What do I do with the raw frozen food?

Nice Loki

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My very first order of raw, complete cat meat has arrived (frozen) in chubs. I excitedly unpacked it all, looked at it then repacked it because I realised that I didn't actually know what to do with it!
They are all single source protein chubs, so I will be feeding them in rotation for a balanced diet.
What arrived is as follows:
1kg chubs of Salmon, Quail, Day old chicks & Deer.
500g chubs of Rabbit, Turkey, Lamb & Duck
250g of minced mice.
All of the chubs (with the exception of the deer) are minced with the correct proportions of meat, bones and appropriate organs. The deer meat is just pure meat, no bone or organs so that will need to be dealt with differently.

I think that I will initially be feeding Loki & Moxxi portions of the meat as it comes, as a single protein to see how they like each one, but if anyone thinks this is a bad idea please do let me know.

Because I will need access to the full range of chubs each week should I let them all defrost enough to cut them up and split it all into portions now?
Does frozen meat weigh the same when it is defrosted? So if I portion them out to 100g sizes while partly frozen will that be accurate enough once it is ready to serve?

With them all being in chubs, would cutting them into "hockey pucks" be a good way to do it?

Also, I have raw chicken thigh meat cut into chunks in the freezer ready to be mixed with the minced to add some texture. Should I mix that in now or as each meal is defrosting?

I honestly don't know where to start. I feel silly, I'm not normally this indecisive.
 

goingpostal

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They will be easiest to chop and portion while mostly frozen, I usually thaw meat completely or to a manageable level and then portion into smaller amounts, 1-2 days worth, pucks would work fine. I would add your chicken chunks separately, at least as first, just in case anyone ends up not doing well with or disliking a certain protein. You'll likely lose a small amount of weight with thawing liquid, I always add that to their meals though.
 
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Nice Loki

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I have just portioned up some of the raw meat that arrived today and prepared some of it for their first meal.
I chose the minced mouse, popped it in a tub with some chunks of raw chicken thigh and stood it in warm water.

When I took the lid off the smell was revolting, not in a "gone off" way, just really horrible and very strong, it turned my stomach.
Please tell me this was just because it was mouse and that the more normal meats like rabbit etc. won't be anywhere near as bad? Otherwise this will be the shortest foray into raw feeding ever.
 

sunny578

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It shouldn’t smell like that:( I would guess that it is bad. It should smell a little bloody/meaty (which turns my stomach at times bc I am not a meat lover) but I don’t think it should smell as strong as you are describing.
 

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With them all being in chubs, would cutting them into "hockey pucks" be a good way to do it?
This is what I used to do when I bought chubs, cutting them into slices when they were just thawed enough to do so.

So, just to be sure, these chubs (other than the venison) are already complete foods, meaning you don't have to add anything else, like vitamins or calcium source? I guess I ask that because I totally understand when you say you're not sure what to do... I've been there, too, particularly because I found some of the chubs and other ingredients I bought in the past to be a bit confusing. Sometimes the instructions and descriptions weren't exactly (or even close to!) clear.

I'd do the same as you, starting out with just one protein, then mixing. That's what I do when I buy new freeze-dried raw foods for our cats.

And, finally, ground mice, wow! 🐭🐁 Please let us know if it smells!

Most of all, fingers crossed that all these new things go over well.
 

lisahe

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I just saw this after answering your post in the raw food subforum. I asked there if the ground mice smelled... I guess they do! I forget where, but I somehow, somewhere heard that ground mouse meat really smells. I have no idea if that's true or false! I'd check with the company you bought it from.

That said, I also wonder if the smell was especially strong when you opened the package but that it's just (how to put this?) pent up smell. I often find that when I open a package of, say, ground chicken, there's a strong smell right after I open it but that if I wait a few minutes and then sniff just the meat, it smells fine. As sunny578 sunny578 says, some smell is probably fine and we all have our tolerances, but a really strong odor (one that lingers, I'd add) might not be fine.
 
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Nice Loki

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And, finally, ground mice, wow! 🐭🐁 Please let us know if it smells!
It absolutely freaking reeks, it is utterly vile. I retched when disposing of the leftovers
I will never buy it again. Even Loki who is mad about raw meat ran away from it, but then again we always suspected that Moxxi ate his prey. We know that she loves mouse 🐭
 
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Nice Loki

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So, just to be sure, these chubs (other than the venison) are already complete foods, meaning you don't have to add anything else, like vitamins or calcium source?
I called the company and spoke to them about if I needed supplements (they also sell supplements with and without calcium).
They advised that as long as I provide a variety of protein sources as described on their website over a week then the chubs will be a complete diet. The proportions of muscle meat : bone : organs is correct and they add Salmon oil for omega 3.

The company that I bought from are called Kiezebrink. They stock a huge range of meats for a variety of animal feed and get good reviews on independent review sites.
 
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Nice Loki

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I replied on the other thread too lisahe lisahe .

When I first opened it the smell wasn't bad, very mild. But when I brought it up to room temperature that was when it got horrific.
Honestly I am traumatised by it. I am now really reluctant to do anything with any of the other meats.
I never researched mouse meat, like an idiot. So was totally unprepared for it. Even now over an hour after getting rid of it into the outside bin I keep getting "memory smells" of it, if you know what I mean?
 

lisahe

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I called the company and spoke to them about if I needed supplements (they also sell supplements with and without calcium).
They advised that as long as I provide a variety of protein sources as described on their website over a week then the chubs will be a complete diet. The proportions of muscle meat : bone : organs is correct and they add Salmon oil for omega 3.

