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 🙂
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.
Hi
We just got a 3 month old kitten from the pound. we tried several different type of food but he would not eat any of it.
so I asked myself what would the mother cat feed it. OH mice will I have frozen mice in the freezer ( good as fried snacks after a hard day) Thawed one out and made a small cut to help him get started. He is doing just fine now and the runny stool has cleared up.
Turns out the cat was sick had a virus. doing better now coughed up a hair ball mice hair. Now on wet kitten food and a little boiled chicken breast.
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 🙂
Nature? Nature doesn’t intend anything, God does, he’s the one that made “nature”. Look up what it means and stop with the pagan mother nature thinking.
I went to a Lutheran school for 7 years, confirmation classes for another 2, church every Sunday, Bible class every Wednesday, and Bible camp every summer. I’m perfectly aware that “God” created “nature.” Unlike you however, I realize that there are other valid religions, other names for “God,” and that “God” is not a “he.” Not that feeding my cat has anything to do with a religious argument. Move on.
God is not a he ?
Gods name is Jehovah, so obviously God is a he 🙂
Well if that isn’t the weakest argument for the personification of a deity I have ever heard.
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 .
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My favorite is when they toss it around before consuming it just like a barn cat with a mouse. Ever had a mouse flung up your skirt? Wakes you up quick!
Kelly, lol! I have had a chick flung at my head. It hit my head, landed on the floor, then she flung it again and it landed in the slipper of the man of the house!
Hi, my name is Shari and I live in Florida and have been feeding 2 of my cats whole prey for quite some time; they eat mice, chicks, day old quail and pinkie rabbits. My fridge and freezer are packed with bags from RP, and I long ago stopped being disgusted (especially when Sid went from a depressed cat with a UTI and gingivitis to a healthy hunk of a boy, including teeth and gums).
I started a yahoo group about whole prey feeding. I have access to RP quality prey in quantity and am going to be packing it in smaller units and sample packs at relatively low prices and trying to spread the word. I am not shipping, only doing this in Florida, but if you know of anyone who is interested in buying small or large quantities here and wants to avoid shipping, please forward the info.
THANKS
PS…I was googling whole prey feeding and this site came up. I hope it’s not innappropriate for me to post that. There are not a lot of groups specifically about feeding whole prey to cats and dogs.
Shari
Shari,
I live in Sarasota. Where are you?
I never thought about feeding my cat actual animals. He just naturally killed and ate mice on his own.
There are few images more depressing than that little dead chick. I found this on a image search for a pic of chicks and kittens. Major buzzkill.
Sorry Em. I do understand, and it wasn’t easy for me to feed this diet at first either. I love cute pics like that too. But I can think of some other depressing images too though, like my kibble fed cat who had to have most of his teeth surgically removed because the kibble rotted them when I was under the impression it was helping to keep them clean. And how chubby he got from eating kibble, and how kibble gives so many cats diabetes and kidney infections, and then their vets prescribe what…MORE KIBBLE which dehydrates, and then intravenous fluids to hydrate them! LOLOL.
I too am starting this. Trying to at least get my aunt to stop feeding even the grain frree dry food so much. My cat is taken back to eating northwest naturals raw and primal. I mix it with her canned food I’m going to try to move to whole checken legs soon but I’m scared. Wish me luck
You might want to consider cornish hen and chicken breasts first. The rib bones are very small and easy to chew into. I gave them to my other cat for the very first time when he was 14 years old and he chomped them right down! Good luck!!
We have snakes…and therefore mice in our freezer at all time. We also have a sickly 5 month old kitten who refuses all cat food – will only nibble here and there and then sometimes vomits it back up. I even tried the cheapo addictive foods just to get some calories down him. We have had him checked out by the vet for parasites, obstructions,etc. He’s soooo skinny, barely weighs 3 pounds. I tried grinding raw chicken…he eats the chicken meat but refuses it once I add the supplements. Tonight, while thawing out our snake’s meals, we threw a mouse down to Skippito. He wolfed it down, growling. He then ate two more. Three adult mice down in no time. Why have I not thought of this sooner? They’re sanitary and gut loaded with nutrients! And much cheaper than the collection of cat foods I have in my pantry that he won’t tough. And less smelly.
