First online order...

[auntie crazy]

I just placed my first online order for raw meats and I have to admit I'm kind of nervous.

I ordered 50 pounds: 14 of chicken hearts, and 12 each of duck hearts, turkey hearts and rabbit chunks. My cats have never eaten any of the last three items. Considering how much money I just plunked down, though, they better not give me any trouble.

The total cost was $160.98. Divide that by 50 for a price per pound of $3.22 and, even paying shipping, I come out way ahead of the costs for 50 pounds of cat food, which is $240 at an average of $1.65 per can. I love that I can feed healthier and still lower my food, litter and projected vet costs!

I've been wanting to offer rabbit from the beginning, but couldn't bring myself to pay local costs and couldn't, until today, make myself trust an online order. But I've heard lots of good about Hare Today, so here we go. *chuckle*

I'll let y'all know what the reception to the new items turns out to be!

 

[sharky]

You are braver that I ... I will only use what I can get locally and get the stats of what fed when .... Rabbit has always gone well here outside the one allergic to it

 

[auntie crazy]

No bravery needed for the sourcing - just a lot of research.

Spending all that money without knowing if my furfaces will actually eat what I just bought, well, yeah, that required some risk-based effort.

Thank goodness I know so many tricks for getting finicky cats to eat what they're given. The only item I've not been able to convince them to eat was fully-furred whole-prey mice.

 

[carolina]

Where did you get it? I am sure a link will help a bunch of people!

 

[furryfriends50]

I'm sure that they will love it!

If they don't you can just send it over here

 

[missymotus]

Good luck

I feed duck hearts and rabbit on occasion, mine are generally accepting of new meats so not an issue.

Rabbit is more readily available than the duck hearts here.

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

I'm sure that they will love it!

If they don't you can just send it over here

lol... yeah if the rabbit does not work ...lol

I think bravery came into play by ordering online and not being able to see what your getting till it arrives ... realize my meat mainly comes from a rancher who butchers and delivers it to my door himself

 

[auntie crazy]

Ha, ha! Sorry, not happening - what gets paid for here, stays here (if I have to eat it myself). *grin* *cough*

Sorry about not including a link! I went back and added it. I purchased the foods from Hare Today. They seem to be an ethical, family-oriented, sustainably-farming company, and I've heard and read nothing but good things about the condition of their products upon arrival.

I like that they give a detailed description of each product that contains a few of the key nutrients present in that product. They even warn that rabbit is a lean meat and should be fed as part of a rotation and not as the sole meat source.

They sound like good, knowledgeable folks to me, but I'll definitely update everyone when the foods arrive.

 

[auntie crazy]

I received my order at 5:55pm today.

Everything in the center of the order was completely frozen. The packages on the outside were clearly beginning to thaw, but were still mostly frozen.

My only disappointment is that "rabbit chunks" are not, as I thought, chunks of rabbit meat. They are chunks of bone from the body of the rabbit with meat and organs included. I really, really wanted 12 pounds of just plain ole' rabbit meat.

But it's ok. I've got the first 3 pound package pulled apart and as soon as it's thawed enough to tell meat from bone, I'll separate the meat, bones and organs. I'll use the organs in place of one liver meal a week and I'll use any bones that are small enough for the cats to eat for one bone-in meal a week. Any bones that are too thick or too hard will have to get thrown away, but I think I can use most of what I bought.

If that does turn out to be the case, I'll likely continue buying this same thing. I was looking to add variety in meat sources and it can't be anything but good to add in more variety in bones and organs, too, right?

 

[auntie crazy]

Follow-up....

It's doubtful I'll be buying the "rabbit chunks" again. It was a HUGE amount of work to separate the meat, bones and organs, and the variation in quantity of each in the four packages was inconsistent enough that I can't plan menus off them.

I'll try the rabbit pieces next time and see how that goes.

On a positive note - there were chunks of lungs mixed in with all the heart orders, so I've got another organ I can offer!

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

Follow-up....

It's doubtful I'll be buying the "rabbit chunks" again. It was a HUGE amount of work to separate the meat, bones and organs, and the variation in quantity of each in the four packages was inconsistent enough that I can't plan menus off them.

I'll try the rabbit pieces next time and see how that goes.

On a positive note - there were chunks of lungs mixed in with all the heart orders, so I've got another organ I can offer!

Sounds delish if your a cat.... Lungs are a great extra... I once got diaphragm and stomach tube entrance in a batch

 

[auntie crazy]

All six cats gave the rabbit products a strong paws up, so I just placed another order with Hare-Today - this time for a full 48 pounds of rabbit pieces.

