dogs. Had a Border Collie for many years and once nabbed an Abyssinian cat for $20 from SPCA in mid 70's. Agree with all you say, too tired.

 

Could very well be. I'm not icon literate. (Also have double vision, so .......) I like the phone book idea and am stealing it.

Aby for 20 is a deal.

I have enjoyed this condo. It was a much needed, enjoyable, learning and having fun, relaxing place to be. For a moment, forgetting about all the other aspects of what brought us here......diabetic cats. Have a good evening all. Time for me to go back to reality. .....