So, my question is this. How much should I give him? I would like to give both mice/rats and chicks (if he’ll eat them….I’m guessing he will). I am feeding him freely right now till he gets his weight up, but I’m going to place another order for more feeders and would like to have an idea of how many I will end up feeding my cat in the next 6 months.
SOOOOO excited beyond words that I have finally found a food that he will eat!
What an awesome story Nichole! I really hope this was what little Skippito was waiting for!!! (Incidentally, Aura went through a sick period as a kitten, and the vet found pneumonia when he did x-rays. Have any x-rays been done?
As for feeding amounts, average sized cats need about 4-6 ounces of food a day. My mice from rodent pro are about one ounce each. Good luck Skippito!!! (Where did he come from? Did he learn about mice somewhere before he came to you?)
If he doesn’t like the supplements then feed them without. 80/10/10 with maybe whole eggs (minus the shell) and canned sardines is a good non-supplement way of feeding (you don’t always need supplements for feeding raw).
100% GOOD IDEA! Natural and healthy. bones for calcium and the fur helps clean the cats teeth. No chemicals and preservatives, 100 percent complete nutrition.
I have 2 cats and also keep snakes. I breed my own mice to feed the snakes. Sometimes i have too many mice or a snake decides not to eat its dinner that day, so i give the spare mice to my cats. They love them!
Pinkies (baby mice) can be fed alive. The cat will kill them in one bite. They can be fed as a treat. Older mice should be killed by you and then given to the cat. This is becaue the mouse will suffer if the cat is not too hungry and decides to play with it.
I tread all my animals, including my mice, with great respect. The mice have large cages, lots of toys, proper food, are kept very clean, handled and tame and have a good life. They are killed quickly and humainly and never suffer. If they led their lives to the end they would eventually get sick, tumors or something like that and die slow painful deaths, or have to travel to the vets and have an injection to put them to sleep. This is more stressful and cruel for them.
Some people say its cruel. How do they think the dry or tinned cat food is made. How do the animals that go into this food get raised and killed. I bet in very poor conditions compaired to how we would treat them ourselves.
Domestic Pet mice are very clean, carry no diseases and are completly safe and delicious for your cat. Some people are very ignorant and stupid.
vets are human. Its OK to question them. they are also paid a lot of money by the cat food manufactuors to promote their brand of cat food).
Someone told me ….. If mice were meant to be eaten by cats, would they not be in the cat aisle? (well……. if cats were meant to eat food from a can, would they not know how to use a can openor?! CRAZY ARGUMENT)
Thanks for your input Jason! I forgot about feeding pinkies as treats and I just made a big purchase from rodentpro (I buy 6 months of food at a time). I’ll make sure to get some next time!
No, Skippito didn’t have any previous hunting experience. We have had him indoors from the day he was born via emergency c-section. yet his prey drive is intact! it’s like his instincts told him cat food was bad and mice were good. smart little kitty – i knew he was special. his siblings, who have never been outside either, also thouroughly enjoy whole prey verociously 🙂 our other adult cats, on the other hand, won’t touch it. i think cats who eat commercial food for years get addicted to it and lose their prey drive…so start them young!
since feeding whole prey, he has gone from near-death malnourished to muscular, sleek, bright eyed, and has shiny fur.
My question is, have you tried feeding rats? Are the bones too hard to chew for an adult cat? Thawing one rat versus three XL adult mice sure would be simpler. I know that for snakes, rats are much more nutritious than mice….
Nichole, I’ve only tried feeding rat pups and she wouldn’t touch them. She is so darned picky!
