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I saw they provide fed ex pick up spots. Maybe if you have them send the food to a fedex pick up spot near you the deliveries will be more reliable?
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Alternatives To Rad Cat?
- Thread starter daftcat75
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I ALWAYS use that. Chewy uses Fed Ex. So does Woot. Any time I get a Fed Ex tracking number, I immediately redirect that to a pickup location.
Unfortunately they sent me an email after I paid for two day that pickup locations are not available for two day. As soon as Fed Ex has it in their system, I’ll leave a note in the Delivery Manager to call me if there’s any trouble with the gate (or I’ll hunt the driver down and poison his pet like he’s risking with his lazy, lying ways.)
I wish I was exaggerating but I have had more bad experiences with Fed Ex than good ones.
I get my raw food from Darwin's and my Cats have been doing great on that, I used to feed them Nature's Variety from a local PSP until my Cats stopped eating it.
Darwin's has bone bits but they're fairly small and my IBD Cat isn't bothered by it. Nature's Variety also has bone but it's ground so fine I could barely see the bits, and I know Chewy.com recently started carrying it.
Darwin's has bone bits but they're fairly small and my IBD Cat isn't bothered by it. Nature's Variety also has bone but it's ground so fine I could barely see the bits, and I know Chewy.com recently started carrying it.
It's not a bloody mess! I promise! I would have started with chubs too if I could afford it. I wish I could use Hare Today. Heck, I wouldn't make my own food at all if I could afford premade.
I started with a hand crank grinder but it only had one plate and the grind was too coarse for my kitty after she got more teeth removed. She's never liked chunky stuff so it's always had to be a pate of sorts. With her ever reducing number of teeth her food now has to be complete mush so she can just lick it up. The hand crank grinder was only like $25-30. I gave it to my mom. After that, I bought a small electric grinder for $60 that can grind the meat very fine. I did try using a blender and a food processor but that just didn't work for me because I add extra fat and skin. Since I don't use bone it's more cost effective for me to buy chicken breasts which have almost no fat left, and then add in pork and beef fat trimmings I get from relatives. My cat also needs at least 50% of her calories to come from fat or she's screaming at the top of her lungs because she's starving. Fat/skin + blender = smoke.
I use a company called We Feed Raw. They are a raw pet food-specific company similar to Hare-Today and My Pet Carnivore. I have used Hare-Today, so here are my comparisons between the two:
1. Hare-Today quality was spectacular but the material she uses to package her chubs was not right for me. The material was quite thin and would rip at the slightest friction (read: transported in a FedEx truck) so when they would dethaw blood would go everywhere. Dethawing was a huge challenge- I had to dedicate a vegetable drawer to catching all of the blood. Grossed my poor husband out. WFR uses thicker plastic, which contains everything and doesn't leak.
2. Most of the HT chubs are not 80/10/10. I am...rather subpar at math, so the numbers that had to be calculated to make the chubs 80/10/10 were a lot for me. I was constantly worried that I would do something wrong and end up with a nutritional imbalance (calcium and phosphorous). All of the complete (not nutritionally complete with added vitamins etc., but complete as in bone/meat/organ blends vs. just meat or just meat and bone) WFR meats are 80/10/10.
3. No matter where you go, make sure to supplement the food if needed!
It costs roughly the same for the foods, especially if you order enough from WFR to qualify for free shipping. Rabbit is cheaper at HT but I feed a canned rabbit food to mine because I would go broke trying to feed them raw rabbit exclusively...lol.
1. Hare-Today quality was spectacular but the material she uses to package her chubs was not right for me. The material was quite thin and would rip at the slightest friction (read: transported in a FedEx truck) so when they would dethaw blood would go everywhere. Dethawing was a huge challenge- I had to dedicate a vegetable drawer to catching all of the blood. Grossed my poor husband out. WFR uses thicker plastic, which contains everything and doesn't leak.
2. Most of the HT chubs are not 80/10/10. I am...rather subpar at math, so the numbers that had to be calculated to make the chubs 80/10/10 were a lot for me. I was constantly worried that I would do something wrong and end up with a nutritional imbalance (calcium and phosphorous). All of the complete (not nutritionally complete with added vitamins etc., but complete as in bone/meat/organ blends vs. just meat or just meat and bone) WFR meats are 80/10/10.
