Cat Doesn't Like Anything We Feed Her After Her Favourite Food Was Discontinued.

AMBRIER

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Hi all,

We used to feed our kitten 'Radcat' which she couldn't get enough of. Apparently, here in Canada at least, it became discontinued not long after we got her because of other American companies. Since then we cannot find any other raw food that resembles it. Our kitten will sniff it and walk away, looking at us as though to ask 'anything else?'. Or, she'll try and bury it as though it's so disgusting she wants to get rid of it. The only way we can get her to eat this stuff is to mix it with her favourite treats (freeze dried raw food). A mistake we made as now she won't touch anything at all unless treats or involved, and she has learned to pick them out and leave her food. She'll eat it eventually when she's so hungry she has no choice, or if we shut her in her room with her food she'll eat it eventually, but this isn't ideal. We don't want her to eat because she has no choice, we want her to enjoy her food and we don't know what to do after trying another 5 brands of raw food. We mix her food with herring oil and a nutritional powder for cats, and always have done, but this isn't enough to tempt her.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
For those who have tried 'Radcat', is there anything else out there like it?

Thanks for your time.
 

FeralHearts

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Hi A AMBRIER

I can tell you that sadly radcat closed down all over due to finances (if its the same one I am thinking of)... some suppliers didn't pay them an insurance didn't pay out timely after they had two large recalls back to back. :-(. This time a company was not forsaking us wee northerners! Unless they are back up and running? I could be wrong.

Rad Cat Raw Diet Premium Raw Food For Cats ( They put a letter on the front page :-( )

I was just reading a thread about options for raw food for Canadians here:

Hare Today Canadian Equivalent?

There is a post #3 by @LTS3 has some canuks links depending on where you are.

Maybe there is something in one of those that can help?
 
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AMBRIER

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Hi A AMBRIER

I can tell you that sadly radcat closed down all over due to finances (if its the same one I am thinking of)... some suppliers didn't pay them an insurance didn't pay out timely after they had two large recalls back to back. :-(. This time a company was not forsaking us wee northerners! Unless they are back up and running? I could be wrong.

Rad Cat Raw Diet Premium Raw Food For Cats ( They put a letter on the front page :-( )

I was just reading a thread about options for raw food here:

Hare Today Canadian Equivalent?

There is a post #3 by @LTS3 has some canuks links depending on where you are.
That's very sad news. Their product was so good and our kitten looked forward to meal time for it. Now we just feel we are disappointing her.

Thanks for the link. Here in New Brunswick we seem to draw the short straw every time and there are very few options available, but I'll look through the link and see if there's anything that ships beyond Ontario.

We've tried: Big country raw, totally raw pet food and a few others but none come even close, not even in texture. :\

Will see what's about. Thanks!
 

FeralHearts

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Unfortunately we don't get a lot of choices on anything in Canada it seems.

NB being smaller might have more trouble too. :-(

I tried to link the list here for you - but couldn't for some reason. I'll poke around some more and see if I can find something else too for you.

XOXOX
 
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Furballsmom

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Hi!
There are a bunch of us who have gone through this in one form or other, from formula revisions in commercial canned/kibble to what you have experienced. I'm so sorry for you and your kitty!

Rad-cat is working on re-opening and hopefully have a partner, but it'll take some time. (I'm pretty sure the latest update on their GoFundMe page, and in post #113 in the thread below, should read January 18 2019.

With that said, there's this thread that might help, although I don't know for sure what you'll have available:
Alternatives To Rad Cat?
 
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AMBRIER

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Glad to see we're not the only ones who are missing Radcat terribly. Our local pet store that we bought it from made it sound quite vicious what happened to them. I really hope they are able to make that comeback!!

I'll take a look at the threads provided. I really appreciate your input guys! :)
 

lisahe

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We only fed our cats a small Rad Cat snack every day but they miss it! And even though I haven't already gone through our whole supply, I already miss it -- it was something they always ate very happily.

