Why aren't cat treats made from mouse and rat meat?

Cat treats are made from beef and chicken which makes no sense to me.

• Maybe because rats are invariably prone to disease, not to mention difficult to pen? They also eat their young, which is always lovely to think about when feeding Fluffy.

• Yeah, G/R/Umpy, I've always wondered why cat food didn't have a rat option.

• It wouldn't be a TREAT if it was something cats ate naturally, like mouse or rat. That's like making bon bons out of vegetables - where's the TREAT in that? A TREAT implies something special, different, or unusual.

  Treat%20Williams

• Right on, R3.

• All I did was ask my supervisor why, if they're going to call them cat treats, they don't make them from actual ground-up cats, and she wrote me up!

  Umpsy

• Oh, please. They can barely keep with the demand from the Korean restaurants as it is.

• When we all give our cats allowances and they go to the store to buy their own cat food, I'm sure they'll go for the "mouse" and "squirrel" flavors. But since humans actually buy the cat food these days, it's made in flavors that appeal to humans.

• R7 eats cat food when he can't pay the electric bill.

  Treat%20Williams%27%20ass%20in%20HAIR.%20

• Not cost effective to raise and process for meat. My cat prefers gopher anyway.

• What I really want to know is why they make raspberry flavoured liquid medication for cats. It states on the bottle that it's for cats and that it's not to be used by humans. There's so much food colouring in there that when the jaw clamp down occurs and the inevitable head shake happens, I have a pointillism effect in the kitchen. The vet tried to give me banana flavoured meds once too. For cats?

  anonymous

• R6 = racist eldergay piece of shit.

• Is that what we put on the label, "chicken"? Well, then, by all means. It's not like we could get rats for free here in our nineteenth century St. Louis plant.

  Ralston%20Purina%20executive

• Because not many suburban or city cat owners are going to feed their cats with any ingredient that includes rodents. That's just nasty. Farm cats have plenty to live mice to feast on so the market for cat treats with mice is nonexistent. I'm not touching any cat food that contains mice, rats or any rodents. I snuggle with my cat and there's no way I want anything to do with him after he's eaten rodent meat.

• Good point, OP. Why aren't dog treats made from other dogs' poop?

• If you buy them at the grocery store and the label says "Meat" it might have rats in it. Or dogs or euthanized/roadkilled cats.

• Maybe cats crave beef; but seldom can a housecat take down a cow in the wild.

  Except for Miss Sissyboodles, of course

• That might be true, but I don't buy my cat food at a grocery stores. It's all cheap junk. I don't even go to box stores like Petsmart or Petco. I spend a lot of money on cat food a month because I think it is part of preventative care. Spend more on quality food and you will save on vet bills later on. Most pet owners don't see it that way.