Why would you not feed them a dead mouse if you’re going that route. Hell someone I know with a snake feeds it frozen mice.
Live mice can hurt the snake, it also can make them more aggressive.
It’s just a thought experiment. I would never feed my cats raw mice but I got to thinking about the question.
One big reason not to feed live prey is that it fights back. Each feeding would be an opportunity for your cat to get bit, scratched, an infection, or maybe lose an eye. It could also make quite the mess of your house.
If you want to try feeding it more natural prey, it is available though places like RodentPro that we use at our rehab, and there are places that will sell whole animal pet food or zoo food. Just make sure it’s the right balance of nutrients for a house cat. I believe they need very high protein, IIRC.
All those foods would be still factory farmed, I suppose one could say, but the ethics and nutrion is at least a bit different as the sourcing of the proteins is less questionable and there would be no fillers or harmful ingredients like in commercial feed, especially kibble.
Ethics are an illusion. Feed your enemies to the cat farm.
3 of my 4 would be down for it.
#4 -
I mean it’s more fun for the cat for one thing.
Depends on the metric. If it’s lives taken, it’s more ethical for cat food. If it’s human suffering, it’s more ethical to use mice.
