Hare Today?

[jazzyp]

Greetings, all.

I am not yet in a position to feed a 100% raw or homemade diet, but I would like to supplement my cats' commercial food with some chunks of meat.  I have found one site that really intrigues me as a purveyor.  

https://hare-today.com

Has anyone here used this supplier?  I don't think I would go to them for things I can get easily at the local grocery, like chicken or pork, but some of their prices on other meats look pretty good.

If you've done business with this company, please give your opinions, and if not, please let me know of any other suppliers you particularly liked (or ones to avoid.)

Thanks!

 

[dorimon]

Hare-Today is actually quite popular here.  I haven't seen any complaints.

 

[abby2932]

There isn't anything I would necessarily avoid but I would suggest you be mindful of the bone percentages when you order any meat/bone/organ grind.

Some of the meat/bone/organ grinds contain very high bone percentage and you have to capable of calculating how much extra meat & organ to add to the grind to make it more balanced. Don't worry about making things "perfect" but do your best to bring the meat/bone/organ ratio to 80/10/10.

Other than that, I would recommend Hare Today to anyone and everyone. I started ordering my cat food exclusively from HT in June 2014 so almost 3 years now. I've never had a bad batch or any issues at all with my orders. Everything has come fresh and on time.

My personal favorite thing to order is the small rabbit chunks. It comes in a 3lb package but I also order a package of rabbit organs to go with it.( The rabbit chunks do come with a small amount of organs but I like to feed extra than what is included) It's my favorite because it takes the least amount of prep for all the various things I order. I just divvy up the rabbit chunks and organs into daily meal-size portions, freeze what I don't need today and feed as is. It is so super easy. I do take just a few minutes to cut up the chunks a little bit smaller for my female as she's a dainty eater.

One thing I always have in my house is a few packs of the Dehydrated Ground Goat and Dehydrated Ground Rabbit. I keep this around for emergencies, such as if I forget to thaw food one day or if my electricity goes out and the food in the freeer goes bad. It's never happened in the 3 years that I've been feeding frozen raw but I like to be prepared. Besides, I live in the south and we have to watch out for hurricanes at the end of every year.

 

[LTS3]

I buy HT chubs but not from the web site. A local pet store sells the chubs. I like the variety of meats HT has. The pet store usually only has the more common meats like beef and rabbit and chicken but sometimes they'll have goat or venison or something.

MyPetCarnivore.com is another popular web site. There's another raw meat web site on the West Coast but I can't remember the name of it.

 

[jazzyp]

 
There isn't anything I would necessarily avoid but I would suggest you be mindful of the bone percentages when you order any meat/bone/organ grind.

Some of the meat/bone/organ grinds contain very high bone percentage and you have to capable of calculating how much extra meat & organ to add to the grind to make it more balanced. Don't worry about making things "perfect" but do your best to bring the meat/bone/organ ratio to 80/10/10.

Other than that, I would recommend Hare Today to anyone and everyone. I started ordering my cat food exclusively from HT in June 2014 so almost 3 years now. I've never had a bad batch or any issues at all with my orders. Everything has come fresh and on time.

My personal favorite thing to order is the small rabbit chunks. It comes in a 3lb package but I also order a package of rabbit organs to go with it.( The rabbit chunks do come with a small amount of organs but I like to feed extra than what is included) It's my favorite because it takes the least amount of prep for all the various things I order. I just divvy up the rabbit chunks and organs into daily meal-size portions, freeze what I don't need today and feed as is. It is so super easy. I do take just a few minutes to cut up the chunks a little bit smaller for my female as she's a dainty eater.

One thing I always have in my house is a few packs of the Dehydrated Ground Goat and Dehydrated Ground Rabbit. I keep this around for emergencies, such as if I forget to thaw food one day or if my electricity goes out and the food in the freeer goes bad. It's never happened in the 3 years that I've been feeding frozen raw but I like to be prepared. Besides, I live in the south and we have to watch out for hurricanes at the end of every year.

The 80/10/10 ratio is pretty much what I used to give my dogs when I had a chest freezer to store stuff for prey model raw.  I'm not so into the ground, really, as I think it's good for them to have chunks of meat to chew on.  If I use it, it will probably be in small amounts, maybe the duck with bones and organs.  I'm not going to be able to use HT exclusively, but I would like to try it as a supplement to commercial food, probably either Triumph or 4Health.  

The rabbit chunks look like a good option to me, too.  I like the idea of feeding my cats something they might eat if they were allowed outside to hunt, and I think rabbit would be a nice change of pace from the poultry that seems to make up most cat foods.  

 

[dhammagirl]

Hare Today is great! I get ground whole carcass rabbit, rabbit chunks, whole mice, ground turkey and organs. Excellent service and support.

 

[lisamarie12]

Hare Today is excellent, I've been making homemade raw for one cat with HT's meats for about three months.

I only use whole carcass ground quail, ground mouse or ground quail (without fur) because those meats fall within a reasonable bone percentage range, 8%-10% with no need for me to dilute with boneless meats.

The meat is always fresh, always arrives frozen (although I've only ordered so far during the winter and I'm on the east coast).

Customer service is excellent, would highly recommend HT.

 

[missmimz]

I buy a lot from HT. I'm in AZ and shipping is very reasonable. 

 

[paiger8]

I also buy from HT often. Your best bet for shipping is to fill the case as much as possible. It's like $20 to ship 20 lbs to me, or $25 to ship 40lbs. So I just keep space in the freezer when I order. 

 

[sophie1]

Another member of the HT fan club.  Always fresh and lots of variety, not to mention that it's pastured where feasible.  Here are my cats' favorite recipes:

2 lbs turkey, duck, or chicken meat/bone/organ grind, 1 lb ground chicken organs, 2 lbs boneless meat.  I usually buy the cubes of chicken breast, thigh, or gizzards and cut them up with scissors into 1-2" pieces.  This is my cats' favorite...they practically inhale this stuff.

3 lbs coarse ground pheasant, 1 lb ground chicken organs, 2 lbs boneless meat - the 3 lbs works because pheasant has a lower bone content than the other poultry grinds

2 lbs ground rabbit (without fur), goat, or pork, mixed with 1 lb boneless meat, i.e. one of the two meat cubes in a 2 lb package

The rabbit with fur, ground cavies, and ground mice can be fed as is.  The quail was too gamey for my cats' tastes.  Thinking to try the beef/venison blend next time.

I used to buy the rabbit chunks, but recently I've had to toss about a third of them because the bone pieces are too large.  My cats used to tackle them when they were kittens, but now they've started to get picky.  I wonder if they had a choking experience and learned to avoid large bone pieces.  I've thought about saving these pieces for bone broth...anyone tried that?

 

[abby2932]

Rabbit bone broth sounds so yummy!

I think I'm going to order some large bones from HT on my next order to make a broth soon....