Comments on: Feeding Whole Prey to My Kitten

By: Tamara

Tamara — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:46:11 +0000

Good for you, I’m going to feed raw prey to my cats as well. I’m a breeder, and it shocks me how other breeders say they know everything about healthy cat food, but they’d never even feed their cats raw prey. They say that premium cat food is the best, I guess those pet food companies totally brained washed some people’s brains. Well, since i have a lot of cats, i eat very healthy, and i want them to eat healthy as well, plus vets are expensive so you need to feed the cats as healthy as possible, or all your money will go for vets’ bills who also always recommend some kind of packaged food, of course they our animals to be sick so they could make money of us and pet food companies. Keep it up what you’re doing and i’m going to join your club of raw prey feeders to cats!

By: Katrina

Katrina — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:20:21 +0000

Quite update!
I had the brainwave to dribble the furkids’ favourite treat (freeze dried chicken breast) over the beef heart and the 1.5 yr old went NUTS and has put on the carnivore T-shirt along with her big brother. The 7 yr old is still holding out. Evidently poultry is the key to her heart.
/triumphant fistpump!

By: Katrina

Katrina — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:55:11 +0000

Thanks! I think I went for too big a mouse! My eldest Raggie actually caught a mouse two years ago, so I figured he had prey drive, but beyond whapping it a couple of times, he was uninterested. I gave them chunks of washed, warmed (not in microwave) beef heart last night.. which made for another fun problem. >.< The eldest guy is my little carnivore, and devoured all the small chunks of heart, and the younger two.. well, the 7 yr old was horrified at the very notion of raw anything, and the 1.5 yr old ate two small bits and left.
I'm going to try and get some quail today.. I drive past a fabulous caribbean market on the way to work so going to see if they have goat also. My mum feeds raw religiously to her four Keeshonds, and has promised me some more organ meat, but I need to get the furfolk some muscle too, and ideally some bone.
I'll try a pinky next.. just cut it in half then? I ended up chopping the bigger adult limp mousey into three, but all three thought that was gross and worth a sniff but nothing more.
I'm not TOO worried that they're still eating the Core Wellness.. since I know that for kibble it's pretty good. But going to lift it this weekend and start feeding at regular mealtimes instead of free choice and hope that whets their appetites.
Does that sound about right? I'm a total newb here, so just going on internet research, cat reactions, and years of my mum preaching to me.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:49:59 +0000

Hi Katrina, good for you! I don’t have experience converting a cat to mousies. I started with my Ragdoll when she was little. I did get my kibble addict switched over the frozen raw patties, however, when he was about 12 years old. It took months, but I just gradually switched him over by mixing in the old with the new. I used freeze dried raw. What size feeder mouse did you try? You should start with a pinky. If there is no interest, cut it in half. If there is still no interest, smother it with canned food or tuna juice or something. Once they start eating pinkies you can gradually move from pinky to fuzzy to hopper. Good luck!!!

By: Katrina

Katrina — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:14:14 +0000

I stumbled over this and was fascinated. I hope you still check it sometimes two years later! I have 3 Ragdolls whom I’m trying to switch over to a raw diet. My husband and I give them the Core Wellness kibble, because we’re very concerned with their health, but even that bugs us due to.. well… being dry kibble. not what their little mouths were built for!
I bought a frozen feeder mouse today, thawed it in a bowl of water, and gave it over.. but no interest!
Anyone know how to encourage cats to give a little nom? The Raggies are 8,7, and 1.5 respectively. They’ll eat chunks of beef heart, but the mouse doesn’t seem to be equating to ‘food’ in their wee Raggie heads!

By: Go Fetch Gifts

Go Fetch Gifts — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:40:42 +0000

That’s exactly what I did for Aura, Maeve. She got bored with all prey unfortunately, so now I have to start all over again. And while she loved day old quail, I could NEVER get her to eat week old quail! Picky kitties drive me nuts

By: Maeve

Maeve — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:43:37 +0000

I had great luck moving my cats from raw to whole prey. I started with pinkies and moved up. At each step, I would use a pair of kitchen shears (cringe, I know) to snip them open, or even into parts. This made the meaty inside more obvious than it is with a fur or feather covered prey animal.

I’m also starting to log my experience with this diet online, and am looking for others who are doing this or have experience with it. In my case, my cats are on 100% whole prey. This raises other questions, of course – such as “How much to feed” and “How to provide variety for better overall nutrient access”

Thanks for posting about your experiences!

By: Go Fetch Gifts

Go Fetch Gifts — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 06:38:02 +0000

Good luck Laura! My cat is so picky, she isn’t even eating mice right now. But I will keep trying. She used to eat 3-4 per day for months on end. I guess I bored her There are plenty of other things you can try too, like rats, quail and chicks. I have a little of everything in the freezer. She also has a narrow jaw but that was never a problem. And I give her Lysine treats which helps her eyes (she has herpes of the eye).

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:19:57 +0000

Hi, I have no idea how old this post is, but I have become more and more unhappy with processed food for animals (and humans!). I have recently been adding more and more natural types of food into Meow Meow’s diet. I talked to a zoo keeper of a leopard and she told me how cats need whole animals. I had never thought of feeding feeder mice until tonight and looked it up (I have been feeding her lots of whole, unsalted sardines and salmon from Whole Foods and chicken and stuff). I am going to try this. I bet it is also good for mental and physical stimulation. I am hoping it will work for her. She doesn’t eat very much although she attacks the sardines compared to other foods. She is an exotic shorthair and so her jaw is shaped differently than most cats. I’m not sure how well she could gnaw through bone and such. However, despite be fluffy and cute, she HAS caught birds so who knows? I would love it if it would clear up her eyes. I am always having to clean them. Thank you for letting me know there is a company to buy this stuff from!!!

By: Go Fetch Gifts

Go Fetch Gifts — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:02:51 +0000

Hi! I’m big on lots of variety. My cat was eating nothing but mice and chicks for a while. She was getting about 4 chicks a day when she was a kitten (yes I think about 2-4 mice a day is a good number). However, she decided she didn’t like the mice anymore in January, and started throwing up the chicks. So we had to go to canned food for a while, and now she will eat both canned food and mice. If I didn’t have a plan B for her, I would have been stressed and scrambling trying to find something else she would eat.

If you buy mice in bulk they should only cost you up to $.50 cents each. You can buy from RodentPro.com for $.45 cents and under. So for two cats it would only cost about $3 a day. BUT I still think you should offer more variety than just mice. Including pinky mice, hoppers, adults, rats, rabbits, chicks, guinea pigs, quail, chicken, hearts, gizzards, liver, etc. You should try everything at least 2-3 times to see if they’ll eat it. My picky kitten used to love day old quail, but she would never graduate to the week old quail unfortunately. Every cat is different but variety is important.