Cat Food

[EggresiveAli]

Hi guys, i was at the supermarket and i saw cheap-ish

cat food, I'm sure I've read here you can give chickens it. Can i as a treat

 

[chfite]

Considering what I have learned about what is in cheap pet food, I would skip the cat food. A healthy treat is black oil sunflower seeds.

Chris

 

[EggresiveAli]

i do give them sunflower seeds and i was wary of this, the ingredients aren't that bad

 

[chickenboy190]

I give my ducks cat food but I don't think it is heathly for chickens.

 

[tcmstalcup]

I have some I got cheap. I use it as an occasional treat. Mostly when I am trying to take pictures and want them close. I believe it to be fine as long as its not a normal every day part of their diet.

 

[EggresiveAli]

Everyone says its good for a moulter. One of my chickens had her feathers pulled bad soo...

 

[EggresiveAli]

Thanks tcmstalcup

 

[Nambroth]

Everyone says its good for a moulter. One of my chickens had her feathers pulled bad soo...

The reason that it can be suggested for molting chickens is that chicken feathers are made out of protein (keratin). Most commercial (at least most of the popular common ones) chicken feeds contain only plant protein (soy) and it is not as readily available to a chicken's body to use to rebuild feathers.

Hence, cat food is suggested as a source of extra protein.

However, there is a lot of junk cat food out there, and even in cat food vegetable protein is used as a filler oftentimes and to "increase" the protein ratio for cats.
If you read the label and ingredients, you can get a good feel for if the protein percentage is higher than your current chicken feed. If not, skip the cat food. Otherwise it's just junk and doesn't even give more protein than your current chicken feed!
If the protein source (look in the ingredients) is junk, skip the cat food.

Some higher end cat foods have good protein sources, but at this point it'd probably be cheaper to buy a good can of tuna...

Small amounts of higher quality meat (fish, beef, cooked poultry, game meats) or insects (such as mealworms) are going to be much more beneficial than cheap commercial cat foods, and you will get more bang for your buck in terms of effect on feather growth.


If you are just getting cheap cat food just to give as an occasional treat, go for it, but be aware that most of it is junk food and should only be given as a treat as it will provide no benefit to the chickens.

 

[EggresiveAli]

Thanks