You sound like you've been reading my mind. I just this second bought a case of Ziwi Beef canned food to see how that sits with him. For some reason it never occurred to me until this week that it could be a poultry allergy. I spent several hours combing through ingredient lists to weed out...
I had tried that, thinking it was just a hairball issue (there's almost always hair), but I stopped when it didn't seem to help. Since he enjoys being brushed, I'll give it a go again. Thank you for the suggestion.
Update: Two weeks on the boneless (eggshell calcium) mix has shown no improvement. I just put him back on Fancy Feast and he's still barfing. I can't afford a battery of medical tests, but I'm going to have to take him to the vet. At least I can honestly say that he's eating canned since my vet...
What recipe do you use? I have my spreadsheet open trying to figure out how to mix Alnutrin with ground HT boneless and organ. It feels weird ignoring the bone-content field. I'm going by the proportions in the Alnutrin "basic raw chicken diet" recipe. It looks like they're doing 93% boneless...
I have a cat with suspected IBD who vomits regularly. I switched from chicken to turkey (Hare Today 80/10/10 grind with Alnutrin) about four weeks ago and have seen no change. Is it possible that it's not the protein source but the little bone bits in the grind that are causing him to barf? It's...
That's good to hear. I hope turkey turns out to be a novel protein for my tabby with suspected IBD. I just made a batch with HT's new 80/10/10 ground -- so it's 100% turkey, with Alnutrin. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping his continued problems are a result of a chicken allergy.
It's too bad there aren't more (any?) scientific studies examining the health benefits of a raw diet. They'd have to be done on a voluntary basis, though, since they won't be sponsored by a pet-food company.
After what happened to Rad Cat I was worried HT might be on the hit list too. If they're forced to shut down, I won't have any choice but to go back to canned food, including for my suspected IBD cat. I'm speechless.
So long as you buy it from a reputable pet-food source, like Hare Today, yes. They freeze it immediately after they grind it. But don't buy it pre-ground from a grocery store. They keep it at refrigerator temperatures because they assume it's going to be cooked for human consumption. Grinding...
My guess is that it's because HT raises their own rabbits and sources unusual animals (e.g., guinea pigs) from farms that produce for specialty markets, like snake owners, that want everything included. The fowl is more generically produced, so they get it with the organs and so forth already...
I'm in a similar situation, their meals being about half ground (from Hare Today) and half supermarket boneless muscle-meat, hearts, and gizzards, all cut into sizable pieces -- and mixed with a tablespoon of canned, otherwise they're less likely to eat it. I also just bought whole rabbit chunks...
Mine eat a mix of raw and canned. I was originally only doing it for my picky eater, but life got busy and I couldn't babysit the bowls and started doing it for both. Of course, now neither of them will eat plain raw -- they turn their noses up at it if it doesn't have cheap canned food mixed...
HT won't be shipping anything the week of November 19th because of Thanksgiving. Shipping won't resume until Monday the 26th. I just made a batch and hadn't planned on ordering again for another month, but it looks like I'll be ordering early. There's another extended shipping gap in December...
If you're already buying grinds from HT you don't necessarily have to invest in a grinder if your cats will accept chunks of meat. I'm new to raw too and have been experimenting with different recipes. What seems to work best for my cats is HT grinds (whole and organ) diluted with boneless...