Anyone using Instinct Freeze Dried Raw?

[Skeeta]

My cat seems to like this, but I haven't seen many reviews or comments previously posted on THIS forum about this food.

INSTINCT Freeze-Dried Raw Meals Grain-Free Cage-Free Chicken Recipe Cat Food, 9.5-oz bag - Chewy.com

It *SEEMS* like freeze dried raw, when hydrated with warm water, would be a really good regular feeding choice? Almost the benefits of fresh raw, does not go bad, easy to store, and easy to portion. The downside = costly?

Anyone currently using or tried this?

 

[Astragal14]

We use this occasionally. The ingredients are very good and it seems to be one of the more palatable freeze dried foods. One of my cats really likes it and my picky cat kind of likes it (which is saying a lot!). My cat who likes it will only eat it dry, so we either rotate it amongst dry foods or use it as treats.

Instinct also has a Raw Longevity line that seems to be a little more healthy. The recipes are 93-95% organs and meat compared to 85% chicken meat for the regular freeze dried raw. They're a few dollars more per bag and are only available at independent pet food stores.

Raw Longevity Adult Freeze-Dried Chicken Bites Cat Food - Instinct Pet Food

 

[sivyaleah]

I've fed it also. Hit or miss with my cats. They went through phases where they had no interest in it. I have not tried again in a long while because of it.

 

[LTS3]

It's just freeze dried raw, no different from other freeze dried brands discussed here on TCS mostly on the Raw and Home Cooked forum. Some people dislike how most brands contain veggies and other useless ingredients. If your cat likes it, no reason to stop feeding it unless cost is a concern.

NV has two freeze dried raw lines, the Longevity one and Raw Meals Raw Freeze-Dried Cat Food | Instinct Raw Meals for Cats

The food does expand once rehdyrated so while the dry pieces don't look like enough for a full meal, it is. You'll have to measure out different amounts of the dry pieces to see what gives you the right amount of hydrated food for your cat's meal. Smash the pieces into basically powder to make it easier to rehydrate with water. Let soak for a few minutes so the powder can soak up the water. If it's still too dry, add a little more water, stir, and let soak again. Since the food is raw, I wouldn't leave it out for more than an hour.

 

[maggie101]

I cannot find any freeze dried raw without bone. So only difference I think.

 

[Astragal14]

I cannot find any freeze dried raw without bone. So only difference I think.

Check out Northwest Naturals. Their chicken and turkey varieties do not have bone (they have egg), but their other varieties do have bone (beef & trout, duck, rabbit and whitefish).

Freeze Dried Cat Nibbles

 

[LTS3]

Vital Essentials freeze dried does not list bone but you may want to double check with the company in case they use whole carcass proteins (ie the whole animal with bones) and not just the meat Frozen Raw & Freeze Dried Cat Food | Vital Essentials

 

[laureen227]

I use their kibble with RAW boost. My boys LOVE those crunchy raw bits!

 

[sophie1]

A warning about commercial raw products with bone: Since bone is super cheap, the food contains a lot of it - way too much for cats. NV for example is 15-19% bone, per email directly from the company (kudos to them for honesty). And every online raw food supplier I'm aware of offers only 10% bone mixes, even the ones who advocate feeding their products to cats. You can use boneless meat grinds or chunks to cut the bone content, though that takes some careful planning & you have to do math. Which is frustratingly complicated, but....it's so worth it for a cat to be fed raw.

I corresponded recently with a couple of online raw suppliers about the possibility of offering cat-appropriate meat/bone/organ mixes i.e. 5-6% bone. It turns out that Viva Raw is planning to introduce exactly that sometime next year. I'm excited about that! I tried their products and found the quality to be outstanding, and the pricing to be very reasonable. I also like that they have a good variety of cat-friendly proteins.

Maybe it would help if more people write to these companies to ask for cat appropriate products. Almost all of them cater mainly to dogs, with cats as an afterthought. And too many people think that 10% bone is appropriate for cats. That was me for several years, until I got a wake-up call in the form of one of my cats developing medical problems as a result.

