Need some help transitioning to Raw Feeding please

[ldg]

I have tried lamb but only in the ground form which was not a big hit. I am planning on trying lamb strips soon though. I can source bison pretty easily here (I live in CO), so I do plan on trying that (it's not cheap!). Venison is tougher. I will have to see if I can get a little from some hunting friends.

Rabbit has been tough to source locally surprisingly. I guess I'm a little unsure of the sources. I don't have the freezer room right now to make a big online order but will have the room late this summer, so if I haven't found a local source by then, I'll try it then. The ironic thing is that when Aria was allowed out, she used to catch rabbits all the time and bring them back home. I don't know if she ever ate them though.:lol3:

OH! For the freezer, is the Craigslist at all active out there? I found ours there, just $35.

In my experience, whether or not they like something ground has been unrelated to whether or not they like it in strips. :lol3: I know that's not usually the case, but just putting it out there....

When you do have freezer space, if you can't source rabbit locally, you might want to consider having it shipped from Hare Today. They're in western PA, and ship to TX and AZ without problem (even in summer), so I'm assuming CO wouldn't be an issue. Here's what I buy when I can afford it: https://www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_35&products_id=287 (I find it a lot easier to take the meat off of this than the rabbit chunks - though some people just feed the entire rabbit chunks).

 

[vball91]

Craigslist is active here, but we actually have a big fridge/freezer in storage right now. When we moved into our new house, they left the fridge (which is a smaller version of our fridge weirdly enough), so we're planning on putting our old one into the garage which needs to be remodeled//reorganized a little first. So, we'll have plenty of freezer space once my hubby has time to do this.

I am very curious about how Aria will react to rabbit.

 

[harleydiva]

n a week or so....hoping that will be acceptable to the little princes.  My guys used to eat chicken and turkey all right, but now they will only eat it with a bit of tripe mixed in, Rabbit is the #1 favorite at my house.  I have ground quail coming iand something like S&C crumbled on the top.  

Wow....my response got scrambled.  Was supposed to say;

I have ground quail coming in a week or so.....hoping that will be acceptable to the little princes.  My guys used to eat chicken turkey all right, but now they will only eat it with a bit of trip mixed in and something like S&C crumbled on top.  Rabbit is the #1 favorite at my house.

 

[vball91]

LOL I figured it out. I will be interested to hear how your princes like the quail since they don't seem to prefer chicken and turkey, just like my little princess.

 

[vball91]

Some days I really just have to laugh at my little princess. Ever since I introduced chicken liver, she's decided she doesn't like beef anymore. I thought I would outsmart her tonight and mix the chicken liver thoroughly into the beef strips. It was quite a gory mess! Well, she just spent 15 minutes licking the liver off the beef. If she ate any beef, it was on accident because it happened to fall into her mouth! I know it will throw off the Ca ratio since I'm sure all the eggshell powder got licked up, but I'm not going worry about it for now.

I just had to share because it was too funny. One step forward, two steps back...

 

[harleydiva]

Thawing the quail, turkey, and a beef based kitten mix to mix and package today....will let you know how the quail is accepted.  They will probably be mad at me because they got a lot of rabbit meals this past week because it was all I had left until picking up an order yesterday.  I also picked up venison, but 24 pounds is about all I can deal with in one day, venison and rabbit will wait until next weekend.  I don't really worry about trying new meats here......the dogs will eat anything I put in front of them, so if the cats don't like it, no big deal.  

Will let you know how they like the quail... 

 

[ldg]

Some days I really just have to laugh at my little princess. Ever since I introduced chicken liver, she's decided she doesn't like beef anymore. I thought I would outsmart her tonight and mix the chicken liver thoroughly into the beef strips. It was quite a gory mess! Well, she just spent 15 minutes licking the liver off the beef. If she ate any beef, it was on accident because it happened to fall into her mouth! I know it will throw off the Ca ratio since I'm sure all the eggshell powder got licked up, but I'm not going worry about it for now.

I just had to share because it was too funny. One step forward, two steps back...

:lol3: Fortunately my Flowerbelle loves most meat (the only one she does NOT like is beef!), but like your rincess: , our Princess would live on chicken liver if she could. :lol3:

 

[harleydiva]

My ground mixes in the past have included organs.  This time I got some new stuff which was only meat/bone, so I had to add the organs....chicken liver until I can get some other organs.  My first attempt was the quail.  I decided I would chop the liver in the food processor....which I quickly learned didn't work very well.  I ended up with mostly liver puree, which turned the quail mix into a more pate-like texture.  I also threw in the liquid from the liver, which I think was a mistake.  Second batch (turkey), I cut the liver by hand....which was not much fun...but better texture.  I'll be picking up some ground organs from MPC in a couple weeks, so that will cut the amount of liver in half, which will help.  I'm wondering now if the food processor would come up with chunks if I throw the liver in frozen????

