Dog or Cat food?

[crazycritter]

I have started mixing my own gerbil food, and the last batch I made, I used Firstmate dog food.

The reason I started using this is because I am a vegan, and I didn't feel comfortable feeding the gerbils so many chicken and egg products. The dog food I am feeding them is what my two dogs eat...if it wasn't, I would have chosen a completely vegan food for the gerbils, but it's to expensive to buy just for them, and the dogs don't like it.

This new food only has herring meal and chicken fat, which is a lot less animal products then the kitten food had.

My only concern is, though, that the dog food might not be as good for them as the kitten food. I have the ingredients list here for comparison. What do you think?

DOG FOOD

Potato flakes, herring meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), beet pulp, fish oil, dicalcium phosphate, choline chloride, salt, sorbic acid, vitamin C, Yucca Plant extract, vitamin a, vitamin D, vitamin E, Vitamin K, Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, vitamin B12, d-pantothenic acid, folic acid, d-biotin, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, iodine, cobalt, selenium, glucanase, protease, amylase, cellulase

CAT FOOD

chicken
chicken meal
corn gluten meal
brewers rice
chicken fat preserved with rosemary extract
wheat
dried whole egg
beet pulp
fish meal
flaxseed
brewers dried yeast
whey
potassium chloride
choline chloride,
lecithin
salt
calcium carbonate
ferrous sulphate
inositol
diccalcium phosphate
yucca shidigera extract
Vitamin A, D, and E
Taurine
Zinc Oxide
Niacin
Copper Sulphate
Maganese Oxide
Thiamine Mononitrate
Calcium Pantothenate
Riboflavin
Biotin
Vitamin B12

[queenofthenile]

I would use the kitten food simply because it contains more protein. Usually cat food is added to up the protein content for nursing gerbils, so I'd stick with that.

[crazycritter]

Actually, the kitten food has 18% protein and the dog food has 23%

[queenofthenile]

What ?? Kitten food should contain about 30% protein. I personally would use a kitten food that contains more protein, but if you are uncomfortable with that, just use the dog food. What ever you do, don't feed that food to the cats .

[Ritzie/Admin]

You could give both! I change regularly! Depends on what I see in the pet shop first! And of course if you want to give them more protein, it is best to give them the food with the highest protein content!

[Crazy Critter]

queenofthenile said:

What ?? Kitten food should contain about 30% protein. I personally would use a kitten food that contains more protein, but if you are uncomfortable with that, just use the dog food. What ever you do, don't feed that food to the cats .

30? really? I don't have the bag anymore, for some reason I just remember it being 18...maybe it was 28%?

It was expensive food though...I must have made a mistake

I think Im just going to leave the dog food...they like it, and its what my dogs eat, so it saves money. They still have their seeds and such, as well, so I think they'll be fine! They're doing REALLY well on it. Their coats have improved noticeably...they don't need nearly as many sand baths.

[queenofthenile]

I was wondering, we sometimes get small opened bags of cat food, oatmeal and bran flakes. Would you like me to scrounge some of those things for you? We can't use anything that's been opened at the shelter. Either the staff, or other rescue groups get to take it home.

[xofinha]

Is there any ingredient in cat or dog food that shouldn't be given to gerbils?

What ammount of cat or dog food should be given to gerbils?

[Ritzie/Admin]

Give it just as an extra treat! Good mixed gerbil foods have all the ingredients they need. If you don't have that, than you can supply this for some extra animal protein. And when females are pregnant or nursing it is helpful.

It is not harmful, but when you give it too much they can get too fat!

[AndreaS15]

Guest-Crazy said:

It was expensive food though...I must have made a mistake

To make things cheaper I go to large pet food chains and ask for a couple "Sample Bags" of cat/kitten food They are free and even with 11 gerbils the little package still lasts a long time