I was going to start feeding my 5.5 week old kittens whole prey. I’m not at all in a position to raise my own feeder mice 😛 and I read somewhere that you shouldn’t start them on chicks until 12 weeks, but will pinkie mice be enough for them? Should I feed them a few pinkie mice every day and and supplements? I just don’t know if what they have leftover in their guts after being raised as reptile prey is good enough. I need a starting place for a whole prey diet =/
Thanks!
You would need to feed a ton of pinkie mice daily, so you should just feed some and some canned food too. Kittens need to eat a LOT. Work them up from pinkies to fuzzies and on up. Not sure what you mean about what’s in their guts though…good luck!!
Well what I meant about the mice guts was that cats, like all carnivores, obtain plant derived nutrients from the predigested plants in their prey’s stomach and intestines. Pinkie mice are still only drinking milk of some sort, so they wouldn’t have the same things in them.
Oh, I see! Not only that but pinky mice don’t have formed bones yet either, so that makes them poor candidates for a base diet as well. Better stick with a few a day JUST so that you can work your way up from there. The sooner you get to fuzzies, hoppers and weanlings the better.
Hi Go Fetch Gifts, I’m just wondering if you could advise how many mice (or how many grams) you feed to an adult cat every day. Does the 2% body weight still apply (which would equal about 3 adult mice per day, for a whopping $6 a day for my two cats from the average price I’ve seen!)? I’ve also seen that on average a cat with no other food supply would eat 1-3 mice per day. What is your opinion?
Thanks!
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.
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!!!
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).
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!
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 🙂
That’s too bad, starting over. Mine are interested in pretty much everything offered but expect their prey. Very NON picky kitties. My Savannah cat will steal anything baked, too… little stinker opens the bread box and makes off with entire loaves. Somebody please tell her she’s an obligate carnivore. Not that she won’t tear into anything offered. In fact, it’s not possible to thaw feeders in water, even covered, because she will crack that safe and pull them out (with her buddy, Hex, not bothering to help because he expects his clever lioness to bring home the bacon)
Quail, I have tried the 20 day old ones from rodent Pro. I snip off the wings, though, and some of those tail feathers. I figure that’s enough bird for them – they will leave the -mostly feathers and no meat – wings behind anyhow.
After the initial cutovers from raw to whole prey, they only get raw that is NOT whole now if I happen to be cooking meat and offer them some. They get small rats, large mice, day odl chicks and 20 day quail. I want to try larger rats and maybe some guinea pigs if I can find a good source for those. I really try to find sizes of prey that they will eat and finish. Even the 20 day quail – I will only give them each one, with nothing else, and not right after another full-meal day.
I hope you’ll have success getting her back to Cat Food 😉 My two recently went in for checkups and shots and the vet proclaimed them beautiful, healthy, and having pristine mouths. Seems that whole prey is really the best (not kibble!) for teeth cleanliness, and since mine will munch on half frozen feeders (mousesicles, I call them) they get even better teeth cleaning action!
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!
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!!!
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.
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!
I have fed my dogs and cats raw food for 8 years now which I always bought at a local supermarket. However,last week a near neighbour and I were able to buy in bulk from the manufacturer of the raw food because we could take on 120 kilos we fell into the “kennel” category. This category also has 1-day old chicks for snake owners really I think. My friend ordered 12 bags each of a kilo of these chicks for her cats. She did have previous experience of feeding them to her Persian cats some years ago. Now she couldn’t fit three of the bags into her freezer so she gave them to me. My son was delighted and took to his cat a half kilo. I felt awful about these little chickens and wondered if I could give them these. But because I try to feed naturally I gave each one of my dogs (3) and my cat one each all thawed.. No reaction so I had to pick them up from the yard which fazed me even more. Then because my cat was wanting his breakfast I cut up one of them and sprinkled a few balls of his Arcana kibble over it. Gone in one! it amazed me. I think he had to have his camoflaged the first time. Today, (which is two days later I offered him one without the camoflage and not cut up…. All gone, then a second one… also all gone very quickly. I was looking for internet information on how many he should be allowed to eat and how often that is how I came to be here. I hope this helps you. Good Luck
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!