I fed the quail for the first time tonight....Gideon and Nico both ate it all  Foo (The Bottomless Pit) decided he didn't want it.....it was different.  He also turned down turkey thigh strips at lunchtime.....the other two ate theirs AND his.  Foo is the big eater in the group...but has his picky spells.  I think he is being pissy because they had a lot of rabbit in the past few days, as I was out of everything else....he would prefer rabbit at every meal.  I packaged 24 pounds of food for cats and dogs today....rotation of quail, turkey, and beef based kitten mix for the next 2 weeks.....so he is going to have to get over himself...lol.

 

[vball91]

24 pounds??? I get tired processing 4! You are a champ. How long did that take? Oh, and yes, working with mostly frozen liver is a lot easier. Those stringy bits in the liver are a pain.

Hmm, so mixed reviews on the quail, eh?

 

[harleydiva]

24 pounds??? I get tired processing 4! You are a champ. How long did that take? Oh, and yes, working with mostly frozen liver is a lot easier. Those stringy bits in the liver are a pain.

Hmm, so mixed reviews on the quail, eh?

I wouldn't count out the quail yet.....2 of the 3 dived right in.  I really think Foo was just mad because it wasn't rabbit.  

I usually do a big batch every couple of weeks like that.  Takes a couple hours in total.  I do the big batches because I hate the cleanup after.....so would rather do it only a couple times a month.  

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Gosh, NONE of mine will touch rabbit (at least not ground rabbit).  Hmmm.  wonder if they would like it in chunks? 

  I did buy the Stella and Chewys newest dehydrated rabbit, and they LOVE that

.  Who can figure these little furries out?  My problem is, I don't have any dogs to feed their "rejects" to

 

[harleydiva]

Foo also turned up his nose this morning at another new one....it was a beef and chicken based kitten mix from Blue Ridge Beef.  The other 2 dived right in and started scarfing it.  When Foo realized they were eating it, he pushed Gideon out of his bowl and started eating his...no big deal....Gideon just moved to Foo's bowl.  I guess it just tastes better if ya can steal it from someone else....lol.

 

[vball91]

Ah cats! I tried to see today if Aria would like strips of the fresh chicken I bought for dinner but nothing doing. I'm getting tired of throwing out meat too. I don't have a dog either to feed rejects to.

 

[harleydiva]

Ah cats! I tried to see today if Aria would like strips of the fresh chicken I bought for dinner but nothing doing. I'm getting tired of throwing out meat too. I don't have a dog either to feed rejects to.

Yup...those dogs are pretty handy....lol.  Dachshunds will eat anything.

 

[ldg]

Ah cats! I tried to see today if Aria would like strips of the fresh chicken I bought for dinner but nothing doing. I'm getting tired of throwing out meat too. I don't have a dog either to feed rejects to.

You need some feral cats.

 

[otto]

Gosh, NONE of mine will touch rabbit (at least not ground rabbit).  Hmmm.  wonder if they would like it in chunks?    I did buy the Stella and Chewys newest dehydrated rabbit, and they LOVE that .  Who can figure these little furries out?  My problem is, I don't have any dogs to feed their "rejects" to

Stella&Chewy's has rabbit now? Where is it sourced from? ..off to check the website.....

{edit} oh, it's a dog formula. I don't like all the fruits and veggies. I have emailed Emily to find out if they are going to make a rabbit formula for cats.

You need some feral cats.

:lol3::lol3::lol3:

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Yes, it's dog formula, but since I only feed it as their morning snack before I give them breakfast, I'm not too worried about it.  I think between the 3 of them, they maybe get 1/4 to 1/3 of a patty (dry). I break off a little for each one and toss it to them so they can chase it.  Do that a couple or three times.    It really is their "break fast"

.  It keeps them out of my hair while I do a few things around the house first. 

I just didn't want to start a bad habit of feeding them an actual meal immediately when I jumped out of bed...otherwise they might start waking me up to eat

 

[harleydiva]

LOL I figured it out. I will be interested to hear how your princes like the quail since they don't seem to prefer chicken and turkey, just like my little princess.

Final verdict on the quail.....everyone likes it!  I think the initial hesitance was a result of my making it too pate-like by trying to chop thawed liver in the food processor.  Next time I will chop the liver frozen.  I ordered pancreas, spleen, and liver from MPC, so next batches will be less liver also.