Hare Today Price Increase

[dorimon]

Could it be the increase for rabbit is because of it being summer? I seem to recall the HT representative (Tracy?) saying that it is difficult to raise rabbits in the summer because they don't tolerate heat well.

It is possible, but I wouldn't know. I was under the impression that prices were fairly constant up until recently.

Either way, I find that HT's pricing is still competitive with other options (such as Raw Feeding Miami), especially for rabbit. It might just be that demand for some products is exceeding supply, so prices are being adjusted to reflect this.

Depending on what proteins you use, it might be more cost effective to order from other sources. I have started ordering some of the RFM grinds in addition to HT products, since I am fortunate to have enough freezer space. (I can send a referral link that gives 10% off your first RFM order to anyone who is interested.)

 

[maureen brad]

That makes sense that Rabbit prices are seasonal ( I hope) I was just checking the sight for specials when I noticed the increase. I ordered well over 100 lbs in late March to avoid having to pay air shipping over the summer. I am trying to decide what to do for August thru Nov. 1 because I will be out of food in Mid August. Tracy still has better prices than my local choices,I am not comfortable feeding any meats that may have antibiotics so, that is about $6.99-$8 a lbs here for chicken and Turkey.I should have purchased a larger freezer.

 

[maureen brad]

Dorimon, I don't know what RFM is. Where are they located?

 

[orange&white]

That makes sense that Rabbit prices are seasonal ( I hope) I was just checking the sight for specials when I noticed the increase. I ordered well over 100 lbs in late March to avoid having to pay air shipping over the summer. I am trying to decide what to do for August thru Nov. 1 because I will be out of food in Mid August. Tracy still has better prices than my local choices,I am not comfortable feeding any meats that may have antibiotics so, that is about $6.99-$8 a lbs here for chicken and Turkey.I should have purchased a larger freezer.

If you're able to stock your freezer Nov through Aug at lower prices and lower shipping, then averaging in 3 months at high prices should still make your overall average cost for the year pretty decent. I would just watch for any local sales to tide you through late summer into fall.

 

[maureen brad]

Sales here never seem to include any meat without antibiotics.My only saving grace is that my youngest son works at a Pet Food Store , they give employee families 1/2 off . I will be buying a lot of Rad Cat and freeze dried.I have to be careful because they only deduct from up to $200 a month I can get special stuff like quail at Whole Foods , it is just so expensive.I love summer but November is always nice ground shipping for 55 lbs is $30 something so I save so much over air .

 

[orange&white]

Half-priced Rad Cat up to $200 per month ain't too shabby!

 

[dorimon]

Dorimon, I don't know what RFM is. Where are they located?

RFM = Raw Feeding Miami. As the name suggests, they're located in Miami, FL.

 

[abby2932]

D dorimon you just blew my mind... I did not know about RFM! I thought that HT and MyPetCarnivore were our only options for selections of raw pet food.

I just checked out their website and it looks like they have *almost* everything that I like to order from HT as well as things that I would totally order such as the bone broths and raw dairy. I also love how they make special grinds that follow the 80/10/10 prey model ratio.

I don't need to order any food for the next 4 months or so but if I do decide to try them out, I'll definitely message you to get your discount code. Thanks!

 

[dorimon]

D dorimon you just blew my mind... I did not know about RFM! I thought that HT and MyPetCarnivore were our only options for selections of raw pet food.

I just checked out their website and it looks like they have *almost* everything that I like to order from HT as well as things that I would totally order such as the bone broths and raw dairy. I also love how they make special grinds that follow the 80/10/10 prey model ratio.

I don't need to order any food for the next 4 months or so but if I do decide to try them out, I'll definitely message you to get your discount code. Thanks!

Shipping from RFM is more expensive than from HT to Maryland, where I'm located... So I'll probably continue ordering from both. I need HT's whole-carcass rabbit and quail! I'm so lucky to have a chest freezer.

 

[maureen brad]

Half-priced Rad Cat up to $200 per month ain't too shabby!

No, not at all. I just do not care to feed all commercial. I have decided that in August when my freezer runs low I will feed Rad Cat ( I want to try their Pork) and I will buy some cornish game hens and chickens from Whole Foods. Those things combined with the 12 lbs HT Rabbit I have left ( I just mixed up 40 lbs of my remaining HT) with tide us over until November when I can get ground shipping again.I have explained to my son why he can never, ever quit working at the Pet Food Store...ha ha.

 

[maureen brad]

Shipping from RFM is more expensive than from HT to Maryland, where I'm located... So I'll probably continue ordering from both. I need HT's whole-carcass rabbit and quail! I'm so lucky to have a chest freezer.

I have an extra upright and an extra 3.5 cubic foot chest freezer. It just does not quite make it for April-November. I did check out the RFM site(thanks for the referral) They did have some stuff I would like to try. Most of it seems to be sold out right now. I need HT for the Rabbit and the Llama. I am interested to see if RFM has ground shipping to CA. The fastest ground shipping from HT to CA is 4 days and that is why I can't get it half the year.I do understand that Tracy has her good name to protect and does not want her food arriving thawed.I have a feeling RFM will be the same, just not sure how long it would take to get from FL to CA.Last year I missed HT cut off in April and ended up paying for Air and , oh boy, I can't do that again.

