Best commercial raw food?

[Ashley]

Ashley, you may want to find out how old that raw food is. there is a weird smell when its old that is prob a huge turn off for cats. its a faint smell but fresh raw and old raw smell very different IMO. just like if you left meat in the fridge for a long time, it may look good but after you cook it it will prob taste funny.

I'll check, but I think his biggest problem is I can't find a store that carries rabbit and rabbit was the ONLY one I could get him to eat. I can't afford a grinder right now, so I asked the butcher, that sells whole rabbit, if they could grind it, and they said they could, but it wouldn't be worth it because I'd lose so much meat. SO... I'm going to try buying a whole rabbit, suck it up, and cut it up & see if he'll eat it that way.

 

[Jeni]

Ooooh good to know about the grinder! Thanks!

 

[DocMac]

I'm one who has the cheap one from Harbor Freight. If the pieces are small enough, it feeds well. I like it. At the end, my husband, who is a vegetarian, has to unscrew the part where the ground meat comes out. It's too hard for me. That's my sole complaint.

 

[Catherine G.]

I read this thread a few weeks ago and found a local pet shop that does carry raw food. I got the Bravo Chicken patties. My F2 (6 months old) is loosing her baby teeth and it was a perfect time to switch over to a softer raw diet.
Anyone have experience with Bravo?

 

[Medesha]

I read this thread a few weeks ago and found a local pet shop that does carry raw food. I got the Bravo Chicken patties. My F2 (6 months old) is loosing her baby teeth and it was a perfect time to switch over to a softer raw diet.
Anyone have experience with Bravo?

I looked into Bravo as my backup-forgot-to-order-from-Hare-Today plan, and did a bit of reading. I liked that there was a choice between formulas that have fruits and veggies in them and those that don't. But in a lot of the formulas, they use necks.

While it's still worlds away from most commercial cat food and kibble, that much bone content can cause constipation due to the high amount of bone....

 

[Ashley]

Does anyone have any feedback on Primal? I found a little pet store that will order Primal Rabbit for Cats and Kovu will eat it. As I said before, he is EXTREMELY picky about raw & will only eat raw rabbit. Is there anything I should know about Primal before I get too excited about him eating it?

 

[Dantes]

Does anyone have any feedback on Primal? I found a little pet store that will order Primal Rabbit for Cats and Kovu will eat it. As I said before, he is EXTREMELY picky about raw & will only eat raw rabbit. Is there anything I should know about Primal before I get too excited about him eating it?

Duma eats primarily Primal. Usually I get him beef and turkey plus one of the more expensive ones, ie. rabbit or quail, and alternate. For some reason he doesn't like the chicken at all, whereas he will eat Rad Cat chicken no problem. My local pet shop invited a Primal representative speak, and I have to say I was impressed by her, as well as her description of how the company works.

 

[Dantes]

I looked into Bravo as my backup-forgot-to-order-from-Hare-Today plan, and did a bit of reading. I liked that there was a choice between formulas that have fruits and veggies in them and those that don't. But in a lot of the formulas, they use necks.

My boyz didn't seem to like Bravo, I tried several times. But what do you mean about they use necks? Primal sells chicken necks in a pack and sometimes I'll give some to Duma and he gobbles them down. Is this bad?

 

[Medesha]

My boyz didn't seem to like Bravo, I tried several times. But what do you mean about they use necks? Primal sells chicken necks in a pack and sometimes I'll give some to Duma and he gobbles them down. Is this bad?

Oh, well necks aren't bad when you feed them occasionally to give your cat a bit of bone to work on, but when its the main ingredient of food, well, there's a lot more bone than meat on them, and companies use them because they're cheaper. They can cause constipation, and it's kinda like you're getting less meat for your money.

Bravo does state in some of their forumlas that there's other kinds of meat in them, but by the spirit of commercialism you can bet that necks and backs and other similar quality "cuts" make up the most of their food. Again, it's still loads better than most other non-raw kibble and canned, but...

 

[WitchyWoman]

Does anyone have any feedback on Primal? I found a little pet store that will order Primal Rabbit for Cats and Kovu will eat it. As I said before, he is EXTREMELY picky about raw & will only eat raw rabbit. Is there anything I should know about Primal before I get too excited about him eating it?

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.