Any Alternatives To Rad Cat?

[Khrad]

Since rad cat has gone out of business I was looking for alternatives. For those of you who have fed rat cat what are you feeding your cats now? TIA

 

[daftcat75]

A commercial raw that uses eggshell instead of bone for its calcium source? I don’t know of any. This is important for my IBD kitty who is positively thriving on Rad Cat but got terribly bunged up on a whole grind alternative. I’ve been going through my Rad Cat stocks but they aren’t going to last forever.

That said, I just started Krista on EZ Complete tonight. I have a raw feeder coop nearby with plenty of boneless meat grinds to choose from. Tonight I portioned up a duck patty and offered half an ounce with a proportional amount of EZ Complete. She ate it up just as eagerly as the Rad Cat. But I also recognize it will likely take about a week to transition one of her meals over to EZ Complete fully and at least another week to properly assess how she’s doing. And all the while, even replacing just one meal a day with something else will give me an extra day off each tub of my remaining stores.

 

[LTS3]

There's a thread with suggestions: Alternatives To Rad Cat?

 

[daftcat75]

I posted that thread about a month and a half ago. And my experience hasn’t changed. Every commercial option I have seen has bone. I haven’t seen an eggshell alternative without going to homemade plus supplements. Since that time, I have found SF Raw, a local raw feeders coop, to supply my boneless meat grind and I ordered EZ Complete to supplement it. Krista has only had two meals at 1/4 portions of EZ. (We literally just started last night.) The clean plate is encouraging. It will be at least a week before her first meal is fully transitioned and another week after that to truly assess how she does with 1/4 of her meals coming from EZ Complete.

 

[Azazel]

Nothing, you gotta make your own food.

 

[kittyluv387]

Nothing, you gotta make your own food.

This is the reality of the situation I'm afraid. My cat is doing well on vital essentals and primal, for now but I don't like how commercial brands have too much bone.

 

[Azazel]

For Canadians, I heard from my friend up in Canada that the brand Red Dog Blue Kat is apparently working on developing a bone free variety to fill in the void in the market with Rad Cat going out of business. I'm not sure exactly where this brand is available or if it's sold in the US at all.

 

[daftcat75]

For Canadians, I heard from my friend up in Canada that the brand Red Dog Blue Kat is apparently working on developing a bone free variety to fill in the void in the market with Rad Cat going out of business. I'm not sure exactly where this brand is available or if it's sold in the US at all.

I heard the same about Tucker’s. And now they have the food on their site and it’s yet another bone blend. Ugh! Opportunity squandered! If Red Dog Blue Kat has a US distributor, my pet food store has pledged to carry anything they can easily get that would fill the RC void.

 

[Azazel]

I heard the same about Tucker’s. And now they have the food on their site and it’s yet another bone blend. Ugh! Opportunity squandered! If Red Dog Blue Kat has a US distributor, my pet food store has pledged to carry anything they can easily get that would fill the RC void.

I feel like there is definitely a gap in the market that someone will eventually fill. Or maybe Rad Cat will re-establish itself. In the mean time I’ve stocked up on everything I could find to make it through the drought.

 

[Ardina]

My cats were on a homemade ground raw before they were on radcat. Now, they're back on homemade - this time prey-model raw - with frozen primal turkey and rabbit when we're traveling. Not a fan of the primal at all, but it's only on occasion, and it's way easier on the cat sitter.

 

[daftcat75]

This is what I do for Krista but it also helps with the sitter. I cold water thaw a tub for fifteen minutes. Just enough to get that fork and knife into. Then I shave off thin slices of still frozen turkey, weigh them out to approximately 19 g and stuff them into the long skinny ice cube trays (“bottle cubes” meant to slip into the mouth of water bottles.). If you zoom in on the sink, I used a candy thermometer in the water stream to measure and mark off 100F with two halves of a yellow sticker.

Whether it’s the sitter or myself feeding Krista, it’s three cubes makes 2 oz plus a dash of egg yolk powder into a plastic baggie. Line up the PacMan jaws for body temperature water, thaw the cubes under it until there are no more cold bits.

Her meals take about five minutes to pull from the freezer, thaw under the PacMan (body temperature water), plate and serve. But you get this face supervising and cheering you on the whole time. And the clean plates and clean carpets are worth it every time!

 

[daftcat75]

I just picked up some duck and elk in burger patties from the raw feeding coop. I did a cold water thaw on a duck patty and was pleasantly surprised how much faster it went than a tub thaw. One of the local stores here recommended that for chubs, of which I have two 5 lbs turkey chubs waiting for a reportion, is to do a water thaw enough to get a knife into and then slice into patties. Then I can do patty thaws and portions as needed rather than trying to thaw and portion 5 lbs at once. The Rad Cat tubs (24 oz or 1.5 lbs) take about an hour to reportion into the ice cube trays. The duck patty (4 oz) took about 20 minutes. That's something I could train the sitter to do if I'm ever gone for longer than a tub's worth of portions.

