Anyone tried Darwin's Frozen Raw diet?

[purrfectcat]

Hi All!

Anyone tried Darwin's frozen raw cat food?
My cat was doing great on Primal's Pronto Raw Frozen bites in Pork until Primal changed the size of the bites. Now, my cats mainly eat Ziwipeak canned food but now I'm having a hard time getting him to eat other frozen (and freeze dried) raw food but with not much luck.
I purchased so many tubs of Rad Cat after my cat stopped eating Primal but he doesn't like it. He will eat it but not with gusto with most times me throwing his uneaten food in the garbage. I have been diligent. Placing the Rad Cat next to his canned food but he just can't jump on the Rad Cat bandwagon.
NV Bites, Stella & Chewy, Honest Kitchen and Primal he won't eat.
I've been reading about Darwin's Frozen Raw.
I want to order the trial pack. Has anyone had luck with Darwin's good or bad?? Thanks in advance.

 

[ftmba]

Hi there!

We got the trial pack a few weeks ago, have had a lot of trouble getting our cats to take to it. They do seem to somewhat like the Turkey but not the Chicken/Duck. The formula looks great on paper, the meat seems really fresh, noticeably fresher than Primal and NVI, which we also feed. Also, having the food in 8 oz packages is super convenient.

I had seen that Darwin's had some major customer service issues the past few months (it's all over yelp I believe), but in our case, service was great and quite responsive. Only snafu was our package arrived a day later than it was supposed to, but I believe that was the fault of UPS. The food was still frozen when it reached us.

We're about half way through the trial pack, I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet

Our girls also eat Primal pronto, primal, ziwipeak, and NVI bites.

 

[lisamarie12]

I don't have experience with Darwin's, however, I'm guessing you've maybe already tried some kind of toppers on Rad Cat?
My Mikey eats RC turkey but I usually need to add a topper, I alternate between sprinkles of Whole Life Turkey and bits of Bravo's dry roasted turkey strips. A little topper goes a long way with RC.
Have you considered Forti Flora as a last result to try with RC?

 

[purrfectcat]

Thanks so much for all the advice! Believe me, I tried everything! My cat eats Whole Life Freeze dried beef, Applaws, Ziwipeak but he's onto me. He still just picks on the Rad Cat. He seems to eat the RC lamb most of all but it's not in a ravenous way. More like, making me happy kind of way! Lol! My cat won't eat dry food at all so I'm not sure if the Forti Flora will entice him. In so disappointed Primal changed the size of their pork bites. My cat won't eat the new size and won't touch the pork nuggets or freeze dried pork. I've tried for weeks! I'm wondering about Darwin's. Anyone have something similar?

 

[missmimz]

I haven't tried it, but i looked into it when i started feeding raw but i decided against it because the bone content is really high. Here's an old thread about it. The first several ingredients are bone (neck, back) so i decided it wasn't a good fit. RC, for example, doesn't use actual bone, so i didn't think my cats would like it.

 

[lisamarie12]

Thanks so much for all the advice! Believe me, I tried everything! My cat eats Whole Life Freeze dried beef, Applaws, Ziwipeak but he's onto me. He still just picks on the Rad Cat. He seems to eat the RC lamb most of all but it's not in a ravenous way. More like, making me happy kind of way! Lol! My cat won't eat dry food at all so I'm not sure if the Forti Flora will entice him. In so disappointed Primal changed the size of their pork bites. My cat won't eat the new size and won't touch the pork nuggets or freeze dried pork. I've tried for weeks! I'm wondering about Darwin's. Anyone have something similar?

Would it be possible for you to slice in half the Primal Pronto bites? I realize it's a bit more time consuming but since you have the food already ...

That's too bad re: Rad Cat, I can relate though, I have been trying to get my Molly to eat RC, her brother will eat it but Molly has been tough. I managed several times to get her to eat about a tablespoon of it but doused with toppers ...... I keep hoping and trying although I've been away from home for a bit but I plan on trying again when I get back.  Not sure what the new trick up my sleeve will be but I keep trying ....

Well, sorry - not sure about Darwin but maybe others will drop in with some advice.

 

[purrfectcat]

Thanks for your responses! When Primal changed the size of their frozen raw bites to a larger size, I tried everyday to get my cat to eat it including cutting up the new size hoping he'd eat it, and I also purchased the nuggets. I cut the nuggets into smaller sizes as well but I'm learning you can't fake out a feline! It's very frustrating about my cat giving up the raw food..,he was doing so well on it. My pet food store told me that maybe my cat is letting me know he's not into a frozen raw food at this time and needs a break from it.

