Why doesn't cat food come in mouse, bird and rat flavours?

Question

What was the reasoning for developing beef and lamb flavour etc, when cats could never have 'hunted' these in the wild.

Answer 1

Because a cat CAN catch these animals for itself. If my cat came home with a dead lamb or tuna fish I would be very impressed.

Answer 2

It is just the veriaty. It is a very good question, some cats would prefer one flaver to another and if a cat doesn't like rat or mouse flavers and thats all that they have, the cat and its owner are out of luck.

Answer 3

It could be because humans don't taste it before marketing them!! Have you tasted it yourself?

By the way what are mouse, bird and rat flavours? How do you know that the cat foods in shop aren't what you seem to want?

Answer 4

i'm gonna guess that since it's people that buy the cat food, that because of our own prejudices, that we buy food based on what we like or could imagine liking.

i'm sure there's a 'far side' cartoon out there somewhere with giant cats buying food for human pets and they're choosing stuff like mouse, bird and rat.

Answer 5

Slaughtering operations already exist for the beef, chicken and fish industries that produce human foods, and the body parts tissues that people don't want are a cheap source of pet food.

Setting up a whole separate slaughtering industry for tiny animals like mice and finches just to produce incredibly expensive foods that cats would not necessarily even prefer would be a horrible investment. If you think your cat wants mice, just get him/her feeder mice at the pet store and let the cat do the slaughtering.

Answer 6

I am sure it is to make the cat food more appealing to the owners.
It's an interesting idea, though, they could raise small prey animals to make cat food; but I'm sure people would not want to see the bones!

Answer 7

they sell petfood in flavours like chicken because that's what they use to make the food for your pets. it's healthier and more accessible. they don't make petfood out of mice, birds, or rats...i hope anyways?

Answer 8

Because cats actually don't like the taste of mice, they only hunt them so prominently because that's the only thing they find to hunt when they are scurrying around the houses. Same thing with spiders.

Answer 9

GOOD "?", well they do have chicken...

.....but you never see an add that says, "9 out of 10 cats, when asked said 'thier favorite flavor was white mice'"

Answer 10

mouse bird and rats are too expensivve to raise for food, cows and lambs grow faster, eat cheaper food and are more accessible. its all about economics.