Feeding Whole Prey to My Kitten
One of the reasons my newest pet is a kitten rather than an older cat is because I wanted to be able to wean her directly onto raw food, hopefully whole prey. It’s going pretty well.
I started first by purchasing a small feeder pinky mouse from the freezer at the pet store. Although it was barely the size of a quarter, I was still amazed to see Aura, my then 9 week old Ragdoll, take it down lightening fast. When she became an extremely picky eater, those pinky mice remained the one food she would not turn down. She would turn down premium canned food like Nature’s Variety and EVO, cheap “kitty crack” canned food like Fancy Feast, and even cooked chicken…but she would always eat those pinky mice.
But I wasn’t going to pay $1 – $2 per pinky mouse when I can get them for as little as $.16 cents each at RodentPro.com. While that price can jump up to around $.50 cents each when you add shipping, I am lucky enough to be abe to pre-order at web site prices and pick up my order at a local reptile show. This weekend I got 50 weanling mice and 50 chicks for $23.
Rodenpro’s feeder prey is so clean and healthy looking! My kitten just loves them – especially the chicks, which I just scored for $.12 cents each! The chicks usually offer her a great workout, too…she loves to play with them for 5-10 minutes before feasting. She likes the small quail too, but I haven’t been able to get her to eat any older, meatier quail yet. She’s not interested. She was also not interested in the Gourmet Rodent mice I bought for her at Petco when I ran out of my RodentPro mice. And I don’t blame her! Those mice were wet and smelly.
I love all animals, and never thought I’d be able to feed frozen whole prey. But it’s been much easier than I thought; way easier than feeding frankenprey, and much cheaper than canned. I usually pet these cute little guys for a second before throwing them to her, thanking them for supplying my kitten with all the nutrients she needs. Gnawning on their little bones cleans her teeth. They are full of protein, and their organs are full of the vitamins and taurine she needs. Aura highly recommends RodentPro!
I was feeding Aura some frankenprey for a while (chunks of cut up raw meat and organs), but now she isn’t interested in it. She is currently eating the whole prey during the day and some canned at night…the past two days she has started to steal my toothless cat’s pre-made Nature’s Variety raw, as well. She won’t eat it if I offer her her own though, she only wants to steal Charlie’s 
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My Mommeh sure wishes she had started us on raw much sooner! I’m not sure she could do the whole prey though; she’s a little squeamish.
Squeamish as in you don’t want to touch the dead mice? I can understand that. I can’t believe that it doesn’t phase me to see sandwhich bags with dead mice and chicks in my fridge, next to my yogurt
Damn that’s just a baby. You are evil.
Jen, interesting prospective. But do you mean the chick is a baby or the kitten is a baby?
Either way, I’m just providing for my kitten the way nature intended. The chick was supplied by a feed supplier that many use to obtain food for their snakes and rodents…and cats and dogs. The chick was frozen after being “humanely” euthanized. I don’t like to think about it either, as I love all animals and everything I get from rodent pro is so cute, I would love to have them all running around my house. Humane or not, it’s sad. But, the truth is, this food is MUCH healthier for my kitten than Cat Chow, or Meow Mix, or Nutro, all of which I have fed pets in the past. This type of feeding is natural. No preservatives, no chemicals, low carbs, and high protein.
From the RodentPro web site:
Q: How do you euthanize your feeder animals?
A: We use Carbon dioxide (CO2), as recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association panel on euthanasia, as the agent to euthanize our feeder animals. CO2 not only ensures a humane, quick and painless death for the animals but also ensures that no harmful residual chemicals remain that may harm the animal ingesting the prey item.
This type of feeding isn’t for everyone. I didn’t know if I would be able to handle it, and I do feel sad for all the little feeder animals. But there is a circle of life. In our world, frogs eat flies. Dogs and cats eat frogs. Wolves eat cats and rabbits. Lions eat deer. Some humans eat cows, deer, rabbit, frogs, and even dogs. And bacteria eat off of us. We are all just trying to survive, and it’s all natural.
My kitten is doing great. She’s beautiful, seemingly healthy, and her teeth will probably never go bad like my 14 year old cat’s did. He barely has any teeth left and had quite a difficult recovery from his last tooth removal surgery.
I admire you for doing whole prey. I don’t know if I could do it and my guys are a little older so I don’t know if they’d go for it. I’ve got one on the Frankenprey model and one on ground with bone, organs and supplements and they’re doing ok so we’re going to stick with that. But kudos to you for feeding your kitty the way nature intended!
I’d love to do whole prey with mine – it would simplify things so much! Not having to measure out the 80/10/10 and then I would be sure each cat was getting what they were supposed too.
Thank you for feeding your Aura the way nature intended
Good on you , for feeding your cat a species appropriate diet
My cats are older so not sure if they would take to the whole prey? I wonder where I could find just one frozen mice so I could try and see, Im going to have to start looking.
I found some at Petco, do you have those near you? They are in printed bags and frozen. You start with pinky mice, they are easier to chew.
No… we have a Petsmart and a Petcetera, though we have a smaller store that sells exotic animals, so I will check there, thanks .
[...] One month later, Aura went back to her vet for her vaccination booster. She saw a new vet this time, and as he looked over her chart he said “Wow, she’s lived the medical life of a few kitties already.” He mentioned the fact that it was a little too soon for her to have gotten a rabies shot, and I agreed and told him they “made me do it.” He gave her her first report card. She got all “normals” which as far as I’m concerned means straight As. And she got extra credit: under “teeth and gums,” the vet hand wrote “very good!” I would like to think this is because she eats no canned cat food or kibble, only whole prey mice and chicks. [...]