Is this a good raw diet?

[carolina]

Pet supplies plus usually has a raw brand Called "Rad Cat" That is the very best IMHO. It is not cheap though. But it is AWESOME!
Introduce brands and flavors slowly, mixing the new one into the old just like you would introduce kibbles.
It will be easier for their tummies.

As far as the chicken - skip the boiling and serve it raw the next time - it is way better. Just make sure you get chicken without any sodium added - it will say minimally processed, not enhanced. The sodium level will be around 60-75 I believe for chicken breast. If it is over 100-150, it's been enhanced, don't feed it.

Just make sure when feeding raw chicken (or cooked) by itself you don't feed more than 15% of your diet. If you do, you need to balance properly, especially with Calcium.

Welcome to the raw forum and TCS!

 

[nullentropy]

I had to cook the chicken because it was frozen, and had been for a while. I've been mixing it with the NV and also with some baby food (ingredients are JUST turkey and turkey broth). I don't know what you mean by enhanced or minimally processed chicken breasts. I've never see either of those buzzwords on chicken before! Today when I go to the pet store, I'm going to see about getting some alnutrin or maybe another supplement to add to their diet. I can't afford to spend a ton of money on food, and I'm going to pick up some cans today as well. I've been reading about concerns with feeding human-grade raw because of salmonella, but hare today is reallly expensive! Is it okay to feed them cooked human-grade chicken (breasts, giblets, etc) with the NV so they get the bone content as long as it's mixed with a supplement like alnutrin?Thanks for the welcome!

 

[carolina]

I had to cook the chicken because it was frozen, and had been for a while. I've been mixing it with the NV and also with some baby food (ingredients are JUST turkey and turkey broth). I don't know what you mean by enhanced or minimally processed chicken breasts. I've never see either of those buzzwords on chicken before! Today when I go to the pet store, I'm going to see about getting some alnutrin or maybe another supplement to add to their diet. I can't afford to spend a ton of money on food, and I'm going to pick up some cans today as well. I've been reading about concerns with feeding human-grade raw because of salmonella, but hare today is reallly expensive! Is it okay to feed them cooked human-grade chicken (breasts, giblets, etc) with the NV so they get the bone content as long as it's mixed with a supplement like alnutrin? Thanks for the welcome!

Hare today is not expensive at all IMHO..... It is actually cheaper than feeding canned.... it is certainly much cheaper than NV.
You can get Alnutrin from them and just mix it into the food.....

Excellent food IMHO. After Rad Cat, Hare Today is my best option.... And shipping is very affordable too.
Of course it is ok to feed human grade meat! I feed a home made diet to my cats - I don't feed commercial.... I don't use Alnutrin either, I use eggshell Calcium, Krill oil, Taurine, organs, and so on..... I just make sure the diet is properly balanced, but it is an excellent diet and I know exactly what is in it.

 

[txcatmom]

After Rad Cat, Hare Today is my best option.... And shipping is very affordable too.

That's what I like about Hare Today.  I feel like I'm getting Rad Cat quality for Natures Variety Instinct Raw prices.   And Rad Cat is out of the question on our budget with 4 cats.  I think when I did the math the cost of HT (with shipping and supplement) was almost exactly the same as buying NV raw from my local holistic pet food store...and I don't have to deal with the veggies.  I feed 4 cats Hare Today for both their meals (1 pound of food per day) for $150 per month...with shipping and Alnutrin added in.  They eat rabbit, turkey and chicken.  We have been adding some chunks of plain chicken (purchased on sale, without sodium enhancers added) in 4 meals per week to thin down the bone content, and that brings the cost down a little, but I did not figure that in in the $150 per month. The more meat you order, the cheaper shipping is.  I order 30 pounds per month because that is all the freezer space (the humans and cats share one freezer) I can spare and all the meat packing time I can spare each month...lol.  It takes me exactly 2 hours with prep and clean up to package the meat into 8 oz portions in ziplocs. 

ETA..to clarify, the reason adding the chicken chunks in brings down cost a bit is that they get 50% less HT for the meal with the chunks added.  So those 4 meals per week end up being 50% grocery store chicken and 50% ground raw from HT.  We keep it to 4 meals per week because that keeps it to 15% or less unbalanced meat...since the chicken breast isn't balanced by organs or anything. 

 

[carolina]

I really really LOVE Hare Today. Even though I don't feed a ground diet anymore, my turkey legs come from there, as well as my hearts.
When I fed ground, I fed Rad Cat for a while, then Hare Today. The meat was outstanding - SO FRESH! The selection was great, the shipping affordable, the kitties loved it.
To me, it is an excellent option for sure. Hard to beat.
Rad Cat beats is, IMHO, but they only have 3 flavors, and I believe variety is important. HT has a ton of meats.

 

[Willowy]

I once figured it out, and for Hare Today, with shipping and supplements added in, assuming you buy a good variety and not too much of the really expensive meats, it would average to about $1.00-$1.20 per cat per day. Which is less than most of the higher-quality canned foods. So it might be something to look into.