3. No matter where you go, make sure to supplement the food if needed!
It costs roughly the same for the foods, especially if you order enough from WFR to qualify for free shipping. Rabbit is cheaper at HT but I feed a canned rabbit food to mine because I would go broke trying to feed them raw rabbit exclusively...lol.
Why not dedicate a food storage container just for raw food thawing? That way you won't have to use the veggie drawer. The disposable ones like Glad and Ziploc work well.
I would get the big 5lb. chubs. I have yet to see a container that would fit them...although, truth be told, I never actually thought about that until you said something. May try that for the next raw order...
Possibly! I think I've read (here? elsewhere?) of people doing that for the HT chubs.
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As appealing as cutting Fed Ex out of the picture is, I would find subscription delivery even more stressful. I live in a gated community and the squawk box configuration is the dumbest I’ve ever seen. It’s at the pedestrian gate and the directory is not backlit making it pretty damn useless. Whenever I order something, I try to redirect it to a pickup office.
I just picked up another dozen Rad Cat tubs so I have at least another month to find a local butcher. I think getting a grind from them and using a balanced premix like EZ Complete or TC Feline is going to be the best option for me.
I just picked up another dozen Rad Cat tubs so I have at least another month to find a local butcher. I think getting a grind from them and using a balanced premix like EZ Complete or TC Feline is going to be the best option for me.
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None of these raw meat vendors are on the West Coast?
I'm assuming you looked on WFR website and saw their meal plan thing? I definitely don't do that...I could never afford it. I love my cats but I can't break the bank on them! I buy their grinds on an as-needed basis. Because I feed half raw and half canned, I can get away with ordering 60lbs twice a year.
Darwin's Pet Food is located in Washington state, I believe
That's right, their main facility is in WA and they have another one in PA.
My concern, too. And probably the biggest concern with no more Rad Cat: Where can I get good-quality meat so I can make my own food? I am going to look into these companies: Hare Today, My Pet Carnivore, We Feed Raw, to see what their experience is with shipping to Southern California, where it never gets cold. And also to see if they know of good options closer by.
I am not enthusiastic about Darwin's Pet Food, mainly because it appears they use a lot of bony parts (turkey necks are first ingredient) and I need to reduce bone in my cats' food. But it might be worth trying, at least.
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To cut Fed Ex out of the picture, my next order will likely be to We Feed Raw. But I also need to find a local option. At the moment, I’m spending more on shipping than meat. I also have about two months of Rad Cat in the freezer now so it’s not like I can pack a box to save on shipping. I don’t even know where the 10 lbs from Hare Today is going to go when it arrives. I may have to take my fish out of the freezer. Her freezer takeover will be complete.
Try this list for local raw food co-ops and distributors: DogAware.com: Raw Dog Food Co-ops and Local Groups
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Any one know how many pounds of meat a 7 cubic feet chest freezer will hold? We're moving to another apartment soon and hoping to make some space. Of course we can't fit one of those full sized ones. It would be really nice to start on my cat food making dreams lol.
I think the rule of thumb is about 30 pounds per cubic foot, but it really depends on the shape of the packaging. A lot of round shapes are going to take up more space than items packaged in uniform rectangles!
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Oh ok good. My purchases wont be a perfect cube but sounds like a 5 or 7 cu foot will be plenty!
Ohhhh my gooood!!!! I just did the math. I have just one cat who's eating raw but he needs 100% raw due to chronic diarrhea. He eats around 6 ounces a day. That came out to $4.19/day based on primal freeze dried. Im seriously dying at the shock of this. How can he cost so much??? I did a calculation based on Hare Today with Quail, Rabbit, Turkey, and Chicken meats. It would cost $2.60/day to feed him from Hare Today! I don't care, I am gonna figure out a way to fit a darn chest freezer in my new apartment when I move in December and buy a grinder!!!
Edit: I have one other cat that I pay for. The third one is my bfs so he pays for her. So the costs add up.
