My Ducks love cat food!

[newduckowner]

My ducks love cat food, especially Meow mix. Is it OK I give them cat food to eat?

 

[farmdude]

I've heard it's okay and a good source of protein. I've read about other people giving them dried cat food. Haven't done it myself. I discovered today that my cat likes duck food. Caught her eating their pellets out of a pail I set down.

 

[casportpony]

My Scaup duck will only eat cat food. I have bought him duck treats, worms, duck feed, he will only eat cat food.

Welcome to BYC! I had one of those and he used to love the bags of frozen mixed seafood from the grocery store.

@Miss Lydia, they look like this:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Wow gorgeous that’s K.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Scaup duck will only eat cat food. I have bought him duck treats, worms, duck feed, he will only eat cat food.

 

[newbyduckmom]

Haven't fed mine dry cat food yet, although I have heard it is a good source of protein as well. My dogs LOVE the duck food. Too much!

 

[ducksinarow]

Mine are always cleaning out my cats food bowl. I don't give it to them on purpose but they snatch it up.

 

[desertdarlene]

I used to feed ducks cat food. They loved it. Most cat food has a grain base such as corn, anyway. I made sure I crushed it up for small ducks.

 

[GrannyCarol]

I wouldn't consider ducks are herbivores though. They eat a lot of worms, bugs, small fish and the like. In fact worms are one of their favorite feeds. Ducks are more like chickens, who will eat most anything. Some animal proteins are very good for ducks. If your ducks don't lay well, add in animal proteins and you should see an improvement. I feed mine liver at times too. I wish they'd eat it raw, it's supposed to be best for them raw, but I cook it and grind it and they love it that way.

"Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" recommends adding some cat food to the ration to bring a bird into show condition and when molting. I don't think I'd feed it as the sole ration, I'm sure its not balanced properly for that, but dry cat food can be a good supplement to the duck's diet.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Ducks aren't herbivores. Their natural diet includes a lot of fish and bugs.

Dried cat food can be purchased that contains fish, and that's what I buy, but the other animal proteins are also good.

I feed dry cat food, but I feed it in small amounts. It is a treat and a supplement to their animal protein, but they don't need much of it. You don't want them to fill up on cat food and then not eat their balanced ration.

The cheap brands of cat food can be found that contain fish protein and a lot of grain . All that grain isn't good for cats, but it is great food for ducks.

I just bought a bag that is 38% protein (because it was on sale for a great price). That's way too much protein for ducks, which is another reason to limit their cat food to small amounts. Just 2-3 of those kibbles will be enough and they are almost all meat, so lots of nice animal protein and then they will still eat their balanced grain, vitamin, mineral pellets.