 

[maggie101]

I'm sure the manager at Krisers googled this, but if ash is higher than 12% it has too much bone

 

[Byrdie]

Check out Northwest Naturals. Their chicken and turkey varieties do not have bone (they have egg), but their other varieties do have bone (beef & trout, duck, rabbit and whitefish).

Freeze Dried Cat Nibbles

I opened a brand new bag of Northwest Naturals Freeze-dried Chicken Nibbles, and I was so frustrated with the huge amount of bone in this recipe! This bag was riddled with bone! I tried to make three tiny little chicken meat balls for my kitty and it took me seemingly forever to pick out the bone in just a small amount of meat! I would, however, agree with you about this food a few years ago when I first fed it to my boy: I do not remember seeing or feeling any bone at all in either the chicken or turkey freeze-dried raw recipes. I always hydrate Apollo's freeze-dried food, and it used to turn out to consist of a moist, "smooth" meal witout a speck of hardness or sharpness. I have a hunch something changed, "bone-wise," over the years; I would say excess bone seems to be a "trend" in most freeze-dried, raw cat food these days. Maybe I am imagining it?! But I don't not think so....?

 

[sophie1]

I'm sure it's not your imagination. Bone is the cheapest ingredient so of course its proportion is going to be as high as the manufacturers think they can get away with. Part of "shrinkflation".

There really is no getting around the need to make your own raw food. None of the manufacturers, or even the small businesses that ship high quality frozen food, cater to cats. They all design their recipes for dogs. This requires an upfront investment (e.g. a chest freezer and/or a grinder), and figuring out what system works for you. I buy premade grinds from Hare Today and Viva Raw, mixing bone-in with boneless and organ grinds to get the percentages I want (max 7% bone, 10% organs), and use Alnutrin supplements for convenience. I make a 3.25 lb batch of food every 1-2 weeks, alternating proteins so I always have a variety in the freezer. I also have a Tasin grinder for backup (using partial-baked store-bought chicken), as it's not uncommon for online suppliers to be out of stock when you need to put in an order. I wish life was more convenient but it's really just not, and this system is manageable enough.

If you have more money than time and want the absolute minimum amount of work, I'd suggest buying 1 lb boneless grinds from Hare Today and mixing with EZ Complete. That way you can defrost and mix up a single chub at a time and feed it straight out of the fridge. No need to divide up and refreeze, which is what takes most of the food making time.

 

[sophie1]

BTW a quick note about Viva Raw: I've noticed a big drop in quality of their grinds with my last order. They contain a lot of frozen liquid, and the chunks in the chunky grinds are now too big (they're also almost all whole gizzards). Sigh. Their rabbit is still really good though.

 

[Byrdie]

I'm sure it's not your imagination. Bone is the cheapest ingredient so of course its proportion is going to be as high as the manufacturers think they can get away with. Part of "shrinkflation".

There really is no getting around the need to make your own raw food. None of the manufacturers, or even the small businesses that ship high quality frozen food, cater to cats. They all design their recipes for dogs. This requires an upfront investment (e.g. a chest freezer and/or a grinder), and figuring out what system works for you. I buy premade grinds from Hare Today and Viva Raw, mixing bone-in with boneless and organ grinds to get the percentages I want (max 7% bone, 10% organs), and use Alnutrin supplements for convenience. I make a 3.25 lb batch of food every 1-2 weeks, alternating proteins so I always have a variety in the freezer. I also have a Tasin grinder for backup (using partial-baked store-bought chicken), as it's not uncommon for online suppliers to be out of stock when you need to put in an order. I wish life was more convenient but it's really just not, and this system is manageable enough.

If you have more money than time and want the absolute minimum amount of work, I'd suggest buying 1 lb boneless grinds from Hare Today and mixing with EZ Complete. That way you can defrost and mix up a single chub at a time and feed it straight out of the fridge. No need to divide up and refreeze, which is what takes most of the food making time.

