Do you/have you raise(d) mice for cat feed?

[tentance]

     In an effort to be more self sufficient on our 2/10 of an acre suburban lot, we have just bought some rabbits. but after reading a little bit about guinea pigs, it got me thinking about raising live mice to feed the cat.
     for the most part, i feed the rabbits a natural diet, and don't see why mice can't eat much of the same. even if with just one cage raised colony style, that should still be at least a mouse a week. maybe more. it won't be perfectly sustainable cat food, but it might be a step in the right direction.
     What do you think?

[tentance]

Dogs would probably eat them too.

[WayneH]

Raising mice would work for what you describe, I'm just not sure if the work is equal to the pay off.  Unless your cats are de-clawed.
Cats can be very self sufficient when left to their own devices.  Personally, I would put that effort into another form of livestock and
feed your cats on the organ meats, and trimmings.

Other things that you can look into that would require less work for you would be things like sparrow traps.
Also, in most places, food for a few cats can be had with the simple use of a pellet gun.

A lot of fur trappers raise mice to use as lures for their predator traps.  Just kill a few mice, drop them into a blender, and process
until smooth.  You now have a nice pink paste that will draw fox, raccoon, coyotes, mink, etc. right to your trap!

I wouldn't use your kitchen blender for that job though.  Yuck!

[tentance]

..
uh, thanks for your response.

i don't think i've seen sparrows here where i live. and certainly i won't be trapping a lot of animals here in the city. that sounds not even legal. no wait, i'm sure it's illegal.
i'll go see if we have a pellet gun...i'll get back to you on that one.

the cat is pretty self sufficient when it comes to lizards. i was thinking something more substantial though. more long term, more, i can grow its feed myself even on my very small allotment.

[Joe n TN]

Since you have rabbits, you already have what you need for cat food.  Two things I'd like to give my two cents on.

One, your cat will eagerly eat the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and stomachs from your butchered rabbits.  Most avoid feeding the intestines because they are full of waste.  If you need to, say you had no internal organs left to give, the cat will love you even more for sharing a raw rabbit leg with you.

Many people pay top dollar to feed their cats a B.A.R.F. diet.  (Bones And Raw Food).  They are normally very happy when they find farm raised rabbit for $3.99/lb to feed their cats.  Top cat breeders even do this.  Raw bones are good, cooked bones are bad.  Again, the cat will think it is feasting eating your rabbit internal organs as well.  The other advantage to feeding raw is the cat will have less foul smelling waste and will produce less waste.  Google the term, B.A.R.F. for more info, but you get the idea.

Second, if you are raising rabbits you will have mice and/or rats around.  They will eat the waste pellets your rabbits drop and/or get into your feed bags.  Buy a small live animal trap and you will catch mice and/or rats.  I found a metal one that looks just like a like coon trap, but smaller, that only costs $17.99.  It's built to last a lifetime as well. 

I trapped 7 field mice in my garden/rabbit area this fall outdoors!!!  The little bastards were eating my seed and then when I planted starts they ate most of them as well.  After trapping 7 of them outdoors I moved the trap into my garage and have trapped an average of 1 every 7-10 days.  Not enough to sustain a cat, but enough to supplement it's diet.

So really, after buying a live mouse trap you already have everything else you need to feed your cat.  Hope this makes sense and I didn't rattle on too much.  Take it easy,

Joe

[WayneH]

Like I said, what you have planned will work.  Lots of people raise mice as pets, and reptile food.  Raising them for cat food wouldn't be any different.  Another option is goldfish.  The cartoons aren't wrong, a lot of cats really do like to eat goldfish. 

I just think you would be better off finding a solution that has multiple uses.  Like catching mice that are most likely hanging around your property already.  You get rid of a pest/you feed your cat.

Joe is right too, your cats would LOVE some fresh rabbit and they would be happy to eat the organ meats that many people don't.

BTW I'm not sure where you live, but much of the U.S. has a sparrow problem.  They are considered an invasive species.

[Jim]

...and you can toss a mouse or 2 in the chicken pen and watch the fun.