 

[Ardina]

This is what I do for Krista but it also helps with the sitter. I cold water thaw a tub for fifteen minutes. Just enough to get that fork and knife into. Then I shave off thin slices of still frozen turkey, weigh them out to approximately 19 g and stuff them into the long skinny ice cube trays (“bottle cubes” meant to slip into the mouth of water bottles.). If you zoom in on the sink, I used a candy thermometer in the water stream to measure and mark off 100F with two halves of a yellow sticker.

That's a good idea! I wish I'd known about that when I used to feed ground raw. With prey model raw, it's too much trouble to make the cat sitter go through. I'd have to explain how Mishka has a tendency to run off with the chicken wings, so you have to watch her and make sure she stays in her box, and how Saipha likes to steal Mishka's food, and how sometimes Mishka gets picky about eating her organs so you have to feed her those first, then give her the meat chunks... And not to mention that both cats will be shy at first, so they'll hide and won't eat in front of the cat sitter. All in all, better to just have some commercial raw that is nutritionally complete at each meal when we can't be at home to watch them.

Otherwise though, prey model raw is fantastic - way way cheaper (about half the cost of feeding primal), my cats love chewing on meat chunks and chicken wings, and much less work than prepping homemade ground raw.

 

[daftcat75]

That's a good idea! I wish I'd known about that when I used to feed ground raw. With prey model raw, it's too much trouble to make the cat sitter go through. I'd have to explain how Mishka has a tendency to run off with the chicken wings, so you have to watch her and make sure she stays in her box, and how Saipha likes to steal Mishka's food, and how sometimes Mishka gets picky about eating her organs so you have to feed her those first, then give her the meat chunks... And not to mention that both cats will be shy at first, so they'll hide and won't eat in front of the cat sitter. All in all, better to just have some commercial raw that is nutritionally complete at each meal when we can't be at home to watch them.

Otherwise though, prey model raw is fantastic - way way cheaper (about half the cost of feeding primal), my cats love chewing on meat chunks and chicken wings, and much less work than prepping homemade ground raw.

The way you describe it with personalities and preferences, that doesn't sound easier at all. I like a uniform food that my cat will devour universally. If she is going to push me around for four meals a day and wake me at 5am for her first, then she is also going to reward me with a plate clean enough for me to eat from. The sitter was also impressed by how readily Krista showed up for meals and put them away like a little lion. She said seeing how much Krista enjoys her Rad Cat makes the extra effort to thaw and serve worth it. I agree. I would not be waking at 5 for this munchkin if she wasn't such an enthusiastic diner.

 

[Ardina]

The way you describe it with personalities and preferences, that doesn't sound easier at all. I like a uniform food that my cat will devour universally. If she is going to push me around for four meals a day and wake me at 5am for her first, then she is also going to reward me with a plate clean enough for me to eat from. The sitter was also impressed by how readily Krista showed up for meals and put them away like a little lion. She said seeing how much Krista enjoys her Rad Cat makes the extra effort to thaw and serve worth it. I agree. I would not be waking at 5 for this munchkin if she wasn't such an enthusiastic diner.

See, the problem is that pretty much those same issues exist with regular canned/ground raw food too - Saipha still tries to steal Mishka's food, Mishka still makes a mess and runs away with mouthfuls of food, and they're both still going to hide when the sitter comes. The only reason I do primal with the cat sitter is that it's nutritionally complete at each meal, so I don't have to worry about Saipha and Mishka trading chunks to get their favorites and not getting a balanced diet over time. Otherwise, I love doing prey model raw. They're so much more kittenish, playful, and happy. Saipha would be hungry all the time on canned and ground raw, but now she actually feels full on the chunks. And the fact that I'm paying half the amount for their food is also a bonus.

I don't deny that commercial raw is more convenient, but for now, this is working better for us.

 

[daftcat75]

For Canadians, I heard from my friend up in Canada that the brand Red Dog Blue Kat is apparently working on developing a bone free variety to fill in the void in the market with Rad Cat going out of business. I'm not sure exactly where this brand is available or if it's sold in the US at all.

Looks like Red Dog Blue Kat already has something to offer. Their Eco blends look like they would simply need a bone meal or eggshell supplement to be complete. At least they have something that puts that choice in the consumer’s hands.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Darwin's lamb does not use any ground bone in its recipe.

Natural Selections™ Raw Cat Food - Darwin's Pet Food

 

[Azazel]

Anyone know of a white meat complete meal without bone?

 

[daftcat75]

What are thoughts on using a supplement mix with bone meal? I’m not sure if the chicken liver in EZ Complete is going to agree with Krista. I’m looking at TC Feline Plus or something from the local raw food coop.

 

[riley1]

I hope someone comes up with something soon! I don't have a raw food co op even though I live near a big city in the US. How do they keep the bacteria off the meat? Can a butcher shop do this? I would be willing to make her food if it could stay raw and I didn't have to worry about the bacteria. I wonder if this is an exaggerated problem made up by the vets and dry food folks! Why do you have to grind it if you ware not adding bones?

Right now I am using Signature Rabbit & Chicken and Darwin's. The Signature is these little grey round things that don't look good at all. I wonder why they are grey. The Darwin's looks better but has bone (like the rest), carbs and things I can not pronounce. That is never a good sign! I bought some Primal and had to return it. My girl was found starving before I got her so normally she eats in 30 sec but not so with Primal.