Rabbit flavor shortage?? (Rawz, Tiki Cat, Dr. Elsey’s)

siamesecat108

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Hi, my kitty’s favorite food flavor is rabbit but right now all of his brands are out of rabbit varieties.

Rawz Rabbit- my local pet store has been unable to get stock.

Tiki Cat After Dark Rabbit & Chicken- out of stock on Petco site

Dr. Elsey’s Rabbit & Turkey- out of stock on Chewy site and Amazon

These are the main foods I feed my cat and I’ve run out! Anybody know if something is going on? I keep thinking there must be a rabbit shortage. Are there any other high quality brands with a rabbit wet food flavor I might be able to find?

Thanks!
 

Maurey

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For raw, there’s Vital Essences frozen rabbit, as well as Primal, though I’d recommend the former over the latter :> as for wet food alternatives, I’d suggest Ziwipeak (they don’t have pure rabbit iirc but they have rabbit&lamb), or Instinct Real Rabbit.
Merrick Backcountry might do in a pinch, but they use guar gum in their recipes, so I hesitate to recommend them.
 
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siamesecat108

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For raw, there’s Vital Essences frozen rabbit, as well as Primal, though I’d recommend the former over the latter :> as for wet food alternatives, I’d suggest Ziwipeak (they don’t have pure rabbit iirc but they have rabbit&lamb), or Instinct Real Rabbit.
Merrick Backcountry might do in a pinch, but they use guar gum in their recipes, so I hesitate to recommend them.
I have not ventured into the world of feeding raw yet, although I have considered trying it. I personally am a vegetarian and handling raw meat sort of scares me. Maybe someday though! Thank you for the wet food alternatives, I have fed my cat a few types of Ziwipeak and he likes it. I didn’t know they had a rabbit flavor. I will look for the Ziwipeak and Instinct! :D
 

Maurey

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I have not ventured into the world of feeding raw yet, although I have considered trying it. I personally am a vegetarian and handling raw meat sort of scares me. Maybe someday though! Thank you for the wet food alternatives, I have fed my cat a few types of Ziwipeak and he likes it. I didn’t know they had a rabbit flavor. I will look for the Ziwipeak and Instinct! :D
My mistake! I saw Rawz, and assumed it was, well, raw, so I thought I’d toss some recs for both wet and raw :>
Best of luck!
 
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siamesecat108

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My mistake! I saw Rawz, and assumed it was, well, raw, so I thought I’d toss some recs for both wet and raw :>
Best of luck!
No worries :) thanks so much
 

molly92

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Dr. Elsey's is running out of everything. Their website says it's due to switching manufacturers and COVID-related supply issues.
 
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siamesecat108

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Dr. Elsey's is running out of everything. Their website says it's due to switching manufacturers and COVID-related supply issues.
Oh, I see it now! Thank you for letting me know. I will look forward to them getting their food back in stock because my kitty loves his Dr. Elsey’s.
 

artiemom

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I had a terrible time getting Royal Canin canned rabbit. RC changed formulas, packaging in both wet and dry!
Chewy was out— I was searching all over the country.
Finally I secured a case at Banfield in Petsmart. Had to bother my vet for a script.

According to RC is is a combination of new packaging, new formula, and Covid...

Now I see Chewy has it back in stock. It took a couple weeks.
I may order another case to have on hand.

such a pain. I do have one older case, but Ineed it to help integrate Geoffrey into the new formula.

ugh.
I guess there is also a big shortage of all rabbit food. Sigh 😔
 

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siamesecat108

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I had a terrible time getting Royal Canin canned rabbit. RC changed formulas, packaging in both wet and dry!
Chewy was out— I was searching all over the country.
Finally I secured a case at Banfield in Petsmart. Had to bother my vet for a script.

According to RC is is a combination of new packaging, new formula, and Covid...

Now I see Chewy has it back in stock. It took a couple weeks.
I may order another case to have on hand.

such a pain. I do have one older case, but Ineed it to help integrate Geoffrey into the new formula.

ugh.
I guess there is also a big shortage of all rabbit food. Sigh 😔
I am sorry you had such a hard time getting your kitty’s food! I am glad you were finally able to secure a case, though.
 
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siamesecat108

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Beholder

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I have not ventured into the world of feeding raw yet, although I have considered trying it. I personally am a vegetarian and handling raw meat sort of scares me. Maybe someday though! Thank you for the wet food alternatives, I have fed my cat a few types of Ziwipeak and he likes it. I didn’t know they had a rabbit flavor. I will look for the Ziwipeak and Instinct! :D
Sorry I don't have much to add about the rabbit situation, but I'm vegan and get how you feel. It was really uncomfortable for me when I first started making raw food but I got used to it pretty fast. I just needed to look at it from an honest perspective. For example, whenever I opened a can of cat food in the past or a bag of dry food (in the distant past) I never felt weird--but in reality it's the same exact thing, it just looks different so we're able to ignore/not think about it a bit easier. You'll get there though. :) Oh and if you were only referring to the bacteria in the raw meat and not what I assumed, remember that most cat food recalls are actually for potential human harm. Humans touch the dry food not associating it with something that might have bacteria and then forget to wash their hands, which can cause sickness if from a bad batch. When you make raw food yourself you tend to be more aware of what you're touching and therefore will likely be much more cautious with handwashing.
 

