How can I reuse or recycle cat biscuits?

Well, less of a “reuse/recycle”, more of a “what else can eat them?” question…

Our cats are becoming increasingly fussy eaters in their old age. They’ve always been pretty fussy but now they’re teenagers, it’s getting worse – and we end up with a lot of mostly full boxes and bags that they are just not interested in eating.

We’ve swapped cat food with friends and neighbours in the past but all our felines have reached that certain age now and either had their teeth removed or as fussy as ours, so there is less swap potential. The supermarkets around here collect food for local animal shelters but I suspect they’ll only want sealed boxes/bags to be sure nothing has been tampered with.

I’d rather not compost them as I suspect the smell will attract undesirables to the heap but I also don’t want to just bin them. So any ideas?

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8 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle cat biscuits?”


  1. Kara says:

    If you have a good relationship with your local shelter or kennel, they might take opened packages of pet food anyway. Otherwise, you can try mixing the leftover food with the stuff your pets will eat at about one part in three or softening the leftover food with meat broth, drippings, or even water. Our elder cat won’t eat what she can’t smell, and her food has to be pretty stinky for her to smell it, but she eats the regular food with the stinky when they are mixed together. All three get the softened regular food as a treat every few weeks or so.

  2. Cipollina says:

    I put them on the bird feeder.

  3. carol says:

    Kara took my idea, our local shelters don’t mind pet snacks that have been opened. I do toss stuff like that out to the birds or racoons, and the seem to like it

  4. Bobbie says:

    Once my dogs did not want to eat their food. Later on we discovered why; their food was recalled for melamine. Maybe we should pay attention when our animals don’t want to eat food that was prepared just for them.

  5. apieceofwood says:

    Our local shelter will take opened biscuits, but the bird food is an interesting idea as well!

  6. i have a cat and he is only young and eats everything but as he gets older i may have the same problem. it might be good just to ask around if any of your friends or family have a cat and want some free biscuits

  7. Mickey says:

    When our dogs refused to eat this yucky cheap dog food, my dad used it as fertilizer for the tomatoes. It worked so well, we bought more to fertilize the rest of the garden.

  8. Definitely recycle the cat food by donating it to a local shelter. Petco has Sunday pet adoptions and the women who foster those pets are usually there as well. I am sure they would love the cat food for those pets. If not, I am sure that a craigslist post will have them picked up from your house in no time.

    – Maurizio Maranghi –

    Reduce, Reuse, Recycle



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