Cat food for chickens has been a controversial issue
among most backyard chicken farmers. However let’s dive into this topic and see
if the answer could be a yes or no.
Cat feeds either dry kibble or timed meat has major
protein constituent which are listed as follows; Chicken, brewers rice, corn
gluten meal, poultry by product meal, wheat flour, beef fallow, preserved with
mixed tocopherols and whole grains corn, meat products, preservative, vitamins
and minerals. All this could be canned food or dried.
Looking at the digestive System of Cat and Chicken
in relation to their food.
The cat has a mono-gastric stomach which sure affect
the digestion of food because it is obligate carnivore, which means their diet
must contain meat in any form. Their stomach is made to digest meat, therefore
meat is required to have a successful digestion. I guess commercial cat feed
producer always have this in mind when formulating their feeds. In addition, it
is also essential for cats to have taurine in their diet and this is gotten
from meat too.
But the chicken on the other hand has gizzard and
crop in their stomach, this affects diggestion, also Chickens are omnivores
animal. For then to have a successful digestion, they must have grits in their
diet which make them a natural scavenger with dirt and grass.
What
is the advantage of Proteins in the diet Chickens
1. Protein is very essential to Chicken on molting
during winter - when they need to get their feather back.
2. It also help chickens to recover from diseases or
illness.
3. It helps Chicken to lay eggs.
4. And see them through the winter cold.
Source
of Protein and their percentage content
1. Cooked eggs 90% Protein
2. Fish or Fish Meal 61- 72%
3. Worm Meal 52%
4. Pumpkin Seeds 31 - 33%
5. Sprout Lentils 26 - 30%
6. Cat food 26-30%
7. Sunflower Seeds 26%
8. Garden peas 23%
9. Parsley 21 %
10. Oats 10 - 17%
In
practice;
- Mix raw egg and raw milk in chicken mash during molting.
- Organic; grass feed, ground beef, boiled egg
mixture
-Egg shell are very healthy for laying hens but make
sure they don't identy it as egg shell- you don't want them to get the ideas to
start eating their own eggs, once they start, you may not be able to stop them
easily.
Caution: Too much protein can cause liver/gout
problem, little quantity at a time and make sure you clean up after feeding to
prevent vermin from visiting.
If you feel you don't have the time to grow or make
high protein feed for your chickens, you can always buy commercially produced
ones as a booster to their normal feed.
In
conclusion
Feeding Chickens with cat feed from my view should
not be encouraged especially if it’s a commercially produced ones, either can
or dried because, the producer had the Cats in mind while formulating the feeds
as such, chemicals/ additive detrimental to your birds' health can be added.
2. The digestive system of this two animals are
different, one is carnivorous and the other is omnivorous in nature, if such
feed are given always to the chickens, getting adaptive to the feed could take
sometimes and could hurt the intestine of the birds, remember, the intestine of
the chickens are not as strong as the cat.
3. If you are going to eat the chicken or eggs,
remember, the chicken feed are formulated with the consumer in mind but I am
not sure about the cat feed.
However, the ball is in your court, good luck with
whatever you decide to do, but there are plenty of other nutritious things you
can give your chicken for a healthy life and if you must give, give occasionally.