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I have 4 cats, a 16 yr. old, a 6 yr. old and 2 that are probably around 4 years old. They are fed dry food with about once a month a treat of some kind, can or bag of moist cat food, These cats can come and go outside if they please. The younger ones are always bringing in gifts, ie.moles, mice, birds, they tend to not eat the moles, just leave the bodies as a present.:laugh: The birds are another story, feathers and a few parts are usually the remains. Now the mice, they tend to play with more and sometimes I think they are on the catch and release system. Last night for example, a mouse was cornered in the kitchen and the cat that had it, just played with it until she was tired of it, after about 15 minutes she left it alone and I had to put the poor mouse outside.usually though the cats do tend to chow down on them. The oldest cat doesn't like the outdoors and its a rare thing for her to bring in any trophies...but she is spoiled

BlueSky wrote:The younger ones are always bringing in gifts, ie.moles, mice, birds, they tend to not eat the moles, just leave the bodies as a present.

Yeah, Spike, before he died, used to leave dead mice on the kitchen floor as a 'present', if you will. Ugghh. The sentiment was nice, though. Having to dispose of the dead mouse, OTOH ... Ewwww. I think he thought I ate them.

Dead mice in the kitchen is unsanitary enough, but presumably he found it *alive* in the kitchen. Double Ewwww. <shudders>

Thanks for all the replies, and my apologies for a very delayed response...

I felt I should provide an update though. The cat in question is *much* better. A few weeks ago, she had stopped eating, was urinating everywhere except her litter box, and spent her day curled up in a corner (probably Hepatic lipidosis). These symptoms progressed as the vets were running tests and trying to determine treatment. After an ultrasound, they found she had about 20 bladder stones, and we arranged for surgery. On the day of the surgery the vets took one look at her and decided she was in no shape for major surgery. Instead, they put a feeding tube and IV tube into her, and kept her overnight. The next day, they removed the IV, and we brought her home. We have been feeding her through the tube since then, she has regained her weight, and is basically back to her normal self. She had her surgery a couple of days ago, and is recovering very well. Indeed, as I type she is sitting on my lap and purring... she actually sounds as though she is cooing.. like a dove.
In other words, she is back to being my "familiar," as my partner likes to call her.

Where the diet goes. We have tried some of the raw food out on our cats. As I said our butcher sells various types, and it includes bones, and organ meats etc. *sigh* We tried some of the poultry type and neither would have anything to do with it. This is odd, because they both love (cooked) chicken and raw chicken livers.
We do buy them high grade "kibble" which only contains, basically chicken and brown rice along with supplements like taurine. But after beginning to read around I really wondered if maybe the raw food diet would be an idea.
I'm beginning to think that maybe the best plan is to continue a combination of kibble and chicken livers, though increasing the amount of livers, usually we give them some every couple of weeks.

@Than, thanks for the links, I will check those out as well..
We'd both be happy to let them hunt. Only problem is that we live (presently anyway) on the top floor of an apartment building, so the best approximation of hunting the cats get is leaping after bugs when we leave the patio door open in the summer

It may sound great that my cats are getting organic yams, cranberry, and rosemary along with their free-range, non-caged, omega 3-plumped rodents, but are those things really benefiting them?

Yes indeed... And the thing is, we were actually feeding our cats a brand containing those ingredients a few years ago, it may have even been Wysong, I can't quite remember. And, Luna, the same little troublemaker as described above, had an allergic reaction to it... This is why we ended up with the California Naturals brand since it doesn't contain cranberries and similar ingredients.
Good thing Pepe, our other cat, is low maintenance, we refer to him as "The wash and wear kitty."

20 bladder stones!? holy...wow, thats formed by excessive calcium right? its good to hear you got her back home though!