Cat food for chickens?

[chloezoebob101]

no!! don't feed cat food. that stuff is not even good for cats. feed them table scraps and they should be good.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

But I've been feeding my 10 year old dried cat food (which is good for their teeth) for ten years now. She sometimes had tuna, but not often. No heart problems, shes not fat, and shes at her perfect weight, 10lbs. The chickens are doing well too, their feathers come in richer and fuller.

 

[Gullygarden]

I had a cat live to 18 years very healthily on dry cat food most of the time with table scraps and canned cat food only as occasional treats...

 

[Gullygarden]

Having said that, I do not feed cat food to my laying hens. Not sure I want to eat what is in that. We did feed it to them at a 4H club I was a member of and they looked very healthy.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Well, I only feed my cat grain free organic cat food (Orijen). Cats do better on can food or both dry and canned as it helps prevent kidney issues which they are prone to later in life. My new cat however, absolutely won't eat can food! As for the chickens, no I do not give cat food and wouldn't recommend the cheap kind as unnamed meats can be from dead, downed, diseased, euthanized etc. animals--including cats and dogs. The by-products can be gross things too.....

The quality of feed in cheap brands (and that includes dog foods too--popular brands as well) is horrendous.

There are too many minerals (including salt) in cat food to give it to your chickens regularly. On an occasion though, a small amount of good cat food is fine. For good feathers and protein I just give meal-worms, a little BOSS and flax seed--works great! I will add I do not show my girls as they are hatchery birds but everyone who sees them comments how beautiful they are

I know lots of folks toss a little cat food to their hens when they are molting and they seem to do fine. I just tend to be a bit more conscious of what I feed my pets. I only wish I did the same for myself!!

 

[showinbirds]

A WELL BALANCED FEED FOR CHICKENS IS A 16% PROTEIN. TOO MUCH PROTEIN CAN DAMAGE THEIR FEATHERS.I USE WHEAT, CORN, OATS, PELLETS AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS FOR MY SHOW BIRDS. I MIX A LITTLE BIT OF DRY CAT FOOD IN TO BRING THE PROTEIN COUNT UP. I HAVE HAD VERY GOOD RESULTS WITH THIS MIXTURE.

 

[Chris09]

A WELL BALANCED FEED FOR CHICKENS IS A 16% PROTEIN. TOO MUCH PROTEIN CAN DAMAGE THEIR FEATHERS.I USE WHEAT, CORN, OATS, PELLETS AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS FOR MY SHOW BIRDS. I MIX A LITTLE BIT OF DRY CAT FOOD IN TO BRING THE PROTEIN COUNT UP. I HAVE HAD VERY GOOD RESULTS WITH THIS MIXTURE.

16% protein sounds a little low for a show feed, Most of the breeders/ exhibitors I know feed from 18 to 20 percent protein. 16% protein sounds more like a off season or a grower.


Chris

 

[showinbirds]

18-20% Is great, the range of protein on most cat food is 30-35%.

 

[BeccaSmith]

I feed my cat's Orijen as well, and if I recall correctly, it is something like 80% protein.....if someone is feeding a cat food that is in the 20% range then that is nothing and the cat isn't getting sufficient water from their food. And as previously mentioned that dried cat food cleans teeth, dried cat food does not clean cats teeth, it's a carbohydrate that they wouldn't normally eat in the wild and it get's caked on their teeth and causes tarter build up and dental problems. Cat's should really only eat canned or raw diets, dry cat food is for human convenience only!

 

[pgpoultry]

I occasionally give dried and rehydrated cat food to my chickens when they are in times of high stress e.g after moulting (and in small amount).

BUT and for me that's a very big BUT, is to ensure that there is no poultry in the dried food, Cannibalism (proteins sourced from meat from cows) probably led to BSE in this country and millions of cattle were slaughtered.

Now I'm not aware of a similar prion disease in chickens, but maybe it is only a matter of time.

If you are going to use cat food, ensure it doesn't mean your chooks will be eating bits of their dead cousins.