Rotating Raw And Canned Wet Foods

[orange&white]

LOL Oh. Well, that would be out of my budget, but be happy you didn't have to wrestle a partially-frozen 17lb brisket most of Sunday morning...before starting to mix cat food. Convenience is pricey!

You did get some top-of-the-line foods though!

 

[sarah430]

LOL Oh. Well, that would be out of my budget, but be happy you didn't have to wrestle a partially-frozen 17lb brisket most of Sunday morning...before starting to mix cat food. Convenience is pricey!

You did get some top-of-the-line foods though!

So true on the cost of convenience! I'm not really sure what my budget is yet. lol Still exploring and determining how much I'm willing to spend. Heck I may be the one wrestling the briskets one of these days.

 

[lisahe]

sarah430 I don't think that's a bad price... I just checked a receipt and see that I paid $13.50 for one kind of Rad Cat and $15.50 for another last week. Odd! (They did apologize that the price has gone up, is going up, or something... I'm glad you asked about price because now I'll definitely check with the other place I sometimes buy RC!)

 

[sarah430]

Well they loved the Small Batch too. For their dinner meal I gave them each a 1 ounce slider and they ate it right up. Then about 30 minutes later I gave them ~2.5 ounces of wet food each and they ate it like they usually do, little bits here and there. Eventually they eat most of it but there's usually a little bit left that I toss.

So my plan it to keep this up, making most meals partially raw and partially canned wet, plus some high quality dry -- until the dry is all gone - I still have a few lbs. Eventually some meals will be all raw.

The raw I've purchased is chicken and that seems to be what they prefer in wet too. I've tried mixing in some other brands as well as proteins - mainly beef. They seem ok with it but don't like it as much as chicken (and turkey too, I guess). Their kibble is rabbit and they didn't like it at first but now eat it. I know all cats are different but when I start branching out with the raw proteins, what type is suggested as generally liked by most. Thanks!

 

[orange&white]

Cats are unique in what types of food they like. My senior cat likes it all - chicken, pork, beef, turkey. My kitten prefers pork and chicken, then likes turkey, and will eat beef but it's not her favorite. She also leaves chicken hearts on her plate when she doesn't finish her food...unless I snip them into teeny pieces. Then they're good.

It's good to offer them as much variety as possible.

 

[sarah430]

Figured out rough costs comparing what I've been feeding them in canned and raw, the Small Batch is actually cheaper. I can see that if I eventually incorporate some homemade my costs will go down even more. Rad Cat is ultimately going to be too expensive as a regular thing. For now, I'll use up what I have but am looking forward to going back to the Meat store and check out some of the other options and do more cost comparison. I'm really fortunate to live in an area with a lot of local raw manufacturers plus holistic pet stores, where I can also compare costs. I don't have a lot of extra freezer space so can't stockpile too much.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[orange&white]

An extra freezer can be your best friend...especially during sales! Even an inexpensive little one about the same size as the one on your fridge.

 

[amysuen]

When were your kittens born? We've got a brother/sister team born August 1, so close to the age of your two. I've transitioned all 4 of our cats to homemade from kibble, but am still working on transitioning to raw. The 2 boys seem OK with raw but neither of the girls like it, even the kitten. Catcentric has some great tips for transitioning, if you're still working on that.

 

[sarah430]

When were your kittens born? We've got a brother/sister team born August 1, so close to the age of your two. I've transitioned all 4 of our cats to homemade from kibble, but am still working on transitioning to raw. The 2 boys seem OK with raw but neither of the girls like it, even the kitten. Catcentric has some great tips for transitioning, if you're still working on that.

Not sure of their exact birthdate since the rescue I got them from didn't have it, but estimate is they were born in mid-July. So yes very close in age! Fortunately <knock wood> the transition has gone really well. They took to the raw immediately.

Good luck with your transition! I've glanced at Catcentric (and joined their FB group) but definitely need to do some more reading there -- looks like a lot of great info. Thanks!

 

[lisahe]

An extra freezer can be your best friend...especially during sales! Even an inexpensive little one about the same size as the one on your fridge.

Yes, I agree: an extra freezer is very handy! I'm glad to have one, not just for storing extra sale-price meat but so I buy enough Rad Cat to last for a months. I'm going to try feeding two homecooked meals a day soon, so will definitely need the extra space for flexibility on that.

Speaking of Rad Cat, sarah430 , we only feed one small Rad Cat meal (a sort of mid-afternoon snack) to our cats. Beyond the fact that the food isn't cheap, it's the cats' favorite and I don't want them to get tired of it, something they have a habit of doing!

 

[sarah430]

You guys! I didn't think I had room in my house for a freezer (we don't have a garage), but now I'm starting to scheme where I can put one....

 

[orange&white]

My mom talked me into buying a spare freezer in my first 1-bdrm/bath apartment (many decades ago). It served double-duty as an end table. A tall noisy electric end table.

 

[valentine319]

I'm in the US and just saw a small deep freezer for $125 at home depot. It was a bit bigger than a dorm fridge but would be a very reasonable option.

 

[lisahe]

I'm in the US and just saw a small deep freezer for $125 at home depot. It was a bit bigger than a dorm fridge but would be a very reasonable option.

We got a freezer that's probably a bit bigger than that. It's a chest freezer but it's not so big or deep that stuff gets lost in it. It could make a tall end table! One thing to consider if you do buy a freezer, sarah430 , is that it might need space/clearance around it: I think ours is supposed to be a certain number of inches from the wall or something. Nothing outrageous, though!

 

[sarah430]

I'm back from my weekend away and able to oversee the kitty meals every day so I put the Rad Cat in the fridge to thatw and will feed that until it's done. How many days will it last in the refrigerator?

