Online Exotic Meat Sources??

[The Savi Obiwan]

I know I'm supposed to vary the species that I feed my kitten to make sure he has all the different types of nutrition he needs but between publix and Walmart my only options are chicken or beef the halal store sells some goat parts but a whole batch of food from halal goat would be expensive as bleep and because of that I'v found a few sites online that can supposedly send me exotic meats but I don't know how to be sure if it's truly good enough for my cat or if it's too dangerous to even risk...

These are the main ones I'm courious about
Exotic Meats | All Natural Meats & Game | Fossil Farms | Buy Online
Best Prices on the Net for Elk Meat, Buffalo Meat, Venison Meat, Goat Meat, Venison, Steak and Roasts, Antler Chews
Wild Game Meats| Buy Wild Game Meats| Where To Buy Wild Game Meats

If anybody has had any experience with these sites and can tell me if they are good or not I'd appreciate it and even if not any tips on finding a good online meat supplier or even if it's a good or bad idea to buy online would really help.

I'v also thought about buying frozen feeder rodents to give whole once in a while if the online thing doesn't work but then I'd only be able to find mice and rats without going online for quail or rabbit...

 

[daftcat75]

What about buying from Hare Today?

Fossil Farms is good. I’ve used their Pekin Duck 1 lbs boneless meat. Krista really likes it. I buy it from the local raw food coop though. I’ve never ordered it from their online site.

Do you know if your kitty likes red meat and does well with it? Mine doesn’t or that would really open up opportunities for me. At the local Sprouts market, I can find in their frozen section: Beef Liver, Wild Boar, Venison, Bison, Lamb, and sometimes Elk. All red meats. I wish there were boneless rabbit or duck options in the freezer section instead of dressed carcasses. If it’s frozen and no salt or spices added, it’s good by me to try with my cat. But I won’t touch refrigerated meat. Often times supermarkets pump refrigerated meat with chemicals to make it look fresher or last longer. They want to sell old meat. Their goals are at ends with mine in the refrigerated section.

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

Hare today seams like a good place but doesn't have the variety I'm looking for. I wanna feed him different types of meals like amphibians(frog legs) amphibious-reptiles(gator, turtle) land-reptiles(iguana, python) rodents (guinea pig, bunny) birds(chicken, duck) hooved creatures(cow, antalope) marsupials(kangaroo).

I'm not sure yet how he likes red meat though but he doesn't seem to be all that picky once he realizes it's food he pretty much gobbles anything up in seconds so I don't think I'll have any problems.

 

[daftcat75]

What he will eat is only one half of the equation. How it treats him on through is more important. My Krista will still eat chicken if presented but that’s a really bad idea for her based on the second half of the equation.

 

[LTS3]

I wanna feed him different types of meals like amphibians(frog legs) amphibious-reptiles(gator, turtle) land-reptiles(iguana, python) rodents (guinea pig, bunny) birds(chicken, duck) hooved creatures(cow, antalope) marsupials(kangaroo).

Cats do need variety in their diet but your list is a bit too much. Why do you want feed frogs, turtles, iguana, etc? A few of the more common novel proteins such as venison, rabbit, quail in addition to chicken, etc is plenty for many cats and are lot easier to source.

Hare-Today does sell guinea pigs. It's listed as cavy on the web site.

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

Most of it would only be rare or even once a year things maybe even only on holidays or as a treat instead of a meal

Since he's a Savannah I was looking at what servals bob-cats and house cats all eat in the wild and try to include those animals in his diet. (Small amphibions birds snakes lizards turtles/tortoises rodents & in my area opossum which is dirty but kangaroo is a much healthier marsupial) also while we live in Florida my mom lives in Alaska and I can sometimes get wild hunted meats from her but they aren't chicken or cow they are moose bear elk or something else big and dangerous.

Daftcat75: what do u mean by the way the meat treats ur cat? What should I look for? Like tummy aches, diahrea/constipation? Or like vomiting, not absorbing nutrients right, anemia something more serious like that?