VanCatMa

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Hi, my kitty’s favorite food flavor is rabbit but right now all of his brands are out of rabbit varieties.

Rawz Rabbit- my local pet store has been unable to get stock.

Tiki Cat After Dark Rabbit & Chicken- out of stock on Petco site

Dr. Elsey’s Rabbit & Turkey- out of stock on Chewy site and Amazon

These are the main foods I feed my cat and I’ve run out! Anybody know if something is going on? I keep thinking there must be a rabbit shortage. Are there any other high quality brands with a rabbit wet food flavor I might be able to find?

Thanks!

I am having the same issue finding my cat's regular wet food formula, of another cat food brand, at the present time.

I asked the very, very, helpful sales people at PetSmart yesterday, why her food is suddenly hard to find, and was told that there are materials shortages occuring, because of the pandemic. I was also told that some brands of cat food are experiencing/have experienced difficulty with purchasing aluminum for the cans, and some brands have switched from cans to pouches. I was also told that some brands of cat food are currently experiencing/have experienced ingredient shortages, since the start of the pandemic. And there are issues with supply chains, which are also causing further issues with stores keeping their shelves stocked.

This is very frustrating. However, you may have some luck finding the Rabbit formula of the food you are in need of, by visiting a smaller sole-proprieter pet food stores. The smaller stores are also very helpful, knowledgeable, and understand the importance of your search.

Good luck.
 
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siamesecat108

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Sorry I don't have much to add about the rabbit situation, but I'm vegan and get how you feel. It was really uncomfortable for me when I first started making raw food but I got used to it pretty fast. I just needed to look at it from an honest perspective. For example, whenever I opened a can of cat food in the past or a bag of dry food (in the distant past) I never felt weird--but in reality it's the same exact thing, it just looks different so we're able to ignore/not think about it a bit easier. You'll get there though. :) Oh and if you were only referring to the bacteria in the raw meat and not what I assumed, remember that most cat food recalls are actually for potential human harm. Humans touch the dry food not associating it with something that might have bacteria and then forget to wash their hands, which can cause sickness if from a bad batch. When you make raw food yourself you tend to be more aware of what you're touching and therefore will likely be much more cautious with handwashing.
Thank you for the encouragement! Someday I will try feeding raw. I’ve been researching it and considering it, I just need to get over my fear of the actual handling and prep. Once I’ve made a plan and get over the learning curve, I’m sure it won’t be so bad and it would be worth it.
 
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siamesecat108

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I am having the same issue finding my cat's regular wet food formula, of another cat food brand, at the present time.

I asked the very, very, helpful sales people at PetSmart yesterday, why her food is suddenly hard to find, and was told that there are materials shortages occuring, because of the pandemic. I was also told that some brands of cat food are experiencing/have experienced difficulty with purchasing aluminum for the cans, and some brands have switched from cans to pouches. I was also told that some brands of cat food are currently experiencing/have experienced ingredient shortages, since the start of the pandemic. And there are issues with supply chains, which are also causing further issues with stores keeping their shelves stocked.

This is very frustrating. However, you may have some luck finding the Rabbit formula of the food you are in need of, by visiting a smaller sole-proprieter pet food stores. The smaller stores are also very helpful, knowledgeable, and understand the importance of your search.

Good luck.
Thanks so much for this information!! It makes sense that COVID is causing a lot of issues for manufacturers and suppliers.

I visited my local small pet store again this evening, and they actually just got some Rawz Rabbit & Pumpkin cans in!! Hooray! :hyper:
 

LTS3

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Thank you for the encouragement! Someday I will try feeding raw. I’ve been researching it and considering it, I just need to get over my fear of the actual handling and prep. Once I’ve made a plan and get over the learning curve, I’m sure it won’t be so bad and it would be worth it.

You don't need to make raw from scratch :) You can buy commercially available raw cat food at independent pet stores. I feed my cats Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw rabbit. One cat also gets Primal frozen raw as snacks. I just take out a bunch of medallions every few days and let them defrost in the fridge. Then one medallion is put into the bowls, smushed down a bit with a spoon, and fed to the cats.

There's a raw forum here on TCS if you want to look at other options. Some people make raw the super easy way: buy a pre-mix such as EZComplete and add to raw meat of choice with some water. Mix and serve. The pre-mix package has detailed instructions. If you can measure and mix, you can make raw using a pre-mix :)
 
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