John Savage wrote:
Any pet owners here who can tell me of a brand of dried pet
food (cat or dog) which is soft enough that it can be broken
up easily?

A neighbour is daily visited by a quiet magpie and I'd like
to see her give it a treat better than bread.

We are talking of just one or two pieces of dried pet food each
day, not a major part of its diet. Magpies seem to insist on
breaking food up into tiny morsels before they'll eat it.

I've thought of softening the hard food with water, but think
it will just fall to pieces when thrown onto the lawn.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

It's ideal to soften the food with water. Just put it in a container and
put enough water in to come about 2/3 of the way up the food. Leave it
to soak up the water and then put it out for the maggies. Ours were so
tame, we used to throw it to them and they'd swoop to catch it!

It's hard in the suburbs, where everyone enjoys tame magpies. So many
people feed them bread and make them dependent on human feeding, then
they get rickets or other bone diseases (the magpies, not the people). I
reckon it's probably better for the maggies to become dependent on a
reasonable food (such as dog-food) than it is for them to depend on
bread and biscuits.

The leader of our magpie tribe was called 'Minnesota Fats'. He dined at
just about every backyard in the street!

PS. In the spring, the young magpies would come and play with my
washing. They'd lie on their backs and grab the bottoms of the sheets
hanging on the line.

Once, Minnesota approached my (newborn) daughter as she lay in her
bouncer under the tree. I think he thought her little toesies were tiny
worms, because he attempted to eat them!!! After that, kiddo always took
her fresh air with socks on.

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia