Tanith Carey's cats didn't notice that they were eating insect cat food

I think this is the first report back from the pet owning public of domestic cat eating cat food made from insects. It's like a mini-survey and the participant is a Telegraph newspaper journalist whose name is Tanith Carey. I welcome this report. Thank you, Tanith. She has two cats, both purebred, one is a Siamese and the other is a Burmese. They are both nicely dressed up with elegant scarves around their necks. We see them munching away at their dry kibble made from insects.

Tanith Carey and her cats who are munching away in insect-based dry cat food. No problem. Pic: The Telegraph.

Tanith declares to the world that although some people might baulk at the thought of feeding maggots to their felines, her cats "didn't notice any difference in their eco-friendly fare".

This is exactly how I would expect it to pan out. The fact of the matter is that although this cat food is made from insects, it is so highly processed that it could be made out of anything provided it contains protein. Dry cat food is heavily dressed up with meat digest as they call it (do they call it that?). I would describe it as addictive flavourings which is sprayed onto 'cardboard protein'. 

What I mean is that the protein is processed to the point where it looks like cardboard and probably taste like it as well. So, all the taste is added back in meat digest or whatever they call it.

It doesn't matter, from the cat's perspective, where the protein comes from. The whole point of making cat food from insects is to protect the planet. It's about protecting nature, conservation and so on. Insects are abundant. They can be farmed in vertical farms under entirely artificial conditions. It is potentially a highly efficient way of creating food. I suspect that humans will be eating this inn the not-too-distant future.

The usual base material for cat food is diseased livestock, roadkill and I would argue euthanized shelter cats and dogs. In short, it comes from any waste carcasses of any kind from anywhere. It's all heavily heat-treated which gets rid of all the poisons and toxic stuff leaving a raw, totally unpalatable product which is made palatable, as mentioned, with additives.

I am very happy that insects are being used for cat food. May it be highly successful and thank you once again Tanith for reporting back. It is a shame that I can't read your entire article because you have to subscribe to The Telegraph newspaper if you want to read their journalists' work.