I am sick and disabled from a decades-missed diagnosis of advanced and disseminated Lyme disease along with the tick-borne coinfections and autoimmune disorders left in its wake. I endure chronic fatigue and chronic pain - just to name a few symptoms of hundreds of others that this disease brings to one's life. I am financially devastated and running out of money. I recently learned that my rental cottage of 30 years (part of a family trust) is going to be liquidated. Owners want "cash-in-me-out." I am doing thr best I can. I love my boy infinitely. We rescued each other. I am so low on energy I can barely tend to my own needs. He is first. I do not have the funds and sadly, or the energy, to make home-made food anymore. I used to make it, though. I used to laugh and tell others that I made my cats mice in a blender! I learned from the natural cat Bible, "The New Natural Cat: A Complete Guide for Finicky Owners," by , Anitra Frazier and
Norma Eckroate. I am showing my age! Back in the day, these two women led the way for many cat-loving guardians!

I am open to any ideas or suggestions that will help to keep my precious boy healthy, whole and happy!

Appreciatively,
Byrdie & Apollo

 

[Byrdie]

A warning about commercial raw products with bone: Since bone is super cheap, the food contains a lot of it - way too much for cats. NV for example is 15-19% bone, per email directly from the company (kudos to them for honesty). And every online raw food supplier I'm aware of offers only 10% bone mixes, even the ones who advocate feeding their products to cats. You can use boneless meat grinds or chunks to cut the bone content, though that takes some careful planning & you have to do math. Which is frustratingly complicated, but....it's so worth it for a cat to be fed raw.

I corresponded recently with a couple of online raw suppliers about the possibility of offering cat-appropriate meat/bone/organ mixes i.e. 5-6% bone. It turns out that Viva Raw is planning to introduce exactly that sometime next year. I'm excited about that! I tried their products and found the quality to be outstanding, and the pricing to be very reasonable. I also like that they have a good variety of cat-friendly proteins.

Maybe it would help if more people write to these companies to ask for cat appropriate products. Almost all of them cater mainly to dogs, with cats as an afterthought. And too many people think that 10% bone is appropriate for cats. That was me for several years, until I got a wake-up call in the form of one of my cats developing medical problems as a result.

"NV?"

 

[Byrdie]

"NV?"

Sophie, would you mind sharing what medical problems your kitty experienced from "too much" bone in his/her diet? I am asking because I am concerned my kitty developed issues from too much bone in Feline Natural. (By the way, I wrote to the company and sent them every bag of their food Inhad with thr bone separated in separate bags. Inhave a point of contact in the U.S. Chewy.com us also notified. I attached photos of the bone to my other posts. Perhaps you saw them. (Please forgive me if I already went over this with you as I have a great deal of difficulty with my memory and cognitive processes now due to my illness.)

 

[Byrdie]

Check out Northwest Naturals. Their chicken and turkey varieties do not have bone (they have egg), but their other varieties do have bone (beef & trout, duck, rabbit and whitefish).

Freeze Dried Cat Nibbles

I found a ton of bone in Northwest Naturals' Chicken - just last night, sadly. Apollo used to like it, but not now. He rejects it.

 

[Byrdie]

My cat seems to like this, but I haven't seen many reviews or comments previously posted on THIS forum about this food.

INSTINCT Freeze-Dried Raw Meals Grain-Free Cage-Free Chicken Recipe Cat Food, 9.5-oz bag - Chewy.com

It *SEEMS* like freeze dried raw, when hydrated with warm water, would be a really good regular feeding choice? Almost the benefits of fresh raw, does not go bad, easy to store, and easy to portion. The downside = costly?

Anyone currently using or tried this?

Yes. My cat did the old "sniff n' scurry." He would have nothing to do with it.

 

[Byrdie]

"NV?"

Never mind! I remember now - "Nature's Variety." I think they had a name change at sine point. I am easily confused!

 

[Byrdie]

I cannot find any freeze dried raw without bone. So only difference I think.

I can't either - so far.