Fresh Is Best Freeze Dried, Boneless Raw

[mschauer]

No. That was a mistake on my part. I should say it is non-ground bone raw. That is really what I was looking for. It's ground bone I'm trying to avoid.

 

[lisahe]

But can Fresh is Best be called Boneless Raw if it has MCHA? My girl has a tendency to get constipated and I'm not sure if FIB is a good idea in her case?

I'd be hesitant to feed it, too. The Fresh Is Best company president and I exchanged messages a few months ago and she still called it bone meal and said they don't have a percentage for it. This is the stuff they use. She told me they get a lot of inquiries about bone and that many cats who are constipated on foods that contain bone do fine on Fresh Is Best. Our local store no longer sells FIB and it's expensive to mail order so I'm not going to buy it, though it does sound like decent food.

 

[mschauer]

I'd be hesitant to feed it, too. The Fresh Is Best company president and I exchanged messages a few months ago and she still called it bone meal and said they don't have a percentage for it.

What percentage did you ask for? If you asked what percent bone it is, they can't answer that because it doesn't contain whole bone.

This is the stuff they use.

That is what I have been saying. I goes by many short names, one of which is MCHA, short for microcrystalline hydroxyapatite. The nutrient profile I got for it that I mentioned in an earlier post came from Waitaki Biosciences. I've never seen it called bone meal before though.

She told me they get a lot of inquiries about bone and that many cats who are constipated on foods that contain bone do fine on Fresh Is Best.

That is possibly true. The problem with feeding whole bone seems to be that it is easy to feed too much. When using a non-whole bone calcium source it is easier to control the calcium amount and calcium to phosphorus ratio to prevent either from being higher than it needs to be. Still, I can see how some cats may still get constipated on a product that contains MCHA if either the company doesn't keep the calcium to phosphorus ratio low or if the use of MCHA causes enough excess minerals to be excreted to cause constipation.

 

[lisahe]

What percentage did you ask for? If you asked what percent bone it is, they can't answer that because it doesn't contain whole bone.

I asked for bone percentage. I'm not 100% certain, but I think they just listed "bone meal" as an ingredient then -- this was a few months ago -- without mentioning microcrystalline hydroxyapatite. I have to think I would have googled that! And then been confused since it wouldn't have sounded quite like bone meal to me.

As it is, I was confused that she didn't know the bone percentage (how could that be?) and I still didn't put two and two together when she sent me the link to the MCHA, though that may be partly because she said their "bonemeal... is a high quality human grade calcium supplement called MCH-Cal."

That is what I have been saying. I goes by many short names, one of which is MCHA, short for microcrystalline hydroxyapatite. The nutrient profile I got for it that I mentioned in an earlier post came from Waitaki Biosciences. I've never seen it called bone meal before though.

Yes, I know, it's rather odd! The turkey food now lists this ingredient: Bone Meal (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite calcium protein complex)

Anyway, thank you, mschauer, I'm glad to understand this better now. (Even though Fresh Is Best became a moot point fairly quickly in that previous conversation because the local store didn't want to sell it anymore! They got out of the cat food business. It is called Planet Dog...)

 

[mschauer]

I have to think there is a pretty big disconnect between whoever made the decision to use MCHA and the people marketing Fresh Is Best freeze dried products. MCHA is considered a high quality ingredient. Any product that contains it usually screams loudly about it in marketing materials.

I guess technically MCHA is bone meal if bone meal is just dried, powered bone. The difference between MCHA and what is usually called bone meal is the drying method. MCHA is freeze dried. What is usually called bone meal is heat dried. Freeze drying preserves nutrients that heat depletes but the freeze drying process costs more than heat drying. That is why freeze dried products always cost more than the heat dried equivalent.

If I had a product that contains MCHA I would never call it bone meal and I would make sure to tell customers why it is better than other calcium sources. And I would certainly make sure any customer service reps knew how to talk about it.

 

[mschauer]

I asked for bone percentage. I'm not 100% certain, but I think they just listed "bone meal" as an ingredient then

There would have been the same problem if they were using heat dried bone meal - they can't tell you the bone percentage because it isn't whole bone. What you should ask is what the calcium to phosphorus ratio is. If you have a cat that gets constipated easily you want that ratio to be between 1.0 and 1.1. Just slightly more calcium than phosphorus. A little above 1.1 might be OK but I would certainly stay below 1.2.

 

[lisahe]

I have to think there is a pretty big disconnect between whoever made the decision to use MCHA and the people marketing Fresh Is Best freeze dried products.
<snip!>
And I would certainly make sure any customer service reps knew how to talk about it.

I don't remember if I mentioned above or not but it was the head of the company that answered my email inquiry. I did feel like there was a disconnect on the terminology, with "bone meal" and MCHA, which clearly sounded more, hm, high-tech.

There would have been the same problem if they were using heat dried bone meal - they can't tell you what the bone percentage it isn't whole bone. What you should ask is what the calcium to phosphorus ratio is. If you have a cat that gets constipated easily you want that ratio to be between 1.0 and 1.1. Just slightly more calcium than phosphorus. A little above 1.1 might be OK but I would certainly stay below 1.2.

Thank you for this tutorial, this is good to know! I've been so fixated on carbs for these two cats that I haven't really focused much on the calcium/phosphorus issue but now, with the constipation question, I should probably bone up () on this more.

 

[lisamarie12]

I stated using FIB's food again recently. I had previously discontinued use because one of my cats was getting constipated and I try to get foods that both cats can eat.
I usually get their freeze dried meat treats also and decided to get some chicken hearts which are pretty greasy. I give my constipated prone cat one chicken heart a day and now I'm able to give him one reconstituted FIB meal a day (the other meals canned).

This is a big improvement for him. I know hearts are high in sodium so I can't give too much (per Feline Nutrition article, 7 a day although I would never go higher than 2).

Anyway, the chicken food is always a fav and the duck food goes over well too, it's just kind of pricey.

Hope everyone is well, take care and be safe.

 

[sophie1]

Thank you for the recommendation mschauer! I have given my cats the heart & giblet treats (chicken, turkey, duck) for years, and it's far and away their favorite. I saw that they came out with a complete food and was debating trying it. Unfortunately the cat food has disappeared from Amazon's website(!!) - you can only buy the dog version now. It's available on their website though - with discounts for bulk orders which is nice.