Thursday 24 July 2014

What To Feed Feral Cats

Although dry cat food is not as good as wet (high in carbs and too dry), it is more practical for feeding feral cats because it can be left and it won't go off. Any brand of dry cat food would do; the best quality affordable.

Update: Experienced feral cat caretaker writes this:
No, no, no to an absolute dry kibble diet for ferals. That's a lazy mans' way. It's time consuming, but what I do is prepare my feeders as much as I can ahead of time. All feeders have wet food layering the bottom and then covered with dry. They don't get any less than what I give to the darlings inside my home. I don't see them as "less than". They are equals. I make no less than 4 visits to my colonies per day. Early morns are the big feed fest, late morn is checking water supply and taking up leftover food, early afternoon is "snack" feeders put down, and late afternoon is taking up feeders and replenishing water. Because it's scorching hot in summer here, fresh water is a must. I'm especially vigilent during these months.

If the person can supervise the feeding then wet could be put down but it needs to be taken up quite soon afterwards depending on the ambient temperature. It goes off rapidly in warm weather in my experience. I can remember Martha Kane's husband, Richard Vella, feeding feral cat colonies in Malta with dry cat food. Here is the video:



When feeding with dry food, fresh water should also be put down. There should always be a supply of fresh water  - common sense.

Feeding early in the morning would seem to make sense. Feral cats feed throughout the day. Evening and morning are probably favorite times as they coincide with their hunting activities.

One cup of dry cat food per cat per day would appear to be sufficient. If there is food left over it is probably too much and vice versa.

Dee an experienced cat lover may like to add to this in a comment. 


10 comments:

  1. Absolutely, I will add here.
    No, no, no to an absolute dry kibble diet for ferals.
    That's a lazy mans' way.
    It's time consuming, but what I do is prepare my feeders as much as I can ahead of time.
    All feeders have wet food layering the bottom and then covered with dry. They don't get any less than what I give to the darlings inside my home. I don't see them as "less than". They are equals.
    I make no less than 4 visits to my colonies per day. Early morns are the big feed fest, late morn is checking water supply and taking up leftover food, early afternoon is "snack" feeders put down, and late afternoon is taking up feeders and replenishing water.
    Because it's scorching hot in summer here, fresh water is a must. I'm especially vigilent during these months.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great. Thanks for commenting and adding to the page. I'll place your comment in the page so it gets noticed.

      Delete
    2. You don't see your outdoor garbage cats a "less than" but "equals"? Great! Then you don't mind if your indoor cats get ran-over by cars, shot, or poisoned too! How "loving and caring" of you.

      Delete
  2. The only thing that any stray cat, collared or not, needs to be fed is fast-moving lead. VERY cost-effective, as they only need to be fed just one time. Everyone's problems, human and ALL wildlife included, instantly and permanently solved.

    And if it's not legal to use firearms or high-power air-rifles where you live, then check into feeding them the pollen or dried plant-parts of any of the Lilium species of flowers. This won't effect any other species on earth, but it'll have an amazingly lasting effect on any cat.

    Why kill more animals to cram them into bags and cans and have a cat-food label slapped on them when you can instantly stop the senseless deaths of thousands of more animals by feeding any one cat the right thing just one time. So many problems solved for ALL life on earth with just ONE feeding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL!
      Jimbo, you really are "for the birds".
      I hope you spend as much of your time trying to save the birdies, like the ones killed at airports, as you spend ranting on cat sites.

      Delete
    2. I single-handedly stopped the building of an airport on my very own lands (I catalogued over 10,000 species of animals, luckily a few of them on endangered species lists) to stop morons like you from destroying even more or our valuable native wildlife with your human activities. You know, like your activities of supporting free-roaming invasive-species VERMIN. So there goes your deranged justification for even replying to anything I post. Stick that up your unused cunt along with the sand that you enjoy keeping there.

      Delete
    3. Clean up your mouth, Jimbo.
      It makes you seem even more of an idiot.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    5. When you clean-up all of our ecosystems from your highly destructive invasive-species disease-ridden vermin cats, then I'll treat you as a respectable human.

      UNTIL then, you are nothing but a waste-of-flesh, disrespectful to all life on earth, piece-of-shit unused cunt.

      Respect begets respect. Start to show some respect for ALL life on this planet. You get NONE until you finally, at long-last, learn how to respect all other life on earth.

      You fuckingly useless waste-of-flesh CUNT.

      Maybe now you'll comprehend why no humans on earth want you or to even be around you. And even your own cats that try to escape from you can't stand your presence on earth. You're nothing but one huge bag of puss labeled "disrespect".

      Delete
    6. " Start to show some respect for ALL life on this planet", says Jimbo.
      And, when will you do that?
      Many humans want to be around me, and...SURPRISE...
      From what I've read many wanted to be around you too, even though they commented that you were crude and foul mouthed.
      I contend, from my readings, that you are brilliant when it comes to your passion for birds.
      But, stick with that. You know nothing about cats..

      Delete

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