Good for you! I’m stoked to see anyone willing to do this for their pets. You’re very lucky to live close enough to Rodent Pro – they’re not a very good source for me. I spotted your blog while searching for new feeder sources nearer to me to try, though Layne Labs has been a pretty good source for me, too.
Will you be posting any updates on yours and your cat’s experience with whole prey? I started blogging on it a bit (wholepreyfelinediet.com) and am trying to add bits along the way (though I never did write a ‘weaning” post). Would love to share experiences with others who are whole prey feeding.
One animal nutritionist I have corresponded with mentioned that she would prefer to see even more naturally raised clean sources of prey. It’s always worth a glance to see who is taking that next step.
p.s. I had to buy my two cats their own freezer.
wow, my memory must be going. I was here before! :O
I was recently thinking about feeding my 2 cats live mice and was wondering if I could purchase them from a bate shop. I was afraid I may be the only one with this idea, but then came accross this article of yours and was nicely surprized. I have a few questions: 1. How often do you feed your cat a live animal, once, twice per day? Is that all you feed him for the day? How do you contain a scrambling mouse? What do you feed the mice while in storage? Sorry for all the questions, but I am realy interested in this?
First, I do not feed live mice. I order them frozen. If I got a live mouse, it would become my pet! No way could I watch my cat kill another animal. Second, you would have to do the math to figure out how much mice to feed a cat. When I used to feed mice only, it usually worked out to 4 per day. But I would sometimes feed 2 a day and cat food too. I can’t answer your other questions, as I would never entertain the idea of feeding my cat a live animal.
My human feeds me on raw quails when they are available, and pinky mice, I’m not a cat though, I’m a ferret.
I do get dry food as well.
I have a 16 year old cat who isn’t fast enough to hunt anymore, and she stays inside most of the time. But she’s been eating live raw birds, mice, and other rodents all her life, and I’m thiking of offering her whole prey frozen. Can you give me the details of how you do it? Do you feed the pinky mice outside or inside? In a bowl, on a plate?
I think once you get over the ewww factor, whole prey makes a lot of sense.
Our cat’s been on Evo for years and yesterday I was unhappy to see Innova products in the feed store with big banners and ad displays. As many of you probably know, they were bought out by Proctor and Gamble, so there’s a lot of $$ to be pumped into the brand now. Our vet wants our cat switched to Orijen for her dry food now.
My cats are indoor only. Pretty much whatever I try to put it on they move it to chew it where they want. So I just put it on the floor in the kitchen or the basement and clean up after. I often find a head or foot or heart laying there when they are done!
I want to start feeding my cat raw whole prey. I have read that a lot of people only feed mice, but how often at the minimum should other prey be given? (guineas, chicks, rats, rabbit kits, guinea pig kits, etc.) also i’ve been to both rodent pro and layne labs but can’t find where they ship from?
You can feed other proteins as often as you want. Some people change throughout the day. Some every day. Some every week. You just don’t want to feed too much of baby animals as they don’t have fully formed bones yet and your kitty can get diarrhea. Pretty sure Rodent Pro ships from Ohio or Indiana.
I hope I’m not too late to the party (yeah, four years) but I was hoping you could expand on the “fully formed bones” comment above? I’m browsing the selection at RodentPro and the array of choices is dizzying. I’d like to transition my cats to the more economical prey sizes as quickly as possible (i.e. XS pinky mice are like $4/oz vs hoppers at 90c).
What are the smallest size prey that you’d consider nutritionally complete? Mice: Hoppers?
Rat: Pups?
Chicks: Small?
Quail: 1 Week?
probably the chicks quail and hoppers. Maybe pups. Basically you want to hear a crunch or you’ll be seeing diarrhea.
Thanks Leigh!