 

[lisamarie12]

I can relate, it happens. You spend so much time researching raw, switching the cats over from processed to raw and you think you will be in raw food land happily ever after and alas ... kitty throws you curveball.

I actually had both cats on commercial raw only for a couple of months and at one point Molly just flat out started refusing Primal.  Then we tried S&C's again - she refused.  I had to go back to canned food.  Mikey is pretty easy going but since he wants what she's eating .... we fell off the raw bandwagon.

But guess what? After several months of her boycotting FD she heartily ate SC's FD again! Although now we really cannot do any raw with ground bone (or kept to a mere minimum b/c of her IBD - ground bone being difficult to digest and possible complications with constipation as well as Molly possibly having beginning kidney issues).  So my intent is try RC with her again. 

As I've mentioned in the past, I have learned that whatever a cat may not like today - with any food you have either been feeding or a new food you sample - that doesn't mean that kitty may not like it again in the future. Cats being cats of course - some fussier than others but also formulas / ingredients change or formulas remain the same but the sourcing of an ingredient(s) may change which alters the taste.   Even batches of food can be different if everything else remains the same.   I thought this was the case only with raw - each batch differs from another but even NVI canned - I have been told by NVI, can differ per batch.

Maybe kitty does need a raw break and as I mentioned to another TCS member, you can start anew in the future.

 

[purrfectcat]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I won't give up with the raw. I've been through several containers of Rad Cat as I place it in another dish next to his canned food. I've tried mixing a little raw with his canned food but my cat is on to me. Won't touch it or he'll eat around it. Lol.

 

[sevenplus1]

I realize this post has been dead for over 7 months. But I wanted to post that I have been feeding my 18 week old kitten Darwin's for about 2 months now, basically from right after I adopted him from the shelter. After reading about Raw feeding and seeing all the various approaches I chose to go the route of the better commercial brands. I tried NV bites, Primal bites, S&C bites and my kitten (Rex) ate them but did not relish them. I also tried RadCat and he did love that. But RadCat is expensive. So I took advantage of Darwin's 15$ introductory offer and have been feeding that to little Rex for 2 months with some RadCat thrown in every now and then. 

I will say that so far I have seen all the best results that raw feeding has to offer. Little Rex was a small, scrawny 7 week old all black cat with respiratory problems, a dull coat, worms, smelly poo and a quite-ish vibe. But after eating nothing but raw (and 11 weeks of growth), he has become a ball of energy, his stool is tight, compacted and relatively odorless, and he has a ridiculously silky coat. Its so shiny that its striking. I have never had a cat with that sheen before (of course I have never fed raw before). So far, Rex is in perfect health and I am greatly enjoying his kitten-hood and I love how much he enjoys his food. He tolerates Darwin's chicken, he loves Darwin's turkey, but Darwin's duck has captured his soul (to be poetic).

I have read the thread about the phosphorous levels in Darwin's food and I am going to keep that in mind. But my comment here is to relay my experience with the food so far. My kitten loves it. Down the road I am going to experiment with Feline's Pride and eventually Hare Today (combined with the EZ kits). But so far so good. 

 

[abby2932]

 
I realize this post has been dead for over 7 months. But I wanted to post that I have been feeding my 18 week old kitten Darwin's for about 2 months now, basically from right after I adopted him from the shelter. After reading about Raw feeding and seeing all the various approaches I chose to go the route of the better commercial brands. I tried NV bites, Primal bites, S&C bites and my kitten (Rex) ate them but did not relish them. I also tried RadCat and he did love that. But RadCat is expensive. So I took advantage of Darwin's 15$ introductory offer and have been feeding that to little Rex for 2 months with some RadCat thrown in every now and then. 

I will say that so far I have seen all the best results that raw feeding has to offer. Little Rex was a small, scrawny 7 week old all black cat with respiratory problems, a dull coat, worms, smelly poo and a quite-ish vibe. But after eating nothing but raw (and 11 weeks of growth), he has become a ball of energy, his stool is tight, compacted and relatively odorless, and he has a ridiculously silky coat. Its so shiny that its striking. I have never had a cat with that sheen before (of course I have never fed raw before). So far, Rex is in perfect health and I am greatly enjoying his kitten-hood and I love how much he enjoys his food. He tolerates Darwin's chicken, he loves Darwin's turkey, but Darwin's duck has captured his soul (to be poetic).

I have read the thread about the phosphorous levels in Darwin's food and I am going to keep that in mind. But my comment here is to relay my experience with the food so far. My kitten loves it. Down the road I am going to experiment with Feline's Pride and eventually Hare Today (combined with the EZ kits). But so far so

That's awesome! I really wanted to give Darwin's a try  (especially with the introductory offer!) but one of my cats cannot eat any poultry at all.

Glad it works out for you, though