The company that I bought from are called Kiezebrink. They stock a huge range of meats for a variety of animal feed and get good reviews on independent review sites.
I took a quick look at their site, wow, they look great, what a variety. And they clearly know what they're doing.

I'm sorry the ground mice were so disgusting, though!
 

lisahe

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I replied on the other thread too lisahe lisahe .

When I first opened it the smell wasn't bad, very mild. But when I brought it up to room temperature that was when it got horrific.
Honestly I am traumatised by it. I am now really reluctant to do anything with any of the other meats.
I never researched mouse meat, like an idiot. So was totally unprepared for it. Even now over an hour after getting rid of it into the outside bin I keep getting "memory smells" of it, if you know what I mean?
I know exactly what you mean about "memory smells," which are very difficult to get rid of, and completely understand feeling traumatized. Maybe it's best to keep the other meats frozen for a while and get to them when you're feeling a little better?
 
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I really think they should put a warning on the mouse product on their website. Lol.

I am super impressed with them too. The variety on offer is amazing, and compared to other companies that offer minced cat food they are excellently priced.

As an example: Another company that I found, their prices work out at approximately £13/kg, but they have only about 5 varieties and only sell in 180g and 500g chubs.
Kiezebrink prices work out at approximately £4/kg. Massive price difference.
 
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I have shoved it all into the freezer except 2 portions. 1 of which is the other half of the mouse meat chub - no prizes for guessing where that is going tomorrow!
The other is a portion of minced day old chicks. Please tell me now if that is another one to be wary of.
 

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Did you put the meat directly into the water? Or was the meat put in a baggie first?
 

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I don’t know what mouse smells like. But rabbit smells very gamey. In Krista’s last year when we had run through all the novel proteins she would eat (not a red meat fan so that rules out many of them), I found a grocery store locally that sells whole frozen rabbits. Friends would ask me, doesn’t that bother you butchering a bunny? “Nope! It looks like a chicken when I get it. A very stinky chicken.” Where did you get the mouse meat? I spoke with a pet store that sells snakes when I was trying to find alternative proteins for Krista. They tell me that feeder mice for snakes is a poor quality mouse for cats. I would go with rabbit meat instead. But that’s also got a strong gamey smell to it.
 

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Tbh I wondered how awful ground mice would smell, as someone who has raised and bred mice. Mice and rats smell awful imo and I can handle a lot. Otherwise organ meat and game meat are the worst. Day old chicks shouldn't be bad although I've never fed ground, they seem to be more fluff than anything else but my cats adore them.
 
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Nice Loki

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Did you put the meat directly into the water? Or was the meat put in a baggie first?
I put it in a plastic takeaway container with a lid. No water got in as I was warming it up.

Where did you get the mouse meat?
Everything that I got today was from Kiezebrink, a specialist in raw meats for animal food.

Tbh I wondered how awful ground mice would smell
Bad! Because you are breeding your mice it might not be such a shock to you like it was for me. I was completely unprepared for it.
 

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***Oops, I hope I didn't flag this last post of yours by mistake! (I absentmindedly clicked on the wrong place to "Purraise" it!)***

I really think they should put a warning on the mouse product on their website. Lol.

I am super impressed with them too. The variety on offer is amazing, and compared to other companies that offer minced cat food they are excellently priced.

As an example: Another company that I found, their prices work out at approximately £13/kg, but they have only about 5 varieties and only sell in 180g and 500g chubs.
Kiezebrink prices work out at approximately £4/kg. Massive price difference.
That is a huge price difference. And I was noticing the variety plus all their notes on a product that needs supplementation.
 

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Kiezbrink chubs are just ratios, to my knowledge, they’re not nutritionally complete, so you’ll either need to buy Alnutrin for meat and bone, or supplement with a mix of whole foods and supplements. 80/10/10 (or 84/6/10) leaves nutritional gaps as we aren’t feeding whole prey. Chubs require really fine mince, as well, and the finer the mince, the higher the loss in nutrients. Here’s a good resource on what’s missing from a ratio diet, how much a cat needs, and good sources of the necessary essential nutrients. They can mostly be met by use of a cat appropriate seafood, fish oil with tocepherol, and raw egg (I prefer using quail eggs).



ETA: I don’t think kiezbrink lists their ratios, either. Have you been in contact with the company about how much bone and secreting organ is in the chubs you’ve bought? The distinction between secreting organ and offal is very important.
Also important note — whole prey DoC are wonderful enrichment, but they don’t work as anything but supplemental feeding, as they’re not fully nutritionally complete for a cat; essentially, because they’re babies, the nutritional profile of the chick is very different to that of an adult chicken. A DoC chub would be okay for supplemental feeding, but I wouldn’t feed it on the regular. Mine get whole prey DOC once a week.
I’d also suggest keeping salmon to one or two meals a week, as fish can be addicting, and if the whole chub is just salmon, that’s a lot of fish.

If you don’t want the fuss, I’d suggest either looking into using plain muscle meat with felini or purrform’s completer (both still need an omega source), or looking into Purrform as an alternate raw source. Hear me raw, formerly Rudyfoods, had pretty perfect formulation, but they’ve been selling mixes with 10% liver for a while now, which is inadvisable at best.
 
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