Do you feed your cats raw?

I have a friend in another state who cares for a feral population. She was just telling me the other day how she had one of her charges into the vet and asked the vet if she should be giving those she's tamed and has in her home (for various reasons) a raw fed diet since that is obviously the diet they are used to. He told her not to offer a standard raw diet like other cat owners offer. He told her to feed her cats birds, mice and other vermin. And, yes, he was serious. I can't imagine my friend tiptoeing around the property hoping to catch mice on her cat's behalf or snagging wild birds and calling them breakfast.

No. She is not going to be taking his advice on this anytime soon. Honestly, he wouldn't even stay my vet for longer than it would take for me to settle my bill that day. I do, however, see value in a raw fed diet.

 

Well that is really strange advice coming from a vet. I have heard of the raw food diet but not mice and other rodents. I definitely wouldn't have him.as a vet for too long. This is the first time that I ever heard of a vet recommending such a bizarre thing.

 

My in laws cat catches his own mice and eats them. So I don't think this weird at all Most cats catch their own food They are used to that. Mine did the same when he was still an outdoors cat, he still does it now he is an indoors cat... just the other day he caught a mouse :O Inside the house!

 

Not weird for them to catch and eat their own prey but it is weird for a vet to suggest an owner catch them FOR the cat with the intention of using them as raw feed. Natural or not, they are still disease vectors. A veterinarian who would suggest that to me would be quickly fired regardless of the fact that I happily feed a feral cat colony in exchange for them keeping my barns safe from mice and chipmunks. Curious enough, I do feed them raw food (kibble as well) but the mice, moles and shrews they get are presented to me as gifts and not eaten. I can't say none of them are but I get regular 'gifts' so I'm guessing cats still need to be desperate to eat them.

 

So here is the thing. My Twinkle attempted to bring me mice more than once and I screamed and shut the door tightly. So I guess he got the message. I don't think he ever ate them and sometimes when he was out for long periods I'd be wondering if he was having any and was always discouraging him from coming in my face. A few times I fed him some raw meat but NEVER in a million years would I think to feed him mice or the like. I'll be looking into this new information for sure.