Kiwi Kitchens Raw

olkaus

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Has anyone tried this food?
Saw it in Pet Food Express today.
Looks somewhat like the Rad Cat.
 

lisahe

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I hadn't heard about this food and looked up the ingredients. Here's chicken:

Chicken Dinner:
Chicken, Chicken Broth, Chicken Offal, Fish Oil, Brewers Yeast, Calcium Carbonate,Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Fish Oil, Agar Agar, Cassia, Salt, Taurine, Guar Gum, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Iodine, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B6 Supplement, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Pantothenic Acid, Selenium Yeast, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate.

I wouldn't feed it because I won't feed agar agar. I also wouldn't buy raw food with any gums, which I'd prefer not to feed in any foods. Even if I didn't mind those ingredients, I'd want to know what's included in "chicken offal," which basically sounds like a synonym of "byproducts" -- I don't mind byproducts (our cats get a weekly serving of Fancy Feast and Sheba!) and generally think they're good food for cats. But Fancy Feast and Sheba are one thing and frozen raw food from New Zealand is another. For the price of commercial raw foods, I don't think it's too much to ask for the label to say exactly what's in them. On the plus side, it does look like the calcium comes from calcium carbonate instead of bone.

Our cats have been liking Stella & Chewy's new Stella's Selects. They're not wild about it but they like it. It's the closest I've found to Rad Cat thus far, but not a big hit.

All that said, what works for your cat may be very different from what works for our cats. And welcome to The Cat Site!
 

lisamarie12

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lisahe

If I hadn't seen the title of this post, just looking at the ingredients you posted, I would have assumed it was a canned food - how odd, I've never seen a commercial raw food with gums, agar agar and TSPP, totally agree with you.
 

lisahe

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lisahe

If I hadn't seen the title of this post, just looking at the ingredients you posted, I would have assumed it was a canned food - how odd, I've never seen a commercial raw food with gums, agar agar and TSPP, totally agree with you.
Yes, you're right, it looks like a canned food recipe. But it's here on the raw food page!

(Funny, i wondered about the TSPP, too...)
 
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olkaus

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They didn’t have Stella’s Selects -I did want to try it. Will keep looking.
 

lisahe

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They didn’t have Stella’s Selects -I did want to try it. Will keep looking.
It seems to be hard to come by. Lots of stores in my area carry Stella & Chewy's but only one has the Selects, which is by far, IMHO, a better food because it's boneless. Even the store where I buy it doesn't keep much in stock.
 
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olkaus

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It's weird - the label on tubs sold in the store is different from their website and looks like it has bone and no gums:
2014_FROZ-CAT-C510G_B__52433.1549042385.jpg
 

lisahe

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It's weird - the label on tubs sold in the store is different from their website and looks like it has bone and no gums:
Yes, that is weird! I just went to look at the canned food page on their site... I think L lisamarie12 is right about the purported raw ingredients above sounding like canned food. Here's the canned food page, where the ingredients look suspiciously familiar. I think someone made a mistake!

That raw food recipe doesn't look bad if your cat can eat bone. I give the company credit for even noting that the chicken includes bone -- not everybody does -- and would check the bone percentage, just to be sure it's not too high. (One of our cats seems to get constipated if she eats too much bone but I'm not sure how common that problem is!)

I also love that they say the container is compostable and plastic-free!

Let us know what your cat thinks if you try it!
 

lisamarie12

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It's weird - the label on tubs sold in the store is different from their website and looks like it has bone and no gums:
View attachment 291134
That definitely looks like a mix-up of ingredients between the canned and raw, based on the ingredients listed on the actual tub - someone didn't proof their work. :D
 
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olkaus

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I finally decided to give it a try. Bought a tub of chicken. It looks super red when defrosted - almost like beef. My cat didn’t care for it at all!
 

lisahe

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I finally decided to give it a try. Bought a tub of chicken. It looks super red when defrosted - almost like beef. My cat didn’t care for it at all!
Yes, some of the frozen poultry foods do look very red when defrosted. Don't give up, though! It takes time for some cats to get used to frozen raw food. You could try putting some treats on top.
 
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olkaus

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She used to eat Rad Cat turkey, eats raw chicken hearts (I pour boiling water over them before feeding them to her). It’s something in the food -maybe supplements, she doesn’t seem to care about.
I wish there was another brand similar to Rad Cat, with egg shells instead of bone. She doesn’t like any other commercial raw.
She eats home cooked chicken and duck with Alnitrin but prefers raw meats. I don’t particularly trust grocery store chicken and meats to feed them raw.
 

lisahe

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I know, our cats loved Rad Cat, too! They do still like the Stella & Chewy's Selects, though. Those might be worth trying if you can find them!

I'm the same as you on not trusting grocery store meats to make raw food. I know lots of people do it with no problems whatsoever but I also don't trust myself to use the meat as quickly as I should. Our cats really love their cooked homemade food, though!
 

Tobermory

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If your local independent pet supply store carries other Stella & Chewy’s products, you might ask if they would order the Selects for you. Mine did...but now Iris the Picky has decided that no, she doesn’t like it after all. :sigh:
 

lisahe

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Problem I have with Stella's is that they only come in those little nibbles. This makes defrosting a set amount hard.
The Selects come in medallions rather than the small pieces so I give each cat one a day as a snack, they're just the right size.
 

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Problem I have with Stella's is that they only come in those little nibbles. This makes defrosting a set amount hard.
If you have a small kitchen scale you can measure it out by weight.
 

Tobermory

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The Selects come in medallions rather than the small pieces so I give each cat one a day as a snack, they're just the right size.
And they’re very uniform in size. I weighed several medallions, and they each came in at just under an ounce.

Of course, I weigh everything the cats eat. I’d be lost without my kitchen scale!
 

lisahe

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And they’re very uniform in size. I weighed several medallions, and they each came in at just under an ounce.

Of course, I weigh everything the cats eat. I’d be lost without my kitchen scale!
Yes, they really are remarkably uniform in size! There are usually a couple in the bags I've gotten that are a bit lopsided, but in general they're surprisingly even.
 

riley1

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The Selects come in medallions rather than the small pieces so I give each cat one a day as a snack, they're just the right size.
I didn't know that1. About 1 oz per piece? Will look for those! It is made here in Milwaukee.
 
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