Best commercial raw food?

[Ashley]

The only thing I would recommend is adding a bit of taurine powder to the food. They do include it because rabbit meat is naturally very low in taurine, but it's difficult to know how much it degrades when processed/frozen. Add 1/4 tsp 2-3x per week just be safe.

Thank you Deborah. When I go pick up his food Tuesday I'll ask if they have any. I noticed PetCo & Petsmart both don't carry it...hopefully Posh Paw will.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Thank you Deborah. When I go pick up his food Tuesday I'll ask if they have any. I noticed PetCo & Petsmart both don't carry it...hopefully Posh Paw will.

You can always find it at a health store that sells vitamins. Now brand is good. You can also get it on line http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Taurine-Powder-8-oz-227-g/7425

 

[Ashley]

You can always find it at a health store that sells vitamins. Now brand is good. You can also get it on line http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Taurine-Powder-8-oz-227-g/7425

Awesome, there is a GNC next to Starbucks (& we go to Starbucks daily..lol) so I'll swing by & see if they have any. Thanks!

 

[Sourek]

Sorry to Bump up this thread. Was wondering if anyone has any more recent experience with the raw food delivery programs for cats. I really want to get my two kittens on a raw diet as soon as possible but I'm worried about grinding on my own. Don't want to mess up their diets with the wrong amount of each item. Really looking into Feline Pride and Hare Today. Do these options provide enough bone content for the cats? Or is it just better to go ahead and figure out meat grinding and supplement/vegetable additions on my own?

 

[WitchyWoman]

Feline's Pride is a balanced ratio of bone/meat/organs. As long as you choose meat grinds from Hare Today that include bones/meat/organs, they too will have the proper ratios. I would always include a vitamin supplement with any diet just to ensure against loss of potency of some vitamins due to cooking/freezing process of the food.

I used Feline's Pride for a few years until I decided to go with whole prey.

 

[John Popp]

I like Hare Today a lot, but even with the things I order from them I still need to mix it up with supplements. I really don't have an issue at all with grinding and if you just do chicken thighs with supplements and some organ meat it's really easy. Dark meat has a high amount of taurine and the meat to bone ratio of thighs is higher than any other bone in pieces.

I'm definitely a little too squeamish to grind rabbit and even thought I would have a rough time chopping up whole chickens. The chickens I can handle, but for rabbit I leave the grinding to Hare Today. Pre-cut chicken thighs are definitely the easiest, my cats love them and our grinder swallows them up as fast as I can rinse and load them in.

I would talk to your breeder to see if they are feeding their cats raw for the recipe they use or the premixed supplement they use. If they aren't feeding their cats raw, there are plenty of recipes and knowledge here or you can go to catinfo.org to get Doctor Pierson's recipe. It's really not tough at all and your cats will definitely appreciate it.

 

[John Popp]

I used Feline's Pride for a few years until I decided to go with whole prey.

Not to hijack here, but can you elaborate on just what you use for a whole prey diet and how you add supplements?

 

[WitchyWoman]

Not to hijack here, but can you elaborate on just what you use for a whole prey diet and how you add supplements?

I feed quail, rats, mice, chickens, guinea pigs and sprinkle Mazuri supplement on the food.

 

[DocMac]

Well we have a couple of "boutique" shops but they push Iams so not really where I want to go unfortunately. I may ask Petsmart if they have any or if they can carry one of these brands. I looked at the websites and just hate to invest in 20lbs of food if she's going to let it all spoil. Guess I could always feed it to the dogs Let me ask this, I have seen the raw in a freezer/fridge thing at Walmart of all places. I believe it's labeled dog food though? Does it matter? Don't laugh, I honestly don't know. In order for this to be her meal, do I want meat, bones and organs in it? Can you just fly here and go shopping with me??? Kidding...

I was feeding the leftover raw to my Papillion and it gave him kidney issues because it was too high in protein for dogs, according to the vet.