# can my tegu eat these?



## Rhetoric (Apr 21, 2011)

I got these cat treats for our cat but she won't touch 'em. They're "natural".
Heres a list of things that *aren't* added..
byproducts, salt, hormones, fillers, wheat, four, corn, soy, rice, gluten, sugar, artifical flavors or colors.

*Only ingredients*: chicken breast, vitamin E supplement, Flaxseed and vitamin A acetate.

*Guaranteed Analysis * 
Crude Protein 55% (min)
Crude Fat 2% (min)
Crude Fat 5% (max)
Crude Fiber 4.8% (max)
Moisture 27% (max)
Vitamin E 500 i.u./kg (min)
Vitamin A 5,000 i.u./kg (min)
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.05% (min)

*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.

http://www.catswell.com/vitakitty/chicken_breast_jerky


I thought I'd at least ask before I toss them. They don't seem to have any weird stuff added to them, if they're alright to feed I was just going to mix a small amount into a couple meals.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 21, 2011)

As occasional treats, I don't see why not. 

If they'll eat them, go ahead.


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## chelvis (Apr 21, 2011)

They should be fine, only thing i see is that they are very small and slightly dried so the tegu might not eat them. But health wise its fine.


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## Rhetoric (Apr 21, 2011)

Cool thank you, I didn't want to waste them if there was a chance they could eat them. I know they're not really supposed to be eating dog food, I'm assuming its the same for cat food too. This stuff didn't seem to be unhealthy, I feed them the same things anyway but I wasn't sure because they were dried. 
My dogs wont eat them either lol but they inhale the ones made for dogs, weird to me because they're the same ingredients... Maybe its the size lol. But thank you again!


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## teguboy77 (Apr 21, 2011)

I don't know i don't give my tegu nothing but mice,ground turkey,beef liver,etc.Its not a cat,but this is just my opinion.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 21, 2011)

Cat treat, dog treat, tegu treat. Doesn't change the ingredients. lol

Mice can be considered "cat food".


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## teguboy77 (Apr 21, 2011)

Well you feed your tegu what you want and i guess i'll feed mine what i want lol.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 21, 2011)

True that, the logic just sort of makes no sense to me. Meat is meat whether it's labeled for cats, dogs or tegus.


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## teguboy77 (Apr 21, 2011)

Again they are cat treats,do you eat them meat is meat rite lol,this was just what my opinion was but if other people want to give there tegus cat treats thats up to them.


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## Rhetoric (Apr 21, 2011)

I get what you're both saying. Its about preference and how you view what should and should not be fed to your tegus. For me personally, it was a cool thing to try since it was dried chicken but after seeing the lack of interest I don't think I'll be continuing to try it. Back to the (more fresh) raw food!


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## laurarfl (Apr 22, 2011)

I throw in my 2 cents, just for fun . I like nutrition. 

Years ago, the only dog and cat foods on the market were Dog/cat Chow and Ol' Roy type of foods. When you ,look at these foods, they are full of by-products and grains. Yucky stuff, even for dogs and cats. Pet food went through a revolution of sorts and the new foods out there are fantastic! I had some dogs and cats with health issues and was always on the look out for better foods. Foods like Blue Buffalo and Avoderm have natural, human grade ingredients that include fruits and veggies. There are no by-products, no grains in some of them, and whole produce. They are better than some of the things we eat, lol. What you do have to watch for is high phosphorous content. Most dog foods are balanced to 1:1 ratio and cat foods seem to have more phosphorous. I wouldn't recommend cat food as a regular part of the diet, but there are some good brands that are grain free, low phosphorous, and have added veggies. I wouldn't ban them from a tegu's diet, either. I would feed these treats, but my tegus would likely find them too dry.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 22, 2011)

I personally wouldn't feed a food specifically formulated for cats such as "cat food" itself but these treats aren't formulated for cats, they're just labeled as "cat treats". Take away the label and it's just meat with vitamin A, E and Flaxseed. I can cut up meat, bag it and label it as cat/dog treats and it'd still be okay to feed to a tegu since it's meat. It's when you add specific ratios of calcium, phosphorous, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals which meet cats' needs is where you run into trouble with tegus. What may be balanced for a cat will not be for a tegu.

I've actually tried these treats (not this specific brand) and it tasted like chicken! lol 

I hope you all understand what I'm trying to say. It's just meat without the label. If it was labeled as Tegu treats, would that make it more acceptable?


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## chelvis (Apr 22, 2011)

The treats in questions are really just dried chicken, nothing more. There is no by products there is nothing added besideds some oils and vitamines in no special amount. In fact this company markets the same products for dogs, only diffeance is they do not slice them into nice little pieces. 

Treats do not have to meet any requirements nuritonally wise. There is no min or max for fat, protine, fiber ect... Foods on the other hand have to meet certain criterias to be considered a complete diet. And yes is rescent years the newer dog foods have had much better inguriants (the nuritional level believe it or not is the same its just in better avliblity) but its still all the same its formulated to meet the requirements of a dog. Cat food is required to meet the requirements of a cat. You compare Iams, Catchow and Evo guess what the fat content is the same, the protine contents is simlar (granted evo does have a higher percent), this is even more so in dogs. 

