Highest Quality Commerical Frozen Raw Food?

[klmhodges]

I'm looking into switching my 7 mo kitten to raw frozen food. I've been doing a lot of research and a few brands that really interest me are Rad Cat, Feline's Pride, Darwin's and K9 Naturals. I was hoping to hear if any of you guys prefer one brand to another, know of a better one, etc. I really care about the quality of the meat as in what the animals are fed, where the kept and so on. Also I don't want any vegetables or other things added to bring down the cost of the food. I would rather pay more if it's higher quality.

I've been a little scared to make the jump from the vet recommended diet of Science diet canned and dried, which she's basically free fed right now which I know is horrible lol, but she's been doing really well on it and has a super smooth coat and nice small nonsmelly poops already. I'm ready to make the investment in her health though so I want to know which commercial frozen cat food is the highest quality! Thanks!

 

[lisahe]

I'm looking into switching my 7 mo kitten to raw frozen food. I've been doing a lot of research and a few brands that really interest me are Rad Cat, Feline's Pride, Darwin's and K9 Naturals. I was hoping to hear if any of you guys prefer one brand to another, know of a better one, etc. I really care about the quality of the meat as in what the animals are fed, where the kept and so on. Also I don't want any vegetables or other things added to bring down the cost of the food. I would rather pay more if it's higher quality.

I've been a little scared to make the jump from the vet recommended diet of Science diet canned and dried, which she's basically free fed right now which I know is horrible lol, but she's been doing really well on it and has a super smooth coat and nice small nonsmelly poops already. I'm ready to make the investment in her health though so I want to know which commercial frozen cat food is the highest quality! Thanks!

Welcome to the cat site! It's great that you're going to start feeding your kitten raw food! (What's your kitten's name, by the way?)

Of the brands you mentioned, the only one we feed is Rad Cat, in turkey and chicken: the cats get one small Rad Cat meal a day and love it. (Their loving it is the biggest reason they don't get it more often: I want them to keep loving it rather than tiring of it!)

They also eat a fair bit of Feline Naturals (chicken/lamb), which they also love, but that's the freeze-dried food, not the frozen food. Their other brands are Primal (freeze-dried pork only; that one definitely has vegetables) and Northwest Naturals, which they get in the freeze-dried turkey only. Northwest Naturals has no vegetables and is a very basic recipe that comes in frozen, too; there's also a chicken formula.

Just as a BTW: our cats seem to prefer freeze-dried over frozen (except in Rad Cat, of course) and I'm happy about that, too, since freeze-dried is so convenient to store.

Good luck!

 

[klmhodges]

Welcome to the cat site! It's great that you're going to start feeding your kitten raw food! (What's your kitten's name, by the way?)

Of the brands you mentioned, the only one we feed is Rad Cat, in turkey and chicken: the cats get one small Rad Cat meal a day and love it. (Their loving it is the biggest reason they don't get it more often: I want them to keep loving it rather than tiring of it!)

They also eat a fair bit of Feline Naturals (chicken/lamb), which they also love, but that's the freeze-dried food, not the frozen food. Their other brands are Primal (freeze-dried pork only; that one definitely has vegetables) and Northwest Naturals, which they get in the freeze-dried turkey only. Northwest Naturals has no vegetables and is a very basic recipe that comes in frozen, too; there's also a chicken formula.

Just as a BTW: our cats seem to prefer freeze-dried over frozen (except in Rad Cat, of course) and I'm happy about that, too, since freeze-dried is so convenient to store.

Good luck!

Her name is Arya thanks for asking! Thanks for the helpful reply, I think I'm for sure going to try some Rad Cat just to see how she likes it. Luckily the local natural pet food store near me carries it.

 

[lisahe]

Her name is Arya thanks for asking! Thanks for the helpful reply, I think I'm for sure going to try some Rad Cat just to see how she likes it. Luckily the local natural pet food store near me carries it.

Rad Cat is great food, I hope she likes it! Our cats ate it right from the start but some cats are more hesitant. I hope Arya takes to it as quickly as Edwina and Ireland did!

 

[LTS3]

I'd avoid Feline's Pride. Many people have had issues with that company in the past year or so (food quality issues, shipping issues, bad customer service, etc):

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/291787/experience-with-felines-pride

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/324740/my-pets-pride-felines-pride-operating-without-a-license

I feed my cats NV which has veggies which you mentioned that you want to avoid. Neither of my cats will eat Rad Cat.

Making your own raw is an option you can look into

You can definitley avoid veggies that way. The easiest way is to use raw meat with a pre-mix such as Alnutrin or TC Feline. If you can measure and mix, then you can make homemade raw

It doesn't take long to do, 15 minutes or so if you're using 2 lbs of meat including seting up a bowl and measuring cups and cleaning everything afterwards. You can buy chubs of raw meat from independent pet stores or from an online source like Hare-Today.com Supermarket or hutcher shop meat is fine as long as the meat has not been "enhanced" or flavored wiith anything and you buy only whole cuts of meat to grind of chop yourself. Some raw meats have broth and herbs and spices and vinegar and other stuff added to them. Already ground supermarket meat can have bacteria mixed throughout it. People cook the meat so that kills any bacteria.

 

[missmimz]

Rad Cat, hands down, is the best commercial raw food available. 

