Ok, maybe this is a weird question but this is something I have been wondering for some time now...

We all know that cats like to catch mice and other small rodents along with birds etc. But when I look at cat food the meat never is from animals that could be their prey in reality. The closest to what they could probably eat in nature are chickens and rabbit. They certainly wouldn't eat pork, beef lamb, salmon, tuna, sardines or even seefood as they are too big/can't catch them.
So I was wondering...why doesn't anyone try producinh mice/small rodents-based feline food? Wouldn't that make much more sense? Plus rodents breed like err......rodents So it would probably be very cheap?

Ok so maybe this sound a bit grose and I certainly could never eat a mouse but I know my cats wouldn't object and I would have no problem feeding them mice-based diet.
Or even insect based (you know even people eat them in some countries and they are supposed to be very healthy) as insects contain a lot of protein and little fat

OK, I'll stop now but I just HAD to write this here if maybe a food like this does already exist somewhere

You can buy frozen mice and other cat 'prey' from reptile / raptor feed suppliers. Mouse is very expensive though!

In Germany, in addition to whole mice, you can also get minced mice and minced one-day chicks.

One of the reasons why you will not find mice-flavoured commercial cat food is because the meat that is being used to make pet food comes from the human food industry (basically utilising the food and bits and pieces that do not make it into the human food chain). Since mice are not traditionally a part of a human diet, there are no products to make it into the pet food industry.

Secondly, the price of mice is expensive, as cookiemom said. So making a cat food from them would make it too pricey for most people to buy.

Hmmm... "Minced mice", all very tricky, especially as I read the thread title as "are there any mince-based feline diets out there?"

I think you'll find rats are a bit cheaper than mice, minced or otherwise... I was looking into getting frozen mice or rats, but I could only find online suppliers and you had to buy loads. I thought it was too risky as my two are a bit picky. If I ever come across any in a shop, I'll try and get some though. Simba's breeder gave him the odd mouse before he came to me, and he did eat them then.

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Not tried these but Kiezebrink UK do minced day old chicks by the kilo:

Kiezebrink UK - Day Old Chicks


also not tried, they have rat/doc 'sausages':

Kiezebrink UK - Kiezebrink Sausages


I'd add some taurine if feeding these.

I've wondered about this too! I'm sure my cat would catch fish if given half the chance, but the meat-based flavours probably not!! I notice that in the Bozita range they even have Reindeer...!!! I can't believe it's all that healthy to feed things like that (including pork, beef, etc) because the cat would be getting the wrong quantities of different parts of the animal, surely?

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That's why they add supplements - to account for nutrient loss during the manufacturing process and to bring in nutrients that didn't exist in the raw ingredients that are being used.

One of the many reasons I haven't switched my cats to a whole prey diet is because they have expensive tastes!
They love the day old chicks, which is great - very easy on the wallet even when bought singly, and they love mice - bloody expensive, especially when bought singly.
Rats? Not a chance. They will eat fuzzies or even small furry babies at a push, but anything bigger and they walk away. I tried cutting them open - Jones chomped a couple of organs and the tail then gave up. Who'd have thought they tasted so different?

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I've been thinking along these lines recently, and if I had started a thread on it, it would have almost been word for word what you wrote - spooky!

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Yeah, I know you can buy whole mice and stuff but I was thinking more about buying rodent-based complete cat food...Like cans or kibbles. because frozen meat need to be delivered frozen, fresh meat need to be delivered very quickly etc.
And I live in SLO which does not have any supplier of raw meat for animals. I suppose it is easier if you live in big countries like UK, Germany or USA...
But I find it hard to find suppliers who will deliver in our country at a resonable price even products like kibbles and cans who don't require prompt delivery- well zooplus is the only one who makes deliveries even to our country for free on orderes above 69 Eur..

was just hoping anyone of you heard about rodent based complete cat food that can be delivered in few weeks (doesn't need the same day delivery or special freezers to deliver them)...Only in my dreams than