Has anyone heard of Small Batches cat food?

[pinkman]

Hey guys,

So while doing my usual roundabouts on the internet I came across this: http://www.smallbatchpets.com/batches.html

Someone said it costs about three dollars per day for two kittens (didn't specify how old.) Comes in both dog and cat varieties. Of course the dogs get more choices as they get duck and "free-range" rabbit also. I didn't know rabbits can be free-ranged? The cat versions come in free-range chicken, free-range beef, turkey, and lamb. Supposely new proteins will come out soon for cats.

Ingredients for cats are the following:

chickenbatch sliders:
Free Range Chicken (including muscle meat and bones), Free Range Chicken Hearts & Liver, * Cranberries, * Dandelion Greens, Salmon Oil, * Apple Cider Vinegar, * Kelp, * Bee Pollen, * Grapefruit Seed Extract.

beefbatch sliders:

Free Range Beef, Beef Hearts, Beef Bones, Free Range Beef Liver & Kidneys, * Cranberries, * Dandelion Greens, Salmon Oil, * Apple Cider Vinegar, * Kelp, * Bee Pollen, * Grapefruit Seed Extract.

lambbatch sliders:

**Lamb(including muscle meat and bones), **Lamb Hearts, **Lamb Livers, **Lamb Kidneys, Salmon Oil, *Kelp, *Cranberries, *Dandelion, *Apple Cider Vinegar, *Bee Pollen

turkeybatch sliders:

** Turkey(including muscle meat and bones), **Turkey Hearts, **Turkey Livers, Salmon Oil, *Kelp, *Cranberries, *Dandelion, *Apple Cider Vinegar, *Bee Pollen.

What do you guys think? Seems like you can only find it available on the west coast as of now. They also have "blends" which are the grounds that you mix your own supplement - I guess kinda like Bravo's.

It's nice to see a limited protein commercial raw (as S&C's Duck Duck Goose also has turkey in it I believe?) and also salmon oil in some of the varieties. Also grapefruit seed extract... Although I have heard/read some things about GSE I have never used it before. Apple cider vinegar seems to be pretty common with frozen raw as Primal also includes it. Kelp? I have no idea. Cranberries? Meh. Dandelion greens and BEE POLLEN? I have no clue!

 

[vball91]

I have never heard of this brand. I assume this is ground food? I'm surprised it's not supplemented with at least taurine although all recipes seem to include hearts. I would want to know the exact percentages of muscle meat, bone, liver, kidney, heart. I also would want to know how much of the "other stuff" is in there. I see no need for cranberries, dandelion greens, ACV, bee pollen, especially cranberries because they contain both benzoic and salicylic acids which are toxic to cats. Probably, there aren't enough cranberries to make a difference, but why include something that could have detrimental effects over the long run? The kelp probably serves the same function as iodized salt in Dr. Pierson's recipe.

As for GFSE, have you read this thread? http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263461/grapefruit-seed-extract-gse-gfse-part-1

 

[ldg]

As vball91 says, I'd contact the company to find out what the percentages of muscle meat, bone, liver, and kidney are. (Heart doesn't matter, it's part of meat). I find it a little odd they don't have it up on the site. The alternative question is what parts of the chicken are used for the mix, and how much liver and kidney is added.

They do have up on the website that it is just 1% "other stuff" (the veggies, bee pollen, etc.).

I also don't understand the addition of cranberries. It's in so many foods, and makes no sense to me.

 

[pinkman]

Yeah, Imma email 'em tomorrow since I got home pretty late tonight.

It's an interesting food - I probably won't feed it since I'm happy with Stella's right now. Oh and that GSE thread I looked through before but I'll go ahead and take a look again.

Kelp - yep, Dr. P uses it also doesn't she? I'd be really happy with Small Batches if they didn't use all the weird filler-ish mystery ingredients (cranberries!). I'm also curious about what their free-ranged rabbit set up is like considering what Tracy said about free-range:

 
Free range, grass fed is also a question I get often.  People in general love the idea of free range grass fed meats and I agree that animals should be raised in a healthy natural environment. However not ALL animals are meant to be free ranged. Example would be rabbits. A free range rabbit would not last long in a true free range environment. A predator would kill it pretty quickly.

I even had a person email me once that wanted to know if the mice we offer were free ranged.  I emailed this person back and said no mice were not free ranged and I could just see myself standing in a field with a big net trying to catch free range mice!   A little common sense goes a long way.