 

[dorimon]

maureen brad I actually think it's great that you feed Rad Cat in rotation with the HT homemade raw! It would be pretty expensive to feed Rad Cat 100% of the time. And there aren't as many protein varieties as I would like. I've also heard that Answers is really good, if your son's store carries it and you want to switch things up.

Do your kitties really like llama? I've never tried it, since it's a tad expensive.

RFM's products tend to go out of stock quickly, but they also restock often. You can sign up for an e-mail notification when the product is back in stock (no commitment to buy). I stalked the website for some time before placing an order.

And I don't know about RFM's shipping policy to CA, but maybe you can go through setting up an order, and just don't place it? So you can see what the cost will be. I'm really fortunate to live on the East Coast! Though I've heard you guys have some really great raw co-ops in California?

 

[dorimon]

There's a HT coupon this weekend! (I don't think there's been one in a while now.)
"Coupon code July 2nd- 4th only. $10.00 off $200 order July4save10"

I just received my order this past week, so unfortunately I won't be able to take advantage of this. Hope this helps someone else here

 

[lalagimp]

There's a HT coupon this weekend! (I don't think there's been one in a while now.)
"Coupon code July 2nd- 4th only. $10.00 off $200 order July4save10"

I just received my order this past week, so unfortunately I won't be able to take advantage of this. Hope this helps someone else here

July 4th falls on a Tuesday and there is no Fed EX deliveries or pick ups that day. I need 2-3 concurrent days to ship frozen food so there will be NO SHIPPING the week of July 2nd-8th

So they're still trying to get orders in that will ship out next week. I just got my order in a week and a half ago. Thanks for posting for others; I didn't see that discount in any of the emails.

 

[maureen brad]

Dorimon, we do have co-ops here. I live in San Jose, there is a co-op about 45 minutes from here. I never used it because it costs over $100 a year and you have to put in volunteer time. They seem more geared toward dogs and it would only be worth while for me if I knew someone to divide large orders with.
I found a co-op in San Francisco that I am going to wander into as soon I get up there. One of my kids lives there so, when I go to visit I will see what I think.They require just 4 hours of volunteer work a year. I can handle that and the drive to pick up the food won't bother me, it is a lovely drive along the ocean and as long as I time it to miss commute traffic I can be there and back in about 2-3 hours.I have just grown accustomed to having everything delivered to my door.I work 6 days a week so home delivery comes in handy. I was going to put together an order of RFM to see what the delivery would be but, at the time I looked they were out of almost everything. I hope the co-op in the city works out for me as I usually go to SF every couple of months .

 

[sophie1]

Maureen, if you can get cat foods at 50% off you have lots of great options. What about making use of Primal and Nature Variety freeze dried? Primal has pork and venison, and Nature Variety recently started making rabbit. I also just bought a bag of Northwest Naturals (turkey) to try out. The freeze dried is a bit of a compromise compared to fresh, but I use it for hot summer days when I'm not excited about leaving fresh food out, and also for convenience.

Instead of switching abruptly from fresh to commercial in August, you might increase the amount of commercial you're feeding, to stretch your supplies a bit, and then buy enough of the local products to get by until November. Is there a farm or butcher you can go to for deals on fresh meats? Like, you could buy leftover pieces, giblets and other less popular cuts like tongue that they may have a hard time getting rid of and be willing to sell for low prices. There's also the option of buying whole (skinned/gutted) rabbits and butchering yourself to save money. I did that once and it was a bit of work but my cats liked the result. At the risk of getting a little gross: I cut out and discarded the spinal column and the larger bones (eg pelvic), and chopped up the rest into pieces. I froze this in batches making sure that the liver was distributed evenly into each batch. This might be comparable in cost to what you pay for the rabbit + shipping + Alnutrin. Note that if you're chopping rather than grinding you probably don't need to supplement, although I'd add a sprinkle of taurine at serving time.

 

[maureen brad]

Sophie, truthfully I am not a big fan of either brand. I started raw with primal chubs (to much back and neck) the cats sometimes get their freeze dried but, quality varies. Sometimes those cubes are easy to crumble and at other times I have to pound them with the bottom of a jar.As far as Nature's Variety, maybe my cats are oddballs but they hate it.,they will not it and I have tried all the varieties.I have plenty of rabbit to last until I must order again. I am going to feed Rad Cat Pork, buy some Turkey drumsticks and then cornish game hens and quail.I found some Northwest Natural frozen turkey today.,I had seen it on the Netflix movie 'Pet Fooled' and it looked good, the price is great $13.99 for two lbs , so I will see how the gang likes it. I will also place an order with Raw Feeding Miami, just 15 lbs , have never tried them before but I put together an order just to see what shipping would be and it isn't bad.
You are braver than I am. I am not cutting up a rabbit. Lol, I have a big love for bunnies and couldn't do it. I do not use Alnutrin when I mix up HT's rabbit because the rabbit contains thyroid.Thanks for all the tips. I think I can pull it off until November when I can get ground shipping from HT.

 

[Charityjune]

This has been super informative to me, as I'm new to raw and have done a lot of research on how to make it affordable when feeding 4 beasties. I was surprised how much people emphasized hare today when i saw their prices, but I am hopeful now that those prices (such as for rabbit) will decrease in future. I am in MD and did notice that once I factored in the cheaper shipping, it was about the same for me to buy from Hare Today as My Pet Carnivore. I'd love to try their rabbit, since so many people find their cats love it, but $6 a lb seems like a lot! Hoping it comes down!