Does anyone just feed their cats real food?

[Ohdoleavemealone]

Someone pointed out today that in the wild cats and dogs would be living off fish and mice etc and said they always fed their pets real food as it was cheaper anyway.
Surely there is a reason cat food is available or are we all being mugs?

Define “real” food? Actual rodents like snake food? Or human leftovers?

cat food is relatively cheap, easily available, and balanced.

A cat’s “natural” diet, as you point out would be mice etc, but they eat the lot, bones, guts, all the grim bits. If they don’t they can become deficient in vital nutrients, so you can’t just feed cats a human diet of the “nice” cuts of meat and fish.

the closest to “real” food I’ve come across is the expensive raw foods or fresh cat food diets that are becoming popular. Still cat food though.

I don't think todays pampered cats would last five minutes if they actually had to hunt. Mine certainly wouldn't.

Is your friend actually catching small rodents and birds to feed her cat/s?

It's not that easy to replicate a natural cat's diet which is why most of us rely on commercial cat foods.

Pet cats certainly seem to have a much longer lifespan these days, so the move from scraps and hunting spoils must have been beneficial.

You can just feed raw but it has to be balanced. Few FB groups around with decent advice
Mine loves Purrform but it's not cheap

I feed mine high quality dry food on demand and then a variety of meats twice a day. He gets poached chicken or raw chicken mince, game mince, tuna or other fish etc. He also gets freeze dried treats, which are made of offal.

The food I was buying him was just meat in a can, with no additives, so it's not much of a change there. His coat is really beautiful and soft, whereas when he was eating the more commercial cat food, it was quite dry.

Well 'in the wild' people wouldn't be washing their hair so maybe we should all stop washing our hair, it would be cheaper too.
The pets your acquaintance had may not have died but probably did not thrive either. This person also sounds like the type not to take their pets to a vet on a regular basis because they look like they're alright and miss early symptoms of life limiting illnesses. A pet can't tell you what they want and need, but cats fed an improper diet will go out and hunt for birds to make up the shortfall, which is a bit of an ecological disaster but certainly cheaper than feeding them yourself.
People feed their pets pet food because it has been formulated with all the nutrition the animal needs. Large pet food manufacturers conduct whole of life studies on their products to ensure the animal's evolving needs are being met. A bit of whatever you've got knocking about in the fridge is...not the same.
If you can't afford to buy pet food you can't afford having a pet.

My vet told me that one of the places cats pick up worms and parasites etc is from eating mice etc. That's another element of manufactured cat food - the food safety angle.

Our 4 happily eat our offerings and supplement as they deem necessary.

I make their own raw food but it doesn't really include mice or insects. Mice because I don't want them to be chucked around around the house (although it's be a great source of fun for the cats), insect food is quite expensive at the moment. One of my cats is happy and doing well on dry food, the others eat mainly raw.

Commercial cat food contains added taurine, which is essential to cats' health. Most cats wouldn't get enough taurine from a diet of hunting or from human food.

Dogs could live off cat food without a problem if necessary, but cats don't thrive on dog food as there's no taurine in it.

I have some friends who live rurally and they only feed their cats in the winter. The rest of the time they catch stuff. The house has maybe 5 acres and is surrounded by fields so I guess it’s easier for them than if they lived in a city.

Mine is a feline dustbin - she has commercial cat food plus any leftover meat or fish from our plates, with salt washed off if needed.

And she also catches mice and eats them whole

My cats hunt and eat a lot of rodents, birds, rabbits etc. Weirdly won't touch anything like cooked chicken though! And they need very regular worming because they are prolific hunters. if I wanted them to have a completely natural diet I'd just stop feeding them cat food and let them fend for themselves. If you are feeding them already killed and cooked meat, thats already straying from their natural diet anyway.

Cats need taurine in their diets to stay healthy, and commercial cat food has this added so cats always have enough.

Cats who don't get enough taurine can eventually go into organ failure and die.

One of my cats has never caught anything bigger than a moth 😂 She wouldn't last a day in the wild.