I'm in the US and have not found anything where I live (Maine) that's a good replacement. I've seen threads about foods that are regionally available but I don't think that, say, California helps either one of use, AMBRIER!

I've changed things up a little here by starting to make more homemade (cooked) food for our cats. I still have a little Rad Cat left so am alternating snacks for now between Rad Cat and a homemade meal. Fortunately, the cats love the homemade food, too. It's definitely cheaper than Rad Cat, though of course it takes a little more effort than Rad Cat. Though I have to admit I never much liked portioning out Rad Cat, especially the chicken -- the things we do for our cats!

Good luck, it's always so unfortunate when a company goes away or a recipe gets changed.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi again
Here are some possibilities for treats, toppers and enticements :) (there are a couple things that are maybe more for sick kitties but I left them in just in case.) Anyway, my boy loves sardines, and that whipped topping as well LOL
  • Chicken, beef or ham flavored (pureed) baby food such as Gerber Stage 2 - make sure there is no garlic or onions in the ingredients
  • Tuna and/or the juice, a low mercury/low/no sodium brand is called SafeCatch
  • Salmon, mackerel
  • Sardines (make sure there are no bones)
  • boiled cut up chicken or turkey with no seasonings
  • canned kitten food any brand
  • Kitten Milk Replacer - there are recipes on the internet or store bought
  • Fish, tuna or BBQ flavored canned wet food (I personally have never seen BBQ flavors, but...)
  • Lickable cat treats or pouch treat 'gravy' poured over the food
  • kitten glop recipes are on the internet
  • Bonito flakes
  • fortiflora
  • fish oil
  • green beans, asparagus mushed up, lettuce, applesauce, mashed chickpeas, black olives
  • whipped topping such as reddiwhip
  • dry pasta
  • Avocado, tomato, butter, broccoli, raspberries, cantaloupe
  • goat milk, or no lactose cow milk
  • whole cooked eggs (the white must always be cooked) or raw egg yolk now and then
  • broth with no salt and no garlic or onion or seasonings of any kind
  • There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper
  • Some good treats would be freeze dried Purebites, Orijen, Meowtinis, Meowables, Only Natural Pet, Primal
  • There are also Lickimats that you could spread types of soft food onto, even plain unflavored yogurt, and even freeze it. Licking something can help a cat to feel better emotionally The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats
  • shredded cheddar cheese, string cheese
 

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I am so sorry to hear that your kitty's favorite food is gone :( I think for both humans and animals eating something tasty with heartbeat is important. It is not fun to eat something you don't like because that is "good for you" (just my opinion...).

When we start raw, we tried RadCat as transition (from wet to raw) then moved onto homemade. I have to be honest, I was horrified :runaround: to make raw at first (I am vegetarian), but after a while it's actually not too bad. If you handle everything while almost-frozen, not much smell at all. I wonder is that your possibility? Of course as lisahe lisahe wrote, it's bit more time consuming ... I follow Dr. Person's recipe on catinfo.org

Hope you'll find something suits your little one's taste bud very soon!
 

abbyntim

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We, too, miss Rad Cat terribly. It was our cats' favorite. And it really helped our guy with digestive issues.

I have started making my own food from meat I purchase from Hare Today. I also purchase meats produced by a company called Halshan that I am able to purchase locally. You might see if they are available in Canada.

My last suggestion is to look into Vital Essentials. They are the closest commercial brand I have found, in that it is a ground product without a lot of junk and vegetables. They do contain bone, however, which is an issue for my sensitive guy, so we feed Vital Essentials as only part of their overall diet.
 

kittyluv387

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Vital essentials is quite bony so I don't think it's the same.

The closest thing to Radcat is going to be homemade raw. Something like boneless chicken/turkey thighs plus alnutrin with eggshell calcium.
 

lisamarie12

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Vital essentials is quite bony so I don't think it's the same.