 

[daftcat75]

Daftcat75: what do u mean by the way the meat treats ur cat? What should I look for? Like tummy aches, diahrea/constipation? Or like vomiting, not absorbing nutrients right, anemia something more serious like that?

All of that. But usually if your cat doesn’t look distressed after eating, no vomiting, and the poop is well-formed and acceptable odor, then that covers the nutrient absorption. Softer stools, stools with an obnoxiously bad odor, loose stools, diarrhea, or vomiting. These are all signals that point to some kind of malabsorption.

 

[mightyboosh]

I bought a tarantula in a tin once. It was pretty awful and tasted like a handful of soil from the ground in a forest, which figures I suppose. How do I know to compare it to soil that I've never tried? Don't know, it just did!

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

Ok I pretty much just look for those things anytime I feed anything new I even kept a 2 week journal and 1 month journal of his poops, fur, and activity when I swapped him to wet food and when I weaned him to raw food.

And to clearify with some of the foods like frog legs id prolly buy like a pound and give Obi-wan 2-3 legs and let my grandma have the rest and I'd only feed him one serving of reindeer once a year on Christmas Eve most other things would be like 1-2lbs mixed in a bigger batch of food or a piece given as a treat between meals.

Most of the American short hair cats that I'v had seamed to love brown anoles and I had 2 that (since we live in florida) had brought home and mostly eaten (hopefully wild) iguanas and the first one refused to give em up so it seams to me that lizard is tastey to them. Also 1 of them really loved black racer snakes and while he would kill any snake he only ate racers and almost always ate most of it. That's why I want to include reptiles in Obi-wan's food.

Also the wide variety is also because even though he's not a picky eater I assume he won't want at least some of the animals and now considering his ability to even eat some I know the final list of animals I'll be using for him will be shorter but I still want to have at least one of each category

 

[mizzely]

You can check reptile supply places. Many will have of course mice and rats, some will have chicks and quails, and others will have feeder lizards, etc.

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

I never thought of the reptile feeder places as having lizards seams cannibalistic but it's a good idea I'll definitely check out a few. I pretty much planned on getting him mice rabbits and quail if I could find em whole from reptile feeders so hopefully I find a good one. About the chicks part though I had to promise my grandma that I would not specifically attempt to feed him babies of any species so fuzzies, chicks, ducklings, etc. are all off the table.

 

[mizzely]

I mean just because they are reptiles doesn't make it any more cannibalistic than humans eating other mammals like cows and pigs! They are just as genetically diverse Usually feeder lizards are for snakes or monitors that are pickier eaters.

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

I never bought feeder lizards for her but my bearded dragon used to love anoles so every once in a while I'd catch one in the yard for her.... I wonder if anoles tastes good and maybe ppl just don't eat em since they are tiny because most pets I'v seen have the option go crazy for em...

 

[1 bruce 1]

Cats do need variety in their diet but your list is a bit too much. Why do you want feed frogs, turtles, iguana, etc? A few of the more common novel proteins such as venison, rabbit, quail in addition to chicken, etc is plenty for many cats and are lot easier to source.

Hare-Today does sell guinea pigs. It's listed as cavy on the web site.

Agreed...
The Savi Obiwan if you can't stick with easier to find protein sources like mentioned above, keep 2 or even 3 proteins off limits 100% (that you can easily buy) in case the cat in the future has some problems and needs a food allergy elimination diet.

 

[The Savi Obiwan]

I'v given him beef tripe, liver & kidney in different batches of food he doesn't seem to have any reaction to it at all. I gave him fully cooked beef and he had no issues so tonight I'm gonna try him on a raw beef based meal and see how he does. Apart from allergic reactions which I will take into consideration if he's able to eat the red meat of the beef he should in theory be able to eat any red meat and be able to process it similarly right? Like basically if he can eat and process beef without discomfort he should in theory be able to eat goat as long as he's not allergic to it right?