Darwin's Natural Raw Food

[gdzeey]

Greetings everyone!

I'm new to this site and new to the whole Raw Food Diet for my Cat.  I was trying to get some feedback regarding feeding Darwin's Raw Diet.  The info I saw on here regarding Darwin's were posts from a couple years ago.  I was just checking in if anyone has been using this diet more currently.  if so, what are your some feedback you can give regarding such.

So far we received the initial package on Friday and my little guy has been doing pretty good on it so far.  I've been having to mix in some of his can food for the first couple, but I plan to slowly have him just take the raw food in the next couple days or so.  

I'm looking forward to learning more about this new venture for my cat.

Thanks!

 

[kittyluv387]

Also looking to hear input about this.  Looks interesting. How much is this for you for shipping?  The cost of the food itself seems fine..

 

[LotsOfFur]

It actually looks good and price seems reasonable. Looking forward to hearing more about this food.

 

[gdzeey]

Hi kittyluv387,

The very first shipment which I received on Friday was $15 for 10 lbs of food.  This is their initial price.  This included 2 packs of Chicken, 1 pack of duck and 2 packs of turkey.  Each pack has 4 pouches.  Each pouch lasts about 2 days.  This is a great intro price.  With this offer you sign up for the auto shipping of your order (which is auto sent every 10 weeks) but you can adjust and have them send as much as you want by contacting their customer service.  

The first shipping which will start in a couple weeks was quoted to be $123.10 (including shipping)  which breaks down to be 4 packs of Chicken, 3 packs of Duck and 3 packs of Turkey.  

Hoping this works out, but would love to hear what others had experienced.

gdzeey

 

[kittyluv387]

The $123 is for 20 pounds of food right? 2 pounds per pack? If so, pretty good. Will have to bookmark their site.

 

[gdzeey]

Correct!

Hey kittyluv387, what kind of food do you currently feed your cat? Just thought I'd ask. Thanks!

 

[LTS3]

I found a thread from last December about Darwins' raw:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/311675/anyone-tried-darwins-frozen-raw-diet

It seems like a decent raw food

https://www.darwinspet.com/product/natural-selections-cat-food/

 

[mschauer]

Here's another, older, thread where we discussed concerns about Darwin's :

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/255836/darwins-chicken-bone-content-phosphorus-level-on-dry-matter-basis

 

[gdzeey]

Thanks for the links!  I saw those threads and they were informative.

 

[kittyluv387]

One of my cats eating frozen primal nuggets. Cost varies for each 3 pound bag which lasts about 8 days. Cost is also different depending on retailer. Chicken& salmon and turkey are $20. Pheasant is $29 and rabbit is $33. They have red meats but i dont buy those. When i move into a house one of these days i wanted to start making raw cat food and feed both my cats raw. But darwins prices look pretty good so maybe id get that instead. Hmm.

 

[ftmba]

The starter pack is definitely worth a try, $15 for 10 lbs of food is a great deal. The food seems very fresh, on par with rad cat in that regard. The packaging is great, easy to portion out (something I really wish rad cat would do).

For us it came down to palatability, our kittens ate the turkey reliably, were so-so on the duck, and vetoed the chicken. We felt it wasn't a smart plan to spend $120 for 20 lbs they might not like and we'd have no ability to return. If our cats had loved the food we most likely would have stuck with it. The product itself is impressive (even if our cats don't think so)!

We're feeding commercial raw (NVI, Primal, and some rad cat) bought from local stores that have 100% satisfaction guarantees. We're lucky in that regard.

Also of note, Darwins had a major CS snafu last year (it was all over their yelp) related to a computer system upgrade. I believe it was fixed. Our customer service was stellar, no problems at all.

 

[gdzeey]

Thanks for the info kittyluv387, I'll also check those out.  Where do you get them at?  Let me know how it goes, the Darwin's initial price is definitely worth the shot!

