Just started with Hare Today

[nycats]

Hi everyone!

I was feeding Darwin's Turkey and Chicken for a while, but I wanted to add more variety in protein, so I am giving Hare Today a try. I have ordered Turkey, Chicken, Rabbit, and Duck, 5lbs each (Fine Ground Bone-In) along with Alnutrin and Fish Oil they listed on the site. I have mixed and tried the turkey today, and it was pretty well received. Hopefully they will like the other proteins as well. The only issue I have is that my freezer is small and cannot hold too much of the frozen meat! I have to see the maximum amount I can order at once...20lbs of meat is already A LOT.

I was hoping to get some insight from those of you who have tried their food. Any tips you can share? Do you guys ever mix proteins? Do you add the fish oil in the mix or add to food before feeding? I am mixing the Alnutrin with the meat and freezing it in ice cube trays as they recommended on the site. I wish it didn't take up so much space though. Maybe ziplock bags work better? Any advice is appreciated! This is the first time I'm sort of preparing the food myself ha! Not straight from can or pack.

 

[BaileyCat]

I am of the opinion that feeding a variety of proteins and brands is a VERY good thing to do!

Hare Today ground bone-in products are in our rotation. Just so you know, not all their grinds are 80/10/10. Some of the grinds have quite a bit more than 10% bone. That is not an issue, as far as being balanced, since you add Alnutrin. BUT it isn't uncommon for cats to have constipation issues, when being feed more than 10% bone. Our older cats do.

If I want to change a grind to make it 80/10/10, I use this calculator to know what to add.
Dilute Bone Content

If you choose to do the above, and have to add organ. If you add the Hare-Today organ mix, then you will have to buy the Alnutrin that Hare-Today sells. It is different from the product bought directly from Alnutrin.

It is also possible your cat(s) won't have ANY issues with bone content.

 

[nycats]

BaileyCat ,

Thank you so much for the great advice! I am new to raw and did not really pay attention to the bone/organ content percentage. I will try and watch my cats poop to make sure they are not constipated. Interestingly enough, my two boys often use the box with me nearby. I guess they don't need much privacy. The girl never goes with me around. I did notice though that their poop looked to have light colors in parts, which is indicative of too much bone content? This was with Darwin's. But the consistency looked okay. I will see if this changes with the Hare Today.

I wish cats weren't so picky on their food *sigh*. Introducing new proteins is very tricky. I hope they like the new stuff! I will keep you posted

 

[dhammagirl]

Hi
I’ve used Hare Today and Alnutrin for several years now.
They’re great quality!

I use boneless ground turkey, ground rabbit with bones and organs, boneless ground chicken, and the turkey and chicken organ mixes. I recently used the dilute bone content calculator to reduce the bone content of the rabbit to around 7%, as my cat got constipated on 10% bone of the Whole Carcass ground rabbit..it took a while for that to become a problem.

I mix turkey or chicken and organ mix with the rabbit, as the boneless rabbit is quite expensive, and often not available. I also mix up plain turkey or chicken, with organs of course.
I add the appropriate formula of weighed out Alnutrin, some water, some additional taurine, and some sardine oil when I mix it up in 4-5 pound batches, then package in small plastic containers then freeze. It’s worked out quite well!

I hadn’t heard that about Alnutrin from Hare Today being different from the product from the manufacturer. I get it from the manufacturer as it’s a bit cheaper that way.

I emailed the manufacturer today and got this reply:


“The products sold on our website and by Hare Today are exactly the same. The only difference is that they sell it with scoops included (and the user directions are adjusted for that). We prefer if our customers weigh the amount of supplement instead of scooping. But as I said before, the actual Alnutrin products are identical so you don't need to buy the Alnutrin from Hare Today if you are using their meats and organs, you would just have to weigh the supplement instead of scooping it:

One Hare Today leveled scoop holds:

5.2 grams of Alnutrin with EggShell Calcium

4.0 grams of Alnutrin for Meat&Bone

Best regards,

Marta Kaspar

 

[BaileyCat]

Sorry for the confusion concerning the Alnutrin being sold by Hare Today or directly from KnowWhatYouFeed.

When I add organ and/or meat to dilute bone content, I add boneless meat and organ only... not the organ mix.

OP: If you don't plan to dilute bone content, you can skip all this.

This thread might explain better:

Hare Today changed Label of Alnutrin

To answer your other question. Swirly colored poo is normal. Light (not white) tan poo is also normal.

 

[nycats]

Hi Marta,

Thank you so much for the detailed advice! It's great to get to hear from people using their product already for a few years. I'm having a bit of a trial and error period right now, as I didn't realize how much blood comes out when I thaw the frozen meat tubes! My fridge looked like a proper crime scene lol. Next time, I should put them in a plastic bag. I've also thought about cutting the tube in half while frozen and letting them thaw in a bowl or something.

I've given the turkey to the cats so far, and they don't seem to like it as much as the Darwin's turkey. My Billi even puked it a few times. I suppose it takes a while for them to get used to the food. I do still plan to use Darwin's for Turkey and Chicken if this all works out, so I'm hoping they will respond better to the new brand food. I have mixed the Duck today to see if they like it better than the turkey. It's great to know that you can mix proteins! Thanks for this information. As you said, Rabbit is expensive and not always available, so I think mixing it with chicken or turkey is a great idea.

I've been freezing them in the ice trays as the site suggested, and it seems to work pretty well. Each ice cube is about 1oz, so it's easy for me to portion. I've also used some ziplock bags and tupperware. Hopefully, I will come up with a good process, moving forward.

As for the Alnutrin, I'm just ordering from Hare Today for now, so I guess it's fine to follow their instructions. But it's good to know that you can also get from manufacturer and about bone diluting, in case my cats get constipated in the future.

 

[nycats]

BaileyCat

Thank you for clarifying the Alnutrin info and also assuring me about the poop! I wasn't sure because their poop has changed a lot since changing to raw! So much smaller and less smelly, just like people have described! But there wasn't much information about the coloring. I'm glad it's quite normal. Whew! I'm such a worried cat mom.

 

[dhammagirl]

You could try mixing, or topping, some of the Darwin with the HT raw turkey, to help them get them used to the new food.

And now Hare Today has a calculator where you input the meats and organs quantities you’re using and it gives you a breakdown of the meat/organ/bone ratios.

Yeah, when thawing chubs, or packages of rabbit chunks, I usually put it in two plastic bags, in case one bag has holes, to prevent the fridge from looking like a crime scene

 

[Ragdoll_Dad]

I definately want to try Darwin and their Turkey! However is Darwin's salmonella concern blown out of proportion? That's really the thing that's preventing me from trying them out.

 

[BaileyCat]

I definately want to try Darwin and their Turkey! However is Darwin's salmonella concern blown out of proportion? That's really the thing that's preventing me from trying them out.

It is likely just part of an ongoing witch hunt, being done by the FDA.
FDA's Raw Pet Food Phobia

 

[nycats]

Darwin's is great! You should definitely try. I'm going to keep it in my rotation for sure.