Cat Food? Yum!

[krista74]

So, our chicken's coop is at the back of our property, and during the course of their free-ranging they have found their way to our house at the other end.

At first, I thought they were coming by to see me, and I would often find them sitting on the porch outside the front door.

Then I cottoned on to what they were really doing there. The porch is where we keep our cat's food bowl.

So now, three or four times a day, they are coming by and having a snack on the cat's dry pellets.

I am not happy about this. Nor is 'Lil Puss!

Will eating the cat food do them any harm? I am considering moving it, but 'Lil Puss is an outside cat, and I can't just 'get rid' of her food bowl altogether!

- Krista

 

[N F C]

Morning,

Here's a link to a good chicken treat chart I refer to frequently. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see a reference to cat food. It appears there are some differences in opinion on whether it is harmful to birds or not, but you can read the info and decide for yourself.

I don't have a cat so can't speak from personal experience. Maybe someone else here can chime in on this. Anyway, the treat chart is good information for feeding your birds.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

 

[petrel]

I don't have a cat either, but just like everyone has something else, I have an opinion on the topic. They are your chickens, you may feed them what you want. However, if you are going to eat the eggs or the birds, you may want to think about what goes into cat food.

These days it is difficult enough to find healthy, unadulterated, human food. I can't imagine where the contents of even the absolute best dog and cat food components are sourced!

 

[Den in Penn]

When I let mine one flock out some of them head for the back porch where I feed my cats. I try to make sure the cats have cleaned it up. Since I don't leave them out all day the cats have from the morning til I leave the chickens out in the evening to clean it up. with all the wild life around here I can't leave it out over night anyway. If you don't have the wild critter problem you could put the feed out over night and pick it up before the chickens are out. The only other thing would be a fence to keep the chickens away from the porch. Of course you would have to have some way for the cat and not the chickens to egress.

 

[krista74]

Great ideas, thank you.

Yes, we do eat the eggs. In fact, between hubby and I we eat about 18 a week! And you're right, if I wanted to eat cat food, I'd pour a bowl for myself!

I might have to consider maybe raising the cat's food bowl up and teaching her where it is. My birds, being Orpingtons and RIR's generally don't fly/jump much. I doubt they would look 'up' for food either.

Thank you for your advice.

- Krista

 

[carladababe]

I leave "Taste of the Wild" dry cat food out for my cats, they always leave a little for my chickens. They seem to enjoy it and the protein percentage is higher than regular dry cat food. It drives my husband nuts because of the cost. It's only given as a treat and not to replace their layer crumbles.