Hey FTMBA, sorry the kitties didn't like it.  Definitely would be rough spending that $120 and you are unable to return it.  So far my little guy likes it but I also read some reviews where the cats stopped eating it.  I may just ask for a smaller portion for my first order just to be safe.  So far he's been fine with the chicken.  I'll see how it goes for the duck and turkey.  By the way, if you don't mind me asking, how much does it cost for you to feed raw on a monthly basis?  I'm still so new to this raw diet, I am also trying to figure out the cost as well.

I looked up Rad Cat, and it wasn't so available in my area.  NVI seems like an interesting pick up since my Petco has it.  We may also try this.  

I did hear about the CS snafu, so far the CS was pretty responsive.  Hopefully they learned from that.

 

 

[ftmba]

 
Thanks for the info kittyluv387, I'll also check those out.  Where do you get them at?  Let me know how it goes, the Darwin's initial price is definitely worth the shot!

Hey FTMBA, sorry the kitties didn't like it.  Definitely would be rough spending that $120 and you are unable to return it.  So far my little guy likes it but I also read some reviews where the cats stopped eating it.  I may just ask for a smaller portion for my first order just to be safe.  So far he's been fine with the chicken.  I'll see how it goes for the duck and turkey.  By the way, if you don't mind me asking, how much does it cost for you to feed raw on a monthly basis?  I'm still so new to this raw diet, I am also trying to figure out the cost as well.

I looked up Rad Cat, and it wasn't so available in my area.  NVI seems like an interesting pick up since my Petco has it.  We may also try this.  

I did hear about the CS snafu, so far the CS was pretty responsive.  Hopefully they learned from that.

 

We don't feed raw exclusively, we feed 6 oz commercial raw a day for 2 kittens, the remainder of their diet is kibble and some canned. Every now and then we make raw ourselves as well. Generally about $.45 to $.50 an oz for commercial raw, so $2.7-$3 a day, or $80-$90 a month (not counting taxes/sales).

 

[kittyluv387]

I get it from pets supplies plus but they have a retailer locater on the primal website. I have to special order it every week because they dont have the cat ones in store, only dogs. But if they carry primal at all they should be able to order it for you. It costs about $100-$110 to feed my one cat all raw primal every month. But i like to feed my cat all the flavors i mentioned.

 

[gdzeey]

 
We don't feed raw exclusively, we feed 6 oz commercial raw a day for 2 kittens, the remainder of their diet is kibble and some canned. Every now and then we make raw ourselves as well. Generally about $.45 to $.50 an oz for commercial raw, so $2.7-$3 a day, or $80-$90 a month (not counting taxes/sales).

Thanks for sharing the info FTMBA!  Good to hear you mix it up with the kibble and canned.  I just thought people go exclusively Raw.  Will definitely look into possibly doing something similar. 

 

[missmimz]

I considered Darwin's at one point but after doing research it seemed it was very boney as they seem to use neck as the primary ingredient. I'm not sure the bone content, but it seems like it would be high. 

 

[gdzeey]

Thanks for the feedback missmimz. [emoji]128570[/emoji]

 

[kittyluv387]

That thought did cross my mind. Especially from seeing the "backs" too but i was thinking that they still have to meet nutritional guidelines in order to meet standards so it should be ok?

 

[missmimz]

That thought did cross my mind. Especially from seeing the "backs" too but i was thinking that they still have to meet nutritional guidelines in order to meet standards so it should be ok?

If you look at the older thread link that was provided above they explain the concern about their food being made with mostly necks/organs. Just because pet food meets guidelines doesn't mean its good quality or necessarily safe. To me, it seems like Darwin's cuts corners by using more of the cheap parts of the animals rather than muscle meat. 

 

[kittyluv387]

If you look at the older thread link that was provided above they explain the concern about their food being made with mostly necks/organs. Just because pet food meets guidelines doesn't mean its good quality or necessarily safe. To me, it seems like Darwin's cuts corners by using more of the cheap parts of the animals rather than muscle meat. 

Thats true. It does explain their super low prices for raw food. Well back to the drawing board for cheaper alternatives lol.