is catfood bad for poultry?

[blackbelt]

Chickens eat what they find and scratch for. Short answer no it will not hurt them. Cat food is more expensive than cracked corn or meal-worms.

 

[Judy]

copied from the end of the BYC treats chart:

* Regarding feeding CAT FOOD to chickens,



the following is from DLHunicorn in response to the listing of cat food in this Treats Chart: (A word to the wise, and thank you, DLHunicorn)



"You all know how I feel on cat food and I have posted the links and reasoning behind my objections several times ...it can potentially be detrimental to your birds health and even deadly in the right circumstances and for this reason I feel it should be left off the chart (as when you put it on it is as if you are condoning its use) I will repost here one of the sources for my objection:

..."While it is nutritionally essential, methionine excesses are far more toxic to poultry than similar excesses of tryptophan, lysine, and threonine (National Research Council, 1994). Force feeding methionine to excess can result in death to chicks (National Research Council, 1994). A dosage of 2 g / mature cat / day (20 to 30 g / kg dry diet) for 20 days induces anorexia, ataxia, cyanosis, methemoglobinemia and Heinz body formation resulting in hemolytic anemia (Maede, 1985). ..."

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart​

 

[Nicki]

I've given cat food to my chickens during their molt too...it never hurt mine, I just don't know if it would be good for them to eat it every day

 

[Chris09]

There have been people feeing cat food and puppy food as a protein supplement for years with no ill affects.
Now I will say that there is a lot cheap cat food on the market that have a lot of soybean meal in it and it would far cheaper to just adding a little soybean meal to the feed.

Chris

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

What would be the difference in feeding table scraps and say a cat food like this,
Turkey, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Peas, Egg, Turkey Meal, Pea Fiber, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Cranberries, Herring Oil, Tomatoes, Pumpkin, Dried Chicory Root, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Taur, DL Methionine, Minerals, Vitamins, Direct-Fed Microbials?

Sorry, I see no difference at all.

Chris

 

[Illia]

But not everone's cat food IS that

Mine is pretty cheap, low-end, in fact I don't even think it has much real ingredients in it (mainly just grains, soy, and other stuff)


I think catfood is fine ONLY as a protein booster but not for a good amount of the diet. However if it is like the one Chris mentioned, I'd be more fine with it.

But - where did you get a catfood bag like that?!!

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
It is one of the "natural" cat foods. We had picked up 3 bags of it at a livestock action for about 5.00 a 50lb bag. They where the bags that got damaged during shipping.

I've been using Bil-Jac small breed select dog food as a protein supplement on the birds and there ingredients are,
Chicken, Chicken By-Products (organs only, source of arginine), Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Oatmeal, Whole Yams, Brewers Dried Yeast and Flaxseed.

Chris

 

[silkiechicken]

In moderation it is like a treat. You'll find a lot of people, even myself, who say to let them have a handful or two as a high protein snack during winter moult. Just don't over do it.

 

[pawsplus]

Quote:
Chickens are NOT vegetarians. I'm vegan myself and don't eat eggs (even the ones my hens produce--the dogs get them) but I'm not going to force that on other species! My dogs and cats are all raw fed and my chickens get meat in various forms (including mealworms).

That said, I don't feed them cat food. I don't have it around anyway since my cats eat REAL food, LOL. I sometimes give the chickens raw hamburger.

 

[Katydid2011]

Quote:
Chickens are NOT vegetarians. I'm vegan myself and don't eat eggs (even the ones my hens produce--the dogs get them) but I'm not going to force that on other species! My dogs and cats are all raw fed and my chickens get meat in various forms (including mealworms).

That said, I don't feed them cat food. I don't have it around anyway since my cats eat REAL food, LOL. I sometimes give the chickens raw hamburger.

I am well aware that chickens are not naturally vegetarians any more than people are. My chickens have free choice access to an 18% protein vegetarian feed in addition to what they forage on pasture; nature intended for chickens to forage. Their forage naturally includes worms and grubs, it does not include cat food. I'm not depriving them of anything nor am I forcing anything on them. As I said in my post, my chickens produce amazing tasting eggs. I'm not sure how feeding cat food would impact the taste and I'm not about to find out either. To each their own.