Also, I have a minor issue I need to resolve. My kitties have been getting timed meals (except occasionally some kibble left out, but that's ending soon). I've served them wet canned in two bowls - they take their time, leave and come back and eat out of both bowls. It seems to work out in the end. They aren't aggressive with each other and they both seem to get their fill. It usually takes up to an hour or more for them to finish, depending on how hungry they are. However with the raw, Navi is more excited about it than Link is. Link seems to want to eat in it in the same manner as the canned wet. However, Navi now wants to just eat it right up. When Link walks away I'll pick him up and put him back by his bowl and sometimes that works and he'll stay and finish. But he's also apt to get distracted and lose interest. And then Navi will start eating his when she's done licking every morsel off her bowl. I've tried separating them, but they are so bonded and so used to spending nearly every waking and non-waking minute with each other that they get distracted looking for each other. And I don't want to leave the raw out too long.

Any tips? Should I just let it alone and eventually Link will learn that he needs to eat up or miss out? I don't want him to go hungry and I don't want Navi to get sick from eating too much too fast, but I'm not sure how to solve this with raw feeding.

Thanks!

 

[orange&white]

I'm back from my weekend away and able to oversee the kitty meals every day so I put the Rad Cat in the fridge to thatw and will feed that until it's done. How many days will it last in the refrigerator?

Also, I have a minor issue I need to resolve. My kitties have been getting timed meals (except occasionally some kibble left out, but that's ending soon). I've served them wet canned in two bowls - they take their time, leave and come back and eat out of both bowls. It seems to work out in the end. They aren't aggressive with each other and they both seem to get their fill. It usually takes up to an hour or more for them to finish, depending on how hungry they are. However with the raw, Navi is more excited about it than Link is. Link seems to want to eat in it in the same manner as the canned wet. However, Navi now wants to just eat it right up. When Link walks away I'll pick him up and put him back by his bowl and sometimes that works and he'll stay and finish. But he's also apt to get distracted and lose interest. And then Navi will start eating his when she's done licking every morsel off her bowl. I've tried separating them, but they are so bonded and so used to spending nearly every waking and non-waking minute with each other that they get distracted looking for each other. And I don't want to leave the raw out too long.

Any tips? Should I just let it alone and eventually Link will learn that he needs to eat up or miss out? I don't want him to go hungry and I don't want Navi to get sick from eating too much too fast, but I'm not sure how to solve this with raw feeding.

Thanks!

The tubs I use only last 2 days, plus there may be a small spoonful left the 3rd morning. You should be safe 3 days. I think 4 days would be pushing the "freshness" factor. I would definitely toss anything older than 4 days, or earlier if you can smell it's "off". Your cats' noses are likely to let you know if the food has gone bad before you would know.

You're going to have to just see what end up working with the schedule. The first time I tried a raw diet, I fed 3 cats off of a community dinner plate two times per day. It worked out fine, even with 2 "eaters" and 1 "grazer". Now I feed the kitten in the bathroom and the senior in the kitchen, because the kitten is a grazer and the senior is on a diet and cannot have more food than what I want him to eat. That's sort of a trial-and-error type thing. You'll figure it out quickly, I'm sure.

 

[sarah430]

The tubs I use only last 2 days, plus there may be a small spoonful left the 3rd morning. You should be safe 3 days. I think 4 days would be pushing the "freshness" factor. I would definitely toss anything older than 4 days, or earlier if you can smell it's "off". Your cats' noses are likely to let you know if the food has gone bad before you would know.

You're going to have to just see what end up working with the schedule. The first time I tried a raw diet, I fed 3 cats off of a community dinner plate two times per day. It worked out fine, even with 2 "eaters" and 1 "grazer". Now I feed the kitten in the bathroom and the senior in the kitchen, because the kitten is a grazer and the senior is on a diet and cannot have more food than what I want him to eat. That's sort of a trial-and-error type thing. You'll figure it out quickly, I'm sure.

Thanks! I'll see how it goes and if it seems like Navi is out-eating Link significantly I'll try separating them again at meal times.

 

[sarah430]

Just posting an update.

Went back to the "Meat" store and purchased some Vital Essentials to try. It's very reasonable 3.5 lbs for $21. I also bought a variety of higher quality canned wet food - Hound and Gatos, Party Animal and FirstMates. Only one of them liked the raw rabbit, but both liked the raw duck. Some of the canned was beef and they were meh about that, so I think I'll finally give up on beef. I also gave them an occasional chicken wing tip and they loved them and were able to mostly chew them up. I want to check out an Asian grocery store and see if I can find some small boned critters/fowl to give them more practice with bones. One thing for sure I know they are having no trouble understanding that raw is food. Yay!

So I know for sure that they will both eat chicken and I think duck and turkey are definite likes. I'm going to keep trying rabbit and introduce lamb and pork too. I'd like to have one or two non-fowl varieties of protein to be able to add to the rotation.

A few times I've had to put Link in the bathroom to eat because Navi can be a real pest when she's done, especially with the raw. She'll graze on the wet, but licks the plate clean in no time with the raw!

 

[orange&white]

That's all great news! I hadn't heard of the Vital Essentials before. Looked it up and it looks like a terrific food. Not crazy about them adding raw goat's milk to every mix, but it is a healthy addition anyway and possibly adds a little probiotic action.

 

[maureen brad]

If I were you I would work on getting the kitties completely off kibble. That is the most important thing. If you want to feed wet and raw that is fine. Lot's of people start that way and move on to all raw. Some continue feeding some canned some raw. I personally thing beginning with commercial raw makes sense.RadCat is the way to go.
Continue researching raw feeding and move at your own speed. I started with commercial raw . It took me awhile to get comfortable making my own. While it is not hard to do , you do want to do it right so , take your time.
Getting the cats off kibble is a great thing.