I dread cutting and packing so much at once - my hands get soooo cold working with half-frozen products! - but I'm totally over the "I wish it was all rabbit meat" pique. I really like that I can add variety to all three parts of my cats' menu: the meat source, organ source and type (organs are so hard to find locally!), and bone source, and ordering in 50 pound increments is the most cost-effective.

This order was considerably more expensive, since rabbit is so costly. At $222.29 for 48 pounds, though, it still comes in just under the ~$230 that 48 pounds of canned cat food would cost (at an average of $1.65 per 5.5oz can). And that $222.29 includes shipping!

So I'm happy.

 

[sharky]

Glad to here the crew like hares

... Canned priceing is so different in every area it would be funny

 

[ldg]

Sorry to jump in late here - but are you moving to a raw diet? Or are you using this to supplement something else you're feeding them?

And I'm wondering why you're not feeding them the bones?

I don't see much on the website about how the animals are fed. My understanding is that if you're going to go raw, it's important to have grass-fed animals.

If you want to source something local and be sure it's grass fed, this might be a good resource for you: http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

 

[auntie crazy]

Originally Posted by LDG

Sorry to jump in late here - but are you moving to a raw diet? Or are you using this to supplement something else you're feeding them?

And I'm wondering why you're not feeding them the bones?

I don't see much on the website about how the animals are fed. My understanding is that if you're going to go raw, it's important to have grass-fed animals.

If you want to source something local and be sure it's grass fed, this might be a good resource for you: http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

Are you talking to me, LDG?

I've been raw-feeding for a while now - this was just my first (and then my second) online raw product order.

My feline menu includes bone-in meals three times a week. Typically, that's been two meals of chicken wings and one of chicken ribs, but since receiving my first Hare Today order, it's been one meal each of chicken wings, chicken ribs, and rabbit ribs/necks/small bones.

As a bit of followup to this thread: I tried rabbit chunks the first time and rabbit pieces the second time - both options involved a daunting amount of cutting and chopping, and a dismaying amount of wastage (I threw away almost 15 pounds of fat and bones from that last 50 pound order) so my future orders are likely going to be the coarse ground rabbit. It'll be hugely, HUGELY easier to package and I won't be tossing any of it.

Not to mention, the head - with the oh-so-nutritious eyes and brain - and the thyroid gland are included in the ground mix, so it'll add just that much more variety and nutrition to my furkids menu.

Thanks for the link, LDG! There are farms listed that I didn't know about, and I'll be making some phone calls come Monday. *smile*

Feeding grass-fed prey products is healthier for its natural content of Omega 3s and such, however, if a raw-feeder can't get their hands on grass-fed animals, it's not an issue. (For what it's worth, Hare Today's rabbits are alfafa-fed and their goats are grass-fed.) Myself, I feed sardines (3/4 of a fish per cat) once a week to "supplement" for Omega 3s. I also offer a nice variety of prey (duck, chicken, beef, pork, rabbit, turkey) and a goodly number of body parts (legs, breasts, wings, gizzards, hearts, thighs, lungs, kidneys, liver and more) so while I do look for grass-fed prey animal products, I don't sweat feeding non-grass-fed.

Regards!

AC

 

[ldg]

Oh gotcha! (Re: first online order).

Thanks for the details.

Unfortunately, in the RV, I don't think we have either refrigerator or freezer space to even make considering feeding raw an option. But we've got a kitty with allergies, and I've been trying to figure out the best course of action.

 

[auntie crazy]

Originally Posted by LDG

Oh gotcha! (Re: first online order).

Thanks for the details.

Unfortunately, in the RV, I don't think we have either refrigerator or freezer space to even make considering feeding raw an option. But we've got a kitty with allergies, and I've been trying to figure out the best course of action.

I totally get that - logistically and financially, there's no way I could manage feeding raw to my (six) cats without a chest freezer.

Could you switch just your allergic cat over to raw? One cat's food wouldn't take up much space at all. Or, perhaps, just switch him over to a half-raw / half-commercial menu?

I don't know anything about your kitty, so I'm just throwing things out there. If you think raw might be of benefit to him, I'd think even a half-raw menu would offer him some improvement - and really wouldn't take up much space. An ounce or so per meal times seven meals is not much at all. You could even roll the meals into a ball shape and freeze them on... not saran wrap - what's that plastic stuff folks use to roll out dough on?... and then drop all the frozen balls into a single bag.

In any case, I sure hope you find relief for your furbaby; I know how frustrating it is to see them in discomfort.

AC