Hey, sorry, sure this subject has been done to death on here but I just wanted to double-check...
I don't give my girls cat food usually as I thought they weren't supposed to eat meat (just bugs and worms), it is nutritionally designed for cats, not chickens, and it is vastly over-processed and probably full of nasties...
However, I stupidly left the back door open the other day and came back into the kitchen to find one very put-out looking cat sitting on top of the fridge and four chickens polishing off what was left of her food on the floor.
My cat will only eat poultry-flavoured cat food - so that's a bit wrong surely? Will they get Mad Chicken Disease now? And will I notice if they do?
Since they seem to like it so much, is it ok to give them cat food as a treat, now and again? Say, once a week? The chook equivalent of a Sunday roast? Their usual diet is the all the ex-batts pellets they want, with tea-time treats if I'm home (usually a bit of mixed corn, a few dried mealworms or some veg or leftover food like rice or mashed potato with some veg in - they're not that interested in fruit).
My girls are ex-batts that I've had a year in August and two of the four are the glossiest, plumpest, most beautiful of girls, but the other two are still looking a bit moth-eaten. Would a bit of extra protein promote feather-growth? And would it be better to feed them the fishy cat foods? If so, perhaps it's easier just to give them a tin of sardines, rather than questionable-fish cat food?
Any advice gratefully received. I'd like to spoil my girls a bit but also want them to be healthy and not overdo it so trying to find a happy medium!