 

[sophie1]

Rad Cat, definitely, although it's VERY pricey.   Nature Variety is a good brand, but I use it for convenience and in full knowledge of its drawbacks.  The veggie and bentonite clay additives don't bother me that much (limited to 5% in NV), but I don't like how all commercial raw cat foods are made of a limited variety of animal leftover pieces, and not the whole animal.  They are mostly chicken gizzards, hearts, livers, backs and necks - no or minimal muscle meat.  And for this plus a few supplements, you are paying about four times the retail cost of those parts.

Homemade takes time & planning, but it's worth considering.

 

[msserena]

Rad Cat makes a good product, all my cats took to it. They weren't that wild about the chicken so I mixed the chicken with the turkey & the lamb, they eat the mix. Definitely try the smaller tubs & see which one(s) your kitty will like.

 

[Kat0121]

 
Rad Cat, hands down, is the best commercial raw food available. 

Agreed 100%. If I could afford it, my cats would eat nothing else ever again. They love it. 

 

[klmhodges]

Rad Cat, definitely, although it's VERY pricey.   Nature Variety is a good brand, but I use it for convenience and in full knowledge of its drawbacks.  The veggie and bentonite clay additives don't bother me that much (limited to 5% in NV), but I don't like how all commercial raw cat foods are made of a limited variety of animal leftover pieces, and not the whole animal.  They are mostly chicken gizzards, hearts, livers, backs and necks - no or minimal muscle meat.  And for this plus a few supplements, you are paying about four times the retail cost of those parts.

Homemade takes time & planning, but it's worth considering.

I think I'll start with Rad Cat maybe to see how she warms up to the raw while she transitions. What you said though really convinced me and I think I want to do homemade for her. Thank you so much for the info I seriously appreciate it!!

 

[lisahe]

I think I'll start with Rad Cat maybe to see how she warms up to the raw while she transitions. What you said though really convinced me and I think I want to do homemade for her. Thank you so much for the info I seriously appreciate it!!

I think Rad Cat is the best place raw food to start with... at least that's how I got our cats on it! And if Arya doesn't like it, well, there are lots of other brands and types of raw food to try out on her. Good luck!

 

[Dilutetortislave]

My cats both love Rad Cat.
Prior to that, I fed Allprovide. They wouldn't always finish it, even if I mixed it with canned food.
Prior to that, I tried Vital Essentials Alpha Prey Model diet canine. It's hard to find in some places. I emailed the company and a rep said that both the canine and feline lines were fine to feed to either species. The Vital Cat contains dairy, which is contraindicated for any animal (or human) taking any tetracycline antibiotics (i.e. doxycycline for herpes/upper respiratory things/Lyme disease, etc.) and we all know how common herpes is!
The ingredient list on the canine raw frozen products passes my inspection, you can add taurine if you want but it's really just raw meat/bones/organs.
Prior to that, I tried Northwest Naturals. They liked it okay, maybe 6 or 7 out of 10 stars, but it is close in price to Rad Cat.
Prior to that, I fed NV Instinct for several years and my cats much preferred all of the red meat flavors over poultry & rabbit. I probably stopped feeding this brand shortly after they switched into two lines: 1 for cats and 1 for dogs. I started feeding this when almost all of the flavors were labeled for both cats and dogs and only came in the 3 pound bag of medallions or the 6 pound bag of patties.
Prior to that, I started feeding my foster cats (this is now about 8 years ago) Wellness canned (thanks to catinfo.org) and some of the low carb canned foods. I also fed some plain raw chicken I cut into pieces.

I think for most people it is a matter of finding an affordable option your cats are willing to eat, rather than just trying to find the highest quality food in existence.

 

[Georgia on my Mind]

Rad Cat, hands down, is the best commercial raw food available.

Hi. I was going to post a new thread but then found this one. I'm ready to begin feeding my cats commercial raw. I was looking at Rad Cat and I prefer their ingredients to Primal but one thing jumped out at me - Phosphorous. On their website they state that their phosphorous content per 100/kcal is 5.5 - 6.2! Dr. Lisa Pierson said on a dry matter basis a value below 1% is good. This is completely scaring me away. Am I misinterpreting the value? Does anyone have any insight?
Thank you in advance.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

I want to know how yall afford to feed Rad Cat! I can't be spending more on cat food a month than I do groceries...

 

[lisahe]

I want to know how yall afford to feed Rad Cat! I can't be spending more on cat food a month than I do groceries...

It's worth shopping around because prices can vary a lot but I only feed a little bit of Rad Cat, just a small snack each day.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

It's worth shopping around because prices can vary a lot but I only feed a little bit of Rad Cat, just a small snack each day.

I can only buy it online unless I drive to Savannah or Atlanta. so that dramatically increases the price ether way.

 

[Georgia on my Mind]

I want to know how yall afford to feed Rad Cat! I can't be spending more on cat food a month than I do groceries...

I only have two small cats so if my math is right, it would only cost me a little over $100/month which is about what I spend on canned food now.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

You must be able to buy it in store. When I looked online, food for my two (11 lbs and 9lbs) would run $200 yeah no that isn't in the books for us right now.

 

[Georgia on my Mind]

Yes, that is high. I guess (hope) my cost would be less because I have a 5 pounder and a 7 pounder who should weigh 6 pounds. If it turns out to cost more than I expect I'll have to bite the bullet and make it myself. Which is really ironic as I don't even cook for myself.