The reason you don't feed tegus dog and cat food is becuase they have a different nutrional requirement then our furry buddies, not because of the ingridants. Before some jumps on me, no i do not feed my dogs iams or even sci diet, i hate those. I feed my old boy Innova Sr and my younger dog is on Blue Buffalo. When i was foster cats all got evo. I love the new brands the foods are better quality, but i still would not feed them to a tegu. 

The exception if you really want to feed a tegu dog and cat food (an i am guilty here) is to use raw diets. There is a differents on of the things i use is the ground meats, these are whole animal with out the fur so dressed, they included bones, organ meat, fat and meat. The differeance is this is labled as supplemental, this is not formulated to meet the requirements of any animal but rather to allow more varitiy for a raw feeder to meet their set requirements for thier animals. Now there are a very brands that make a full complet diet (nature's varity to name one) but i stay away from these. I use Bravo rabbit, turkey, and chicken... doubles as a treat for the dogs as well, they love it. 

oh i have eaten these treats, taste like my moms chicken when she leaves it on the grill too long, chewy and no flavor.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 22, 2011)

I've offered the raw cat/dog food diets to my ferrets and Red. It's the only cat/dog formulated diets I'd offer to a tegu (or even a ferret).


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## Kebechet (Apr 22, 2011)

Link sometimes gets a little bit of the Primal Raw food nuggets to add some extra variety to his diet. They have ground up bones, fruits/veggies as well as the raw meat. There's more calcium than phosphorus too  He seems to be a big fan of the lamb ones. (I got a free sample variety pack from a store out here) I've noticed that since I started giving him a bit of those, he's been a bit more interested in fruit. I've snuck some mango into his food now, and he doesn't seem to mind. I think it helped him get a taste for it. 

But anyway, giving your tegu cat treats shouldn't be a problem. As long as you're balancing out whatever is in them, with a normal and healthy diet, I don't see why it wouldn't be fine. If it you do it right, maybe you'll even expand your tegu's palette, if you have a picky one like me


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 22, 2011)

I really like the ingredients for Primal Raw's Chicken mix. I'd feed that to a tegu.

Ingredients: Chicken Neck, Chicken Frames, Chicken Heart, Chicken Liver, Organic Carrots, Organic Dandelion Greens, Mango, Organic Apples, Organic Parsley.

80% Chicken
20% Produce


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## chelvis (Apr 22, 2011)

I'm going to have to look into Primal. right now i got bravo which their rabbit is bone and dresses rabbit meat. I would like the idea of organ meat and some easy digeat veggies like carrots and lets face who tegu dont like some mango.


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## Little Wise Owl (Apr 22, 2011)

If I could get Primal Raw here in Canada, I would.

I really like their products for my tegu and ferrets.


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## Rhetoric (Apr 22, 2011)

I feel late but I agree abut the change in quality in cat/dog food over the last few years. I feel like my dogs are eating better than we are! When we got our first dog in '09 he was eating kibbles n bits which (to me) is worse than doggy junk food. 
Recently, they've were on Orijen for a couple months but since its still cold we put them back to Taste of the Wild. They were WAY too gasy to be indoors LOL. The cat is on Evo and the hedgehog is on Innova's low fat cat food (its been 5 months and he still has a 1/4 of a 6lb bag left hahaha)
As far as the mammals go, it is more expensive to feed them these food brands but at the same time they're never sick and they never have to go to the vet (besides the regular check ups). We're always getting compliments on how healthy they look and how great their coats are.

I've seen primal at the place we get all our dog/cat food and treats at. I have yet to try it though. I'm down for anything that will help get the fruits and veggies into my tegus. So far the only ones they've been really into are blue berries, strawberries and bananas. I think I might have seen Bravo, are you feeding Bravo on a regular basis or more as a treat?

Just as a side question, (I don't want to make a new thread if a lot of you are checking this one anyway) do you guys see any issues with giving my female tegus an extra mouse day? In the 2 weeks I've had them they've grown a couple inches and have put on a little bit of weight. I was wondering if giving them an extra day of whole prey might help give them more nutrients or if it could be more harmful because of the fur. It would only be temporary if at all. It makes me really happy, maybe they'll reach a normal size as adults! Though I won't mind if they stay "fun sized"


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## chelvis (Apr 23, 2011)

I use Bravo rabbit and turkey (thinking of venison maybe too) instead of ground turkey. I still add vitamines but the ones formulated for reptiles. I'm going to see if i can find primal mixes (those are the ones that look like very limted ingriants and have fruits and veggies in them). 

As for adding an extra mouse a week, i would not see a problem in that. Most tegus do not have a problem with the fur. I've had to feed my tegus mice only for a month with no problems (i got evacuated for a fire and then had to work to help defend the wildlife center i worked at, the only thing on hand for my mom too feed where mice i kept in her deep freeze). They did fine, no impaction no wieght lose or excessive wieght gain. Its important to make sure they are drinkinging enough, the basking temp is high and do not feed them too late. This will allow for proper digestion.


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## laurarfl (Apr 25, 2011)

I understand exactly about meeting min and max protein, fat, fiber, etc in furry pet foods, but who has the requirement list for tegus? Until that can be agreed upon, we are all just shooting in the dark every time we put together our reptile diets. All we can do is gather information and make our own decisions.


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