The closest thing to Radcat is going to be homemade raw. Something like boneless chicken/turkey thighs plus alnutrin with eggshell calcium.
Very bone dense, Vital Essentials, not comparable to Rad Cat for those who are seeking raw without ground bone.

I also think it's very irresponsible of Vital Essentials to have removed from their ingredient list (for the cat food products) that they are using ground bone. While it is indicated on the website and product bags that bone is used, some people will only look at the ingredient list and not see bone listed.

I complained about this to the company and it fell on deaf ears. I also mentioned it to TAPF Susan T who also agreed it was irresponsible of VE not to include their use of bone in their ingredient list for cat food products.
 

lisahe

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Vital essentials is quite bony so I don't think it's the same.

The closest thing to Radcat is going to be homemade raw. Something like boneless chicken/turkey thighs plus alnutrin with eggshell calcium.
Now that Rad Cat's gone, I've started making Alnutrin (with eggshell calcium) and our cats love it. I'd already been making food with EZ Complete, which they loved, too, but I was surprised at how quickly they took to Alnutrin. I use both supplements for cooked food but either can be used with raw meat, too.
 

kittyluv387

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Now that Rad Cat's gone, I've started making Alnutrin (with eggshell calcium) and our cats love it. I'd already been making food with EZ Complete, which they loved, too, but I was surprised at how quickly they took to Alnutrin. I use both supplements for cooked food but either can be used with raw meat, too.
Yeah I use the alnutrin with eggshell for my turkey and they like it a lot. I use bone for my chicken and rabbit recipes which they like a lot too.
 

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Hey - late to the discussion, but it might help! I'm in Canada and I feed Big Country Raw. It's not the same texture as RadCat and it does have bones instead of eggshell for calcium. Just make sure you only try the variety that are 80/10/10; as far as I remember they are the Pork, Beef, Farm Fest, Bison and Kangaroo. It's really affordable; much more so than RadCat. Bison and Kangaroo are more expensive, but I can get a months worth of food for my cat (8lbs) of the other three for $40.00
 
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AMBRIER

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Hey guys, sorry for the late reply, been rather busy lately!

So it turns out that all this time it was probably the herring oil and supplement powder that was turning her away from her food. We hadn't considered that putting that in every dish was giving it all the same flavour and she was bored of it.

We bought some shrimp oil instead and put that in and her appetite seems to have come back. We tried so many foods. She really didn't like big country raw at all. We found that her new favourite is 'Bold Raw' and we've been giving a variety of flavours. So I think we worked out the issue, but if Rad Cat ever does come back we'll be going back to it for sure!

Thanks!
 

MargoLane

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Hey guys, sorry for the late reply, been rather busy lately!

So it turns out that all this time it was probably the herring oil and supplement powder that was turning her away from her food. We hadn't considered that putting that in every dish was giving it all the same flavour and she was bored of it.

We bought some shrimp oil instead and put that in and her appetite seems to have come back. We tried so many foods. She really didn't like big country raw at all. We found that her new favourite is 'Bold Raw' and we've been giving a variety of flavours. So I think we worked out the issue, but if Rad Cat ever does come back we'll be going back to it for sure!

Thanks!
That's great! And good thinking about the fish oil flavour. I don't think I would have thought to change that. Bold Raw had too much bone for my cat and caused constipation, but mine has IBD and can be pretty sensitive to bone content.
 

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I’m still struggling to find a replacement for put beloved rad cat as well. We tried vital essentials in multiple flavors and the wouldnt touch it. I do feed canned the weruva cats in the kitchen funk in the trunk and then they only want the Stella and chewy salmon and chicken freezedry re hydrated with warm water. Those bags are expensive and I’m spending $40 a week in two bags ugh. I just picked up a new product from Stella and chewy frozen medallions which dint have bone. They guy at the store said the rep was just there yesterday and said this was an attempt to offer a rad cat replacement though being a frozen medallion the consistency s very different. Fingers crossed
 
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