Most chicken and pork are "enhanced". This means salt water is added to make it plumper and juicier, and to make people pay good money for salt water :tongue2:. Some beef is also enhanced. It can be hard to find where it says it on the label, so just look at the nutrition information---if sodium is over 100-ish mgs per serving, it's most likely enhanced. (I think liver and heart are higher in sodium, might be a bit more than that) If you have a Trader Joe's, you can find nice unenhanced chicken breasts and thighs for something like $2.50 a pound. Whole Foods also has a good selection of unsalted meat but it's not cheap!

Cooking. . .I believe a good homecooked diet is almost as good as a raw diet. So if your cats prefer cooked meat or you feel more comfortable that way, that's just fine. But there's not much reason to worry about commercial meat fed raw; cats are well-designed to deal with normal bacteria found in meat (and there's really not as much bacteria in fresh meat as we've been lead to believe. . .). If the meat has been frozen, that's fine, no reason to cook it because of that. If it seems iffy, not so fresh, then cooking it is a good idea.

 

[txcatmom]

it would average to about $1.00-$1.20 per cat

Yep, I'd never done the per day math.  Just pulled out the calculator and we're paying $1.25 per day per cat for Hare Today.  The rabbit is pretty expensive, the chicken and turkey not so much.  We buy equal parts rabbit, chicken and turkey.  We do occasionally buy other things like duck, mutton, but not on a regular basis because of price.  As far as the grocery store meat, we have a smaller healthy grocery that has unenhanced (but not organic or anything) chicken breast on sale for $1.99 per pound pretty regularly, sometimes even $1.49.  But I haven't noticed those prices in over a month, so I hope that good thing didn't come to an end. 

 

[franksmom]

Wish we had hare today in Canada!

 

[nullentropy]

Judging by the price of the mice (25 for $40?!?!?!) it's not at all affordable. Mice Direct sells 25 Jumbo Adult Mice for $13! Also looking at the price of the shipping ($20) which a minimum order of 10lbs, it's just not in my budget right now. NV is $5 for a bag, and it lasts me a week if fed exclusively, and two if mixed with other canned foods. I'm about to go out to the pet store, so I'll see about rad cat. Is Stella and Chewies a good food?

 

[Willowy]

Yeah, the mice are expensive. Were you planning on a whole prey diet? I guess most of us were thinking of the ground bone/meat/organ mixes---chicken is only $2.79 a pound. And of course, the more you order, the more cost-effective shipping will be. And you need freezer space for that.

And wow! $5 for a bag of NV (I assume you mean the 3-pound bag of medallions)? You should definitely keep buying from that store! Usually it's about $25 for that size bag (for chicken--- more for the other protein sources). So yeah, as long as you can get it for that price, stick with it! Rad Cat is quite expensive, but those who have bought it say it's worth it.

Would you be getting S&C frozen or freeze-dried?

 

[ldg]

Judging by the price of the mice (25 for $40?!?!?!) it's not at all affordable. Mice Direct sells 25 Jumbo Adult Mice for $13! Also looking at the price of the shipping ($20) which a minimum order of 10lbs, it's just not in my budget right now. NV is $5 for a bag, and it lasts me a week if fed exclusively, and two if mixed with other canned foods. I'm about to go out to the pet store, so I'll see about rad cat. Is Stella and Chewies a good food?

Yes, the posters were comparing the whole ground animal mixes to the cost of Rad Cat - not recommending whole prey.

 

[nullentropy]

Ah yeah. part of the problem is I have a small-ish freezer and don't have the room for tons of food (I also have a snake and plan on ordering mice in bulk for him as well. I was referring to the Stella and Chewies Freeze dried. I know I have to add water to it, but is that a complete food?

 

[otto]

Stella&Chewy's is a complete food. I feed both Stella&Chewy's (re-hyrdated) and Rad Cat in my rotation (along with prey model raw, and some canned).

My cat food budget, including all supplements, freezer bags, and extra paper towels used, is $1.17 per cat per day.

I bought a small table top freezer because my apartment is tiny and I don't have space for even one of the small chest freezers.

This thread shows the type I use

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258556/whats-in-your-freezer

It is actually too small for my needs now, I wish I'd bought the larger one. But I didn't know how much raw I was going to end up feeding!

 

[nullentropy]

So... my boyfriend and I were chatting, and we decided we think we should do a homemade raw based on the fact that I just spend $90 at the pet store. Here's my haul:

http://root--servers.org/Kittens/catfood_small.jpg

sooo yeah. LOL Now the research into homemade raw starts! Tell me though: Did I do good at the store?

 

[carefees12]

i also tried to feed my cat raw fish.

 

[katluver4life]

 Did I do good at the store?

Guess that depends on how long that would last you. I feed my 3 adult cats the meat/bone/organ grinds from Hare Today also, and $90 would feed them 3x/day for a month. When they were on canned I was spending approx $150 a month.

Just an FYI, when I transitioned them to raw, I started with Darwins introductory package. 10lbs for $14.95 with free shipping, when you sign up for their delivery, WHICH you can cancel at anytime. Their prices aren't too bad, but shipping to the east coast was a bit too high for me, so I did cancel (They are in Seattle). They are adding rabbit to their menu, which up till now, they only had chicken and turkey. I actually got a second 10lbs by making a deal with a friend of mine to put an order in and doing a trade of food when his arrived.